Catherine Wilson Horne is president and CEO of Discovery Place, one of the leading science and technology centers in the U.S. serving more than 828,000 people annually. Discovery Place provides a network of four science and technology, natural history and children’s museums to local, regional and national audiences. In 2014, Discovery Place expanded its service to teachers and administrators with the opening of the Discovery Place Education Studio to provide STEM professional development.
Prior to joining Discovery Place in 2014, Catherine has been in leadership roles with science, art, history and children’s museums for more than three decades. During that time, she also spent more than a decade at the University of South Carolina in administration and as a member of the museum studies faculty. She was the founding CEO of EdVenture, Inc., one of the nation’s leading children’s museums and a recipient of the National Medal for Museum Service. She holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in art history from Salem College and the University of South Carolina.
Catherine is a Fellow of the Noyce Leadership Institute and has been an active leader in the museum field, including service on the boards of the South Carolina Federation of Museums (past president, and Southeastern Museums Conference. She currently serves on the boards of Association of Children’s Museums as Treasurer, the N.C. Grassroots Science Museum Collaborative and the Association of Science-Technology Centers.
Outside of her professional service, she is a member of International Women’s Forum, Women’s Executives, ASC’s Regional Cultural Advisory Council, Junior League of Charlotte and Charlotte Regional Partnership Marketing Committee. She also serves on the Board of Directors of Apparo.