News Release

Annapolis Maritime Museum / 723 Second St / Annapolis, MD 21403
Contact: Jeff Holland / 410-295-0104

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Sept. 21, 2012

Annapolis Maritime Museum announces change in leadership

Eric Rubin, Chairman of the Board of the Annapolis Maritime Museum, has announced that long-term executive director Jeff Holland has resigned to re-launch his public relations/event/non-profit management consulting business, Holland Lines.

“Jeff has been with the Museum since 2001,” Rubin said. “He has been instrumental in leading us from a neighborhood historical committee based in the tiny Barge House to a regional maritime heritage site providing vital services to the community. This past school year alone, the Museum hosted nearly 2,500 students from Annapolis and Anne Arundel County through the innovative environmental literacy program that Jeff helped create. More than 5,000 kids have been through the doors since we started the education program just a few years ago. Everything here is so closely identified with Jeff’s energy, creativity and passion – it’s hard to let him go.”

Holland started at the Museum as a volunteer in 1996 at the behest of the first Chairman Emeritus, Peg Wallace, writing press releases and promoting exhibits and events. The Museum became one of his PR clients in 2001, and eventually the assignment expanded to overseeing the renovation of the McNasby Oyster Co. building, creating exhibits and producing educational programs. Holland became the full-time executive director in 2005.

photo by Don Demment

“Jeff has made this Museum a key center of community activity,” said Chairman Emeritus L.B. “Buck” Buchanan. “Every year, more than 6,000 visitors from all around the world tour the Museum, which is open 51 weeks a year, thanks to a volunteer corps that Jeff has nurtured from 25 to more than 150. Thousands of Annapolis and Anne Arundel County residents attend the Museum’s many special events, art exhibits, concerts, lectures and community meetings and programs. The Museum grounds, deck and piers are open dawn to dusk, 365 days a year, to provide rare public access for fishing, crabbing, tossing a ball for the dog, or just enjoying the million-dollar view of the Bay.”

“I like to point out the sign at the marina across the street,” Holland said, “the one that says, ‘no crabbing, no fishing, no loitering,’ and I’m proud of the fact that nearly every day, people of every description enjoy the Museum’s waterfront for just that.”

Holland spear-headed the renovation of the Museum campus after the devastation of Hurricane Isabel in 2003. He was responsible for successfully administering more than $1,750,000 in grants from private foundations as well as the federal, state and local levels of various governmental agencies and managed most of the projects these grants funded, from designing the Museum’s core exhibit, Oysters on the Half Shell, to video production, to the supervision of the construction of the docks and piers.  

“I have made my dreams for the Museum come true, and reached the goals that Peg and Buck set out for me to achieve,” Holland stated. “It’s now time for me to find other challenges and other ways to serve my community, as it is time for the Museum to find a new leader to make new dreams come true. Of course, I will be diligent in ensuring a smooth transition to that new leadership. I want to thank the members of the Board of Directors, past and present, for the opportunity to serve the Museum and our many volunteers, members and partners for their support. I most especially thank friend and colleague Mary Ostrye and the rest of this great staff who work so hard and care so much. Most of all, I’d like to think that Peg would be proud of me.”

The Museum board of directors will launch a nation-wide search for a new executive director in October. Meanwhile, Jenny Kottler will serve as interim director. Active on the Museum’s board since January 2011, Jenny has 25 years experience as an independent meeting manager and association executive, serving public and private companies, educational institutions and professional trade associations.  She also serves on the boards of the Eastport Civic Association and Anne Arundel Women Giving Together.  She has an MBA from Tulane University. 

There will be a celebration of Holland’s many contributions to the success of the Museum in October on a date to be announced.

For more information, see www.amaritime.org.

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