Meet the Team
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Kim Matthews | Executive Director
Having spent the past two decades leading economic, research, and strategic community initiatives across the rural heartland, Kim brings to Island County Historical Society, a pragmatic understanding of what it takes to keep a rural community thriving. A native of the Pacific Northwest, her return feels like a homecoming, and she’s honored to work alongside the ICHS Board and members from across Island County. Kim is an empty-nester, except for the herd of fur babies; her son is a Chief Economist in California, and her daughter is happily married while attending Durham University graduate school in the United Kingdom. Kim has a masters in history, a masters of education, and is working on a masters in public interest communications.
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Chero Bell | Administrator
Chero brings a background in international development, public policy, and communications to the Island County Historical Society. Before settling on Whidbey Island, she spent a decade living and working abroad, including serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in rural Georgia (the country!) and several positions with USAID in Georgia and Ukraine. She holds a BA in Storytelling from Western Washington University and is pursuing her MSc in Global Public Policy through SOAS University of London. Outside of the museum, Chero can usually be found cycling around the island, swimming in the Salish Sea, looking at birds, and making art.
Chero is especially interested in the way stories connect people to places and communities and is excited to help support the museum’s work preserving and sharing Island County’s stories.
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Clara Burns | Archivist & Collections Manager
Clara was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska. She has a BA in History with a Museum Studies minor from South Dakota State University (Go Jackrabbits!). She, her husband, son, and two fur babies moved to Whidbey Island due to her husband’s active-duty naval career. They are so thrilled to join this Island County Community!
Clara comes to the museum with experience in collection organization, museum education programming, and exhibit design. Her first goal is: to make our online collection database more accessible and user-friendly for researchers, genealogists, and the public. She can’t wait to dive in! -
Delaney Armstrong | Community Coordinator
Raised on Whidbey Island, Delaney Armstrong is deeply interested in the vibrant cultural heritage and communities of Island County.
Delaney comes to ICHS with a background in archaeology, museum education, accessible museum interpretation, a decade of practical experience in museums – both in the United States and U.K. – and an MSc in Museum Studies. She is especially interested in connecting the museum and its abundance of resources with community members and partners that ICHS hasn’t had the opportunity to before, strengthening and building our community bond.
Delaney is dedicated to her role as part of the ICHS team in working to uplift the voices of Island County’s past, present, and future
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K. Madrone Moulton | Admissions
Madrone Moulton is our weekend Admissions Desk lead, and has worked at the Coupeville museum since January of 2014. She has a background in natural foods, caregiving, gallery and picture framing work. She enjoys meeting folks from all over the world who appreciate Island County History.
Meet the Board
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Michelle Cladusbid
PRESIDENT
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Michael Ferri
VICE PRESIDENT
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Scott Cole
TREASURER
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Rebecca Roberts
SECRETARY
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Lee James
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Dick Eigenraam
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Douglas Reiman
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Justine Way
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JOIN US
Our Values
At ICHS our values are Inclusivity, Curiosity, Sustainability, and Accountability to Community.
ICHS strives to lead with these values in our community and in our professional practice. We commit to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in what we say and do. We aim to dismantle barriers to engagement and representation by partnering, collaborating with, consulting with, and uplifting diverse voices in our decision-making processes, collections, research, exhibitions, and programs, and the continual pursuit of learning about equity. We begin with racial equity but also aim to address accessibility to our work in income, gender identity, culture, language, ability, and any other forms of disenfranchisement that our community may experience.
Inclusivity
We are committed to building and sustaining an inclusive community, including addressing barriers to the full inclusion of historically underrepresented groups. Recognizing that multiple voices and perspectives enrich our work, we are dedicated to fostering an environment where differences are valued and respected, and where all members of our community are engaged participants in our mission.
We will do this by:
Expanding our interpretive & programmatic strategies. We are committed to welcoming and empowering multiple perspectives by actively seeking diverse viewpoints in the development and evaluation of our exhibitions and programs, and training staff and volunteers to fully participate in an inclusive interpretive strategy. This will enable ICHS to deliver inclusive, accessible, and responsive exhibitions and programs.
Build a diverse collection. All three of the museum’s sites, and the work of many of our partners, are impacted by the collections. ICHS will develop an inclusive collecting plan, which can include actively acquiring archives and objects representative of, or created by, underrepresented communities who have, and continue to, contribute to and influence Island County arts and heritage. By sharing these collections we will invite conversations with our visitors and build transparency about what we collect and why.
Embody inclusivity within our internal culture. We commit to internal inclusive practices, policies, and behaviors, building a culture of mutual trust and respect. We strive to ensure that new and existing staff and volunteers feel welcomed, supported, and encouraged to express their identities in the workplace.
Curiosity
We are all learners and teachers. We believe in taking creative risks to surprise and delight visitors of all backgrounds with fun, engaging, and intriguing exhibitions and programs. We also believe that supporting curiosity leads to lifelong learning, and within our organization, creates a work environment that supports collaboration.
Accountability to Community
We are driven by our mission and are committed to listening with purpose, sharing resources, stewarding community stories and collections, and being accountable to our community and stakeholders. Being accountable to our community means inviting them behind-the-scenes to understand the process of interpreting and preserving history. Being Community-Centered means being responsive to community interests and needs, being transparent and ethical in our practices, and being authentic and honest in our relationships.
Sustainability
Sustainability is multifaceted at ICHS. To be sustainable means we have compassion for this planet and all its inhabitants, and we will strive to continually examine how to minimize our footprint and give back. We also strive to remain modern and relevant in our practices, responsible with the resources we are given, and financially transparent, always striving to achieve a high level of efficiency and sustainability. By integrating our work with our passions we will create a smart, coordinated, and supportive work culture that values our staff and volunteers as leaders in the community.
ICHS-sustainers are one of the communities of people we serve and who, in turn, support and guide the organization as staff, Board, volunteers, donors, and advocates. We are accountable to this community. We are committed to actively and regularly demonstrating our gratitude to this community.