Citizen Potawatomi member Kelli Mosteller named new CEO of OKC's First Americans Museum

Oklahoma City's First Americans Museum has named Kelli Mosteller, an enrolled citizen of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, as its new executive director and chief executive officer.

Mosteller succeeds James Pepper Henry, who stepped down at the end of March after spending years working to get the First Americans Museum open and operating. In spring, Pepper Henry, an enrolled member of the Kaw Nation who is also Muscogee, shifted to the advisory role of director emeritus, with a focus on fundraising and special projects, for the museum.

Mosteller brings more than 15 years of leadership experience in cultural institutions, tribal community work and academia to the First Americans Museum, also known as FAM.

“We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Mosteller to lead FAM into its next chapter,” said Gregg Wadley, who is Choctaw and chairman of the First Americans Museum Foundation Board of Directors, in a statement. "Her extensive experience in Indigenous cultural preservation, museum management, and community engagement makes her ideally suited to build on FAM's success and further our mission."

Mosteller will start overseeing daily operations at the First Americans Museum on Sept. 3.

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Who is new First Americans Museum CEO Kelli Mosteller?

Since 2022, Mosteller has worked as executive director of Harvard University's Native American Program.

Before that, she spent a dozen years as executive director of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Cultural Heritage Center in Shawnee. During her tenure, she oversaw the tribe’s museum, cultural classes and programming, tribal archives and oral history projects. She also led her team during a multi-year renovation of the heritage center's exhibits, resulting in the museum’s recognition as a Top 10 Native Cultural Center in the U.S. by the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries and Museums in 2020.

In addition, Mosteller worked as the Citizen Potawatomi Nation's tribal historic preservation officer and oversaw her nation’s Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act effort.

"We commend Kelli for her 12 years serving her own tribal nation. Her experience in Oklahoma combined with her leadership at Harvard will elevate meaningful engagement with tribal nations in Oklahoma today. We're excited to welcome her," said Claire Green Young, who is Choctaw and serves on the FAM Board of Directors, in a statement.

Mosteller holds a Ph.D. in American history from the University of Texas at Austin, with a focus on Indigenous studies, and she's received numerous awards for her work.

"It's an honor to join the exceptional team at First Americans Museum," said Mosteller in a statement. "FAM plays a vital role in celebrating and sharing the collective histories of 39 distinctive First American Nations in Oklahoma today. I look forward to working with staff, the board of directors, and community partners to expand FAM's impact as a landmark cultural institution."

What's next for the First Americans Museum?

Since the long-awaited First Americans Museum hosted its public opening in September 2021, it has been honored with more than 30 local, regional, national and international awards.

FAM received earlier this year a $65,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to help the museum continue to reunite Indigenous items on loan from the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian that were collected in Oklahoma more than a century ago with their tribes and families of origin.

Since its opening, more than 300,000 people from across the state, country and globe have been admitted to FAM, and thousands more have attended events at the museum.

The Oklahoma City landmark is expected to draw even more visitors after the adjoining $400 million OKANA Resort and Indoor Waterpark opens in 2025. The resort along the Oklahoma River is being built by the Chickasaw Nation as part of an agreement with the city of Oklahoma City to finish the First Americans Museum.

As construction is ongoing at the future OKANA Resort, work recently started on a bike and pedestrian bridge across the Oklahoma River that will connect the resort to the 4-mile Greenway River Trail on the river's north shore. The lighted, 614-foot-long, $5.7 million concrete and steel bridge is one of Oklahoma City's MAPS 4 projects and is expected to be completed in about a year.