Cooperstown resident Kristen Oehlrich started a new job in September — CEO and executive director of the National Women’s Hall of Fame.
The nonprofit organization and museum in Seneca Falls is dedicated to honoring and celebrating the achievements of distinguished American women.
Oehlrich said she was selected for the position largely due to her experience in researching women’s rights. During the past 20 years, she has worked as a executive director, researcher and educator at a number of museums and cultural institutions, including Clark Art Institute, Williams College, the Albany Institute of History and Art, and the Museum of Modern Art.
She holds a doctorate in the history of art and architecture and an executive MBA in strategy, operations and leadership from Brown University. Before accepting the position at the National Women’s Hall of Fame, Oehlrich was president and CEO of Triumph of Flora, an advisory and consulting firm focused on supporting women and other represented artists.
She said she’s excited to continue expanding the work she has done in bringing awareness to and celebrating the achievements of American women.
“I am honored to be able to step into this role and serve as a steward for those stories, both from the past and for the future,” Oehlrich said.
Under her leadership, the National Women’s Hall of Fame is focusing on improving education and event programming, with plans for more educational events to be offered in the coming years, she said. Although in the beginning phases of research, she also aims to advance storytelling at the hall by using emerging AI technologies as a resource to bring historical figures and their narratives into the present moment, she said.
The smaller initiatives are a part of building toward Oehlrich’s primary goal of growing the national presence of the hall.
Oehlrich has lived in Cooperstown for more than a decade, she said, and works from the village, encouraging other residents in the area to take the trip out to Seneca Falls.
“The hall is only about two hours from Cooperstown, so it’s an easy day trip for folks to make, and I would encourage them to do so,” she said.
Alongside the board of directors, Oehlrich said she hopes to continue bringing awareness to the nonprofit organization and to define the hall as a well-recognized museum for anyone doing research on women or looking for inspiration in the more than 300 inductees present in the hall.
The National Women’s Hall of Fame plans to hold its 2026 induction ceremony in September in Rochester, and is celebrating a recent recognition for standing as a national model for preservation of historic spaces for its large-scale rehabilitation and adaptive reuse of the 1844 Seneca Knitting Mill, according to a news release.
The hall welcomes new and returning members to its membership program, The 1848 Society. For more information, visit www.womenofthehall.org.