New Jersey’s largest museum has a new leader. On Wednesday, the Newark Museum announced that Linda Harrison had been selected to succeed Steven Kern as director and chief executive officer.

Ms. Harrison is coming from the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco, where she has served as the director and chief executive since 2013.

She said in an interview on Tuesday that she is looking to bring the “spirit of joie de vivre” she feels at the Museum of the African Diaspora to the Newark Museum. By that, she explained, she means that she wants to promote “inclusivity and openness to new ideas, new thoughts.”

She also mentioned that she is hoping to “reimagine some of the beautiful collections that the Newark Museum has” and “re-engage the Newark and the greater Newark and New York audiences.”