Eric Jolly - President

Dr. Eric Jolly, who became the Science Museum of Minnesota's president in 2004, is passionate about science literacy for all people. He has published numerous articles, books, and curricula, and lectured around the world on the importance of science learning in contemporary societies and the importance of participation in STEM (Science-Technology-Engineering-and Math) education.

In October 2012, Jolly was appointed by President Barack Obama to the National Museum and Library Services Board. Informed by its collectively vast experience and knowledge in museums or libraries, the NMLSB advises the director of the Institute for Museum and Library Services on general policy and practices, and on selections for the National Medals for Museum and Library Service.

Also in 2012, Jolly was appointed to the Distinguished Lectureship program of Sigma Xi, the international honor society for research scientists and engineers. As part of the Distinguished Lectureship program, Jolly will be available to speak to Sigma Xi local chapters around the world.

Dr. Jolly works with a number of groups promoting STEM education, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, the National Council for Teachers of Mathematics, and the National Science Teachers Association. He is also active in many youth, family, and community organizations, including Youth Alive!, The Innovation Center, American Youth Policy Forum, the American Museum of Natural History, the Open Society Institutes' Youth Media Programs, and the AAAS Healthy Families 2010 project. Before coming to the Science Museum, he served as Senior Scientist and vice president at the Education Development Center in Newton, Massachusetts.

Dr. Jolly also serves on numerous national advisory boards, including the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, Committee on Opportunities in Science for the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. He is a member of numerous honor societies, including Sigma Xi, Phi Eta Sigma, Mortarboard, and Golden Key, and is also a life member of the Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science. Dr. Jolly has a PhD in psychology from the University of Oklahoma, and studied physics and psychology as an undergraduate. He enjoys weaving baskets in the Cherokee tradition.

Mike Day - Senior Vice President, Museum Enterprises

Mike Day is Senior Vice President of Museum Enterprises and oversees the programming, sales, and promotion for museum visitor experiences, and is responsible for earned income operations of the museum. He has enjoyed a 30-year career in public program administration and museums. After earning a Finance Degree from the University of Illinois, Day was awarded a New York State Arts Council grant to study museum management in Rochester, New York. He went on to the Cleveland Board of Education from which he was recruited to Saint Paul to join the Science Museum.

Mike Day was responsible for bringing the Body Worlds exhibition to the museum in the summer of 2006, A Day in Pompeii in 2007, Titanic in 2009, The Dead Sea Scrolls in 2010, and King Tut in 2011. He has traveled the world as an Executive Producer of giant screen films for the museum's Omnitheater. He and his film teams spent seven years chasing volcanoes around the Pacific Basin for the film Ring of Fire, and journeyed to the shores of Lake Tanganyika to produce a giant screen film featuring the life's work of Dr. Jane Goodall. Most recently he was the Executive Producer for the giant screen film Tornado Alley, which was completed in 2011.

Day currently serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Giant Dome Theater Consortium (GDTC), the consortium of seven U.S. museums housing IMAX Dome Theaters. Day also serves on the Board of the Saint Paul Convention and Visitors Association, including serving as Chair of the Finance Committee and member of the Executive Committee. He is a past president of the Giant Screen Cinema Association, former publisher of The Big Frame magazine, and a former Board Member of the Association of Midwest Museums. On summer nights he can be found as a baseball coach for kids on Saint Paul's east side.

Paul Martin - Senior Vice President, Science Learning

As Senior Vice President of Science Learning, a title he's held since March 2010, Paul Martin oversees the museum's development, design and production of exhibits and related science learning programming. Martin leads a staff of exhibit and education professionals whose work towards fulfilling the Science Museum's mission of "turning on the science," both at home and around the world, is recognized industry-wide. He has a long, varied and esteemed career in museum programming and is known nationally as an innovator in creating physically, emotionally and intellectually interactive visitor experiences.

Under Martin's leadership, the Science Museum's Exhibits Services business has grown into the leading museum-based exhibit development and production operation in the country, with clients including the Lemelson Center at the Smithsonian Institute, the American Museum of Natural History, the Museum of Science (Boston), the California Science Center, the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and the Minnesota Zoo. Martin oversaw the development, design, production and installation of exhibits in the Science Museum's 400,000 square-foot riverfront facility, which opened in 1999 and has established itself as one of the most popular museums in the Upper Midwest.

Martin has worked with over 50 museums and science centers. Prior to his current position at the Science Museum of Minnesota, he held leadership positions with Museum Content Builders Inc., The Field Museum, Jim Henson Productions and the Minnesota Historical Society.

Duane Kocik - Vice President, Finance and Administration

Duane Kocik, a 35-year Science Museum of Minnesota veteran, has been Vice President of Finance and Administration since 1985, with responsibility for overseeing the development of the museum's annual and long-term financial plans. Under Kocik's leadership, the Science Museum has had an excess of revenue over expenditures for the last 28 consecutive fiscal years.

As Vice President of Finance and Administration, Kocik manages the departments that provide support service for the Science Museum's operations, including finance and accounting, maintenance, legal services, insurance and investments. He also staffs the Finance, Investment and Audit Committees of the Board of Trustees.

In addition to his role on the Science Museum's senior management team, Kocik has served on the board of the Institute for Minnesota Archeology and as a volunteer for the Fairway Foundation. He also serves on the Board of Regents for St. John's Preparatory School in Collegeville, Minnesota.

Jill Rudnitski - Vice President, Development

Jill Rudnitski joined the museum as Vice President of Development in November 2008 and oversees annual, capital and special project fundraising as well as corporate sponsorships for the museum. Rudnitski cultivates the inner scientist of donors by introducing them to the truly international and world-class experiences that the museum offers through its collections work, research, and educational programming. She also participates in the selection and orientation of new board members.

Prior to her work at the museum, Rudnitski spent 22 years in higher education marketing and fundraising. Rudnitski also serves on the boards of the Twin Cities-based non-profits HIRED and the Domestic Abuse Project, and has also served on the Minnesota ACE board, supporting women in higher education.

She holds a master's degree in physical geography from the University of North Dakota as well as a master's in information media from St. Cloud State University. She is thrilled to work in a place that has dinosaur bones and loves to travel internationally, celebrating her mother's birthday by taking her on a trip to a different country every year.

Sarah Olson Scovill - Vice President, Human Resources

Sarah Olson Scovill joined the Science Museum of Minnesota as Vice President of Human Resources in June 2009. Scovill brings her extensive work experience in for-profit fields outside of museum administration to her role as Vice President. She is evolving the museum's Human Resources department into a contemporary business model that provides superior core services, combined with a consultative approach supporting the strategic direction of the museum and its employees through development, leadership, and decision support.

Scovill has 15 years of experience in the human resources field. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire with a major in Education and a minor in Mathematics, and earned her master's degree in Human Resource Management from Ottawa University in Kansas City, Kansas.

Scovill is proud of the amazing impact that the museum has both locally and beyond in providing numerous educational and professional initiatives, and is thrilled to be working at a place that she used to visit as a kid. She remembers the dinosaur bones and the Darwin on the Galapagos Omnitheater film when the museum was located at the Arts and Sciences Center. In her free time she enjoys international travel, live music of all varieties, cycling and hiking.