Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History names new executive director.

It's been a tumultuous few years for the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History, capped off by a pandemic that shut its doors while keeping up its mission in the virtual world and the resignation in September of its former executive director in the wake of controversy surrounding a former staff member. 

The museum that originally opened in 1883 is now ready for a new chapter with the hiring of a new executive director, Carla Bitter. Bitter has 20 years of professional museum of experience, including serving as the education and public outreach manager for NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander Mission.

She is joining the P.G. museum from her last post as vice president of learning, programing & exhibits at Science World in British Columbia. She is expected to start later this spring, according to a press release.

"Carla brings scientific training, a passion for science education and community engagement and significant experience with museums to her new role," said Tama Olver, a museum board member who served as the interim executive director after the resignation of Jeannette Kihs in September.

"As we move forward from the impacts of the pandemic, [Bitter] will draw from her successes as a leader and team builder to shaper our new future."

Team building was probably at the top of the list of qualities needed in a new executive director, after allegations by former employees surfaced that Kihs and former employee Juan Govea created a hostile work environment that led to the departure of numerous employees over a three-and-a-half year period. Thirteen former employees and two former board members signed a letter dated Sept. 20, 2020, to Olver detailing their concerns.

Govea had resigned a few weeks earlier on Sept. 3, after allegations of statutory rape appeared against him on social media. Four years earlier as a new employee at the museum, Govea was arrested on felony charges of unlawful sex with a minor. He remained employed with the museum as his case went through the legal system. He plead not guilty to the charges. Prosecutors dropped the charges in September 2017 after the victim refused to cooperate.

The allegations that surfaced last August on the anonymous Instagram account @thisisour831 claimed to involve a another young woman. People were encouraged to email the museum and call for his resignation. A few days later, on Sept. 2, the former employees and board members signed a letter demanding he resigned. He did so the next day.

Despite the upset, the museum continued a robust offering of online classes and virtual tours for students throughout the pandemic and the more than five month search for a new executive director.

Bitter has worked for much larger museums, including the Smithsonian's Nation Museum of Natural History, she said she is looking forward to having the overall responsibility for a growing natural history museum, according to the press release.

"I can't believe that I get to have the kind of job I had always imagined, in a gorgeous place, with smart, fun people," she said.