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What excites you about your new position?

I was looking at some opportunities in Nashville [and]Michigan. And what drew me here were two things. The first was quite honestly the warm welcome, above-and-beyond treatment I got from the president of the board and board members and just the community of people I met on those interviews. Also, with the job, I was struck by the sheer opportunity I saw here. As a national treasure, I don’t believe that it has been even close to being fully recognized and utilized.

Were you actively looking for a new challenge?

Yeah, I had been. The past organization, Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens in Akron, is a phenomenal organization and one that I invested in and had a lot of personal, emotional connections with the people, the volunteers, the community. But I got to the point where I felt I had contributed and grown as much as I could there.

Are there a couple of main priorities on your to-do list?

There are (laughs), and actually my biggest challenge right now is to prioritize the priorities. Up front and foremost would be the financial stability. My major goal is to make sure that we have a solid endowment for the future. But with that, I think we have immediate capital and operational needs. So balancing those two, and it all begins with awareness and support and people to invest back into Salisbury. This is certainly a charge by our board, but it’s evident that the organization has focus and clarity. Really what we are is a nationally significant historic house, museum and gardens, and if we’re going to be committed to that, we have to change how we do things. We have to take care of these collections and the house and the gardens. We can’t abuse it at the cost of just having weddings and rentals. If we’re going to be what we should be, then we’ve got to change our priorities a little bit. We’ve got to rebuild our stakeholders, including volunteers. I think over time we’ve lost people for whatever reasons, so a huge job of mine is to re-engage the community.

How did you get into this field?

I think it started with my dad. We used to live in San Diego, and we moved to Ohio, and in that move, my parents thought it would be a great idea to take three months of the summer to travel. You’ve got to understand: four kids, two parents, dog, cat shoved into this car with everything living on the road for three months. My dad was the one who every time there was one of those brown historical markers on the interstate, pulled in. Lord knows, we were probably kicking and screaming at that time, but I have to believe that part of that is why I’ve always had an appreciation for our heritage. Then really how I got into the museum field, when I was in Ohio after graduate school, I worked for a small historical society. It was a typical historical society, a bunch of women, basically all volunteer retirees that probably had better things to do with their time, but they really felt that their local history was so important that it needed to be preserved and more important, [needed to be taught] to the youth in the community as to why it was important. I think that really moved me.

Are there some hobbies you have outside work?

When I was at Stan Hywet about 15 years ago, I started a vintage baseball team. My plan was to retire and spend time with my family, but then I got an e-mail; apparently there’s a gentleman in Des Moines who has been talking about starting a team. So maybe my retirement will be short-lived. We love to travel; we love the outdoors, hiking and biking. I end up spending most of my time with things in the community. Also I’ve always lived in old homes and I love doing that type of work.

Is there a period of history you’re really focused on?

I actually kind of run the gamut, but I have a great interest in the Industrial Era, which I would say Salisbury House is a byproduct of. Not because of all the wealth that was generated but what it meant. It was a great time for America. It went through this period of innovation, entrepreneurialism, the self-made man. We have a really fascinating history, but I think the thing for me is that history alone, that’s great, but the point is, what does it mean?