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Board of Directors
Learn about the ACM Board of Directors
and find out how you can get involved.
Topics:
Current ACM
Board of Directors
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Executive
Committee
Term: 2006-2008
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Board Members
Term: 2007-2009
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President
Laura
Foster (bio)
Executive Director
Please Touch Museum (Philadelphia, PA)
Vice President
of Governance
Connie
Martinez (bio)
Executive Director
Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose (CA)
Vice President of Programs
Neil
Gordon (bio)
Executive Vice President and COO
Boston Children's Museum (MA)
Vice President of Marketing
Shelley
Goode (bio)
(formerly of National Children's
Museum)
Vice President, Philanthropic Marketing
Lipman Hearne Inc.
(Washington, DC)
Treasurer
Henry
Schulson (bio)
Executive Director
Creative Discovery Museum (Chattanooga, TN)
Secretary
Julia
Bland (bio)
Executive Director
Louisiana Children's Museum (New Orleans
Past President
Beth
Fitzgerald
(bio)
Executive Director
The Magic House, St. Louis Children's Museum (MO)
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Georgina
Ngozi (bio)
Executive Director
Childrens Museum of the Lowcountry
(Charleston, SC)
Sarah
Orleans (bio)
Executive Director
Portland Children's Museum (OR)
Barry
A. Van Deman (bio)
President and Chief Executive Officer
Museum of Life and Science
(Durham, NC)
Carmen
Vega (bio)
Executive Director
El Museo del Niño de Puerto Rico (San Juan)
Board Members
Term: 2006-2008
Jennifer
Farrington (bio)
Chief Operating Officer
Chicago Children's Museum (IL)
Lindy Hoyer
(bio)
Executive Director
Omaha Children's Museum (NE)
Debbie
Spiegelman (bio)
Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer
Miami Children's Museum (FL)
Sheridan
Turner
President and CEO
Kohl Children's Museum of Greater Chicago (Glenview,
IL)
Loretta
Yajima (bio)
President and Chief Executive Officer
Hawaii Children's Discovery Center (Honolulu)
Ex-Officio
Janet
Rice Elman bio
Executive Director
Association of Children's Museums (Washington, DC)
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ACM President
Laura H.
Foster, Executive Director, Please Touch Museum® (Philadelphia,
PA)
Foster has been a member of the senior staff
of Please Touch Museum since 1991, and served on the ACM board
four years prior to becoming ACM's vice president of marketing.
She came to Please Touch after two other careers, working
first in public health policy and law for the federal government
and then in association management.
For the last six years, she has been part
of the leadership team planning the expansion and relocation
of the museum, first to Penn's Landing and now to Memorial
Hall in Fairmount Park. The new Please Touch Museum will restore
a national historic landmark (Memorial Hall is the site of
the 1876 Centennial) that has been neglected for many years.
The museum is also helping to create a new cultural district
that will include the Zoo and the Mann Music Center. Memorial
Hall is adjacent to the Parkside community that for 30 years
has been working to realize their vision of neighborhood renewal.
Please Touch Museum's relocation should serve as a catalyst
for accelerating the kinds of change that Parkside is seeking.
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to current board
ACM Vice President
of Governance
Connie
Martinez, Executive Director, Children's Discovery Museum
of San Jose (CA)
Martinez is the executive director of Children's
Discovery Museum of San Jose. She served as an ACM program
co-chair for InterActivity 2005. She has lived in California
since 1986, holding multiple leadership positions within the
community including director of strategic initiatives for
University of California Santa Cruz, vice president for Joint
Venture: Silicon Valley Network and deputy city manager, planning
director and general services director for the City of Mountain
View, California.
She is the former-chair
of the San Jose Arts and Culture Roundtable and a founder
of the 1stACT (Arts, Creativity & Technology) collaborative.
In addition to serving on the ACM Board, Martinez is a board
member of the American Leadership Forum-Silicon Valley (ALF-SV),
Los Lupenos and the recipient of ALF-SV's 2005 John W. Gardner
Leadership Award. She has a BS in Finance and an MBA in Information
Systems from the University of Colorado.
