As the agency’s Grants Management Officer, Mary Estelle Kennelly holds responsibility for ensuring uniform grant administration throughout the agency; developing, recommending, and implementing post-award grant administration policy; and managing all fiscal grant requirements for the Agency. In addition, she acts as the agency liaison to the government-wide Grants Management Line of Business (GMLoB) taskforce as well as the Grants.gov initiative, and serves as the agency’s primary member of the Grants Executive Board (GEB).

Mary Estelle has been with IMLS since February 1993. From 1993-2009, she served as the Associate Deputy Director for the Office of Museum Services, overseeing the agency’s museum grant programs and supervising the museum program staff.

Her background includes work in both museums and grant administration. Prior to her arrival at IMLS, she developed the Conservation Assessment Program (CAP) at Heritage Preservation, Inc. After administering the program for two years, she spent her final year and a half at Heritage Preservation as Director for Collections Care Programs, which included CAP, a project examining the conservation needs of natural science collections, and the development of a program to teach institutions to raise funds for conservation and collections care.

From 1984 to 1989, Mary Estelle was the director/curator of the 18th century Stanley-Whitman House in Farmington, CT. In that position, she oversaw the restoration of the historic house, raising the necessary funds, working with the architectural historians and construction crew, and maintaining museum programs and activities while the work was underway.

Mary Estelle graduated from the College of William and Mary with a B.A. double major in history and art history. She received her M.A. from the George Washington University in museum studies while working full-time as a program specialist in the Smithsonian’s Office of Fellowships and Grants.