The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston has hired Eric O. Anyah away from the Art Institute of Chicago as its new chief financial officer, a critical position in the renowned H-Town institution's expansion drive.

News of the appointment comes after months of searching for a candidate to replace Gwen Goffe, who took the reins as the museum's interim leader following the death of then-director Peter Marzio. Goffe retired in June.

MFAH director Gary Tinterow says in a statement that Anyah is "uniquely positioned" with MFAH set to finance a major expansion project led by noted architect Steven Holl.

“Coming from 10 years of financial leadership at one of the world’s most prestigious art institutions — one that, like the MFAH, operates a school as well as a museum — and having steered the Art Institute of Chicago through the successful completion of its capital campaign, Eric brings superior strategic thinking and analytical skills, along with his great financial acumen and museum experience,” Tinterow says.

At the Art Institute, Anyah oversaw a $900 million endowment in addition to managing the organization's $400 million capital campaign. Financially, the MFAH is in a higher league with a $1 billion nest egg, the nation's second largest museum endowment after the Met.

Born in Nigeria, the 45-year-old Anyah came to the United States to study at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he earned undergraduate degrees in art history and architecture as well as a masters degree in accounting. After finance positions with the Loyola University and the University of Chicago, he joined the Art Institute in 2003.

Anyah says he looks forward to working with Tinterow and the Board of Trustees as the museum's embarks on a new chapter in its history.

"Leaving the Art Institute, with all that everyone has accomplished there over the last 10 years together, was not a decision to take lightly," Anyah says in his own statement. "But Houston presents an extraordinary opportunity that would be hard to replicate anywhere else.”