Prior to moving to Silicon Valley,
Martinez lived in Boulder, Colorado, where she developed business
plans and marketing strategies for manufacturing companies
in the Rocky Mountain region and in Rochester, New York, where
she worked for Manufacturers Hanover Trust as an operations
analyst.
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to current board
ACM Vice President
of Programs
Neil H. Gordon, Executive Vice President
and Chief Operating Officer, Boston Children's Museum (MA)
Gordon has been with the Boston Children's
Museum for nearly 10 years; his responsibilities include planning,
program development, exhibits, the visitor experience and
education programs. Additionally, he is currently overseeing
the capital expansion of the museum.
Gordon was program co-chair for InterActivity
2005 and treasurer of the New England Museum Association.
He has consulted with several museums on strategic and financial
matters and taught graduate level public management and public
finance. Gordon is the past-treasurer of the Museum Management
Committee of the American Association of Museums and a member
of the Cultural Institution Financial Management Group of
Massachusetts.
Prior to joining Boston Children's Museum,
he served as the budget director for the City of Boston for
two years, having served as the deputy director for five years.
Previously, he was the associate director for the Mayor's
Office of Jobs and Community Services. He holds a Masters
Degree from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
and a BS from Dickinson College. His main claims of qualification
to work in a children's museum are his four children aged
15 through 5.
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to current board
ACM Vice President
of Marketing
Charlie Walter, Chief Operating Officer,
Fort Worth Museum of Science and History (TX)
Walter has worked for the Fort Worth Museum
of Science and History since 1986, where he has administrative
responsibility for the collections, exhibitions, visitor programs,
Museum School, Noble Planetarium, school services and evaluation
areas of the museum. He has an undergraduate degree in Wildlife
and Fisheries Science with an emphasis in Museum Science from
Texas A&M University and a Master of Business Administration
from the University of North Texas. Much of his work over
the past decade has involved utilizing a systems strategy
to connect the museum to broader communities.
Walter currently serves in leadership roles
with the Youth Museum Exhibit Collaborative, the Association
of Science-Technology Centers' Leadership and Professional
Development Committee, the National Center for Informal Learning
in Schools, the Science Museum Exhibit Collaborative and the
Informal Science Education Association of Texas. He has served
as a principal investigator or senior staff member on three
National Science Foundation grants, and co-authored a chapter
entitled "Supporting Systemic School Science Education
Reform Through Free-Choice Learning: A Texas Case Study"
for the recently published book Free-Choice Science Education:
How We Learn Science Outside of School, edited by John Falk.
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ACM
Treasurer
Henry Schulson, Executive Director, Creative Discovery
Museum (Chattanooga, TN)
Schulson has worked in museums most of
his life, beginning as a high school volunteer at the American
Museum of Natural History in New York City. Since that time,
he has been manager of membership and then development at
the American Museum, director of the Dallas Museum of Natural
History and, since 1997, executive director of the Creative
Discovery Museum in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Schulson has served on the ACM Council since
2000 and has been involved with InterActivity as a presenter,
and as both a member of the roundtable committee and program
committee. He has also served on the executive committees
of both the Texas and Tennessee Associations of Museums, been
a presenter at American Association of Museums and a reviewer
for the National Science Foundation and Institute of Museum
and Library Services' General Operating Support grants.
In his seven years at the Creative Discovery
Museum, working with board and staff, the museum has transformed
from an institution facing severe financial difficulties to
one of Chattanooga's most innovative cultural organizations,
operating with a balanced budget and noted for its community
collaborations and educational programs.
Schulson is especially interested in issues
related to community development, resource sharing, diversity
and institutional start-ups. He believes museums must constantly
search for the best ways they can meet the needs of their
communities. He also believes that it is important that museum
boards, staff and audience reflect the communities in which
they serve.
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to current board
Secretary
Julia Bland, Executive Director, Louisiana
Children's Museum (New Orleans)
In 1997, Bland became
the executive director of the Louisiana Children's Museum
(LCM), an organization she had gotten to know first as a mother,
later as a volunteer fund-raiser, then a board member and
finally leading the organization as its director. Like many
children's museums, LCM's origin was a grass roots effort,
and has grown and evolved over its 18 year history into a
proud destination and attraction for families all across the
world. In 2004, LCM hosted Interactivity 2004.
