Dr. Kurt Graham

President

Dr. Kurt Graham joined the Adams Presidential Center as its inaugural president on October 15, 2024.

Previous to joining the APC, Graham was the Director of the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum in Independence, Missouri. As director, he oversaw a $30M renovation of the principal museum exhibits and dramatically expanded the Library’s educational and public programming. He has also directed the McCracken Research Library at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming, and the Church History Museum in Salt Lake City.

Prior to his work in the public history field, Graham was a member of the history faculty at California State University, San Bernardino, where he taught undergraduate and graduate courses in American political and legal/constitutional history. He has a Ph.D. in American history from Brown University and a B.A. and an M.A. from Brigham Young University in English and American studies, respectively. He is the author of To Bring Law Home: The Federal Judiciary in Early National Rhode Island (Northern Illinois University Press, 2010).

Kathleen Hussey O'Brien

Vice President of Donor Relations

Kathleen Hussey O’Brien is a passionate non-profit marketing and fundraising professional. A strategic mind with unparalleled commercial acumen, O’Brien produces tangible mission-driven outcomes on innovative projects. She excels at facilitating experiential in-person and online programming, cultivating major donors, courting corporate philanthropy, and increasing digital media engagement. O’Brien is a veteran of the events marketing industry, where she produced events around the globe for tech, healthcare, and telecom industries.

Outside of her work at the APC, O’Brien serves on Quincy College’s Business Board and Providence College’s Alumni Committee.

O’Brien grew up in Merrymount, a close-knit neighborhood in Quincy, Massachusetts where she still resides with her four wonderful children, Kelli, Mikaela, Paul, Brendan, and Aussie Mountain Doodle Reggie.