Roberta Katz elected Board Chair of San Francisco's Exploratorium
SAN FRANCISCO, June 27, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Exploratorium's Board of Trustees has elected Roberta Katz to serve as Board Chair; she assumes the role as the institution approaches its 50th anniversary in 2019. Dr. Katz succeeds George W. Cogan, who has held the position for 11 years. Cogan will continue to play an active role on the Board as Chairman of the Special Gifts Committee.
"Roberta's diverse professional background, her interdisciplinary research at Stanford, and her Silicon Valley accomplishments make her an ideal fit to lead the institution into its next fifty years," says Cogan. As Senior Research Scholar in both the Department of Communication and the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, Katz conducts research on the values, worldviews, and behaviors of young people. Prior to working at Stanford, Katz was General Counsel and Senior Vice President of McCaw Cellular (now AT&T Wireless), and of Netscape. She holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from Columbia University and a J.D. from the University of Washington.
"We are in midst of some dramatic changes globally and I want to ensure the Exploratorium continues to play a positive role in that change," Katz says. "One is struck by the vitality of the place, by the beauty of the exhibits, and perhaps most of all by visitors' deep engagement, not only with the exhibits in front of them, but with one another. Critical thinking, curiosity, and active inquiry are important aspects of healthy communities. This institution manifests so much of what we need to see in our society, and it also serves as a prototype for other similar institutions and disseminates its work globally. I am proud to be a part of it."
"It is a great privilege to follow George in this role. He has been a spectacular chair, guiding the board and the organization with exemplary leadership," Katz said. "He has led the institution through an extraordinary decade of transformation." During Cogan's tenure, the Exploratorium raised more than $300M to expand and relocate to the waterfront, a move that resulted in a two-fold increase in annual visitors and student field trips, and a dramatic expansion of the Exploratorium's professional development programs for science educators across the state of California.
Cogan and Katz both participated in the search that brought Chris Flink, Sakurako and William Fisher Executive Director, to the Exploratorium in June of 2016.
Exploratorium Press Office: [email protected], https://www.exploratorium.edu/press-office/press-releases/exploratorium-announces-new-board-chair-roberta-katz
SOURCE Exploratorium
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