Leadership

Susan Hildreth
Director

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On January 19, 2011, President Obama appointed Susan Hildreth to be director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Hildreth has been the city librarian in Seattle for the past two years. Her nomination to her new post was confirmed by the US Senate by unanimous consent on December 22, 2010.

Before moving to Seattle, Hildreth served for five years as California’s state librarian, a position to which she was appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Previously, Hildreth was at the San Francisco Public Library, where she served as deputy director and then city librarian. Her background also includes five years as deputy library director at the Sacramento Public Library, several years as Placer County's head librarian, and four years as library director for the Benicia Public Library, all in California. She began her career as a branch librarian at the Edison Township Library in New Jersey.

Hildreth was active in the American Library Association, serving as president of the Public Library Association in 2006. She has a master's degree in library science from State University of New York at Albany, a master's degree in business administration from Rutgers University, and a bachelor of arts, cum laude, from Syracuse University.

Hildreth will serve a four-year term as the Director of the Institute. The directorship of the Institute alternates between individuals from the museum and library communities. She succeeds Marsha L. Semmel, who served as IMLS Acting Director since March 14, following the departure of IMLS Director Anne-Imelda M. Radice, Ph.D., at the conclusion of her four-year term. Semmel is currently the deputy director for museums and director for strategic partnerships.

Marsha L. Semmel
Deputy Director for Museums and Director for Strategic Partnerships

As Deputy Director for Museums, Ms. Semmel manages the Institute of Museum and Library Services’ portfolio of grantmaking programs that support capacity-building and leadership projects for all types of museums, including art, history, science, historic houses, children’s museums, aquaria, arboreta, botanical gardens, and zoos.

As Director for Strategic Partnerships, Ms. Semmel maintains oversight of federal-state partnership activities, initiates and implements collaborations with other federal agencies and organizations, and manages special projects and initiatives.

From 1998 to 2002, Ms. Semmel was President and CEO of the Women of the West Museum, in Denver, Colorado. Prior to that, she was President and CEO of Conner Prairie, a living history museum in Indianapolis, Indiana.

From 1984 to 1996, Ms. Semmel worked at the National Endowment for the Humanities, in Washington, DC, serving as program officer; Assistant Director for Humanities Projects in Museums and Historical Organizations; and Director, Division of Public Programs. She began her museum career as curator and educator at the Taft Museum in Cincinnati, was deputy director of the B’nai B’rith National Jewish Museum in Washington, DC, and Program Coordinator for the Resident Associates Program at the Smithsonian Institution. In 1979, Semmel was a Fellow in the Museums Program of the National Endowment for the Arts.

Ms. Semmel has a BA in English Literature and History of Art from the University of Michigan (Phi Beta Kappa) and an MA in Art History from the University of Cincinnati. A past board member of the American Association of Museums and the Colorado Digitization Project, she is currently on the board of Art Table, a national organization for professional women in leadership positions in the visual arts.

Ms. Semmel is a frequent speaker on cultural policy, museum practice, and learning in museums, and has authored numeral articles on museum issues.

Mary L. Chute
Deputy Director for Libraries

Mary L. Chute brings more than 20 years of professional library experience to IMLS. She comes to IMLS from the Delaware Division of Libraries/State Library, where she held the position of Director and State Librarian. As Director and State Librarian, Mary promoted the extension and improvement of statewide library services through community outreach, library automation, new technologies, and resource sharing. Mary oversaw programming throughout the state's public libraries, including DelAWARE: The Digital Library of the First State, and the Delaware Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. Mary served as the state's advocate for libraries with the legislature and the public.

With the staff at the Delaware Division of Libraries, Mary assisted in adapting the Library Associate Training Institute from Maryland for Delaware's libraries. In accord with Mary’s vision of superb customer service in libraries, the program will focus on strengthening the communication skills of all library staff. Mary and the Delaware Council on Libraries have laid the groundwork for an ambitious statewide technology plan for Delaware's libraries, the goal of which is to design a single patron database and a single statewide catalog supported by the state library. Under Mary's leadership a statewide reading program for all ages, "Delaware Reads about the American Dream," was initiated as a collaborative effort between Delaware's public libraries and the state Department of Education.

Mary was the Public Library Consultant for the Maryland State Department of Education, Division of Library Development. While working for Maryland her responsibilities included marketing and public relations for Maryland libraries, monitoring community based strategic planning initiatives, and providing assistance to the county and regional systems and “Sailor,” Maryland's award-winning online public information network.

