Anne W. Ackerson is a former history museum director, director of the Museum Association of New York, and executive director of the national Council of State Archivists (CoSA). She is currently an independent consultant to cultural and educational nonprofits, specializing in leadership and governance development, and management issues. Anne serves as CoSA's contract communications and development coordinator, a role that includes a range of content development, communications, and fund development activities spanning program development collaboration, drafting solicitation materials, and creating content for social media.
Anne facilitates the Leadership and Administration online course for the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH), and co-teaches a course of leadership and museums at the Johns Hopkins University Museum Studies program. She is a member of The Museum Group, a national consortium of museum consultants working with museums to help them achieve their greatest potential in an ever-changing world. Anne is a frequent keynoter, workshop presenter and author, focusing on issues of leadership, board and organizational development, governance issues, and planning. She is a regular webinar presenter on issues of museum leadership, succession planning, gender equity, and board roles and responsibilities. She developed curriculum materials and a webinar on strategic planning for AASLH’s StEPs program, a national standards program for history museums, and most recently assisted in the update of the program’s sections dealing with organizational transparency and accountability.