Since the beginning of the year, the president and CEO of the Center of Science and Industry (COSI) has quietly been leading another Downtown organization — one without science gadgets, fossils or children’s play areas.
Frederic Bertley has been the interim head of the National Veterans Memorial and Museum, replacing Lt. Gen. Michael Ferriter, who led the museum since its opening in 2018 and retired in May 2024.
The job became permanent for Bertley, who has no military service. He is now CEO of both organizations, a dual role he said he wouldn’t have accepted without several years first at COSI. Retired U.S. Army Colonel William “Bill” Butler remains museum president.
The veterans museum has not publicized the move nor explained why Bertley was chosen to replace Ferriter, who has led the museum since it opened in October 2018. A museum news release last year stated there would be a national search for Ferriter’s replacement.
Bertley told The Dispatch in a phone interview: “I was on the (veterans museum) board when he (Ferriter) transitioned out, and long story short, the board asked me, ‘Would you like to consider stepping in?”
“You came in here, not from Ohio, not from Columbus, and you took over COSI, you transformed COSI and took it from being a local institution that people loved to now national and international. And COSI has won all these awards,” Bertley said he was told.
“I’ve worked really hard my entire life,” Bertley said. “I’m a super hard worker, I’m super-engaged and community-centric.”
And those leadership qualities translate to any civil organization, he said.
“Whether you’re the art museum, the zoo, the library …. you need someone who has experience running a cultural institution.”
Plans to grow museum appeal beyond just military service
He is now embarking on outreach partnerships in an attempt to bring the buzz he brought to COSI to the otherwise solemn and staid walls of the spiral-looking museum next door.
The museum will officially become the permanent home of the Columbus Metropolitan Club’s weekly forums. And Bertley recently met with Douglas A. Collins, U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs, who has pledged to promote the veterans museum nationwide.
“I explained to him how this institution can be the kind of beacon for a lot of your initiatives … and how can we enter a partnership.” The agreement is close to being signed and would “take the (museum) name national” as “an anchoring cultural institution to support in a bipartisan way the work of the V.A.”
Bertley said he’s also working with at least half a dozen other national and local organizations on similar agreements.
“Congress designated us as a national veterans memorial museum. We probably should have been in Washington, D.C. But because of John Glenn and for all the right reasons, we are right here in Columbus, Ohio. But how do we pay homage to that national designation?”
Bertley says that one way to promote the museum is to view it as honoring service of all kinds, not just military, “to amplify the power of service to everyone.”
“You can learn from veterans about service. But you might serve the country by being an elected official, by working at a food pantry or working at your church or synagogue or mosque,” he said.
There is also a partnership with the U.S. Navy, Bertley said, declining to give specifics. “And we’re working very hard to closing partnerships with the Coast Guard, Air Force and further on, others.”
“The goal is to have a dozen-plus partners locally and nationally to extend our brand and impact.”
As a non-profit entity, the museum doesn’t turn a profit. But it’s struggled financially, especially since the COVID-19 lockdowns. In 2020, it saw a net income of $61 million. But that became a deficit of $3.8, $4.8 and $2.7 million in each subsequent year, according to IRS Form 990 information. The museum averages about 20,000 visitors annually, not all of them paid, including some school and veterans groups and special events.
Bertley declined to discuss his compensation for his new role at the veterans museum at this time because of the new nature of the dual roles.
Museum ‘DNA’ helps mission focus
“Every cultural institution has to know their DNA,” he said. Zoos: “animals and conservation.” Libraries: “public literacy.” Art museums: “understanding art because art bears life.” Franklin Park Conservatory: “learning more about nature and plants that get you connected to the planet.”
Describing the veterans museum, Bertley said, “It’s solemn, a very austere place, a place of reverence. So how are you going to get kids clamoring in there with their parents?
“If you come through a program we have … yeah, you’re going to learn about veterans and hear about their stories and valor. But it’s much more than that. It’s about that they served. And hey, kiddo, or young adult … You can serve in a really profound and impactful way in your community.
“So now you can see how schools would want to do field trips here, to learn about civics and civility and service. You’re not going to get that at the zoo, or probably not at COSI. When you can get that morality, that ethic, that code of conduct … that’s why that’s so important.”
COSI’s Catalyst Group, comprising staff acting as a private marketing/strategy agency, conducts strategic planning for COSI and other local organizations, helping to refine Bertley’s vision of honoring veterans, elevating their stories, and amplifying the power of service.
Sophia Fifner, president and CEO of the Columbus Metropolitan Club, said community service is a vital and often overlooked key to community health.
“I think we need a civic Renaissance in our country, to redefine what service looks like,” she said. “Shaping pathways toward a more civil society.”
Growth and development reporter Dean Narciso can be reached at dnarciso@dispatch.com.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: As dual CEO, COSI’s Bertley looks to expand vision for National Veterans Memorial
Reporting by Dean Narciso, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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