Mary began her library career with the Massachusetts library system where she worked for 16 years, eight of which she spent as a public library director. She has a Master of Arts in art history from Boston University and a Master of Library Science from Simmons College. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in art history from the University of Michigan.

Mamie Bittner
Director for Communications and Government Affairs

Mamie Bittner heads the Office of Policy, Planning, Research and Communications. As such she coordinates agency-wide efforts to develop strategic plans and performance goals. She leads the agency in fulfilling its statutory mandate to “analyze trends in consultation with public input, to evaluate programs and share best practices.”

She is responsible for identifying key political, social, economic and technical factors that affect the Nation’s library, museum and information policy needs and to develop and recommend research, policy, communications, and legislative strategies to address those needs. Together with the core executive team, Mamie guides implementation and assesses effectiveness of agency activities.

Mamie is a key senior official responsible for the development of core agency policy documents including the agency’s Strategic Plan, Congressional and OMB Budget Justification, the Performance Plan and the Performance and Accountability Report. She works both within government with other Federal agencies, OMB, the White House, and Congress, and outside the government with media and industry groups, to develop and communicate agency policy and positions. In addition, she directs public affairs program including media relations, public information, electronic and print publications, and the content for the agency website.

Prior to joining the agency Mamie held positions at Catholic University, Gallaudet University, and the American Chemical Society. She also worked on Capitol Hill. She holds a BA in Political Science from Fairfield University in Connecticut and a MA in Education from George Washington University.

Nancy Weiss
General Counsel

Nancy E. Weiss serves as General Counsel of the Institute of Museum and Library Services. In this capacity, she advises the Director, the National Museum and Library Services Board, and agency officials on the legal aspects of cultural activity, public-private partnerships, grant-making, and the full range of legal issues involved in managing a federal agency. Nancy has represented the United States Government on delegations to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the Organization of American States (OAS), and international conferences relating to Holocaust-Era Assets.

Prior to joining IMLS, Nancy served as Deputy General Counsel of the National Endowment for the Humanities, where she also provided counsel to the Arts and Artifacts Indemnity Program and represented the agency on the National Archives Trust Fund Board. Nancy earlier practiced litigation and media law at Williams and Connelly in Washington D.C., held a legal research fellowship in New Delhi, India, and completed a federal judicial clerkship with the Hon. William W Schwarzer (N.D. California and Director of the Federal Judicial Center).

Nancy graduated with honors from the University of Michigan Law School, and phi beta kappa with a degree in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to attending law school, Nancy directed a student retention program at the University of Pennsylvania and managed Philadelphia's Shubert Theatre.

Laurie C. Brooks
Associate Deputy Director for State Programs

From 2003 to 2008, Brooks worked as a senior library grant program officer in the state programs division. Prior to joining IMLS, Brooks spent nearly 30 years working in the library field throughout New England and New York. She held administrative positions as director of the Orono (ME) Public Library and the Tompkins-Seneca-Tioga BOCES School Library System.

Brooks also was actively involved in New York’s statewide database and technology planning committees. She served as president of the School Library Systems Association of New York, as a member of the board of trustees for the Tompkins County Public Library and the South Central Regional Library Council both located in Ithaca, NY, and as a member of New York’s Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) network council known as NYLINK.

Brooks earned her Master of Science in Library Science from Simmons College in Boston, and received her Certificate of Advanced Study in School Administration and Supervision from the State University of New York, Cortland College. She is an alumna of the University of New Hampshire, where she graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in Early Childhood Education.

Mary Estelle Kennelly
Grants Management Officer

As the agency’s Grants Management Officer, Mary Estelle Kennelly holds responsibility for ensuring uniform grant administration throughout the agency; developing, recommending, and implementing post-award grant administration policy; and managing all fiscal grant requirements for the Agency. In addition, she acts as the agency liaison to the government-wide Grants Management Line of Business (GMLoB) taskforce as well as the Grants.gov initiative, and serves as the agency’s primary member of the Grants Executive Board (GEB).

Mary Estelle has been with IMLS since February 1993. From 1993-2009, she served as the Associate Deputy Director for the Office of Museum Services, overseeing the agency’s museum grant programs and supervising the museum program staff.

