Richerson out as CEO of Peoria Riverfront Museum; Ritschel named interim CEO

Mired recently in some controversy over the Peoria Riverfront Museum’s audit and attendance figures, Jim Richerson is out after 13 years at the helm of the local museum.

Yet the museum’s board declined on Thursday to say why the individual perhaps most responsible for the new museum getting built and transitioning from Lakeview Museum was no longer president and CEO by the time the board’s meeting finished on Wednesday night.

Nor would Peoria County elected officials speculate that the controversy had anything to do with the change at the top.

Richerson could not be reached for comment.

Debbie Ritschel, retired general manager of the Peoria Civic Center, will be interim president and CEO until a new permanent leader is found, said David Ransburg, chairman of the museum board.

Ransburg called the news conference in response to media inquiries about Richerson after a brief news release Thursday said simply that the board announced Richerson “is leaving his position as PRM President and CEO effective May 16.”

But no matter how many ways reporters asked the question during the news conference Ransburg refused to say what had transpired during the board meeting or whether Richerson was fired or resigned. “It’s a personnel matter. We can’t discuss it,” he said.

He did say that the audit report that was expected by the Peoria County Board was completed and approved by the museum board on Wednesday and that the two boards will meet soon.

Ransburg also said that the county did not have to worry that the museum is going to ask it for operating funds for the museum. “We’ve assured them we are not going to do that, that will do whatever we have to in fundraising or whatever it takes to make sure that doesn’t happen,” Ransburg said.

County Board member Steve Morris said Richerson had recently intimated to him that the museum could be asking for help with operating funds. That coupled with the late audit sent up red flags for the County Board, he said.

He also, however, criticized media coverage of the audit situation and museum attendance figures. “Unfortunately the story became more about the absence of the numbers than about the numbers themselves,” he said.

Morris and County Board member Andrew Rand would not speculate whether the audit situation or attendance shortfalls had anything to do with the reason Richerson is out. “I would certainly not connect those dots,” Rand said.

Attendance is below projects for the museum’s fiscal year, which ends June 30.

The Riverfront Museum projected attendance would be 180,000 people, below full-year projections because it was not a full year in the new building after the move from Lakeview Museum. Through May 12, attendance was 104,776. The only month in which attendance exceeded budgeted numbers was in that first month, last October, when more than twice as many went through the museum in that short month than expected.

Ransburg expressed confidence the numbers will go up. “Next year is going to be very different,” he said, noting programs are fully in place, the big screen theatre that struggled early on is now operating as planned and marketing is in high gear.

He cited surveys done of Riverfront Museum patrons since the facility open that showed 95 percent enjoyed the experience and said they would recommend the museum to people they know.

Richerson’s departure comes less than two weeks after operations of the museum were restructured, with some jobs eliminated and others repositioned to, in his words, better meet the needs of the patrons while improving operating efficiency and cost effectiveness.

The board did not vote on the restructuring, Ransburg said. Asked if he and the board supported the moves he responded only with, “We were aware of it.”

Regarding Richerson’s replacement, Ransburg said a national search would begin soon and that the board would be looking for a person with strong marketing skills as well as strong management abilities and how to use and schedule staff in a complex facility. Those are skills Ritschel used at the Civic Center but she is not interested in applying for the job on a permanent basis, she said.

Ransburg said it’s likely an effective search firm would be employed to find candidates and he hoped it would be completed in two to six months.

Richerson was hired as CEO of Lakeview Museum about 13 years ago and was told by that board of directors that one of his duties would be to expand the museum. He spearheaded the effort to get the Riverfront Museum built, effort that met with opposition from many fronts and did not appear likely to occur until voters approved a county sales tax increase in 2010 to help fund it.

About the Author

Paul Gordon is the editor of The Peorian after spending 29 years of indentured servitude at the Peoria Journal Star. He’s an award-winning writer, raconteur and song-and-dance man. He also went to a high school whose team name is the Alices (that’s Vincennes Lincoln High School in Indiana; you can look it up).