Science & Nature
Adler Planetarium CEO Steps Down, Search Underway for Replacement
An aerial view of the Adler Planetarium against the Chicago skyline. (Vito Palmisano / iStock)
A search is underway for a new leader at Adler Planetarium, which announced Wednesday that Michelle Larson is stepping down as president and CEO after more than a decade on the job.
Larson, who came to Adler in 2013, is leaving to become president of Clarkson University in upstate New York.
The planetarium’s chief financial officer, Audris Wong, has been tapped as interim CEO while the board of trustees undertakes the process of hiring a permanent replacement for Larson.
Kecia Steelman, the board’s chairperson, praised Larson for her “unwavering passion and commitment” to Adler.
“Through her leadership, we have assembled an exceptional senior management team, strengthened the organization’s financial and operational capabilities, and established a durable foundation for future success,” Steelman said.
Adler Planetarium opened in 1930 — dedicated as a “classroom under the heavens” — and owns bragging rights as the first planetarium in the western hemisphere.
The planetarium has, in recent years, placed less emphasis on its physical location on Chicago’s museum campus, growing its digital presence and expanding programming into the city’s neighborhoods, though public observation events, such as an eclipse watch party in 2024, still draw crowds to the lakefront.
In spring 2020, early in the COVID-19 pandemic, Adler laid off 120 employees.
It was one of the city’s last major cultural institutions to fully reopen post-pandemic, having been closed for nearly two years.
Contact Patty Wetli: @pattywetli | (773) 509-5623 | [email protected]
