Marsha Semmel
The 21st Century Leadership Challenge
Thursday, October 7, 2010

Marsha L. Semmel assumed the role of Acting Director on March 14, 2010 and will lead the agency until a new director is confirmed. She continues to hold the positions of 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 grant making 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.

David Zach
Museums & Tomorrow: From the Momentary to the Eternal
Saturday, October 9, 2010

David Zach is one of the few professionally trained futurists, having earned a master's degree in Studies of the Future from the University of Houston-Clear Lake. As a futurist, Dave has worked with over 1400 organizations offering insights on the personal and professional impact of strategic trends. He provides funny, fascinating and thought-provoking talks on both trends and traditions with technology, economics, business, education, demographics and society. In his work as a futurist, he helps others understand how to think about the future. While fascinating forecasts can be fun, he thinks that thoughtful, long-term choices are better. Previously, Dave has worked at Johnson Controls and Northwestern Mutual, both in the roles of environmental scanning and strategic planning. He also taught Future Studies in the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He is the author of two books, Worth Remembering: the Future Value of Old Ideas, was published in June, 2008.