DuPage Children’s Museum President and CEO Sarah Orleans announced her plans to leave the organization.
“I had agreed when I came on to the organization and came here that I could really help do some good work and I’d be here for four to five years and then we would begin a national search for the new leader to take over a thriving, very successful children’s museum,” said Orleans.
The museum will soon begin a national search for its next leader, during which Orleans will stay on to guide the not-for-profit.
Orleans came to the DuPage Children’s Museum as president and CEO in February of 2014. She previously served as executive director of the Portland Children’s Museum in Oregon and co-founded the Garden State Discovery Museum in New Jersey.
Within a year of her stepping in at the DCM, Orleans was forced to navigate severe water damage to the 3000-square-foot facility due to flooding from a burst pipe. The museum temporarily moved to a space in the Fox Valley Mall during repairs, foreshadowing a potential move near the end of her tenure, as the 5th Avenue Development could force the museum to relocate.
“This is an exciting time for the museum, but I also think this is a really good time for new leadership,” said Orleans. “I couldn’t have planned it better, which is for somebody to come in and bring their vision for how this can happen as we move forward.”
As for what’s next for Orleans, she’s returning to familiar scenery.
“I am actually returning to where I moved here from, Portland, Oregon and I will return to the consulting practice that I have there,” said Orleans. “I think this might be the last children’s museum I run for awhile. But this has just been the greatest joy of my life, to be here, and to have the success that we’ve had.”
Best of luck to Sarah and thanks for everything you’ve done for Naperville’s children.
Naperville News 17’s Casey Krajewski reports.
