Pieter Nicholson Roos is the principal at Roos & Associates Consulting, a museum leadership, organizational development, advocacy, and preservation practices firm. He is rooted in 40 years of experience at a wide variety of large and small museums around the Northeast, and has an extensive network of colleagues and specialists located throughout the country.

 

Prior to founding his consulting practice, Pieter had a career in museum leadership, having held positions at the Newport Historical Society, the Newport Restoration Foundation, both in Newport, Rhode Island, and The Mark Twain House & Museum in Hartford, Connecticut.

 

He was the founding museum director at The Newport Restoration Foundation (NRF), where in 18 months, he lead the transformation of Doris Duke’s private home into the newest historic house museum on Newport’s famed Bellevue Avenue. He took NRF from an unknown, underpowered organization and made it into an influential museum and preservation organization respected for its unique collections, programming, community investment, preservation standards, and advocacy.

 

At The Mark Twain House & Museum, Pieter took an organization that had been in long-term distress and turned it around in just a few short years. He reformed the finances, nullified a long-term debt, preserved the deteriorating national landmark structure, and gained AAM re-accreditation. He also rebuilt programming, launched the museum’s first strategic plan, rebuilt the professional staff, and captained the initiative to bring life back into a nationally important site.

 

Throughout his career as a director, Pieter has specialized in organizational turnaround. Whether it is building, or rebuilding, innovative thinking, teamwork, or the persistence necessary to create a successful entity, they are part of his DNA.

 

Past clients have included Mystic Seaport; The Newport Historical Society; the International Yacht Restoration School; The Herreshoff Marine Museum, Bristol RI; The Whitehall Museum, Middletown, RI; Trinity Episcopal Church, Newport; Kirby Perkins Construction; and various private collectors.

 

Pieter received a B.A. in Anthropology from Drew University, and an M.A. from the Cooperstown Program at the State University of New York. He serves on several boards including the Hartford Art School at the University of Hartford, and Preservation CT, the statewide preservation organization. An epee fencer for almost fifty years, he coaches at the local high school and is a professional landscape painter as well. He lives in Simsbury, CT with his wife Barbara.