Stamford Advocate: Stamford Museum & Nature Center CEO retires after more than 20 years
By Shaniece Holmes-Brown, Staff Writer
STAMFORD — The Stamford Museum & Nature Center’s longtime chief executive officer is stepping away after more than 20 years.
The center announced in a news release that Melissa Mulrooney’s retirement goes into effect on March 31. She started working for the center in September 2005.
“Melissa has been the consummate professional working seamlessly with dedicated board leaders, highly accomplished staff, and visionary community leaders,” said Board President Douglas York, who was hired in 2024, in the release. “As a board, we celebrate and are grateful for her inspiring and enduring legacy for the beloved Stamford Museum and Nature Center.”
The release said the center’s Board of Directors started a “robust search effort” to find Mulrooney’s successor and is partnering with a national search and recruitment firm called Chaloner, which focuses on recruiting nonprofit executive leadership.
Mulrooney will provide her input and assistance to the board to help make it a smooth transition of leadership, the release said.
Mulrooney created and oversaw the center’s 2010 Master Plan, which was the blueprint for the museum’s growth and success over the past 15 years. Hartford-based TSKP Studio helped design the study.
The plan resulted in two major capital projects: the Knobloch Family Farmhouse, which opened in 2018, and the new Planetarium and Astronomy Center, which was unveiled in November 2025.
The news release said the study followed Mulrooney’s vision, where she would say, “We want to be a safe haven where all who visit can immerse themselves in the educational magic of our site and enjoy each other.”
Under her leadership, the release, said the center’s annual participation doubled to more than 200,000 visitors, education programs expanded to 140 regional schools, and adult programming and events more than quadrupled.
Mulrooney previously served in executive leadership roles at at the Delaware Art Museum and the International Tennis Hall of Fame Museum in Newport, R.I., where she became its first professional museum director.
Shaniece Holmes-Brown is a reporter with the Trumbull Times. She served as a Hearst Newspapers Reporting Fellow from 2021-2023, working at both the Times Union in Albany, New York and the Houston Chronicle. She has been with Hearst Connecticut Media Group since 2023. In her free time, she enjoys listening to music, reading books, cooking and watching documentaries on Netflix.