Dear Friends of JCHS,
We are sending this special announcement to you this week to inform you that JCHS will have new executive leadership come June 2023.
On assuming the role of Executive Director in 2018, I set out to professionalize our museum’s work, strengthen and broaden our relationships, and reimagine our purpose in the community in the broadest possible way. With the launch of our exciting New Jefferson Museum project, it is time for someone new to take JCHS into our next chapter. This was a difficult decision, but this juncture is the right time to make room for new leadership to take the organization towards what I am confident will be an exciting and successful future.
I’m proud of the work we’ve accomplished together. In these past five years, we have:
- Incrementally grown the organization’s professional capacity, including a new education department and healthcare benefits for museum workers for the first time in the organization’s history
- Renovated and installed new HVAC systems in our collections storage facility to better house over 500,000 objects and archives in perpetuity
- Secured significant funding to preserve one of the oldest historic homes in Port Townsend, the 1868 Rothschild House, with a new coat of exterior paint, a new roof, and new gutters
- Committed our organization to a set of values, an ongoing strategic planning process, new ways of communicating our purpose, and leading through the lens of equity and inclusion
- Expanded the ways in which we deliver our content and resources so that they can have the greatest impact and the broadest level of access, including a robust online collection search and virtual program access with closed captioning
- Negotiated a new 15-year lease with the City of Port Townsend for our home at 1892 Historic City Hall
Launched the New Jefferson Museum project to reimagine our museum experience - Perhaps most importantly, deepened new and existing relationships with local governments, tribes, and fellow nonprofit organizations
- It has been a wonderful journey, heightened always by the people in our community like you who have come along and given us your support and investment. Through the pandemic and economic uncertainty,
JCHS has faced every challenge in collaboration with others—our partnerships have been critical to everything we do. We have a community that truly cares. It is for you that we do this work, and it means so much that you are willing to support JCHS into the future.
The organization is well-positioned for success and there is always more work to do. The New Jefferson Museum project will be a multi-year effort, requiring community and partner input, new strategies and new thinking. Alongside you, the next leader at JCHS will have incredible opportunities to promote continued innovation and foster a community where conversations about change are welcomed with curiosity. I know you will welcome our next leader as you have welcomed me.
Thank you all for giving me the opportunity to lead an organization that I love dearly, and for your trust in our staff and Board through this transition. The Board is forming our search committee and actively planning for succession. I am excited to see where JCHS can go into the future!
With deep appreciation,
Shelly Leavens
Executive Director
Dear Friends of JCHS,
It is with both sadness and gratitude that we received the news that Shelly will be resigning her position as Executive Director in the spring. She believes that it is now time for someone with different skills and abilities to take JCHS into our next chapter.
I was on the committee to hire Shelly, and we were looking for someone who would move JCHS forward, with new ideas, enthusiasm, and energy. She brought those and more. She has helped usher in a new strategic plan through the Board of Directors and staff and has built new important relationships with strategic partners. We have thousands more people attending our events and visiting our sites. We have a professional and extraordinary staff, a healthy reserve, and are on the cusp of the New Jefferson Museum project that will bring our museum experience into this century. Shelly’s management, policy, and partnership-building skills have created a foundation that will serve the organization for years to come.
That is just a short list of her accomplishments. Shelly is looking forward to spending more time with her young son Oz and husband but wants everyone to know how much she’ll miss the day-to-day fellowship of the JCHS community.
JCHS is in a very positive and strong position to continue to serve the community as it has for over a century. Our staff, volunteers, and Board of Trustees are committed to telling the stories of Jefferson County.
Please join me, and the entire Board of Trustees, in thanking Shelly for her service to JCHS and her continuing commitment our community.
Ann Welch
Board President