FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 5, 2018
CONTACT: Jenni Tetzlaff, Marketing & Communications Director, tetzlaff@mpm.edu, 414-278-2784
Karen Spahn to Retire from
the Milwaukee Public Museum
Milwaukee—After nearly 14 years as the Milwaukee Public Museum’s (MPM) Senior Vice President of Development, Karen Spahn will retire in July 2018. Karen took over MPM’s development department during the Museum’s 2005 fiscal crisis. Under her leadership, the team brought in over 70 million dollars in gifts and had one of the best years for fundraising in MPM history in 2015.
“Karen has been a wonderful asset to the museum,” said MPM President & CEO Dennis Kois. “She’s done an incredible job fundraising, and is an active member of Milwaukee’s philanthropic community and a trusted source of advice and perspective to non-profit leaders throughout Wisconsin. It’s been my privilege to work with Karen these past four years.”
Prior to joining MPM, Karen served as Senior Director of Development at the Milwaukee Art Museum and the Program/Development Officer at the Greater Milwaukee Foundation. Karen was named a Women of Influence in Nonprofit Management by the Milwaukee Business Journal in 2016.
“It’s been an honor to have a career that not only am I proud of, but that I love,” Spahn said. “When I was in school, there wasn’t a degree in Nonprofit Management or Leadership. I worked hard, followed the path in front of me and have been lucky enough to really like coming into work everyday. While I’m retiring from the Museum and am excited to start on a new path, I’m not going away. I will continue to care and give back to the community.”
Karen has already accepted an invitation to join the Wisconsin Humanities Council Board of Directors.
MPM is grateful for her hard work and dedication and will be celebrating her accomplishments with an evening reception on June 27.
The Museum has announced that Julie Quinlan-Brame, who has been working on a contract basis with MPM since late 2017, will succeed Spahn as Senior Vice President of Development in July.
A photo of Karen is available for download at https://drive.google.com/file/
About the Milwaukee Public Museum
The Milwaukee Public Museum is Wisconsin’s Natural History Museum, welcoming more than half a million visitors annually. Located in downtown Milwaukee, the Museum was chartered in 1882, opened to the public in 1884, and currently houses more than 4 million objects in its collections. MPM has three floors of exhibits that encompass life-size dioramas, walk-through villages, world cultures, dinosaurs, a rainforest, and a live butterfly garden, as well as the Daniel M. Soref National Geographic Dome Theater & Planetarium.
MPM is operated by Milwaukee Public Museum, Inc., a private, non-profit company, and its facilities and collections are held in trust and supported by Milwaukee County for the benefit of the public.
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