HONOLULU — Bishop Museum’s Board of Directors will start to search for a new CEO in mid-October, with a job posting. 

The search begins as current CEO Dee Jay Mailer enters the final year of her three-year contract with Bishop Museum.

By starting the search during Mailer’s final year, she will have time to be part of the search process and help guide the transition, according to a news release. 

“Dee Jay has made an immeasurable contribution to Bishop Museum,” said Ann Botticelli, chairperson of the volunteer board of directors, in a statement. “We are operationally more stable than we have been for many years, and under her strong guidance, the staff has done tremendous work in implementing our strategic plan.” 

Bishop Museum hired nonprofit executive search firm Morris & Berger to assist with the process. 

Patrick V. Kirch, a professor of anthropology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, will lead the museum’s CEO search committee. Kirch first worked with Bishop Museum when he was 13, as a student intern in the museum’s department of malacology. 

“Bishop Museum holds scientific and cultural research and collections from the mountains to the deep sea in communities all over the Pacific,” said Kirch. “We are looking for a visionary executive leader who will move us even farther forward in making our knowledge available to people throughout the world. We are looking for a leader for the next decade.”