Harbor History Museum promotes curator to executive director

The Harbor History Museum didn’t need to look far in the search for its next executive director.

Stephanie Lile, the museum’s curator of collections and exhibits, took over as executive director on Monday.

Lile, who was initially hired in January, takes over for the departed Katharine Hensler, who resigned last month to move to Kansas with her husband, an Army sergeant who was reassigned to Fort Riley from Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

Lile, a Gig Harbor native who teaches Museum Studies at the University of Washington Tacoma, built a strong relationship with Hensler during their time working together.

“I feel like I know the (museum) pretty well,” Lile said Monday. “I have an idea of the basic needs of the museum.”

Lile is looking forward to her new role and wants to make the museum and exciting and engaging place for the community.

“We have a good and purposeful mission,” she said.

She also praised the museum staff, volunteers and the museum’s board of directors.

“We have a lot of work to do but we’ll get there,” Lile said. “I plan to be here for a while. I believe we can have a top-notch museum.”

This story was originally published March 29, 2017 at 12:07 PM with the headline "Harbor History Museum promotes curator to executive director."