Staff & Board

Laura Millin (she/her)

Executive Director

For over 30 years, Laura has dedicated herself to MAM and its vision, doing everything from steering the direction of the museum, raising money, and maintaining and expanding the museum facilities, to making soup for crowds of guests. As Executive Director, Laura has taken MAM from a small county agency living in a converted Carnegie library to an independent, thriving nonprofit in a beautiful, renovated and expanded facility. Laura moved to Missoula after spending a decade in contemporary art in Seattle, where she co-founded the International Festival of Films by Women and the Center on Contemporary Art. She has served on the board of directors or advisors for at least a dozen nonprofits, and has received seven awards for her leadership, fundraising, and community service achievements. MAM is a labor of love for Laura and represents her life’s work. She is continually rewarded by the “MAMily” of staff and board members who make it all possible, and by the artists who enrich our lives, and says she still has plenty more to do at MAM. Laura graduated from Evergreen State College with a bachelor’s in interdisciplinary studies.

Brandon Reintjes (he/him)

Senior Curator

At MAM, Brandon oversees strategic planning for programming initiatives, which is a technical way of describing the pleasurable task of working closely with artists to help them realize their creative visions. Brandon has worked as curator for a number of institutions throughout the state. He previously worked at the Montana Museum of Art & Culture at the University of Montana-Missoula, Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Kentucky, the Akron Art Museum in Akron, Ohio, and the Holter Museum of Art in Helena, Montana. Recent publications include Phoebe Knapp: Rough Cuts; Cathy Weber: Understory/Overstory (2018); Our Side: Elisa Harkins, Tanya Lukin Linklater, Marianne Nicolson, and Tanis Maria S’eiltin (2018); and Shape of Things: New Approaches to Indigenous Abstraction (2018). In addition, Brandon regularly contributes articles to the Journal of Modern Craft, Ceramics Art & Perception, and Ceramics Monthly. He received a bachelor’s in painting and drawing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and his master’s in curatorial and critical studies from the University of Louisville.

John Calsbeek (he/him)

Associate Curator

While at the University of Montana, John had his first taste of working in the arts with a work-study job at MAM and then as the University Center Gallery student coordinator. After earning a bachelor’s in fine arts, John worked as the director of a small, commercial photography gallery in Missoula. John was hired at MAM during its 2006 expansion. As Associate Curator, John now works together with Senior Curator Brandon Reintjes and directly with artists to develop, design, and install all of MAM’s exhibits. He also works with the programming team to develop interpretation and create public programs centered on the exhibition schedule. John has been co-chair of MAM’s auction committee since 2006, working with volunteers and staff to coordinate the annual benefit art auction. His favorite part of the job, in addition to hands-on work in the gallery, is meeting artists—going to an artist’s studio to look at new work and engaging in meaningful dialogue about art and art-making.

Margo Geddes (she/her)

Registrar

Margo is an artist and holds an MFA in photography from the University of Oregon. Her photographic practice often revolves around the interactions between people and the natural world, from the impact of wildfire on the landscape to river corridors as mediators between the wild and the domesticated. Margo earned her MA in Museum Studies and a certificate in Digital Curation from Johns Hopkins University. She is passionate about creating equitable spaces that build community through technology. Most recently she worked at the Mansfield Library to digitize materials from the archives and special collections and make them more discoverable on the Montana Memory Project. As registrar, she’s passionate about finding innovative paths to sharing MAM’s collection.

Kay Grissom-Kiely (she/her)

Curator of Education

Grissom-Kiely has worked in various capacities at the Missoula Art Museum, Montana Museum of Art and Culture, the Montana Arts Council, homeWORD, the St. James Guide to Latin American Art (co-editor), and as a freelance grant-writer and researcher. While in Chicago, she worked as director of education at the Hyde Park Art Center, Gallery 37 and Marwen Foundation—all inner-city arts organizations that provide art and exhibition programming. She completed a curatorial internship for the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, as well as full-time summer internships in museum education at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Eiteljorg Museum of Native American and Western Art in Indianapolis, IN. She is committed to art and arts education and has an extensive background in community-based arts education, with a master’s degree in modern/contemporary art history, theory, and criticism from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she focused on contemporary women artists of Cuba, and a bachelor’s degree in art and art history from DePauw University. She currently teaches museum education at University of Montana’s Museum Studies Graduate Certificate Program.

Janaína Vieira-Marques (she/her)

Educator and Outreach Coordinator

Janaína is a Brazilian-American art director and educator who has called Missoula home since 2008, after immigrating from Brazil. In both roles, she has created art encounters and education programs that incorporate public art pieces, performances, sets, and costumes. Janaína served as Artist in Residence at the Holter Museum of Art and at MAM, and as K-8 art teacher at Sussex School. She has created arts projects for most of the elementary schools in Missoula through the Spark Ignite Learning program. Janaína trained in Visual Thinking Strategies and Arts Integration at the Kennedy Center for the Arts and earned a BFA with high honors from the University of Montana. As an artist she seeks to facilitate collaborative interactions while beautifying the places we share. Her pieces include collaborations with dancers, choreographers, engineers, and light designers. Janaína is trained in graphic design and knows a lot about coloring sawdust for public art.

"My work is grounded in my own experiences as an immigrant, a teaching artist, a mother, a wife and a part of the BIPOC community. I believe that the arts are a fundamental right that can transform communities and shape the way we think about humanity. My approach to education is towards collaboration, where we all bring to the table different skill sets to enhance learning and our sense of place and belonging."

Jessica Noe (she/her)

Advancement Officer

Jessica joined MAM in 2022 as Advancement Officer. Previously, she was in Denver where she held positions at two of Colorado’s largest cultural institutions, the Denver Zoo and the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. Jessica graduated from the University of Denver with a bachelor’s degree in communications and a minor in studio arts.

Nicolle Hamm (she/her)

Administrator and Community Programmer

Gabe Morrison (he/him)

Visitor Educator Facilitator

Marie Fahlgren (she/her)

Marketing and Communications Specialist

Missoula Art Museum brings talented and dedicated teaching artists into many ongoing education programs.

View current teaching artist bios here.

Board of Directors

Matt Gibson, President

Amy Sings in the Timber, Vice President

Josh Gimpelson, Treasurer

Amy Leary, Secretary

Libby Addington

Colin Boyle

Stephanie Christensen

Paul Filicetti

Montana James

Margaret Kingsland

Fran Legon

Kate Shanley

Kate Sutherland