After more than 30 years Andrew Neuman, executive director of the Royal Tyrrell Museum is retiring.
Through 33 years, he has served in a number of roles at the institution, each bringing a new adventure.
“I got the opportunity to do some really interesting things,” Neuman tells the Mail. ”Initially for the first 20 years, and a little towards the end I was involved in research projects.”
Neuman started at the Museum in August of 1986, less than a year after it opened to the public. His initial role was head of collections. He was in that role until 1998, when he became an assistant director.
“At that point, I was a senior manager responsible for collections, prep labs, shipping and receiving. It was on the research end, but not the research itself, they were independent .”
In 2007 he succeeded Dr. Bruce Naylor as the Executive Director.
He was involved in fieldwork and research throughout Alberta as well as in B.C. Saskatchewan and the Arctic. As part of bringing exhibits to the world, he travelled to Eastern Canada, the United States, Paris, and Japan.
“That was mostly while I was collections manager,” he said.
In his day-to-day work, he saw tremendous change at the museum over three decades including gallery development and refreshes, the development of education programs, locally and through distance via technology. He is leaving after the completion of an expansion to the museum that opened earlier this year.
“I worked on that for a long time and getting the chance to see it opened and functional, is great and some of the major gallery redevelopments, and getting them to a stage we can really be proud of it, there is a lot of satisfaction.,” he said. “The distance program is pretty spectacular and world-renowned for its creativity and capacity to reach audiences around the world.”
“It has really changed over the years, but some of the important elements have not changed so much. It is still really focused on science, the palaeontology, and educational outreach.”
The one thing he will miss is all the people he has worked with over three decades.
“I’m not leaving the community and am going to continue to be engaged, I haven’t signed up as a volunteer yet, and I probably will and still come by periodically to do the fun stuff. I am sure I will continue to be involved socially and involved with the Cooperating Society, so I don’t see myself wandering away from the people that much.”
While he is retiring from the museum, he will continue to still work as a partner in Red Deer River Adventures.
“Now I can invest more of my time and energy in the business and help it to grow, develop and be successful,” he said.
