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The Peale Museum - Executive Director

Baltimore, MD

The Board of Directors of The Peale, Baltimore’s Community Museum, seeks an Executive Director. We anticipate a start date of approximately January 1, 2025.

Compensation: $75,000 to $105,000 + medical insurance and retirement benefits

Who We Are

The Peale is Baltimore’s Community Museum, housed in the oldest museum building in the United States.

More than two hundred years after the museum was established in 1814, The Peale is once again going strong. We’re building an inclusive archive of Baltimore stories and offering a showcase for the city’s storytellers that honors their importance and historical value. 

The Peale’s mission is to provide an accessible platform for artistic, scientific, and cultural projects where participants can take creative risks, learn, connect with communities in Baltimore and beyond, and share their stories both in the historic Peale Museum building and online.

Together, the Board and Staff of the Peale have developed the profile of our ideal leader. We will select from candidates who most closely demonstrate the following skills and personal characteristics.

What We’re Looking For

Relationship Development/Community Relations:

Effective, externally focused, relationship builder. 

  • Current presence in community, or have qualities the community can connect with, so over short period of time become recognized leader in the Baltimore local community (particularly the community engagement space).
  • Record of community engagement and of developing partnerships with individuals and organizations.
  • Comfortable with wide range of people.

Strategic focus/Planning Skills:

Powerful understanding of and use of strategy in organizational life:

  • Knowledgeable of dynamics affecting current and future environment of The Peale and effective at maximizing the organization in response to these dynamics;
  • Skill at prioritizing, and accomplished at sequencing change;
  • Has understanding and makes use of networking with and benchmarking other organizations to increase The Peale’s effectiveness;
  • Able to continuously develop, execute and evaluate strategic plans, in concert with other stakeholders, and to champion strategic perspectives.

Financial Acumen/Integrity:

Fiscally responsible, with business skills and experience, including developing, communicating and executing budgets. 

  • Excellent financial grasp, including how to read and understand financial statements and make organizational adjustments as called for.
  • Understanding of and commitment to financial integrity and financial transparency in the context of stewardship of The Peale.

Fundraising:

Excited about building resources for The Peale. Effective fundraiser, knowledgeable of the Executive Director role in fundraising and resource development, who is:

  • Strong as mission spokesperson and in relationship management aspects of fundraising (both individual and institutional);
  • Is comfortable with asking for money for The Peale;
  • Able to continue to develop The Peale’s organizational (Staff and Board) fundraising capacity.
  • Is creative and capable at conceiving and developing alternative revenue streams

Integrity:

Our most important asset is the trust our staff, Board and the Community have in our work and in The Peale as an institution. The Peale’s Executive Director will:

  • Have clear, high personal standards;
  • Be both trustworthy and know when and how to be trusting;
  • Be transparent;
  • Be an honest, sincere, courageous, ethical person of substance, with a strong awareness and sense of self; and
  • Demonstrate a record of being able to identify, confront, analyze and resolve ethically ambiguous issues and potential or real conflicts of interest, both for (her or him) self and others in the organization.

Leadership:

We seek a mission focused leader who collaboratively builds and compellingly communicates a vision for The Peale, including in the power of storytelling, as well as our commitment to community engagement, to serving the whole community. An energetic, externally focused individual with a high level of emotional intelligence, who will help The Peale become a more significant institution, that remains financially healthy and increases its service to our mission, and:

  • Has great people skills, including being able to flex style, comfortable and effective at engaging a wide range of stakeholders with diverse backgrounds and outlook – from someone passing the Peale building in the street to donors, makers and government officials;
  • Has an open style, but is also an effective decision-maker and change agent;
  • Is adaptable, accessible and enthusiastic;
  • Is not risk averse.

People Manager/Operations

An organized, inclusive, results-oriented manager with strong operational skills; Someone who:

  • Is committed and effective leading a staff, including supervising, developing and mentoring.
  • Has the mindset of an effective manager, including attention to detail;
  • Is able to multi-task effectively across a broad range of areas, quickly shifting gears and prioritizing tasks across diverse areas and practices.
  • Is committed to and has a record of effectively managing and developing diversity in staff and board.

Communication:

Public and private interpersonal skills, including:

  • Being a skillful listener who powerfully grasps meaning and reflects it back to the speaker;
  • Enjoys/is comfortable being in a public situation and being “the face” of the organization;
  • Is an organized thinker, effective writer and speaker;
  • Is personable, inspiring and respectful;
  • Is an articulate, effective spokesperson for The Peale and its mission.

Board Relationships:

Experience working for, on or with a board of directors, and

  • Knows and/or develops skills with board development, structure and operations;
  • Is personally collaborative and effective in group work settings;
  • Balances influencing and being influenced;
  • Strong mission focus, including appropriately centering the Board in the life of the Peale.

Vision:

Displays ability to project The Peale’s needs out into the future; sees and understands future trends in community organizations, in cultural organizations and museums, in related fields and the world as well as the impact on The Peale’s operations and:

  • Is an inclusive, big picture person with an orientation toward the future;
  • Has a vision specifically for The Peale’s organizational future, including how to continue to transform our structure and offerings in response to digital;
  • Develops vision with input from stakeholders and across the organization, and able to enroll others in working together to execute the resulting vision;
  • Balances vision with doing

How to Apply:

Open until filled, review started October 1.

Search Committee:

The search for The Peale’s next Executive Director is being conducted by a committee including:

  • F. William “Chick” Chickering, Dean of Libraries, Emeritus, Rider University
  • Tom Livingston, Founder, Livingston Associates
  • Michael Pokorny, Principal, Cap Ex Advisory Group Cricket
  • Shauntee Daniels, Executive Director, Baltimore National Heritage Area
  • Darryl Peterkin, Associate Dean for Student Success and Equity, Macaulay Honors College at The City University of New York
  • Rosaland M. Cauthen, Executive Director, the Baltimore School for the Arts
  • Steve Howard, Partner, True Chesapeake Oyster Co, LLC.
  • John Leith, Tetrault President, National Trust Community Investment Corporation (ret’d.)

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