Description

The Paul Revere Memorial Association (PRMA) seeks an Executive Director to lead one of the nation’s most iconic historic house museums and public history organizations as its long-serving, highly esteemed ED prepares to retire. The PRMA operates a nationally recognized, award-winning, AAM-accredited museum campus that focuses the visitor experience on its key asset, the Paul Revere House. PRMA’s mission is to inspire a deeper appreciation for the relevance of American history by sharing the life, legacy, craftsmanship, and iconic home of artisan, businessman, patriot, and citizen Paul Revere. It does so through the research-driven activities of preservation, education, collecting and exhibitions, publications, and public programs as well as mutually supportive community engagement.
 

About Paul Revere Memorial Association

In 1907 descendants of Paul Revere, along with preservationists and civic leaders, saved and restored the Paul Revere House. Not until 1975 did it begin to build momentum as a trusted historic site when PRMA hired its first professional museum director. Today the Paul Revere House is one of the most visited historic sites in history-rich Boston. 

Three buildings comprise PRMA’s museum campus in Boston’s North End: the Paul Revere House (ca. 1680), the Pierce-Hichborn House (ca. 1711), and the Lathrop Place Visitor and Education Center (1835). Two of the buildings are National Historic Landmarks, while Lathrop Place is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Open year-round, the Museum welcomes over 250,000 visitors annually and has served more than 13 million visitors since opening to the public. Visitors experience the site through self-guided tours supported by trained interpreters. Thousands of additional people are served through outreach programs. 

PRMA is widely respected for the quality of its educational programming, public interpretation, and scholarship. Its collections include objects, furnishings, archives, and material culture related to Paul Revere, his family, Revolutionary Boston, urban domestic life, and the ongoing history of the North End. The organization’s interpretive work includes Colonial and Revolutionary-era history, Boston’s Indigenous and Black history, immigration, craftsmanship, public memory, and the evolving American experience. PRMA presents lectures, exhibitions, fellowship and internship opportunities, artistic experiences, school, teacher and family programs, publications, and digital initiatives such as Revere House Radio, reflecting a thoughtful, ever-developing approach to connecting Revolutionary-era history to contemporary audiences while remaining grounded in rigorous scholarship and authentic in-person experiences.

PRMA plays an important role within Boston’s tourism, cultural, and educational landscape. It maintains a significant partnership with the Boston National Historical Park (NPS) and the Freedom Trail Foundation. The Association also works closely with neighboring historic sites, cultural organizations, schools, universities, and community groups throughout the North End and Greater Boston. Through its participation in Boston’s Green Ribbon Commission and development of a site-specific Climate Action Plan, PRMA has emerged as a leader in conversations around climate resilience and sustainability for historic house museums and preservation organizations.

Financially strong and operationally stable, the Association has an annual budget of approximately $2 million, net assets of roughly $19 million, and a significant board-designated endowment. PRMA benefits from strong earned revenue generated through admissions, retail operations, and programs, while continuing to expand philanthropic support from individuals, foundations, corporations, and public partners. The organization is governed by an 18-member Board of Directors and supported by a team of 7 full-time professionals, a part-time custodian, and approximately 30 part-time interpreters and guides. 

Institutional Accomplishments, Opportunities, and Strategy

The successful candidate will be positioned to build upon PRMA’s extraordinary accomplishments during the last four decades. A few select examples illustrate the range of problem solving involved, from the grand to the mundane. 

• Purchasing a neighboring building and thoughtfully restoring it. PRMA thereby created a campus that broadens its scope of historic interpretation into the nineteenth century, provides much-needed space for education, visitor amenities, a museum shop, and offices, and made the site handicapped accessible. 
• Constructing a trusted, comprehensive website. The site, which drew 450,000 unique users in 2025, extends PRMA’s educational mission worldwide as it informs, entertains, educates, and encourages visitation. 
• Creating mutually supportive community relationships within the North End and Boston. Efforts have involved securing funding for free educational opportunities for Boston Public School students, working with community partners to ease difficulties during city infrastructure improvements and PRMA’s own Visitor Center construction project, and connecting with city officials to ensure they respond to the needs of PRMA and its North End community. 
• Creating and growing the endowment from $175,000 in 1987 to its current multi-million-dollar level. This was accomplished even while buying an abutting property, increasing the operating budget, and absorbing the shocks of a global pandemic.
• Building myriad, diverse relationships that fortify the institution. Knowing who to call is essential, whether the problem at hand is verifying the authenticity of a Revere silver spoon, addressing a sewer emergency, interpreting a historical event as an artistic experience, or funding a new acquisition. 

With such key institutional challenges skillfully addressed, PRMA recognizes an opportunity to thoughtfully evolve into its next chapter. The new Executive Director, in partnership with the Board and staff team, will focus on several key opportunities and strategic priorities:

• Leadership through a Period of Historic Visibility and Opportunity: PRMA is celebrating a remarkable series of milestones, including the ongoing commemoration of Paul Revere’s Revolutionary War service, the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution in 2026-2031, as well as the 350th anniversary of the Paul Revere House and Boston’s 400th anniversary, both in 2030. These events create important opportunities for expanded programming, partnerships, fundraising, and national visibility.
• Developing PRMA’s Next Strategic Vision: The organization is poised for a new phase of long-term strategic planning that builds on its strong institutional foundation while identifying priorities around audience engagement, preservation, climate resilience, campus planning, technology, security, interpretation, fundraising, and partnerships. 
• Strengthening Organizational Capacity: While PRMA benefits from strong earned revenue and financial stability, the organization sees opportunities to expand philanthropic support from individuals, foundations, corporations, and public partners. Additional priorities include strengthening operational systems, technology infrastructure, and collections digitization efforts, undertaken in ways that remain appropriate to the scale, mission, and values of the institution.
• Building on PRMA’s Role within Boston’s Historic and Cultural Community: PRMA seeks to leverage its exceptional position within Boston’s tourism, educational, and public history landscape by deepening its partnerships with Boston National Historical Park, the Freedom Trail Foundation, neighboring historic sites, and community organizations. The organization aspires to even greater visibility locally, regionally, and nationally as the trusted resource for “all things Paul Revere.”

