Executive Director
3755 Tonawanda Creek Road, Amherst, Ny 14228
• Manager of a 35-acre educational campus with 11 historic buildings as well as the Shaw Museum complex with collections and archives library. 10,000 square feet of exhibits, storage of 40,000+ artifacts and Steffan educational and programming building. Serving nearly 30,000 guests including nearly 4,000 students through school tours.• Annual budget of approximately $750,000, 7 full-time employees, 4 part time staff and 4 seasonal staff and historic interpreters, Board of Trustees/Advisory Board and a base of over 300 volunteers. • Successfully transitioned a forty-year museum department of the Town of Amherst into a non-profit organization initially spun off in 2011. Pre-transition museum statistics: Nearly 1 million in revenue and nearly 30 full time staff.• Transition milestones: Recovered and rebuilt a staff from a difficult four-year period. Rebranded from local to regional mission and implementing a previous name change. Completing and updating all necessary nonprofit documentation policies, by-laws, permits, etc. Redesigned the museum and board organizational committee structure and a board recruitment strategy. Negotiated a one-year $475,000 extension. Developed and implemented a staff reduction plan to compensate for $100,000 reduction in town subsidy. Initiated a re-interpretation plan beginning with an outside consultant re-imagination study.• Successfully diversified funding to reduce town financial dependence from over 80% to approximately 65%. Increased Erie County funding from $0 to over $30,000 annually. Increased NYS funding from 0 to nearly $100,000 in special project educational funding. Obtained the museum’s first legacy gift of $145,000. Hired a grant-writer and recruited a more robust Development Committee. Increased revenue streams within the following campaigns: Bi-annual giving, Special events, Exhibits/Event in-kind and sponsorships, Adopt-A-House, Legacy giving. Initiated friend-building campaign to build donor base.