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Nicole Ginsburg Small: Science Museum’s Driving Force

After graduating from the Kellogg School of Management and working in the tech startup industry, Nicole Ginsburg Small (KSM99) moved home to Dallas from San Francisco and joined the Museum of Nature and Science expansion team. The one-time McKinsey & Co. business analyst took up the daunting challenge of bringing a new museum to the city’s Victory Park. That $185 million, 180,000-square-foot museum, named in honor of Ross and Margot Perot, brought together three Dallas institutions — the Dallas Museum of Natural History, the Science Place and the Dallas Children’s Museum — in a unique merger. Small, the Eugene McDermott Chief Executive Officer of the Perot Museum of Nature and Science, celebrated the grand opening last Dec. 1, capping a year in which she also battled breast cancer while raising two young daughters with her husband, Justin. Small, a Dallas Morning News 2012 Texan of the Year nominee, says her struggle with cancer motivates her work. “Every day, children who haven’t been here before walk through the door, and their eyes light up,” she says. She hopes future scientists will visit the museum and be inspired to cure diseases or solve problems through research.

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