Elizabeth E. Merritt
Elizabeth E. Merritt is founding director of the American Alliance of Museums’ Center for the Future of Museums. A biologist by training, she earned an M.A. in cell and molecular biology at Duke University. This led her to a series of positions at a children’s museum, a natural history museum and finally, Cincinnati Museum Center, where she was director of collections and research. Leaping to the association world, Elizabeth joined AAM in 1999, eventually leading the Excellence programs at the Alliance, including Accreditation, the Museum Assessment Program, peer review and the Information Center. In 2006 the Alliance Board approved the creation of a futurist initiative as one of the AAM Centennial projects, and Merritt hied herself off to Texas to complete the University of Houston’s certificate course in Strategic Foresight. Her areas of expertise include museum standards and best practices, ethics, collections management and planning, and assessment of nonprofit performance
