Deb Gilpin, President & CEO of Madison Children’s Museum, Announces Retirement

Board begins national search for new leader

January 22, 2024

After 11 years at the helm of Madison Children’s Museum, and 36 years total in children’s and science museums, Deb Gilpin, MCM’s President and CEO, will retire this summer. The museum’s board of directors has begun a national search for her replacement.

“Deb leaves the museum in great shape, giving plenty of notice for the daunting task of replacing her,” says Matt Premo, president of the MCM board. “We’re in the admirable position of looking for a leader who can continue to make great things happen.” 

Like so many of the museum’s best features, Gilpin is locally grown, born and raised in the Madison area. She began her museum career in 1987, when she helped open the Discovery Museum, a new hands-on museum in Acton, Mass. After serving as CEO for ten years, she moved to the Arizona Science Center, and then opened another museum—the Children’s Museum of Phoenix, growing it for nine years from infancy to one of the top children’s museums in the country. 

Deb brought her talent, experience, and passion for the field to MCM. Under her oversight, MCM continued to flourish as an industry leader, setting the standard for other museums in sustainability and breaking down barriers to access. 

Gilpin took the job in 2013, three years after MCM moved from State Street to its larger current home on Capitol Square. Under her leadership the museum grew and thrived, building several new exhibits; improving its financial position through donations, grants, and earned revenue; increasing employee pay and retention; growing community partnerships; and continuing the museum’s history of innovation and leadership in the children’s museum field.  

She led the museum through 15 months of pandemic-forced closure and the long, slow process of reopening and recovery. Like many leaders of businesses and nonprofits, she made hard decisions about layoffs, terminations, and cutting positions. Within months of reopening the museum, the Wonderground opened—a 10,000-square-foot, sustainably built playground for active, imaginative play, constructed on the museum’s former parking lot. In place of an unusable, structurally compromised eyesore, the community now had a safe place for healthy outdoor play just as families were cautiously venturing back out. By that time, many staff forced to leave in the crisis had been rehired. 

Since reopening, the museum is stronger and more successful by all significant measures. 

During her time, Gilpin oversaw the launch of several innovative programs. In response to the first Race to Equity report in 2014, the Teen Workforce program was launched to improve the job opportunity gap between teens of color and their peers. That program continues with new teens joining the staff team each summer, while many graduates of the program have been promoted into other positions at the museum.  

In 2017, the museum launched the First-Time Parent Membership, giving a free membership to every family with a new child, until the child turns 18 months old—2,000 families signed up before the end of the first year. That program is also still running, and at least a half dozen other children’s museums have consulted with MCM staff and launched their own similar programs. 

In 2022 MCM opened the first pay-what-you-can restaurant in a museum, Little John’s Lunchbox. The cafe served nearly 16,000 meals last year, many to food insecure families. The Lunchbox was recently listed by the American Association of Museums as one of twelve noteworthy innovations in 2023. 

The Access for Everyone program, reducing barriers to museum admission, was in place when Gilpin arrived. Under her leadership, usage increased from 17 to 30%, a healthy indication that MCM is serving families who might not otherwise be able to afford to visit. In 2018, MCM further reduced barriers by removing documentation requirements from Access for Everyone membership and admission programs. This simple change has likely contributed to the increased usage—and decreased stigma. 

Gilpin has timed her departure to go out on a high note: Early this summer, MCM will open a major new exhibit, The Nice Age Trail. That exhibit grows from the Caretakers of Wonder initiative, funded through a national leadership grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. MCM is leading a cohort of eight children’s museums and science centers on a two-year project supporting young children and their families in the face of climate change. Here in the Madison area, the exhibit will be the most visible product of Caretakers of Wonder. But later in the summer of 2024, the influence of Caretakers of Wonder will grow well beyond Madison—and the other eight partner sites—as the project shares learning and resources with the national museum field and other organizations that serve young children and families. 

Gilpin has made her mark here and in the national museum field, leaving programs, exhibits, and ideas that will benefit children for many years to come. She plans to take three months off after her retirement to rest, recharge, and travel. Then she expects to find new ways to serve. 

“I see every child who comes through the front door like a glowing ball of potential. I’ve always been curious about drawing out those gifts—for their own good as well as for the benefit of others with whom they will interact,” says Gilpin. “I think it’s those kids with their nearly limitless potential who I’ll miss most.” 

The board has retained the services of the Arts Consulting Group, a national full-service consulting firm specializing in executive search for arts and culture organizations.  

Deb at the opening of the Little John’s Lunchbox cafe, 2022

Deb with the 2017 Teen Workforce graduating class, donors, and associated staff

Deb with daughter Olivia visiting Madison Children’s Museum at the former State Street location, circa 1996.

Deb during a Live from the Wonderground evening event in 2023

Highlights from Deb Gilpin’s time at MCM

• 2013, Deb joins Madison Children’s Museum as president & CEO 
• 2014, In response to the Madison Race to Equity report, the museum launches the Teen Workforce program 
• 2017, New exhibit From Coops to Cathedrals: Nature, Childhood, and the Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright opens 
• 2017, MCM launches the First-Time Parent Membership program bringing thousands of babies and new families to MCM 
• 2018, MCM dismantles barriers by removing documentation requirements from Access for Everyone membership and admission programs 
• 2018, Received Women of Industry Award from InBusiness Magazine 
• 2019, Planning and fundraising begin for a major expansion of the museum’s outdoor spaces 
• 2020, The pandemic hits; MCM closes its doors, future uncertain. Gilpin works to secure funding, keeps MCM operating with limited staffing, and continues progress on a modified expansion 
• 2021, The museum reopens; the Wonderground opens, adding 10,000 square feet of open-air play space 
• 2022, MCM opens the first pay-what-you-can restaurant in a museum, Little John’s Lunchbox 
• 2023, MCM leads the national Caretakers of Wonder initiative funded through a national leadership grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services  
• 2024, Construction begins on The Nice Age Trail, a new exhibit informed by the work of Caretakers of Wonder, set to open in June 2024