Bland has worked
in a variety of positions in New Orleans as a community
activist, always with a focus on education and young children.
She has chaired the boards of local organizations such as
Trinity Episcopal School, the Tulane Institute of Infant and
Early Childhood Mental Health's Advisory Board and served
on the Museum Studies Advisory Committee of the Master of
Arts in Museum Studies Program at Southern University at New
Orleans. She was selected in 2001 as a City Business Woman
of the year and is currently serving on the rector search
committee for Trinity Episcopal Church. Nationally, she has
presided over the museum collaborative MC2 and is a founding
member of Quality Management to a Higher Level (Qm2)'s New
Orleans Roundtable.
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Past President
Beth Fitzgerald,
Executive Director, The Magic House, St. Louis Children's
Museum (MO)
As The Magic House's first and only executive
director, Fitzgerald has had the opportunity to guide the
growth and development of a fledgling institution into one
that is now nationally recognized.
She has had extensive participation in InterActivity,
serving as Co-chair in 1995 and 1996, and on various panels
in other years. In May 2001, The Magic House hosted InterActivity.
Since then, Fitzgerald has served the field in the role as
vice president of marketing of the ACM Council and is the
current president of the ACM Board of Directors.
She has committed her professional and personal
life to children and learning. Fitzgerald has a Master's degree
in Early Childhood Education and serve on the Boards of many
youth organizations. Besides her work at The Magic House,
she is also an elected official serving
in the capacity of vice president of the Rockwood School District
Board of Education, the fourth largest school district in
Missouri.
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to current board
Board Members
Carmen L. Vega, Executive
Director, El Museo del Niño de Puerto Rico (San Juan,
PR)
A native of New York City, Vega is the founder
and executive director of El Museo del Niño de Puerto
Rico since 1993. Her post at the Museo was preceded by many
years of academic and professional preparation in the field
of education. Prior to moving to Puerto Rico in 1983, she
worked as the director of a Clinical Family Counseling Training
Program in Miami while simultaneously teaching English-as-a-Second
Language at Miami-Dade Community College. She also worked
as a public school teacher in Boston, Massachusetts.
With the support of an active Board of Directors
composed of 11 prominent island executives from the private
sector, she is also immersed in constant efforts to raise
operating funds from foundations, corporations and generous
Puerto Ricans of all strata of society. In the decade since
the Museo began to take shape, she have successfully raised
over $4.0 million for the Museo while obtaining government
underwriting of the museum's Calle Cristo location.
Vega was awarded the Elizabeth Arden "Belleza
Inteligente" Award, and recognized for professional achievement
in the Oxfords Who's Who Annual Registry. She received a Bachelor
of Arts Degree in Sociology from Brandeis University in Waltham,
Massachusetts, and a Masters Degree in Education from Harvard
University. She currently resides in the town of Trujillo
Alto, Puerto Rico, and has two children.
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Deborah
Spiegelman, Executive Director/CEO, Miami Children's Museum
(FL)
For the past six years, Spiegelman have
been Executive Director of the Miami Children's Museum where
she is involved with long range planning, development, the
creation and implementation of exhibits and educational programs.
Under her leadership, the museum's capital campaign raised
more than $25 million to build the permanent facility where
the museum has resided for the past two and a half years.
The Museum targets all audiences in Miami's changing and diverse
community and has become a town center for the children of
South Florida. Many families living in urban and impoverished
neighborhoods in Miami have had little or no exposure to museums
or to arts programming. Through the museum's partnership with
the City of Miami, local schools, and community-based organizations
in low-income communities, the Museum has been able to provide
free and reduced programs, admission, and scholarships for
children living in these neighborhoods. It is through these
programs that the museum fulfills its mission to the community.
