hail to the chief
Iconic Houston sanctuary selects new leader to guide future growth
Abdullah Antepli has been named the new president of the Rothko Chapel.
The Rothko Chapel, one of Houston’s most-recognized landmarks, has a new president. The chapel’s board of directors has named Abdullah Antepli to the role. He begins his tenure on September 1. Antepli succeeds David Leslie, who retired in June after 10 years at the Chapel.
Antepli brings decades of stewardship, scholarship, and advocacy across higher education and the nonprofit sector to the role. He is a globally recognized leader in cross-religious and cross-cultural dialogue, with a deep commitment to pluralism and intellectual diversity, according to press materials.
“It is with great excitement and a deep sense of purpose that I join the Rothko Chapel – a sanctuary where the sacred, the artistic, and the just converge,” said Antepli. “I am eager to walk alongside the Rothko Chapel family as we write the next chapter of its remarkable journey. At a time when the world is fracturing along religious, partisan, and ideological lines, the Rothko Chapel dares to offer a sacred space where art, silence, and justice meet, and I am humbled to help steward that space forward.”
Antepli is a Turkish-born American imam and one of the few scholars working at the convergence of faith, ethics, and public policy. He currently serves as director of POLIS: Center for Politics at Duke’s Sanford School of Public Policy, where he is also professor of the practice of interfaith relations.
He integrated the Civil Discourse Project into POLIS, broadening the center's scope and sharpening its focus on the civic and moral dimensions of public life. Antepli is also a senior fellow on Jewish-Muslim relations at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, where he founded and co-directs the Muslim Leadership Initiative.
Antepli led faith-based humanitarian and relief efforts in Myanmar and Malaysia, and served as Wesleyan University’s first Muslim chaplain. He was the associate director of the Islamic Chaplaincy Program and interfaith relations at Hartford Seminary, and served as Duke University's first Muslim chaplain and director of its Center for Muslim Life and later as its chief representative for Muslim affairs. He also held the position of associate director of the Duke Islamic Studies Center.
He completed his graduate work at Hartford Seminary and his undergraduate studies at Ondokuz Mayis University in Turkey. He is the only Muslim chaplain to have delivered prayer at the House of Representatives, first in 2010 and again in 2017. In 2018, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
“Abdullah’s spirit, values, and successes resonate deeply with the Rothko Chapel’s mission,” said Troy Porter, chair of the board. “We are confident that he will successfully implement the ambitious strategic plan we’ve just adopted, and that his leadership will guide the Chapel into its next chapter as a convening space for spiritual exploration, artistic expression, and the pursuit of justice.”
Antepli joins the chapel at a time of change and bold plans. Last year, it was announced the chapel would spend $42 million on a campus expansion, adding new buildings just north of the existing Chapel on the other side of Sul Ross St., including an Administration and Archives Building, the Kathleen and Chuck Mullenweg Meditation Garden, and a new Program Center.
Long a place for contemplation, the chapel shuttered after Hurricane Beryl tore through Houston last summer, causing millions in damage. It reopened last December, following much-needed repairs. Funds for the repairs came via a Bank of America grant.
Founded by Houston philanthropists Dominique and John de Menil, the chapel was dedicated in 1971 as an interfaith, nonsectarian sanctuary. It is open every day of the year, free of charge.
