WASHINGTON (AP) – The Smithsonian Institution, beleaguered by questions over how much it pays its executives and how they spend the organization’s money, said Saturday it has picked Georgia Tech President G. Wayne Clough as its new leader.

Clough will become the 12th secretary of the world’s largest museum and research complex on July 1, assuming control of an institution that has been in turmoil in the past year.

“I know the Smithsonian has challenges,” Clough said at a news conference in Washington. “We will surmount those challenges fairly quickly and move on.”

Clough called the institution “a treasure for our country” and “a great integrator of knowledge” from different subject areas.

Clough, 66, has served as president of Georgia Tech since 1994 and has degrees in civil engineering. He is credited with transforming the Atlanta school into a top 10 public university, boosting spending on research and raising nearly $1.5 billion.

He previously held high-level posts at the University of Washington and Virginia Tech and taught at Stanford and Duke universities.