FCMoD Blog

National Search leads all the way back home as current Associate Director ascends to top leadership position

(FORT COLLINS) Fort Collins Museum of Discovery’s Board of Directors is pleased to announce that long-time team-member, Shannon Quist, will take on the role of Executive Director for the organization’s Nonprofit Partner as of September 30^th.  Shannon has been with the museum since 2016 when she started as the Director for Community Connections. Previous to FCMoD, Shannon spent twelve years at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian serving with the Education Department, Community and Constituent Services, and the Office of the Director. She earned her undergraduate degree at Colorado State University. Most recently, Shannon has served as Associate Director at the museum where her responsibilities have included community partnerships, programming, exhibition development, and long-term planning. Her hiring comes after a three-month national search that led to Shannon being the top candidate for the position.

“Joining Fort Collins Museum of Discovery I was thrilled to bring my experience to such a deeply partnered and community centered organization,” Shannon shared.  “As I begin this next phase, I am honored to lead an amazing team, excited to continue deepening our work with collaborators across the region and encouraged by the opportunities that lay before us.”

FCMoD is a unique public private partnership resulting from the 2008 merger of the City of Fort Collins History Museum and the nonprofit Discovery Science Center. Cheryl Donaldson Moses has served as the City’s FCMoD Executive Director for 26 years. Shannon will be filling the Co-Executive Director position of the Nonprofit partner. Fort Collins Museum of Discovery’s Board of Directors, which oversees the hiring of the museum’s Nonprofit Executive Director and to whom the Executive Director will report, found the search process to be thorough and affirming.

“We spoke to strong candidates from all over the country, which makes it all the more validating that the person who rose to the top already has such a deep connection to our community,” said FCMoD BOD President, Ben Reynolds. “We could not be happier with the process and the result. The museum and our community will be well-served by Shannon’s passion, experience and vision for years to come. We’re very excited for this next chapter.”

Fort Collins Museum of Discovery is a hands-on science, history and culture museum whose vision is to inspire inquisitive thinkers and encourage responsible stewardship of the future. They will host three special exhibitions this year including the upcoming, Skin – Living Armor, Evolving Identity and The Bias Inside Us. Shannon has been instrumental in developing FCMoD community partnerships like the Alebrijes exhibition, Indigenous Science, Technology, Arts, and Resilience Program, and The Human Library.

Shannon will begin her new role on September 30, 2024.

About Fort Collins Museum of Discovery

Fort Collins Museum of Discovery (FCMoD) is an accredited interactive and immersive museum featuring hands-on and collections-based exhibits that tell the stories of Northern Colorado and beyond. Developed as a partnership between the City of Fort Collins’ history museum and the non-profit Discovery Science Center, FCMoD has hosted more than 1 million visitors since opening at our current location in 2012. Our exhibits gallery features long-term exhibits on science, agriculture, astronomy, first peoples, wild lands and more, while our Otterbox Digital Dome Theater is Northern Colorado’s only 360-degree immersive theater. Our Archive & Collections is home to more than 40,000 3-dimensional objects and more than 400,000 archival records, including historical photos and documents. To learn more please visit

https://fcmod.org/