Chris Dercon was the first director of Witte de With from 1990 to 1996. Dercon is an art historian, a documentary filmmaker and cultural producer. He has also served as Director of Haus der Kunst in Munich, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, as well as Program Director of PS1 Museum in New York. In April 2011 he was appointed Director of Tate Modern. In 2017 he became the intendant of the Volksbühne Berlin, but resigned in April 2018. In January 2019, he became the new president of the Réunion des Musées Nationaux–Grand Palais for a five year term. In July 2020, he was appointed to the Visual Arts Authority in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.