The Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation is pleased to announce the appointment of Richard Hunt as the organization’s executive director.
Richard Hunt
Jim Sayce, president of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, said Hunt was one of 28 applicants for the executive director position and the unanimous choice of the organization’s executive search committee and board of directors. Hunt’s appointment became effective on February 5.
“Richard has the skills and vision to promote our mission to preserve, promote, and teach the diverse heritage of the Lewis and Clark Expedition for the benefit of all people,” Sayce said. “We could not be more pleased with Richard’s appointment and his decision to join us in our work.”
Hunt previously served as a video producer and marketing and fundraising committee member for the Oregon California Trails Association [OCTA], headquartered in Independence, Mo.
Hunt succeeds Sarah Cawley, who left the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation in mid-September to assume the position of community outreach coordinator for the Great Falls Public Library in Montana.
Hunt said his prior experiences in both the for-profit and nonprofit sectors have prepared him for the leadership role of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation. “The organization’s recent development of a bold strategic plan for future development and activities is exactly the kind of project I’m prepared to tackle. I’m looking forward to a long tenure with the organization.”
He has already hit the ground running by creating a work plan to help the organization implement its new strategic plan adopted in December. The strategic plan was developed during a half-year of gathering information from focus groups, organization members, the National Park Service, Native American tribes, and others.
Hunt is a Washington state resident but had traveled in his OCTA duties. He will likewise travel extensively in his new role as executive director, interacting with members, partners, and governments, as well as tribal nations.
Hunt will soon travel to meetings with the organization’s members in the Northeast and Midwest. He and Lou Ritten, previous president of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, will also travel to Washington, D.C., to engage with congressional delegations representing states along the 4,900-mile Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail that goes from Pittsburgh, Pa., to the Oregon coast.
Hunt considers himself to be “a true son of historic trails.”
He explained, “My journey has deep roots dating back to 1821, when my sixth great-grandparents embarked on a significant expedition from Virginia. Navigating rivers and the Boones Lick Road, they eventually settled near the Missouri River, close to Rocheport. A few years after Lewis and Clark’s expedition camped on Moniteau Creek, John and Judith Hunt became tobacco farmers in the heart of Missouri. Subsequent generations helped found and attended the University of Missouri, where Thomas Jefferson’s original gravestone still graces the historic quadrangle.”
Founded in 1969, the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation is the premier citizens group promoting the story of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and encouraging responsible stewardship of the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail that Congress established in 1978 and amended in 2019 to include Lewis and Clark-related areas along the Ohio River.
The Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation’s corporate headquarters are in Great Falls, Montana. The organization collaborates with dozens of partners, including the National Park Service, the federal agency that oversees the historic trail.
For more information:
Planning your own expedition along all or parts of the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail?
Click on lewisandclark.travel for an interactive map and information about sites to visit compiled by region.
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