After serving 21 years as executive director of Betty Brinn Children’s Museum, Fern Shupeck has announced that she will retire from the museum effective May 3.
“As hard as it is for me to leave the museum that I love and have helped to build over the last 21 years, now is the right time for me to do so,” said Shupeck. “It has been my honor to lead the museum through the significant changes and growth that our organization has seen during my tenure. I feel confident that I am leaving the organization in capable hands to build on our history of success, including our very important focus on outreach.”
The museum recently completed another successful year, benefitting 250,000 children and adults, including 85,000 through its community outreach initiatives.
“We celebrate all that Fern has done to advance Betty Brinn Children’s Museum as a leader in early childhood education,” said Jessie Lochmann Allen, president of the board of directors. “Our museum is growing and thriving, which is a credit not only to Fern and her many accomplishments, but to the strength and passion of the entire museum team. We are very grateful for Fern’s years of devotion to the children and families in Milwaukee and its surrounding communities, and we wish her well in her next chapter.”
The Board of Directors of the museum will lead a search for a replacement executive director and expects to appoint an interim executive director in the near future.
About the Betty Brinn Children’s Museum
The Betty Brinn Children’s Museum is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to providing educational resources that promote the healthy development of children. The museum’s mission is supported by the design of age-appropriate, hands-on exhibits and programs for children, and adult education programs that focus on early childhood brain development, learning styles, parenting skills and how the museum environment can be used to promote a young child’s cognitive, emotional, social and physical growth. The museum’s Maker Initiatives were established in 2013 to expand the organization’s core learning-by-doing mission to the larger community through year-round maker programs at the museum, community outreach, the annual presentation of Maker Faire®Milwaukee, and the establishment of its satellite makerspace, Brinn Labs, in 2018. For more information, visitbbcmkids.org and brinnlabs.org.