Christopher Dobbs
Executive Director

With over 25 years of diverse museum experience, Chris has a strong background in executive leadership, strategic planning, fundraising, education, exhibit development, and a passion for museums. He believes that museums are here to serve their communities, inspire visitors of all ages, and act as centers for public discourse and lifelong learning.

Chris holds a Bachelor of Arts in american history from Indiana University and a Masters of museum studies from the Cooperstown Graduate Program at the State University of New York at Oneonta. He was born in Chicago, Illinois, and has lived most of his life in New England.

Chris started his administrative career in museums in 1998 as supervisor of special interpretive programs at Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut. He oversaw special events, roleplayers, musicians, costuming, and the interpretation in a number of historic sites and exhibits. Chris was later made Associate Director of Education, where he managed the museum's education division, which included serving over 60,000 students per year.

In 2004 Chris became executive director for the Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society in West Hartford, Connecticut, where he completed a $1.2 million capital campaign, restored the National Registered Landmark, and implemented a number of exhibits, including the award-winning Bristow: Putting the Pieces of an African-American Life Together. Chris then joined the Connecticut River Museum as their executive director in 2013. During his time as director of the museum, he developed and managed a $5 million capital campaign that included a waterfront infrastructure project, a collections storage facility, and updates to the historic Samuel Lay House. And, he helped bring the ONRUST, a reproduction of Dutch explorer Adriaen Block's 1614 vessel, to the museum as a long-term waterfront guest.

From 2007 – 2018, Chris was a peer advisor for the Connecticut Department of Economic & Community Development and later a private consultant. Chris viewed this as public service to the state's nonprofits. Consulting projects included strategic planning, historic site use assessment, historic restoration planning, grant writing, and program planning.

Since starting at Museum of the Rockies in 2018, Chris has immersed himself in the museum and Montana State University. He oversees a museum with a renowned paleontology collection and an extensive western history collection. He has helped develop new programs, including Haunted Mountain Theater (a blend of live theater and the planetarium's special effects). During COVID-19, Chris has been an instrumental player in pivoting how the museum serves its members and visitors – developing safe onsite visitor experiences while pushing for virtual methods beyond the museum's walls. He is currently guiding the Board and staff to develop a new long-range strategic plan. Chris is also working with the museum's curator of history and tribal representatives to develop a new American Indian exhibit.

Chris enjoys spending time with his wife Jennifer and his two boys Zach and Liam. Exploring and lecturing on the architecture of the American diner, skiing (downhill and cross-country), woodworking, reading, music (singing and playing instruments, not well), hiking, and attempting fly fishing in Big Sky Country are some of his favorite pastimes

Contact Chris via email or 406.994.6543.