Spiegelman's professional background includes
25 years of non-profit experience in marketing, public relations,
board development, management and fundraising. She has previously
held positions with The Children's Home Society Foundation,
University of Miami Miami Project to Cure Paralysis/Buoniconti
Fund, Mount Sinai Medical Center and Greater Miami Jewish
Federation. Spiegelman has fourteen years experience in the
museum field, serving as director of the capital campaign,
consultant to board of directors, and providing leadership
development in all aspects of non-profit management and business
development.
In addition to her position as ACM
Board Member, she is an active participant in the Children's
Cultural Coalition; National Society of Fund Raising Executives;
Children's Museum Charter School Board of Directors; the Cushman
School Board; Temple Beth Shalom Board of Education, City
of North Miami Educational Committee; Board Member Girl Scouts;
and WPBT's KidVision Advisory Board Member.
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to current board
Shelley Goode, (formerly
of National Children's Museum) Vice President, Philanthropic
Marketing
Lipman Hearne Inc. (Washington, DC)
Shelley Goode oversees
fundraising communications at Lipman Hearne. She has more
than 26 years of experience in fundraising and development
with a diverse set of clients in the nonprofit, educational,
and cultural sectors. Shelley has gained a broad understanding
of the needs of donors and organizations through her diverse
experiences in fundraising positions at Johns Hopkins University,
Syracuse University, and Spelman College. She was also part
of the team that helped to open Port Discovery, the Childrens
Museum in Baltimore; and more recently worked in Development
and External Affairs with the Smithsonian Institute.
Prior to joining Lipman Hearne, Shelley
was the Vice President for External Affairs at the National
Childrens Museum in Washington D.C, where she developed
and directed a $130 million capital campaign to enable the
creation of the National Childrens Museum scheduled
to open in 2009. Shelley holds a B.A
in Arts Administration and Political Science from Mary Baldwin
College in Staunton, Virginia.
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Loretta Yajima,
President & Chief Executive Officer, Hawaii Children's
Discovery Center
Yajima has served as President & CEO
of the Hawaii Children's Discovery Center as a full-time volunteer
for the past 20 years. As Chair of the Center's volunteer
Board of Directors, she is responsible for the implementation
of the organization's overall strategic and business plans
and oversee the operations of the museum.
The initial success of the museum, which
was located in a storefront in the Dole Pineapple Cannery,
prompted us to look for a permanent home for the museum, one
that could serve both local audiences as well as the large
tourist population visiting the islands. After a $15 million
campaign, the Hawaii Children's Discovery Center opened at
its present location in the Kaka'ako Waterfront Park in December
1998.
Prior to becoming part of the Children's
Discovery Center team, Yajima was an educator and former school
administrator. She has degree in Elementary Education from
Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY, and a Master's Degree
in Education. Formerly a Head Start teacher, she also taught
at the University of Hawaii Laboratory School as a demonstration
teacher for Hawaii English Program (HEP), developing curriculum
for the public schools in Hawaii. She left a position as Administrative
Director at a private elementary school in Honolulu in 1986
to help start the first children's museum in Hawaii. The Museum
received the Community Recognition Award from The Chamber
of Commerce of Hawaii in 1989; the First Lady's Outstanding
Volunteer of the Year Award for the most innovative project
in 1990; and the Award of Excellence from The College of Education
at the University of Hawaii in 1992.
In 1991, she was honored to receive
the JC Penny's Golden Rule Award for Volunteerism and, in
1992, the George Washington Medal of Honor Award for Individual
Achievement from the Valley Forge Freedom Foundation. According
to Yajima, it was truly a team effort! All of her volunteer
efforts over the years include work with organizations that
focus on education and issues related to families and children.
Past boards that she have served on include the Cancer Research
Center of Hawaii, Assets School, the University of Hawaii
Foundation and the Hawaii Museums Association.
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Georgina Niobe
Ngozi, Executive Director, Children's Museum of the Lowcountry
(Charleston, SC)
As the relatively new Executive Director for the Children's
Museum of the Lowcountry, Ngozi believes she's been given
a platform to apply the entirety of her 30 years of knowledge
and experience, working on the behalf of children. She entered
the Children's Museum field as the Director of Art Education
for the Children's' Museum of Houston (CMH), an environment
that nurtured her creative spirit and allowed Ngozi to create
opportunities for children to discover their creative spirits.
