Betsy Richards, Cherokee Nation (she/her)
Executive Director & Senior Partner with Wabanaki Nations
For over 25 years, Betsy has been dedicated to building cultural and narrative power for Indigenous peoples and other BIPOC communities. A citizen of the Cherokee Nation, she brings to her role a wealth of experience in museums, philanthropy, social justice, and the performing arts.
During her seven years as a Program Officer at the Ford Foundation, she led a $30 million grantmaking effort for Native American and place-based cultural communities, initiated the creation of the unprecedented Native Arts and Cultures Foundation, and served as the global chair of its Committee on Indigenous Peoples. Prior to Ford, she spent five years as the inaugural Director of Public Programs at the Mashantucket Pequot Museum, the country’s largest tribal museum and research center, leading the development of their educational programs, interpretation, and public events.
For the last decade, Betsy has led The Opportunity Agenda’s national cultural strategy initiatives with artists, influencers, and advocates to shift narrative, culture, and policy towards greater economic and racial justice. Among her accomplishments were the leadership of the highly influential Creative Change retreats at Sundance (hosting comedian and CNN host W. Kamau Bell, Daily Show founder Lizz Winstead, and advocate Suzan Shown Harjo, among many others) and social impact campaigns for the Broadway and Netflix presentations of Kerry Washington’s production American Son.
In addition, she has run two theater companies, served as a Fellow at the New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theater and has developed and directed plays by Native playwrights on stages in New York, Los Angeles, and Canada.
Betsy currently serves on the Maine Arts Commission and is a Board Member of the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation. Her past board service has included the New England Foundation for the Arts, Connecticut Commission on Arts Education, Grantmakers in the Arts, and the Green Feather Foundation. Betsy holds a BFA from NYU and an MFA from Yale University.
Christiana Becker (she/her) | Curator of Education
Christiana Becker is a descendant of the Penobscot Nation and is the Curator of Education at the Abbe Museum. In 2018, Christiana received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Studio Art with a concentration in printmaking from the University of Maine as well as a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art Education. The research that shapes the creation of her art practice explores the history, culture, and sociopolitical pressures of North American Indigenous peoples, using those topics as a springboard to creating art. Becker's teaching experience has lead her to many different teaching opportunities, including: as a teaching assistant/residential tutor for the Mashpee Wampanoag Native Tribal Scholars Program, student teaching at Orono High School and James F. Doughty Middle School, and working for the Indian Island School's Summer Academy program. In 2022, Christiana received their Master of Fine Arts degree in Intermedia at the University of Maine. Prior to working at the Abbe Museum, Christiana was working as a substitute teacher and a school photographer for Lifetouch, Inc.
Contact: christiana@abbemuseum.org
John “JB” Brown (he/him) | Director of Finance
John "JB" Brown is Interim Director of Finance and has been with the Abbe off and on since 2006. JB had a early introduction to the original Abbe Museum at Sieur de Mont Springs during summer visits to Mount Desert Island as a child. He obtained a BS degree from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania with a focus in computer science. After college, he became a full time Maine resident and found work in the boat-building industry which included a sideline designing and building canoes. Subsequently, with the computer revolution, he was involved in pioneering work in computer aided design software for the marine industry. In recent years, he has brought his business related skills to the non-profit sector culminating in his current position at the Abbe. He lives in the village of Somesville with his wife, Emily and in his down time enjoys coaching soccer, downhill skiing, and running the occasional marathon.
Contact: jb@abbemuseum.org
Wade Lola II, Passamaquoddy (he/him) | Office Manager
Wade is a member of the Passamaquoddy tribe. He was born and raised on his peoples’ ancestral homeland at Motahkmikuk (Indian Township). The matriarch of his family, his Uhkomi (grandmother) taught him tradition–how to weave ash and braid sweetgrass, how to kneed and bake opan (bread), how to respectfully harvest and utilize the sacred bounty of Mother earth. His dedication to upholding tribal sovereignty and strong stance on decolonization hails directly from the teachings of his late Grandmother.
