Hillary Olson, an Ogden native, is the chief executive officer of the Rochester Museum and Science Center. Credit: PHOTO PROVIDED

The Rochester Museum and Science Center has picked a Rochester-area native with deep experience in museum leadership for its new director.

Hillary Olson, an Ogden native, will start as the Rochester Museum and Science Center’s new director in November. Credit: PHOTO PROVIDED

She is Hillary Olson, an Ogden native and a graduate of Brockport High School. Olson will succeed Kate Bennett, starting work in November.  She is currently vice president of audience and community engagement at the Milwaukee Public Museum, an institution that, like the RMSC, focuses on natural and cultural history and operates a planetarium.

Olson has also held positions at the Franklin Institute Science Museum in Philadelphia, the Long Island Children’s Museum, the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, and the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles. In 2016 she had a fellowship in museum management at the Getty Leadership Institute .

Since last March, when Bennett announced her intention to retire, the museum’s board of trustees has conducted an international search for her replacement. Bennett will continue to be associated with the RMSC, in fundraising efforts.

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This article appears in Sep 26 – Oct 2, 2018.

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