She worked at CMH for six years and in 2001, she returned
to her native Brooklyn, NY, to serve as the Director of Education
for the Brooklyn Children's Museum (BCM), a museum she visited
as a child. BCM, a collecting museum enveloped Ngozi in an
environment of cultural richness, which can be found throughout
the museum, as a backdrop to the diverse beauty of the people
themselves.
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Barry A. Van Deman,
President and CEO, Museum of Life and Science (Durham, NC)
The Museum of Life and Science in
Durham, NC, began 50 years ago as a children's museum and
at some point in its history focused its content on science,
especially on the animals entrusted to its care. Today, the
museum continue to serve families as its largest audience
with exhibits and programs indoors and out. The museum clearly
sees a fit with ACM's mission.
Children's museums and science museums share
a common goal in nurturing a sense of wonder in children.
In her book, A Sense of Wonder, Rachel Carson implored
us to share the sense of wonder, rediscovering with the child
the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in. This
work is noble, joyful, and it requires effort.
The work of children's museums demands that
the field continually learns from its experience with children,
from research, and from each other. When Van Deman served
as Section Head of Science Literacy at the National Science
Foundation managing the Informal Science Education Program,
he had the privilege to work with leaders in children's museums
to fund some imaginative and impactful projects. He also observed
areas where he thought the children's museum profession needed
to grow.
Van Deman had the pleasure (and the
pain) of working in museums for 23 years. He has taught elementary
school and authored elementary science textbooks. His is the
proud father of two adorable young children and the husband
of a seasoned professional in children's and science museum
work.
Sarah
Orleans, Executive Director, Portland Children's Museum (OR)
Orleans was appointed
to the Board in 2006 to complete a former board member's term
and was elected to the Board in 2007.
Orleans has spent the last 30 years as
an educator and museum professional: from her early years
as an environmental educator in the Pinelands of New Jersey,
through her years as Director of Programs at the Franklin
Institute Science Museum in Philadelphia, and as co-founder
and Director of the Garden State Discovery Museum, one of
the first, and most successful for-profit children's museums.
Orleans' passion has been to explore and experiment with hands-on
education and what it can look like in many forms and environments.
In 2004, she was invited to lead the extraordinary
team at the Portland Children's Museum (PCM) in beautiful
Oregon. Over the past six years, PCM has been rethinking,
rebuilding and reinventing itself inspired by the work of
the early childhood centers in Reggio Emilia, Italy. The Museum's
inquiry-based learning approach and five years of research
and documentation of children's learning in its Pre K- Grad
5 public charter school have inspired the museum to develop
programs and exhibits where children learn and become themselves
through interaction and relationships with other people, ideas,
objects and environments. Children at PCM are invited to make
their thinking visible to us in many ways words, drawing,
clay, dance, painting, construction, music and more. The museum
views the adults in the child's life as partners, researchers
and co-creators in a child's learning journey.
Orleans believes it is more important
than ever that adults are given opportunities that encourage
them to view children as intelligent, competent, resourceful,
and creative with imagination and wonder about the world around
them. She believes that children's museums play an important
role in that process.
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Lindy Hoyer, Executive
Director, Omaha Children's Museum (NE)
Hoyer has been the
executive director for the Omaha Childrens Museum since
June 2002. Under her leadership the Omaha Childrens
Museum has increased its annual attendance by 78 percent,
doubled its membership, developed award winning exhibits and
attracted blockbuster-traveling exhibits.
Her combined experience
in the childrens museum field has spanned 19 years,
and in fact began at the Omaha Childrens Museum in 1986.
Shortly after graduating from Doane College in Crete, Nebraska,
with a dual degree in Theatre and English, she was in charge
of volunteer management and recruitment, program planning,
visitor services and exhibit management at the museum.
In 1994, she joined
the Lincoln Childrens Museum (NE) where she was responsible
for all marketing and public relations, management of new
and existing exhibits, program planning, grant writing and
supervision of Visitor Services staff. Prior to her departure,
Hoyer managed the design and installation of the museums
new exhibits and the renovation of the museums permanent
home.