After high school, Wade attended the University of Southern Maine, before then entering the workforce in the finance sector. After spending about three years in finance, Wade felt the pull of the reservation calling him home. In 2020, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, Wade moved back home to be closer to his family and culture.
Contact: wade@abbemuseum.org
Antonella Mastroianni (she/her) | Senior Manager of Visitor Services
Antonella Mastroianni is the Manager of Visitor Services at the Abbe Museum. After graduating with her B.A. in History, with a certificate in Public History from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Antonella went on to receive her M.A. in Museum Studies from the Cooperstown Graduate Program at SUNY Oneonta. Focused on community engagement, programming, and accessibility, Antonella is passionate and committed to creating and implementing inclusive and accessible initiatives for all. Some of her experience includes being a co-director and judge coordinator for 2022 New York State History Day, working with the Dyckman Farmhouse Museum to coordinate various programming, co-curating an exhibition entitled Routes and Roadblocks: The Black Motoring Experience, and planning a variety of events, such as Dia de los Muertos alongside the Library of Cooperstown.
Visit her LinkedIn Profile.
Contact: antonella@abbemuseum.org
Aaron Miller, Ph.D. (he/him) | Luce Curator of Exhibits & Collections
Aaron Miller has more than a decade of experience as a museum curator with the encyclopedic collection of the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum in Massachusetts. Most recently heading the curatorial department, Aaron's work focused on the general research, interpretation, display, and care of the Museum’s collection with a scholarly focus on decorative arts, archaeological artifacts, and other objects of material and visual culture, including the holdings of the Joseph Allen Skinner Museum. Aaron was also the NAGPRA Coordinator and Head of Cultural Repatriation for the Museum. Since 2015, he has coordinated the return of ancestors and sacred objects from Mount Holyoke as well as other institutions in Massachusetts. The first decade of Aaron’s career focused on archaeology and he has a background in the 17th- through 19th-century archaeology of northeastern North America and holds an MA in anthropology and a PhD in Historical Archaeology from Memorial University of Newfoundland. Aaron is interested in collaborating with Indigenous communities and contemporary artists, the material histories of people and place, and working toward the return and transfer of control of cultural patrimony housed in museum collections.
Contact: aaron@abbemuseum.org
Sage Neptune, Penobscot Nation (he/him) | Luce Curatorial Fellow
Sage Neptune is the Abbe Museum's 2023-2024 Luce Curatorial Fellow. Sage is a Citizen of the Penobscot Nation and is finalizing their Masters Degree in Anthropology and Environmental Policy (with a focus on Museum Studies) at University of Maine, Orono. Their journey as an emerging Wabanaki curator and collections specialist was fueled by growing up witnessing their father's service as former Director of the Penobscot Nation Museum. Sage hopes to bring his learning experiences from this Fellowship back to benefit his Tribal Nation.
Jill Sawyer (she/her) | Deputy Director
Jill Sawyer is our Deputy Director at the Abbe Museum. She has over 10 years of experience in the museum sector, which includes a stint at the Abbe as a guest services associate and volunteer from 2010 to 2012. After receiving her B.A. from Wells College, Jill went on to pursue her M.A. from the University of Denver in Anthropology with a concentration in Museum Studies. In 2013 she spent 6 months in Manila, Philippines, evaluating the Museo Pambata’s Mobile Library Program. This experience became the foundation for her master’s thesis, which discusses the importance of advocacy and community outreach in museums. Outside of this, Jill has worked on several exhibits, including Living with the Memory: Rwanda 20 Years On and Ludlow: A Living Memorial, both at the University of Denver Museum of Anthropology. She was also the student curator for an online exhibit entitled Connecting the Pieces: Dialogues About the Amache Archaeology Collections. Visit her LinkedIn Profile.
Contact: jill@abbemuseum.org