Her background includes work in both museums and grant administration. Prior to her arrival at IMLS, she developed the Conservation Assessment Program (CAP) at Heritage Preservation, Inc. After administering the program for two years, she spent her final year and a half at Heritage Preservation as Director for Collections Care Programs, which included CAP, a project examining the conservation needs of natural science collections, and the development of a program to teach institutions to raise funds for conservation and collections care.

From 1984 to 1989, Mary Estelle was the director/curator of the 18th century Stanley-Whitman House in Farmington, CT. In that position, she oversaw the restoration of the historic house, raising the necessary funds, working with the architectural historians and construction crew, and maintaining museum programs and activities while the work was underway.

Mary Estelle graduated from the College of William and Mary with a B.A. double major in history and art history. She received her M.A. from the George Washington University in museum studies while working full-time as a program specialist in the Smithsonian’s Office of Fellowships and Grants.

Carlos A. Manjarrez
Director for Planning, Research and Evaluation

Manjarrez joined IMLS from the Urban Institute where he was the principal investigator for a national study of public libraries and local economic development for the Urban Libraries Council and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In 2003, he co-published a report on the role that partnerships play in expanding access to public libraries, museums, and public broadcasters. During his tenure at the Institute, he worked on more than 25 major research projects ranging from neighborhood studies in single cities to congressionally-mandated studies of federal programs. Prior to working at the Urban Institute, Manjarrez worked for the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the American Bar Foundation, and was a graduate fellow at the Joint Center for Poverty Research in Chicago.

In his role at IMLS, he identifies program-related issues of interest to the agency, and develops and implements short, intermediate, and long-range research, program evaluation, and statistics plans. These efforts take into account agency policies and program directions and the needs of libraries and museums in the United States.

Joyce Ray, Ph.D.
Associate Deputy Director for Library Services

Joyce Ray has directed the agency’s discretionary library programs since 1997. An archivist by training, she also has responsibility for agency-wide digital initiatives, such as the annual WebWise Conference on Libraries and Museums in the Digital World. Prior to joining IMLS, she held positions as Assistant Program Director for Technological Evaluation and Acting Program Director, National Historical Publications and Records Commission; Special Assistant to the Archivist, National Archives and Records Administration; and Head of Special Collections, the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

She currently represents IMLS in several international activities relating to digital preservation and digital curation, including  the International Digital Cultural Content Forum and DigCurV, a project funded by the European Commission to identify education and training needs for digital curators in Europe and to develop a common training framework and curriculum.

She helped to organize and was one of the first members of the Joint Committee on Libraries, Archives and Museums sponsored jointly by the American Library Association, the American Association of Museums, and the Society of American Archivists.

Joyce is a certified archivist and holds a Master of Library Science degree from the University of Texas at Austin as well as a PhD in American history, also from the University of Texas at Austin.  She has presented at numerous professional meetings about IMLS and its programs, and about trends in libraries, archives and museums relating to technology, professional education, and the convergence of requirements for cultural heritage information professionals in the digital era.

Christopher J. Reich
Associate Deputy Director for Museums

Reich has been with IMLS since 2006, previously serving as a Senior Program Officer in the agency’s Office of Museum Services. In that position, he launched and oversaw the Museum Grants for African American History and Culture program and managed the 21st Century Museum Professionals grant program. He was also responsible for coordinating the review of nominations for the National Medals for Museum Service and acting as a liaison to the American Association of Museums (AAM) in the implementation of the Museum Assessment Program (MAP).

Prior to joining IMLS, Reich was the director and CEO of the Putnam Museum of History and Natural Science in Davenport, Iowa, where he oversaw the completion of an innovative environmental exhibit hall, the construction of an IMAX® 3D Theatre, and the creation of a new image for the 135-year-old institution, which serves 18 counties in eastern Iowa and western Illinois. Previously, he served for 13 years as director of the Anniston Museum of Natural History in Anniston, Alabama, where his implementation of professional practices resulted in the museum’s accreditation by the AAM. He also worked for nine years as the curator of natural sciences at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Connecticut, where he was involved with the care and control of natural history collections and the expansion of educational and volunteer programming.

Reich holds a Bachelor of Science degree in zoology and a Master of Business Administration degree. He has served on the governing boards of the Southeastern Museums Conference and the Iowa Museum Association and served terms as president of the Association of Midwest Museums, the Alabama Museums Association, and the Eastern Iowa Tourism Association. Reich has also been active in the communities where he has lived over the years, including participation in Rotary clubs, chambers of commerce, and other organizations.