Museum director announces retirement

Melissa Russo, 61, says work was a `great last job' to close a career

After seven years of running the San Bernardino County Museum, director Melissa Russo is retiring.

She will leave her post July 29, the county announced Thursday.

“It’s just been a tremendous experience. It’s a great last job to have in my career,” Russo said. “But you get to a point in your life when your husband retires and there’s other things you want to do.”

Russo, 61, said she has been working either part or full time since she was 14 and is ready to travel the world with her husband.

“I achieved what I set out to achieve” at the museum, she said. “The team there is great.”

County museum chief deputy David Myers will take over as the interim director while the county looks for a permanent replacement for Russo. Myers has been with the museum since 2016.

Russo praised Myers as a “tremendous talent” Thursday.

“I think the county is lucky to have him,” said Russo, who has worked in the museum field for more than 30 years and will continue as accreditation commissioner at the American Alliance of Museums after her retirement from the county.

When Russo took the county museum job in 2015, she was stepping into an institution with known problems.

A 2002 accreditation review noted the museum’s “troubled leadership.” The museum went through four directors in six years before appointing Robert Mckernan executive director in 2002. By the time Mckernan abruptly resigned in March 2014, it was in trouble again. A report released later in 2014 said Mckernan had “lost focus,” wasn’t paying much attention to the museum’s public or business sides, and that many of the problems first noted years earlier hadn’t improved.

According to the report, prepared by San Francisco-based Museum Management Consultants Inc., the museum needed a detailed vision and goals, and a plan with measurable milestones to achieve them.

During her seven years as director, the museum’s annual attendance has “significantly” increased, according to a county news release. With the help of grant funds, the museum has also developed virtual services, including online education programs and digital exhibits.

“Melissa’s contributions to the San Bernardino County Museum have been beyond measure,” county CEO Leonard X. Hernandez is quoted as saying in the news release announcing Russo’s retirement. He served as the museum’s interim director after Mckernan’s departure.

“Her leadership and vision transformed the Museum into a more dynamic and representative reflection of our region’s history and culture,” Hernandez said.

The San Bernardino County Museum is located at 2024 Orange Tree Lane in Redlands. For more information on the museum and its five branch sites, visit Sbcounty.gov/ museum.

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