The Board of Trustees of Genesee Country Village & Museum has unanimously voted to appoint Elizabeth A. “Becky” Wehle as president & CEO following her 10 months of service as interim president & CEO.
“Upon her initial appointment, Becky quickly made strong connections with museum staff, volunteers and donors, along with the local community,” said board chair, Gayle A. G. Stiles. “We are so pleased that she is staying on, and the board looks forward to working with Becky in the coming years to help the museum continue to grow and thrive.”
Ms. Wehle’s leadership has had a positive effect, with attendance growing in 2016; new programs planned; a new website and commemorative book in the works; and collaborations with Rochester Institute of Technology, Visit Rochester and I Love NY underway.
Most recently, Ms. Wehle was executive director of Donor Relations and Stewardship at the University of Rochester, and held a number of related development roles with the university over the past two decades.
Ms. Wehle’s qualifications are matched by her passion for the organization: she is the granddaughter of GCV&M founder John L. “Jack” Wehle and has served as a museum trustee since 1997. She has also chaired the development committee and played a critical role in ensuring the financial stability of the museum.
“I am proud of all that we have accomplished over the past 10 months, and thank the board for this opportunity to continue in this role,” Ms. Wehle said. “I am thrilled to be carrying on the legacy of my grandfather.”
The museum will open for its 42nd year on Mother’s Day weekend, May 13 and 14 with all moms admitted free and two days devoted to 100 years of fashion and chocolate. Ms. Wehle is also already overseeing a general invigoration in programing at the nearly 600-acre facility. Highlights of the upcoming season include:
•A new museum website (www.gcv.org) debuts this month, to be followed this summer by the publication of a new guidebook.
•The museum’s John L. Wehle Gallery debuts a new exhibit, Wild in the Country, featuring works of some of the world’s most influential wildlife artists.
•A pair of Milking Shorthorn bull calves, called Bright and Star, have just joined the museum family. Their designations harken back to canal days, when teamsters and their oxen teams regularly were interchanged, and nearly all canal oxen bore the same names. For the next four years or so, visitors can witness their training as working oxen.
•Already home to the only working 19th-century brewery in the country, the museum will introduce a hard cider product, produced following a 19th-century recipe using just honey and apple juice. Fermented in bourbon casks at a local cidery and titled “Flint & Steel,” it will be available exclusively to visitors this season.
•A new series of “insider” tours will be offered each weekday and non-event weekend, presenting fresh looks at the sometimes obscure elements of 19th-century life. This is in addition to the popular “gatherings” that focus on specific themes around the village.
•A new 5K Race through History fundraiser on May 20 that will send runners (and walkers) through the nature center forest and fields, finishing in the historic village.
•Several buildings in the historic village – including the carpentry shop and drug store/doctor’s office – have been repurposed to include hands-on STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) activities for visitors and school groups, as the museum increases its commitment to local schools and their needs.
•The newly furnished tailor shop will be fully interpreted for the first time and staffed by interpreters with tailoring experience. Its back room will also be devoted to hands-on STEM activities.
For more information, visit www.gcv.org.
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