Carrie M. Heinonen has more than 20 years of experience with both non-profit and Fortune 100 organizations including brand-management roles at Wm. Wrigley Jr. and Quaker Oats/Pepsico. She is currently the Director and CEO at the Museum of Northern Arizona, winner of the 2015 National Medal of Museum and Library Service. Previously, Heinonen served as President and Director of the Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) in Phoenix. From 2005 to 2011, she was the Vice President for Marketing and Public Affairs at the Art Institute of Chicago, the country’s second largest art museum, where she established the marketing department, rebranded the museum, and led communications for the launch of the museum’s Modern Wing. 

 

Having grown up in Tucson, Heinonen received her Bachelor of Arts in Art History from Dartmouth College and her Master’s Degree in Public and Private Management from the Yale School of Management. She has worked in the curatorial department at the Heard Museum conducting research for The Boarding School Experience exhibition, studied Maori art in New Zealand, and lived and worked with the White Mountain Apache tribe. In Chicago, she served on the boards of The House Theatre, WomanCraft Inc., and Heartland Alliance Human Services. In 2007, she represented the US as a Marshall Memorial Fellow in Europe.

 

Along with her St. Bernard Finn, she presently inhabits the historic McMillan Homestead.