LITTLE ROCK — The Museum of Discovery’s board of trustees announced Tuesday that Kelley Bass will take over as chief executive officer of the museum on Jan. 1.
Bass, now the assistant dean of external affairs in the Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, will take over for Executive Director Nan Selz, who will retire on Dec. 31.
Selz served in the role for almost nine years and saw the museum through a major renovation that started in 2011 and lasted through January.
The renovations helped transform the museum from a series of collections to an interactive science center.
The interactive museumhas set attendance records over the past year, with more than 140,000 visitors as of the end of October, almost double the 2010 attendance numbers.
The museum board also announced that Diane LaFollette will stay on as the chief operating officer for the museum.
Before working at UALR, Bass spent nine years at Acxiom and previously spent 18 years as a journalist, including stints at the Arkansas Gazette and the Arkansas Times.
Arkansas, Pages 14 on 11/28/2012