A former member of the Fort Ligonier Board of Trustees has been named interim executive director of the historic site and museum in Ligonier.
Henry C. Scully, 59, will move into the role Monday, working alongside current director Annie Urban, who is set to leave July 31 to become executive director of primary gifts and community engagement at Seton Hill University.
A Ligonier Township resident, Scully recently served as executive director of the Friends of Flight 93 National Memorial. He began that role in 2014, after volunteering with the nonprofit that works with the National Park Service at the site near Shanksville where United Airlines Flight 93 crashed as passengers and crew members struggled with 9/11 hijackers.
Scully brings to his interim position at Fort Ligonier previous experience as a senior executive in the commercial insurance industry.
“His enthusiasm for Fort Ligonier and the Braddock’s Battlefield History Center, along with his business acumen and experience leading a high-profile national organization, will be extremely valuable during our transition period,” Richard K. Danforth, president of the trustees, said in a prepared statement.
Fort Ligonier’s executive staff recently assumed oversight of the history center that commemorates the 1755 battle site in Allegheny County. Both historic attractions preserve the legacy of important sites in the French and Indian War.
Scully said he is joining a staff that “has done a superb job developing best-in-class exhibits and programs that are attracting more and more visitors, including this year an unprecedented number of students. We have great momentum, and I am really looking forward to getting to work.”
Scully served for about seven years on the Fort Ligonier board, beginning in 2012. He was a member of the board’s executive, development and strategic planning committees.
He co-chaired the board’s major annual fundraising event in 2013, its inaugural year. Originally called the Musket Ball, the event is now known as the Cannon Ball.
