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What brought you to Iowa?

My husband. We met on a presidential campaign. We were both working for Steve Forbes. He was managing our Iowa operation and I was the deputy campaign manager back at our national headquarters in Alexandria, Va. So I tell everyone he brought me here for the culture.

Did you work on this past campaign?

I was mostly working with the Iowa Prosperity Project, which is a project of the Iowa Association of Business and Industry to educate employers about their options. We also worked on the (Mariannette) Miller-Meeks for Congress race.

Was it a big transition going from serving as vice president of corporate communications for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to working with nonprofits?

Not really, because I had been in the not-for-profit world of politics for almost 20 years. That coupled with my business background, it really was a smooth transition.

What do you miss about the East Coast?

Really nothing. I think the hardest thing is my family is still in Connecticut, but we try to see one another as much as possible. I don’t miss the traffic.

Are there a couple of projects you’re working on this year?

One of the things we’re really excited about is that the Urbandale Farmers Market will now be housed at Living History Farms. We’ll start that in June on Monday nights and really try to focus the event around the cultural organizations in town to showcase what Des Moines as a community has to offer. The other thing is this Oct. 4 will mark the 30th anniversary of when Pope John Paul II came to visit Living History Farms, so we’re working with the (Catholic) Diocese (of Des Moines) to plan a community-wide event.

So a big focus of yours is on events?

It is. We really want to attract new audiences. We’re also going to theme our season “Art at the Farms” this year and will give people a chance to look at the farms with different lenses. We’ll look at the art of cooking back in specific time periods. We’ll look at the art of penmanship. We just met with Atlantic Bottling Co. and they are going to underwrite a Spenserian penmanship workshop for us. That is actually the font that was used in the development of the Coca-Cola name.

Are there some skills you’ve brought to this nonprofit?

I think one of the things that was the most important to the board as they were looking for a new director was someone with a strong business background. Someone who has strong management skills, can be kind of a budget hawk as well as fund-raising ability and prowess. That’s something I pride myself in what we accomplished at the Symphony over the five years that I was there. We retired a half million dollars in long-term debt and nearly tripled our endowment.

Has the economy put a strain on the museum’s activities?

I think last year we had about an 8 percent decrease in our fund raising and so in preparation for that, we actually went ahead and cut our budget by 10 percent to be prepared for the worst-case scenario. If things end up being as promising as we hope that they will, we’re going to be in good shape.

Did you imagine yourself in nonprofit work?

One of the things I learned early on in life is to let go and let God.

What do you like to do for fun?

I love to downhill ski, which I don’t get a chance to now. I love to go to the beach with my family in Connecticut. I have two small children. Catherine is 6 and my son, John, is 4 and my stepdaughter, Andrea, is 16, so we have a wide variety of interests.

Is there a career accomplishment you’re most proud of?

Creating the Des Moines Symphony Academy. When I came to the symphony, that was one of the first real goals that the board set for me. That and they said Yankee Doodle Pops could not continue to lose money. I would say those two were really huge for me because they have such an impact on the community.