Lexington Historical Society

Oct 25, 2021

Carol Ward, Exec Dir. Lexington Historical Society

We are pleased to announce that Carol S. Ward will be our new Executive Director!

Previously, Carol was the Director of One River School of Art and Design in Larchmont, New York, where she oversaw business, education, and administration oversight for the for-profit art school and contemporary art gallery. For the previous ten years, she served as Executive Director of the Morris-Jumel Mansion, an historic house museum and arts education center in Washington Heights, New York City. Her experience spanned a wide variety of departments including programming, education, curatorial, marketing, development, fundraising and board relations. Under her leadership, she increased the operating budget significantly and led the Mansion to record attendance.

Carol comes to the Society with nearly 20 years of experience. She has focused on connecting organizations with their community, increasing fundraising and earned income opportunities, and developing "outside the box" programs and events to make historic sites more contemporary and relevant

When asked about her vision over the next five years, Carol replied, "LHS is an amazing organization that has an exciting institutional history and so many great things going on now. My goal is to take the organization to the next level using my background in strategic planning, marketing, operations and programming. LHS should showcase the dynamic history of Lexington for the diverse communities that surround it. Honoring the mission and history is of utmost importance to me, and then developing innovative new things to expand the offerings to assist in fundraising efforts and to diversify how people see and perceive LHS. The story of Lexington needs to be told and shared with as many people as possible!"

Society President Barry Cunha noted that ". . . during our talks with Carol, she stood out immediately as someone who combines many strengths derived from her experiences in both the non-profit and business worlds, as well as in both historic houses and contemporary art. We are confident she will bring LHS to a new level and are excited to work with her."

The Society’s longtime Education and Interpretation Manager Chris Kauffman has ably served as Interim Executive Director during the search. Ward’s tenure at the Society will begin on September 7.

Text by E. Ashley Rooney Photo by Paul Doherty