A native of Nebraska, Lindy is pleased
to call Omaha home. Lindy lives with her husband, Michael;
and has one son, Marc age 4, and four stepdaughters.
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Ex-Officio
Janet Rice Elman,
Executive Director, Association of Children's Museums (Washington,
DC)
In her role as executive
director of the professional association representing children's
museums around the world, Elman has led the Association of
Children's Museums (ACM) in a successful transition from an
entirely volunteer driven organization in 1994 to one of the
leading museum professional associations in Washington, DC
today. She recently led the launch of ACM's vision statement
for ACM to be, "recognized as a global leader, advocate
and resource among organizations serving the learning needs
of children and families."
Prior to joining ACM, Elman was director
of national programs for Very Special Arts (now VSA arts)
where she developed national arts programs for individuals
with and without disabilities. During her six-year tenure
at Very Special Arts, Elman developed and piloted programs
in all the art forms dance, drama, creative writing,
music, and visual arts which served as models for the
50 Very Special Arts state affiliates. She worked on early
childhood curriculum materials to support program initiatives
and developed training workshops to assist state directors
in program implementation. Prior to her departure, she directed
the 1993 national conference and additionally served as acting
director of state services.
She has also held positions in art consulting
and management consulting firms, and has curated the slide
collection of works of art in an academic setting. Elman holds
a BA in Art History and Communications from The George Washington
University and an MA in Humanities from Marymount University.
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ACM
Board of Directors Job Description
Accountable to:
ACM membership and representatives through the leadership
of the Board President and Executive Director.
Functions
The ACM Board of Directors collectively functions in four
major areas:
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Policy-making
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Strategic planning
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Fund development
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Financial oversight
In carrying out these functions, the
board of directors assumes the legal responsibility for its
actions.
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Responsibilities
of the Board of Directors (collectively):
(Adapted from BoardSource)
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Determine the Association's mission and vision.
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Select the Chief Executive.
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Provide proper financial oversight.
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Ensure adequate resources.
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Ensure legal and ethical integrity and maintain accountability.
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Ensure effective organizational planning
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Recruit and orient new board members
and assess board performance.
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Enhance the Association's public standing.
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Monitor the Association's programs and
services in line with the mission and vision.
-
Support the Chief Executive and
assess his or her performance.
While the Board of Directors functions as
a body in its deliberations and policy-level decisions, the
members are elected as individuals.
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Responsibilities
of Board Members (individually):
(Adapted from BoardSource)
General Expectations
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Know the organization's mission,
purposes, goals, policies, programs, services, strengths
and needs.
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Suggest possible nominees to the
board who are clearly leaders and who can make significant
contributions to the work of the board and the organization's
progress.
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Participate in board member self-assessment.
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Serve in leadership positions
or undertake committee assignments willingly and enthusiastically
when asked.
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Avoid prejudiced judgments on
the basis of information received from individuals and
urge those with grievances to follow established policies
and procedures.
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Follow the trends in the children's
museum and related fields.
- Bring a sense of humor to the
board's deliberations.
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responsibilities
Meetings
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Prepare for and participate in
board and committee meetings, including appropriate organizational
activities (such as InterActivity).
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Ask timely and substantive questions
at board and committee meetings consistent with their
convictions, while supporting the majority decision on
issues decided by the board.
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Maintain confidentiality of the
board's executive sessions, and speak for the board or
Association only when authorized.
- Suggest agenda items periodically
for board and committee meetings to ensure that significant
policy-related matters are addressed.
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responsibilities
Relationship
with Staff
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Counsel the Chief Executive as
appropriate to offer support in his or her often difficult
relationships with groups or individuals.
-
Understand that the Chief Executive
reports to the Board of Directors and the staff reports
to the Chief Executive.
- Avoid asking for special favors
of the staff, including special requests for extensive information
or waivers of policies.
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to individual responsibilities
Avoiding
Conflicts
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Serve the organization as a whole
rather than any special interest group or constituency.
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Avoid even the appearance of a
conflict of interest that might embarrass the board or
the organization, and disclose any possible conflicts
to the board in a timely fashion.
