Chora is a consulting firm that provides creative vision, clarity of purpose, and strategic management oversight for educational projects while raising the funds for their successful implementation.
Our client base includes museums, science centers, NGOs, corporate foundations, and the entertainment industry.
Chora's hallmark approach seamlessly integrates entertainment and education values delivering distinctive, worthwhile experiences in diverse learning environments.
With a proven track record in creative leadership of major exhibition, education and fundraising programs, Chora is a one-stop-shop that brings creative ideas to life.
Back to Top
ABOUT US
With over 38 years of combined strategic management, education and fundraising experience, the partners at Chora revitalized the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, redesigning over 200,000 square feet of exhibition space while raising hundreds of millions of dollars from government, corporate, foundation, and individual donors.
From the celebrated Hope Diamond and the Hall of Geology, Gems, and Minerals, to the Insect Zoo, the Discovery Center, Johnson IMAX Theater, and the Hall of Mammals, Robert Sullivan and Maria Elena Gutierrez have brought together the best of the entertainment and education worlds to create a new style of visitor experience while also raising the funds to make it happen.
In their most recent project, The Ocean Initiative, the Smithsonian's largest exhibition, research, and education effort, Robert Sullivan provided the design and story-telling vision for the Ocean Hall and the Ocean Web Portal, while together with Maria Elena Gutierrez, spear-headed a fundraising campaign that secured millions of dollars in support for the program.
Back to Top
MARIA ELENA GUTIERREZ
Formerly the Chief Development Officer for the Smithsonian Ocean Initiative, Maria Elena was responsible for the vision, planning, and successful implementation of the $75 million fundraising campaign supporting the project. She led the Ocean Initiative Advisory Council and managed all strategic corporate relationships for the initiative.
Maria Elena's distinctive strength is her ability to navigate across boundaries; whether international (fluent in English, Spanish, and Italian), or between the profit and non-profit worlds, or between the entertainment and educational domains. Building and motivating large networks of partners in order to finance and deliver complex projects has been a common element in all her successes. She has opened and closed negotiations for multi-million dollar business and philanthropic ventures and brings a large portfolio of corporate, individual, and foundation relationships required for a successful fundraising campaign.
With a background in consulting and finance, Maria Elena has been a management consultant for McKinsey & Co., worked for Lehman Brothers' Investment Banking Division, and managed the Investor Relations Department of one of Latin America's largest publicly traded companies, Fomento Economico Mexicano.
Maria Elena has an Economics Degree form Dartmouth College and an MBA from Yale University. She received the prestigious Best Latin American Investor Relations Officer Award from Investor Relations Magazine in 2002 and the Smithsonian Institution Special Achievement Award in 2004.
Back to Top
ROBERT D. SULLIVAN
Robert D. Sullivan has over 35 years of museum management, education, and fundraising experience. For the past 16 years, he served as the Associate Director for Public Programs at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, managing all aspects of exhibition, education, and public program development. His creative leadership and vision combined with his strategic management skills generated exhibitions and programs that set new standards for the Smithsonian and the international museum community. Recognizing the vast educational potential of the web, he is committed to transforming museums from isolated cultural destination into hubs within an interconnected global learning network.
Working with the American Management Association, Sullivan designed and implemented strategic planning and management courseware delivering his purpose and results-centered management philosophy to over 1,000 public sector managers. Formerly the Director of the New York State Museum, Sullivan holds a graduate degree in management of non-profit organizations from the University of Rochester and is currently a candidate for the PHD in Human Sciences at The George Washington University. His training and experience in anthropology, psychoanalytic theory and museum management, along with his application of social theory and analysis to the contemporary consumer, prepares him to meet the continuing challenge of creating engaging and effective educational experiences for new generations of learners.
The objective for Sullivan remains how to "make the exhibits and interpretive programs work for the contemporary learner with their expectations for interactivity, personalization, and multi-sensory learning."
Back to Top