Steven K. Hamp

Age: 52 Residence: Ann Arbor
Occupation: President, Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village
Why honored: For urging regional cooperation and making the museum serve a broader audience.

“He’s a great thinker and a quick study. He gets us to think bigger and reminds us to look at our commonalities.” -- Margaret Tallet, Music Hall president

He preserves the past with a vision for the future

teven K. Hamp still recalls with a shudder how badly the Henry Ford Museum needed some long-overdue renovations.

    “We had so many leaks we had to put buckets on the floor when it rained,” says Hamp, who is head of Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village in Dearborn.

    Since being named president in 1996, Hamp has made vital changes to the independent educational institution founded in 1929 by auto giant Henry Ford.

    The museum renovations, including thermal windows and a new roof, were part of a $42-million capital campaign he headed. Also included was a climate control system designed not only to keep visitors comfortable, but also to help preserve the museum’s multimillion-dollar collection of antiques and historical artifacts. But many of the changes Hamp has overseen go beyond merely fixing up or preserving things as they are.

    One highlight of Hamp’s tenure, for example, is a $15-million IMAX theater that premiered Disney’s Fantasia/2000 on a giant 3-D screen.

    “It’s been fabulously successful since it opened last November,” he says. “This market has been underserved by large-format theater.”

    No less important than what he does for the museum and village are Hamp’s regional contributions.

    “Steve has an expansive vision for making the museum serve the broadest possible audience,” observes Marilyn Wheaton, director of Detroit’s cultural affairs department.

    “He has a global approach. He believes there are no boundaries — whether geographic, ethnic or age — about who should or should not be part of the educational experience.”

    He is committed to community service and serves on 11 boards and task forces. He chairs the Southeastern Michigan Cultural Coalition, made up of CEOs of 14 major cultural institutions.

    “Steve is an amazing leader in our community,” says Margaret Tallet, Music Hall’s president, who is part of the Cultural Coalition. “He’s a great thinker and a quick study. He gets us to think bigger and reminds us to look at our commonalities. He concentrates on collaboration rather than competition.”

    Hamp says the coalition is working to make a compelling case for regional arts funding. “We have a vibrant cultural scene here and I’m optimistic about the future,” he says.

    Hamp, who taught high school history and social studies before he joined the museum staff in 1978, still sees his role as an educational one.

    “I’m a teacher,” he says simply.

    According to his bosses, Hamp comes by his current job despite — not because of — ties to the Ford family. His wife, Sheila, is Henry Ford’s great-great-granddaughter. One of his admirers is Sheila’s brother, William Clay Ford Jr., the village/museum complex’s chairman, who calls him “exceptionally dynamic.”

    With all his successes, Hamp seems most gratified by the Henry Ford Academy, a charter high school he organized on the village/museum campus in partnership with the Ford Motor Co. It’s a public school for 300 students, with tuition paid by the state.

    “This place is full of inspiration, full of ideas for kids,” he says.

    “There is no other place like this in the United States, and collections like these couldn’t be formed again.”

    — Joy Hakanson Colby