Compensation

The salary range is $170,000 to $195,000 plus a comprehensive benefits package, commensurate with experience. 

How to Apply

To apply in confidence, submit application online HERE by July 21, 2026.

A complete application should include:

1) A cover letter expressing interest in the position and giving brief examples of past related experience. 

2) A resume.

3) The names and contact information for three professional references, indicating your relationship with them, preferably supervisors and/or direct reports.

Applicants are encouraged to apply early, as candidates will be considered on a rolling basis. All applications and nominations are kept confidential; we will not contact references without your permission. Nominations are welcome. 

Questions should be directed to Dan Yaeger, Senior Search Consultants, Museum Search & Reference, via SearchandRef@museum-search.com.

Requirements

Responsibilities, and Expectations

The Executive Director will be a collaborative, community-minded, and mission-driven leader with experience in museums, historic sites, or public history organizations. The successful candidate will bring strategic judgment, diplomacy, organizational and financial acumen, fundraising capability, facilities experience, and a genuine passion for history, preservation, education, and public engagement. They will demonstrate strong interpersonal and communication skills, emotional intelligence, and the ability to build trust and maintain productive relationships. The Executive Director will be comfortable leading a highly visible and visitor-focused historic site while balancing day-to-day and emergency demands and long-term goals. Expectations include:

• Provide collaborative, mission-driven leadership for all aspects of the organization, including preservation, acquisitions, interpretation, operations, finance, advancement, visitor experience, and community engagement.
• Work closely with the Board of Directors to support effective governance, strategic planning, institutional sustainability, and long-term organizational growth.
• Serve as a visible and effective ambassador for PRMA within Boston’s cultural, educational, tourism, preservation, and civic communities as well as within the broader national museum, historic preservation, and public history fields. 
• Sustain and build upon strong working relationships with Boston National Historical, the Freedom Trail Foundation, neighborhood organizations, donors, descendants of Paul Revere, and other key stakeholders and partners.
• Lead fundraising and external relations efforts in partnership with the Board and staff, including individual giving, foundation and government support, corporate partnerships, membership, and special initiatives tied to upcoming anniversaries and strategic priorities including capital projects and preservation.
• Support and mentor a collaborative and dedicated staff team while promoting clear communication, operational effectiveness, collegiality, professional development, and a shared sense of mission and purpose.
• Oversee the stewardship, preservation, maintenance, construction requirements, and interpretation of PRMA’s historic properties and collections in accordance with professional museum and preservation standards.
• Support the continued development of exhibitions, educational programming, digital initiatives, publications, and public history interpretation that engage diverse audiences and connect historical scholarship with contemporary relevance.
• Ensure strong financial management and organizational sustainability through sound budgeting, revenue oversight, strategic resource allocation, technology and operational infrastructure, collections digitization efforts, and long-range planning.
• Lead the museum profession by recognizing new challenges, seizing opportunities, and imagining creative solutions that advance the sector. 

Experience, Skills, and Attributes

• Leadership experience: A minimum of six years of senior-level leadership experience within a museum, historic site, public history organization, cultural nonprofit, or educational institution. 
• Operational and managerial capability: Ability to oversee the day-to-day operations of a complex, public-facing organization while balancing ongoing institutional priorities. Ability to strengthen organizational systems and infrastructure while respecting institutional culture, history, and mission.
• Fundraising and relationship development: Experience cultivating philanthropic support from individuals, foundations, corporations, government agencies, and community partners, along with the ability to build long-term relationships that advance institutional goals.
• Financial and business-management skills: Experience managing budgets, earned revenue, financial planning, and organizational resources within a nonprofit or cultural institution.
• Facilities and capital project management: Experience dealing with facilities, contractors, and other related professionals.
• Public-facing leadership and communication: Communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to represent PRMA effectively with visitors, donors, trustees, public officials, preservation advocates, neighborhood stakeholders, media, tourism partners, and the broader museum and public history communities.
• Collaborative leadership style: A leadership approach characterized by emotional intelligence, diplomacy, collegiality, accessibility, flexibility, and the ability to work effectively with a wide range of personalities, perspectives, and constituencies.
• Board and community engagement: Experience working closely with governing boards, volunteers, community partners, and long-standing institutional stakeholders in ways that build trust and encourage meaningful participation.
• Public history, interpretation, or educational experience: Familiarity with historic interpretation, exhibitions, educational programming, visitor engagement, or related audience-centered work within museums, historic sites, or cultural organizations.
• Historic preservation and stewardship: Appreciation for the stewardship of historic buildings, collections, landscapes, and culturally significant sites, along with an understanding of professional preservation and museum practices.
• Education: A bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional experience is required, with a master’s degree preferred. Additional advanced academic or professional credentials in history, museum studies, historic preservation, nonprofit management, education, public humanities, or related fields are valued but not required.

We recognize that candidates may not bring every qualification listed above. If this opportunity aligns with your experience and interests, we encourage you to apply.