Colleen Higginbotham

Colleen Higginbotham has over twenty-five years of experience in public service management and is currently Deputy Director for Visitor Experience at the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia. She is passionate about making visitors feel welcome in museums and fostering high quality museum experiences. She created the museum’s Gallery Host program, which combines safety and welcoming in a new role within the galleries. These highly trained staff members provide a warm welcome, ensure the safety of the works, answer visitors’ questions, and engage them in informal conversations about art.

In addition to the gallery hosts program, its goal is to ensure excellent visitor experiences through supervision and training of all front-line staff, ongoing analysis of visitor research, supervision of departments in direct contact with the public (Visitor Services, Museum Shop, Glass Studio, Special Events, Security, Catering and Restaurant), participation in the museum’s leadership team, and coordination of logistical aspects related to hospitality, such as seating areas, signage and audience flow.

Colleen holds a BA in Leisure Studies and Tourism Management from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and completed the Getty Leadership Institute’s Museum Leader Training Program at Claremont Graduate University. She is an active member of the museum community: she is a Peer Reviewer for the Museum Assessment Program of the American Alliance of Museums, serves on the boards of the Virginia Association of Museums and the Museum Store Association, and is the author of Creating Great Visitor Experiences: A Guide for Museum Professionals, published by the American Alliance of Museums.