Susie Burdick Joins KiDiMu as Executive Director

Online, December 27, 2012 (Newswire.com) - The Kids Discovery Museum's (KiDiMu) board of directors is pleased to announce Susie Burdick as the organization's new executive director to officially take her post on January 2, 2013. Burdick comes to KiDiMu with extensive background in nonprofit leadership and fund-raising, spanning the arts, and health and human services sectors on local, regional and national levels. She will work closely with the museum's board, staff and volunteers to further extend hands-on learning opportunities to Puget Sound families and expand the organization's services and programs.

"We are very excited to welcome Susie on the KiDiMu team. She brings the perfect blend of diverse experience and enthusiasm that will be invaluable to help KiDiMu continue to grow successfully, build partnerships and offer educational enrichment to families on and off the island," said Sonya Marinoni, the board president.

Susie (Glass) Burdick has been involved in nonprofit management in the Pacific Northwest for over 35 years. She spent the last 15 years in health and human services, with 12 years as the chief executive officer at the Hearing, Speech and Deafness Center in Seattle, and the former three years in leadership roles at United Way of King County.
She has also shared her skills and expertise with several nonprofits' boards and committees, including the Alliance for Nonprofits, Northwest Development Officers Association, the Governor's Committee on Disability Issues and Employment, and the National Association of Speech and Hearing Centers. She is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and a committed Rotarian. In 2010, she was recognized with the Professional Achievement Award by the Northwest Development Officers Association.

A longtime islander herself, Burdick also has close ties to the Bainbridge Island community. Prior to her nonprofit development and consulting work in Seattle, she pursued an over-20-year-long successful career in theatre directing, choreographing, and running arts organizations for adults, youth and children in the United States and Russia. She had spent 15 years as artistic director of Bainbridge Performing Arts, where she and the late Diane Gilman founded the island's "Russia Connection."

"Joining the Kids Discovery Museum team is such an honor and I'm so excited about this wonderful organization" Burdick said. "Working in the community in which I've lived for over 30 years, and with a focus on children, their education and development, is a great fit. Quite frankly, KiDiMu "had me" from the moment I saw "Talk like a Pirate Day" on its Web site."

Burdick will replace Susan Sivitz, who has successfully served as the museum's executive director since 2009 and is leaving for Boston to pursue her education and complete coursework at Harvard University. Sivitz was instrumental in completing the capital campaign and managing the transition from the original rented space the KiDiMu-owned, permanent home in the Island Gateway.

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For the latest information on KiDiMu's events and programs, including the upcoming show The Mitten and the Second Preschool Fair in January, please visit the Web site: www.kidimu.org or call: 206-855-4650.

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