John Durel

Organizational Consultant

2408 Steele Road

Baltimore, MD 21209

Office 410-764-0119

Cell 443-226-0119

johndurel@qm2.org

John Durel combines practical experience from thirty years working in and with museums, with a keen understanding of how people and organizations function. In his current role as an organizational consultant, he advises museums and cultural nonprofits on leadership, organizational change, strategic planning, fundraising, and board and staff development. His clients have included art, history, science, and children’s museums.

John runs peer learning roundtables for executive directors, development directors, and senior museum professionals, providing ongoing support for individual leaders who are working to build great museums. He is a partner of Durel Consulting Partners, which is affiliated with the Qm2 community of consultants.

Services

Retreats and Meetings

When an organization needs to make crucial decisions about its future, John helps the leaders design a process so that the decision-makers (board, staff, or some combination) come to agreement based on good information and a full understanding of the perspectives surrounding the issues. John is a skilled meeting facilitator, ensuring that even the most contentious issues are aired through constructive dialogue.

Strategic Planning

When an organization needs focus and direction, John designs a comprehensive planning process that not only yields a shared vision, but also aligns the organization and brings energy to the board and staff.

Leadership Development

Through workshops and coaching, John enables people to discover the talent they have for effective leadership. He pushes them to action, so that they have a real impact on their organizations.

Executive Round Tables

A particularly effective means of developing one’s strengths is to join an executive round table. Members meet to help one another solve individual problems, and to learn about new approaches to building strong organizations.

Organizational Improvement Plans

Using questionnaires and interviews of staff and board, John helps the leaders of an organization understand what is really going on, and to devise a “getting better” agenda to improve performance and effectiveness.

Academic Education

Ph.D. University of New Hampshire, American History, 1984

M.A. University of New Hampshire, History, 1975

B.S. University of Notre Dame, Mathematics, 1967

Presentations

Understanding Organizations

• Alternative Models for Historic Sites, National Trust for Historic Preservation, St. Paul
  

• The Life Cycle of Nonprofit Organizations, Association of Fundraising Professionals International Conference, Baltimore
  

• The Culture of Strategic Planning, Association of Children’s Museums, Ottawa
  

• The Second Agenda at the Louisiana Children’s Museum, Association of Children’s Museums, New Orleans
  

• Understanding and Managing Organizational Change, American Association for State and Local History, Providence, RI
  

• What Can We Learn From The Habits of Visionary Companies? American Association for State and Local History, Baltimore
  

Leadership and Management

• Civic Leadership: The Role of Nonprofit Executive Directors as Community Leaders; American Association of Museums; Association of Children’s Museums
  

• Strategic Budgeting: Using the Operating Budget as a Leadership Tool, American Association of Museums; Association of Children’s Museums; American Association of State and Local History
  

• Employee Evaluation and Improvement, Association of Children’s Museums
  

• Being a Leader in Your Organization, Even When You’re Not the Boss, Association of Fundraising Professionals International Conferences, Seattle and Toronto
  

• Developing an Effective Senior Leadership Team, American Association for State and Local History, Pittsburgh
  

• Organizational Leadership and Fund Development, Association of Fundraising Professionals, Baltimore
  

• Leadership Workshops, Rochester, NY, Las Vegas, Media, PA, Washington, DC
  

• What Can We Learn From the World’s Greatest Managers? American Association for State and Local History, New Orleans
  

• Value-Based Leadership in Museums, American Association of Museums, Portland, OR
  

• History Lessons for Leaders of Historical Organizations, American Association for State and Local History, Denver
  

• The Role of the Deputy Director, American Association of Museums, St. Louis and Indianapolis
  

Other Topics

• Guest Services Seminar, Washington, DC
  

• Employing Knowledge of Personal Styles to Build Relationships and Influence Major Gifts, Association of Fundraising Professionals, Baltimore
  

• Creating Win-Win Partnership with Sponsors, Association of Children’s Museums, St. Louis
  

Publications

Published Articles

• Reflections on the Words of Jim Collins: Curiosity and Discipline, Hand to Hand (Association of Children’s Museums, 2008)
  

• A Golden Age for Historic Properties, with Anita Nowery Durel, CFRE, History News (American Association for State and Local History, 2007)
  

• The Myths of Nonprofit Governance: A Polemic, with Will Phillips, Hand to Hand (Association of Children’s Museums, 2004)
  

• Play, People and Plans, Hand to Hand (Association of Children’s Museums, 2003)
  

• Museum Work Is Changing, History News (American Association for State and Local History, 2002)
  

• Discoveries in the Aftermath [of September 11]: A Survey, Museum News (American Association of Museums, 2002)
  

• What Can Museums Learn from the Habits of Visionary Companies? History News (American Association for State and Local History, 2000)
  

• A New Director’s First Year, History News (American Association for State and Local History, 1998)
  

