Elisabeth I. Ward will become the new executive director of the Los Altos History museum this month, the museum announced in a press release.
“Elisabeth will be a passionate and energetic leader, focused on implementing a vision of what a local history museum should be as a community resource,” Board President Marilyn Henderson said.
Ward earned an undergraduate degree and doctorate in Scandinavian languages and literature from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master’s degree in anthropology (with a concentration in museum studies) from Georgetown University. She grew up in Mission Viejo, California, and previously worked as the director of the Scandinavian Cultural Center at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington; lecturer in Scandinavian languages at Cal; director of the Vikingaheimar Museum in Iceland; and museum specialist at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History.
She will officially start as executive director at the Los Altos museum on March 20.