ORGANIZATION:
POSITION:
REPORTS TO:
LOCATION:
WEBSITE:
CONTACT:
Mark Twain House & Museum
Executive Director
Chairman of the Board
Hartford, CT
www.MarkTwainHouse.org
Pamela Bol Riess
pbr executive search
212.865.9262
pamela@pbrsearch.com
BACKGROUND
The Mark Twain House & Museum (MTH&M) is an internationally significant National Historic
Landmark dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of Mark Twain’s enduring legacy. Twain
and his family lived there from 1874 to 1891 and while in residence, Twain wrote his most important
works, including Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and A
Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Recently voted the favorite tourism destination in
Connecticut by residents and visitors, the organization offers entertaining tours of Twain’s restored
home and a robust schedule of activities, events, exhibitions, and educational programs designed to
illuminate Twain’s literary legacy and provide a deeper understanding of his life and times.
With a top-caliber staff of 16 full time and 50 part time employees, a balanced operating budget of
$2.8 million, and thriving visitorship of 77,000 annually, the Museum is poised for growth. To that
end, the Board of Trustees seeks a visionary leader with an excellent track record of sound budget
management, fundraising, strategic planning and staff management to lead the organization to the
next level.
THE POSITION
The Executive Director collaborates with the Board to set the vision and strategic direction of the
organization. S/he serves as the Museum’s public face and spokesperson and must be visible and
proactive in a community highly supportive of the arts. S/he is also the organization’s primary
fundraiser and works closely with the Board of Trustees and the staff to cultivate new and
established donors and to continue to grow productive partnerships with business, cultural and
academic entities. Finally, the ED has the authority and responsibility for the museum’s budget and
its physical and human resources. The successful candidate will be a highly energetic leader who
will embrace the opportunity to move the Museum to a new era of growth and national recognition.
CRITICAL COMPETENCIES
The ideal candidate will have at least 15 years of work experience with at least 5 years in a senior
leadership position with fundraising, financial management, and staff management responsibilities.
Specifically, the following critical competencies will be essential to the Executive Director’s
success:
56 Tiemann Place, New York, NY 10027 □ phone 212.865.9262 □ fax 212.961.0906 □ pamela@pbrsearch.com □ www.pbrsearch.com
Fundraising
The MTH&M is dependent on a network of individual, corporate, foundation and government
donors who provide the $1.4 million in contributed income that supplements the $1.4 million in
earned revenue. The existing donor base is heavily concentrated around the Hartford,
Connecticut location of the House. The Executive Director must be a skilled fundraiser who can
expand development efforts beyond the local area, build strong relationships with existing
donors, and enlarge the donor base across all funding streams with the aim of eventually growing
the organization’s cash reserves and endowment funds.
Operating Leadership
The MTH&M is a sophisticated facility that includes a priceless historic house filled with
museum-grade furnishings and artifacts; a museum center with resident and traveling
exhibitions; an education center that hosts numerous seminars and continuing education sessions
for primary and secondary teachers; an auditorium that hosts guest speakers from the arts and
literary world; a store with on-site and online sales; and a restaurant. The Executive Director
must have highly developed operating management, financial management, marketing savvy and
leadership skills to ensure responsible and effective management of daily operations and the
management, coaching, and development of 16 full-time and 50 part-time employees. The
Executive Director must also be able to maintain and nourish an atmosphere where as many as
75 events per year are executed successfully and profitably.
Communication Skills
The Executive Director will be the face, voice, and spokesperson for the MTH&M with the
community, the media, and the thousands of people who visit and explore it annually. S/he must
have highly developed writing, interpersonal, and public speaking skills, and will be called upon
to use them daily. This role requires tact, judgment, gravitas, a comfort level interacting with
varied audiences, and the ability to field occasional difficult and sensitive questions from the
media and other important stakeholders.
TO APPLY
Please email a cover letter, resume and salary history to resumes@pbrsearch.com with Mark Twain
ED Search in the subject line. Please include specific fundraising accomplishments in the resume.
Because of the large volume of responses, we regret that we will only be able to contact those
candidates we’re considering.