Read the 2025 Press Release for MAAM’s Annual Award Winners here.
2025 Annual Award Winner: expERIEnce Children’s Museum
The expERIEnce Children’s Museum is recognized for its transformative Community School Nights Out program, which redefined the museum as a vital community hub. Addressing barriers of cost, transportation, and access, the program partnered with local schools, United Way of Erie County, and nine organizations to provide families with STEAM activities, meals, and essential resources. Serving over 3,000 individuals and 13 schools, this initiative demonstrates the museum’s powerful role in advancing equity, education, and community well-being.
2025 Annual Award Winner: Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Garden
Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, founded in 1893, has become an internationally recognized leader in sustainability and regenerative practices. Through the creation of the Climate Toolkit, developed in collaboration with major cultural associations, Phipps provides museums, gardens, and zoos with concrete strategies to address climate change. With 243 institutions in 29 countries representing over 112 million annual visitors, Phipps’ leadership demonstrates the profound impact cultural organizations can have in advancing global environmental stewardship.
2025 Annual Award Winner: Rosie Pregler
The Emerging Museum Professional Award honors rising stars making outstanding contributions to their institutions. This year’s recipient, Rosie Pregler, has transformed Presque Isle Lighthouse into a more engaging and inclusive community destination through her leadership in volunteer management, curation, and innovative visitor experiences. Since joining Lake Erie Lights in 2023, Pregler has advanced from Interpretation Assistant to Site Manager and Curator. She oversees the lighthouse site, curates exhibits, manages over 100 volunteers, supervises interns, and is establishing the site’s first archives and collection while coordinating an oral history project. Her dedication, creativity, and positivity have reshaped the lighthouse into a welcoming and dynamic space.
Past Award Winners
The Katherine Coffey Award is MAAM’s highest honor. The following individuals have been recognized for distinguished achievement in the museum field.
2025 Recipient: Jane Werner
MAAM presents the Katherine Coffey Award in recognition of years of distinguished achievement in the museum field. This year, MAAM is pleased to recognize Jane Werner, Executive Director of the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh. With more than 40 years of museum experience, including 26 as Executive Director of the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, Werner transformed the institution into the nation’s largest cultural campus for children. Under her leadership, the museum has undergone remarkable growth, including a major expansion, the creation of MuseumLab, and the renovation of a city park. She has raised more than $50 million in capital funding, grown the museum’s endowment from $300,000 to $10 million, and increased annual attendance by nearly 300%.
The museum is nationally recognized as a leader in accessibility and innovation and has been ranked the #2 children’s museum in the country by USA Today for three consecutive years. Werner has championed equity through initiatives like Museums for All, free family nights, and free Title I school field trips, while developing award-winning exhibits and learning programs that have reached millions nationwide. Her visionary leadership has positioned the Children’s Museum as a model of creativity, inclusivity, and impact.
- 2025: Jane Werner
- 2024 Ann Trowbridge
- 2023 Philip Yenawine
- 2022 Phyllis Hecht
- 2021 Carol B. Stapp
- 2020 Not awarded due to pandemic year
- 2019 Kinshasha Holman Conwill
- 2018 Sonnet Takahisa
- 2017 Richard Piacentini
- 2016 Pamela Green
- 2013 Courtney Wilson
- 2012 Sally Roesch Wagner
- 2011 Rebecca Alban Hoffberger
- 2010 Mary Sue Sweeney Price
- 2005 Mary Case
- 2004 Pauline Eversmann
- 2003 Jim Gold
- 2009 Gretchen Sorin
- 2008 Martha Morris
- 2007 Richard Burkert
- 2006 Nicholas Westbrook
- 1998 Marie C. Malaro
- 1997 50th Anniversary of MAAM + Celebration of all award winners to date
- 1996 Lynne Poirer-Wilson
- 1995 Michael J. Ripton
- 1994 Joel N. Bloom
- 1993 Mary Alexander
- 1992 James H. Duff
- 1991 Samuel C. Miller
- 1990 Stephen E. Weil
- 1989 Charles F. Hummel
- 1988 William T. Alderson
- 1987 Susan Stitt
- 1986 Paul N. Perrot
- 1985 Joseph Veach Noble
- 1984 Caroline & Sheldon Keck
- 1983 William C. Steere
- 1982 Holman J. Swinney
- 1981 Frank A. Taylor
- 1980 Louis Clark Jones
- 1979 Eva Ingersoll Gatling
- 1978 Dorothy Dudley
- 1977 Edward P. Alexander
- 1976 Adelyn Dohme Breeskin
- 1975 W. Stephen Thomas
- 1974 Gordon M. Smith
- 1973 Ralph Lewis
- 1972 Hanna Toby Rose