Debra Hanken Kurtz will leave her post as CEO at DuraSpace to serve as the Associate University Librarian for Technology Services at Arizona State University Library. As of June 1, Erin Tripp, Business Development Manager at DuraSpace, will serve as the Interim Chief Executive Officer. Valorie Hollister, DuraSpace Director of Membership and Finance, and Bill Branan, Duraspace Services Technical Director, will assist Ms. Tripp with the transition.
As CEO, Ms. Hanken Kurtz brought a focus on expanded mission, community engagement, transparency, and openness to DuraSpace. Her commitment to increased engagement with the international user communities and the broader scholarly ecosystem fostered new memberships, new strategic partnerships and new projects under the DuraSpace umbrella. Under her leadership, the membership program brought in new members and refined the project governance, leading to a 94% membership retention rate. With her guidance, the DuraSpace hosted services business more than doubled, providing much needed archiving and preservation services to the community as well as additional support for our open source projects through revenues from hosted services. Organizationally, Ms. Hanken Kurtz helped DuraSpace achieve greater financial stability and to mature DuraSpace's business practices.
"DuraSpace is in the healthiest shape it's ever been under Debra's leadership," said Tyler Walters, Board President of DuraSpace. "I know Board members are grateful for all her efforts and accomplishments. We wish her well in her new post at ASU."
Ms. Hanken Kurtz returns to academic librarianship to work more closely with the creators and users of repository and research outputs and to help preserve content and make it more easily accessible for scholars of every stripe. At ASU, she will have the opportunity to deepen her commitment to local and global activities that foster inclusivity in the scholarly ecosystem.
Ms. Hanken Kurtz said, "It has been a great privilege and pleasure to have served as CEO at DuraSpace as they have grown in staff, membership, and funding, broadened their scope, and extended the community's collective reach. I am so proud of all we have accomplished and I look forward to continuing to support its mission as a community member."
