Historic Deerfield names next president
DEERFIELD — Historic Deerfield’s board of trustees has hired Linnea Grim as the museum’s next president and CEO, beginning in April 2027. In succeeding John Davis, who retired this fall, Grim will become the fifth person, and first woman, to lead the organization since Henry and Helen Flynt founded the museum in 1952.
Grim currently serves as president and CEO of Strawbery Banke Museum, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. During her roughly four-year tenure, the museum increased both its operating budget and its endowment by more than 50%. She also led the fundraising team to secure more than $5 million for special projects.
At Strawbery Banke, Grim worked to highlight the area’s multifaceted community, both historic and present. During her tenure, the museum became the host site for the New England BIPOC Fest. She is especially proud of the work the team did to open the Cousins Family exhibit this past April. Through the experiences of one Black family who lived in the space during the late 1930s and early 1940s, visitors encounter broader national stories of migration, opportunity, and discrimination that shaped Black life in New England.
Before joining Strawbery Banke in 2023, Grim spent 16 years at Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s home and plantation, where she served as manager of Interpretive Programs and Hunter J. Smith Director of Education & Visitor Programs before joining the executive team in 2021 as Vice President of Guest Experiences.
Grim holds a Bachelor of Arts degree, magna cum laude, from The College of William and Mary, and a master’s degree in history museum studies from The Cooperstown Graduate Program. She and her husband, Eli, have two children.
Dakin names Florence resident associate director of development
SPRINGFIELD — Dakin Humane Society has named Marla Shelasky associate director of development.
Shelasky will plan and implement strategies for all aspects of annual giving, donor cultivation, and donor data management to obtain the financial resources necessary to support Dakin’s mission.
Prior to joining Dakin, Shelasky was with Make-It Springfield in Springfield, for eight years, where she began as a communications and program coordinator before being promoted to development and communications manager. Her duties included managing donor relationships, grant writing and reporting cycles, and collaborative partnerships, among other tasks.
She was also a project manager at People, Places & Design Research in Northampton, an audience research firm that works with museums and cultural sites, where she managed client relationships, timelines and tasks related to audience evaluation projects.
Shelasky earned an MFA Artisanry/Textiles from UMass Dartmouth, and a BFA Illustration from Syracuse University. She is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Western MA Chapter, and a resident of Florence.
Greenfield Savings inks athletic sponsorship with UMass
GREENFIELD — Greenfield Savings Bank has launched a multi-faceted partnership with UMass Athletics, supporting its football, basketball and hockey teams with a three-year sponsorship in a collaboration that will extend through 2028.
The new relationship, which also includes Learfield’s UMass Sports Properties, underscores the bank’s focus on the university community next to its Amherst branch, which is located at 6 University Dr. and serves many UMass employees as customers, along with students and alumni.
Greenfield Savings Bank President and CEO Peter Albero said he is proud to be able to support UMass.
The partnership kicked off on Sept. 3, when the UMass Minutemen football team launched its season.
Players and fans alike will see the Greenfield Savings Bank logo near the field, and when the season ends, the branding will appear near the court and the ice at the Mullins Center at men’s and women’s basketball games and UMass hockey match-ups.
UMass Sports Properties, the locally based team of Learfield is the exclusive multimedia rights holder for UMass Athletics and handles all sponsorships, in-venue signage and advertising on behalf of the university.