-
Maintain independence and objectivity
and do what a sense of fairness, ethics and personal integrity
dictate even though not necessarily obliged to do so by
law, policy or custom.
- Never accept (or offer) favors
or gifts from (or to) anyone who does business with the
Association.
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Fiduciary
Responsibilities
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responsibilities
Fundraising
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Joining Committees,
Subcommittees and Taskforces
To support ACM's priority to be as inclusive
as possible, the Association welcomes any representative of
a member museum that is in good standing to consider joining
an ACM committee, subcommittee or taskforce. There are a total
of seven committees that are open to member participation
(the Executive, Human Resources and Governance Committees
are for Board Members only.)
Contact the committee chair if you are interested
to join a committee, listing your background and talents that
would contribute to the committees' knowledge.
Overview
- Committees are aligned with the strategic
objectives and staff organization.
- Every committee, subcommittee and taskforce
incorporates diversity as a key value.
- Committees are ongoing and may have subcommittees;
taskforces are generally time-limited.
- Each committee and taskforce is chaired
by a member or former member of the Board and assigned a
staff contact who will coordinate the work of the committee.
Committees, Subcommittees and Taskforces
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Executive
Committee
Strategic Goal: Ensure the
future of ACM with strong leadership and sound financial practices.
Chair: Laura
Foster (The Executive Committee is chaired by the
Board president.)
Members: Connie Martinez,
Neil Gordon, Charlie Walter, Henry Schulson, Julia Bland and
Beth Fitzgerald
Primary Staff Liaison: Janet
Rice Elman, Executive Director; Sharon Witting, Program Officer,
Development (for Advocacy)
Role:
The Executive Committee is comprised of the seven officers
of the Association: President, Vice Presidents, Treasurer,
Secretary and Past President. The Executive Committee ensures
that the priorities of the Association are in alignment with
the Strategic
Framework. The Executive Committee serves as a representational
body of the Board and is often empowered by the full Board
to make decisions on behalf of the entire Board. Oversees
the Human Resources Subcommittee.
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overview
Human
Resources Subcommittee, a Subcommittee of the Executive Committee
Strategic Goal: Ensure the
future of ACM with strong leadership and sound financial practices.
Chair: Laura
Foster (The Human Resources Subcommittee is chaired
by the President.)
Members: Beth Fitzgerald,
Connie Martinez, Henry Schulson
Primary Staff Liaison: Janet
Rice Elman, Executive Director
Role: The Human Resources
Subcommittee works with the executive director to ensure that
ACM remains a fair and competitive employer and recruits and
retains the most talented staff.
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to Committee overview
Governance
Committee
Strategic Goal: Ensure the
future of ACM with strong leadership and sound financial practices.
Chair: Connie
Martinez (The Governance Committee is
chaired by the Vice President of Governance.)
Members: Beth Fitzgerald,
Laura Foster and Neil Gordon
Primary Staff Liaison: Janet
Rice Elman, Executive Director
Role: The Governance Committee
reviews bylaws and Board structure in order to advance the
strategic framework. Oversees Board advancement including
the formation of a Nominating Subcommittee each year.
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Nominating Subcommittee,
a subcommittee of the Governance Committee
Strategic Goal: Ensure the
future of ACM with strong leadership and sound financial practices.
Chair: Beth
Fitzgerald
Members: Laura Foster, TBD,
TBD and TBD
Primary Staff Liaison: Janet
Rice Elman, Executive Director
Role: The role of the Nominating
Subcommittee is to identify through the nominating process
candidates for the Board of Directors and Officers and to
ensure that Board members elect have a clear understanding
of their responsibilities. The Nominating Subcommittee will
work with the Diversity Taskforce to ensure representation
of the diversity of the field on the ACM Board of Directors.
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Finance, Audit and
Investment Committee
Strategic Goal: Ensure the
future of ACM with strong leadership and sound financial practices.
Chair: Henry
Schulson (The Finance, Audit and Investment Committee
is chaired by the Treasurer.)
Members: Beth Fitzgerald,
Laura Foster and Sarah Orleans
Primary Staff Liaison: Nancy
Silverman, Director of Finance and Administration/Janet Rice
Elman, Executive Director
Role: Responsible for fiduciary
oversight of the Association's finances, audit process and
investment policy. Responsible for oversight of Auditor.
