The Board Names New Executive Director

Flower Hill Urban Homestead Museum 

The Board Names New Executive Director

Executive Director Daniel Ronan

At the beginning of May, Daniel Ronan began his tenure as Executive Director of the Flower Hill Foundation. A creative thinker, policy wonk, and historic preservation, transit, and housing activist with experience in museums, tourism, and cultural diplomacy, Daniel brings over a decade of arts and culture expertise to his new role. 

A native of Portland, Oregon, Daniel attended the University of Oregon where he received his two BAs in Planning and Romance Languages. Most recently Daniel relocated from Chicago where he lived for eight years upon arriving in Austin in December 2021. In Chicago, Daniel served as the Manager of Public Engagement at the National Public Housing Museum for over three years. He founded and led Moxie, an interdisciplinary group of LGBTQ+ identified urban planners and policymakers in Chicago. Daniel prides himself on his ability to connect, collaborate, and create community change, skill sets that are highly valued by Flower Hill's Board of Directors. 

In his most recent position as the Principal of Resilient Heritage, a cultural consultancy that works with nonprofit organizations in the arts, culture, and heritage sectors, included fundraising and strategic planning clients as diverse as the Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University in East Lansing, MI, the Aquarium of the Bay in San Francisco, CA, and the Niagara Falls National Heritage Area in Niagara Falls, NY. He also has a penchant for politics, having served as the Manager of Operations of Lightfoot for Chicago, the mayoral campaign of Chicago's current mayor Lori Lightfoot. 

"Daniel brings a diverse skillset to Flower Hill in fundraising, historic preservation, and public engagement, all assets that will be invaluable to the future development of our museum as a cultural destination for Austin and the state," stated Natalie George, the Chair of the Board. "We admire the breadth of his expertise that can help us envision a Flower Hill model that can share the story of the Smoots and serve our Austin community of today."

Daniel also appreciates Flower Hill's legacy of public service, having recently been admitted to the Lyndon Baines Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, where he plans to begin his graduate studies in 2023. "The Smoots epitomize a family that believed in public service as a way to a better life, a way to a better community, and ultimately, a better Austin," stated Daniel, "I am pleased to promote community and public service, two values of American participatory democracy."

Daniel looks forward to meeting the many supporters of Flower Hill in the coming months. Please be sure to say hello if you see him on the grounds or on the streets around Austin; he may ask you for your favorite brewery or park, all while riding his bike.