Chief of Staff

Katherine H. Maas was appointed as Chief of Staff in June 2021, with responsibility for the agency’s executive-level operations. She has worked at IMLS for over a decade, initially in the Office of Museum Services in 2010, and then moving to the Office of the Director in 2016. She has served as the liaison to the presidentially appointed National Museum and Library Services Board since 2013.

Prior to coming to IMLS, Ms. Maas interned at the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs in the Cultural Programs Division of the Office of Citizen Exchanges at the U.S. Department of State; the National NAGPRA Program at the National Park Service; and Carlyle House in Alexandria, Virginia, where she also worked as a weekend manager. She served as the first professional director of the Penns Valley Area Historical Museum in Aaronsburg, Pennsylvania.

Ms. Maas holds an A.B. in Science, Technology, and Society from Vassar College and an M.A. in History from Penn State University. She also received an M.A. in Museum Studies and the Marie Malaro Award for Excellence in Research and Writing from George Washington University.