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Member Services Committee
Strategic Goal: Build the
capacity of ACM members to achieve sustainability and relevance
to an ever-diversifying audience.
Chair: Julia
Bland
Members: Carmen Vega, Lindy
Hoyer, Debbie Spiegelman and Loretta Yajima
Primary Staff Liaison: Chandi
Rajakaruna, Program Officer, Membership
Role: The Member Services
Committee guides the development of strategies to recruit,
retain, and better serve ACM's members. Constantly analyzes
member benefits and ACM customer service.
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Communication
Committee (formerly Marketing Committee)
Strategic Goal: Heighten the
awareness, visibility and recognized value of children's museums.
Chair: Charlie
Walter (The Communication Committee is chaired by
the Vice President for Marketing.)
Members: Laura Foster, Beth
Fitzgerald, Shelley Goode and Lindy Hoyer
Primary Staff Liaison: Diane
Kopasz, Program Officer, Communication
Role: The Communication Committee
guides the development of strategies to communicate ACM's
unique appeal to potential members, donors and marketing partners.
Oversees Research Taskforce.
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Education Committee
(formerly Programs Committee)
Strategic Goal: Build the
capacity of ACM members to achieve sustainability and relevance
to an ever-diversifying audience.
Chair: Neil
Gordon (The Education Committee is chaired by the
Vice President for Programs)
Members: Henry Schulson, Sarah
Orleans, Barry Van Deman, Loretta Yajima and Carmen Vega
Primary Staff Liaison: Korie
Twiggs, Program Officer, Education; and Kathleen Kelly Ngo,
Program Officer, Special Initiatives
Role: The Education Committee
reviews research, programmatic and content opportunities for
ACM, ensuring alignment with ACM's Strategic Framework.
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Development
Committee
Strategic Goal: Leverage the
collective power of the field.
Chair: Connie
Martinez
Members: Shelley Goode, Debbie
Spiegelman and Barry Van Deman
Primary Staff Liaison: Sharon
Witting, Program Officer, Development
Role: The Development Committee
guides ACM in its fundraising activities and works to identify
new funding sources.
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Diversity In Action
Commitee
Strategic Goal: Build the
capacity of ACM members to achieve sustainability and relevance
to an ever-diversifying audience.
Chair: Henry
Schulson
Members: Georgina Negozi, Loretta
Yajima, Rashida Walker (Chicago Children's Museum) Carol Enseki
(Brooklyn Children's Museum), Jeri Robinson (Boston Children's
Museum), Gwen Crider and Laura Huerta (National Multicultural
Institute)
Primary Staff Liaison: Korie
Twiggs, Program Officer, Education; and Lila Elliott, Program
Coordinator, Education
Role: The Diversity
Taskforce guides ACM in recognizing model programs in member
museums that encourage the development of diverse staff and
audiences, and spearheads national efforts to increase the
diversity of staff and audiences.
For more information about the Diversity
Taskforce, including a sample of its ongoing work, visit the
ACM Diversity Initiative page.
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Nominating
New Board Members
Serving on the ACM Board is an opportunity
to share your individual perspective and skills with a collegial
and committed group to further ACM's mission. In general,
a Board Member is elected to serve a two-year term. Elections
for the 2008-2010 term will take place in March 2008. Please
Note: ACM's fiscal and board year runs from July 1 to June
30.
Items to Consider
-
Do you have strong experience in one of more of the Board's
four major functions: policy-making, strategic planning,
fund development and financial oversight?
-
Can you meet the all collective and individual responsibilities
outlined in the Board
Member Job Description?
-
Finally, in consideration of those ACM Board Members
whose terms will expire in 2008, the ACM Nominating Committee
has identified three top priorities for Board candidates:
ethnic diversity, leadership skills and fundraising abilities.
Does your background and/or talents relate to these priorities?
If you or someone you know is interested
in serving on the ACM Board of Directors, please contact ACM's
Nominating Chairperson Beth
Fitzgerald.
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