• For Directors and Boards...If You’d Only Known, Newsletter on Institutional Transformation (1998)
  

• Expanding the Role of Museums in Society, Warfield’s Business Record, IX, 8,(1994)
  

• Using Collections, Focus Groups and Living History to Plan an Urban History Exhibit, with Dale Jones in Forum (Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums, 1994)
  

• From Cathedral of Culture to Storefront Church, with Nancy Brennan in Museum Studies Conference Proceedings (University of Delaware, 1992)
  

• In Pursuit of a Profit, in William T. Alderson, ed., Mermaids, Mummies, and Mastodons: the Emergence of the American Museum (American Association of Museums, 1992)
  

• “Historic” Portsmouth: the Role of the Past in the Formation of a Community’s Identity, Historical New Hampshire XLI (1986)
  

• The Past: A Thing to Study, a Place to Go, in Barbara Howe, ed., Public History: An Introduction (Krieger Publishing Co., 1986)
  

• The Story of a Bad Boy: Thomas Bailey Aldrich’s Tom, Nineteenth Century XII (1981)
  

• Dividing the Province of New Hampshire into Counties, Historical New Hampshire XXXII (1977)
  

Qm² Publicatioins

• The Deputy's Handbook
  

• Guest Services Workbook (written with Betsy Bowers and Leah Carrubba)
  

• Strategic and Inclusive Budgeting (written with Will Phillips)
  

• Performance Evaluation and Improvement
  

• The Leadership Team
  

• Integration: Getting Better at Working Together
  

Clients

•American Architectural Foundation: Strategic Planning, Meeting Facilitation

•Baltimore Community Foundation: Meeting Facilitation, Executive Team Planning

•Bermuda National Trust: Interpretation Planning

•Biedenharn Museum and Gardens, Monroe, Louisiana: Planning, Executive Coaching, Fundraising Coaching

•Brooklyn Historical Society: Strategic Planning

•Burlington County Historical Society, NJ: Strategic Planning

•Chicago History Museum: Visioning, Staff Development

•CityLit Project, Baltimore: Board Retreat

•Cliveden, Philadelphia: Strategic Planning

•Drayton Hall, Charleston: Strategic Planning, Executive Coaching

•Friends of Patterson Park, Baltimore: Strategic Planning

•General Services Administration, Clara Barton Historic Site, Washington, DC: Interpretive Planning

•Hancock Shaker Village, Pittsfield, MA: Board retreat, merger negotiation

•Historical Society of Pennsylvania: Organizational Improvement Facilitation

•Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania: Historic House Feasibility Study

•Institute for Museum and Library Services: Meeting Facilitation

•Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art: Strategic Planning

•Johnson County (KS) Museum: Strategic Planning

•Lea County (NM) Western Heritage Museum: Community Forum Facilitation

•Lemelson Center, Smithsonian Institution: Planning and Executive Coaching

•Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts, Lubbock, TX: Organizational Improvement

•Louisiana Children’s Museum: Executive Coaching, Staff Training; Fundraising Coaching

•Lyndhurst, Tarrytown, NY: Strategic Planning

•Manchester (NH) Historic Association: Strategic Planning

•Maryland Women’s Heritage Center: Business Planning; Development Planning

•McDuffie Museum, Thompson, GA: Museum Planning

•Minnetrista Cultural Center, Muncie, IN: Strategic Planning

•Museum of American Financial History, NYC: Strategic Planning, Coaching

•Museum of Science & Industry, Chicago: Coaching, Team Training

•National Museum of the United States Army: Staffing Plan, Exhibit Planning

•National Museum of Women in the Arts: Executive Coaching, Strategic Planning

•National Society of Colonial Dames in Florida, Jacksonville: Leadership Development and Business Plan

•National Trust for Historic Preservation, Washington, DC: Meeting Facilitation and Interpretive Planning

•Port Discovery Children’s Museum, Baltimore: Exhibition and Program Development

•San Antonio Children’s Museum: Executive Coaching, Planning

•Sixth Floor Museum, Dallas: Executive Coaching, Organizational Audit, Planning

•Susan G. Komen Foundation: Leadership Development, Strategic Planning, Coaching

•St. Augustine Lighthouse and Museum: Fundraising Coaching, Executive Coaching, Strategic Planning

•Staten Island Historical Society: Interpretation Planning

•Texas Association of Museums: Design and Facilitation of Leadership Symposium

•The Ossabaw Island Foundation, Savannah: Planning

•Union Institute & University, Cincinnati: Organizational Design and Coaching

•Wetlands Institute, Stone Harbor, NJ: Strategic Planning

•William Penn Foundation, Philadelphia: Research

•Women’s Industrial Exchange, Baltimore: Strategic Planning

•Woodrow Wilson Birthplace & Museum: Audience Development, Planning

•Woodstock Foundation, Vermont: Strategic Planning, Executive Coaching

A community of consultants helping museums and  cultural nonprofits

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