THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, March 11, 1996 TAG: 9603080700
SECTION: BUSINESS WEEKLY PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY MYLENE MANGALINDAN, BUSINESS WEEKLY
LENGTH: Long : 136 lines
Talking to David Taylor Guernsey Jr. can take you a million places all at once.
The new president and CEO of Nauticus, the National Maritime Museum in Norfolk, has lots to do, and he lets you know it.
During one visit to his office, he obsessed about dropping off some prints of 19th century ships for framing before the frame shop closed.
Then, grinning, he tossed out some trivia about the first steamship to cross the Atlantic before he triumphantly answered his own question. (The Steamship Savannah).
But his enthusiasm won over city officials, who picked Guernsey from more than 300 national applicants for the top post at Nauticus. Now the 42-year-old has turned that energy toward changing the community's outlook toward the embattled museum as well as its mission.
``He was all over the place asking questions and answering questions,'' said Sam Rogers, director of marketing for the city of Norfolk who heads the Virginia Waterfront regional marketing campaign. ``We were all impressed.''
Guernsey's enthusiasm for his new position almost smacks visitors with its ferocity. He gushes about the facility and then about its staff and then its exhibits.
The challenge of shaping Nauticus' image and its direction excites Guernsey. ``My personality is one that I'd rather take on something like this than something that's more status quo,'' he said.
Nauticus needs to run the same way a newspaper does - with a diverse source of revenue streams, he suggested.
A newspaper earns money from display ads, classified ads and other sections stuffed inside like grocery store supplements. Nauticus should run on the same theory, earning revenue from memberships, special events, educational programs, restaurant sales, gift shop sales in addition to ticket sales.
He touts several ideas about Nauticus but plans to focus his efforts on four key areas: marketing, the board of directors, staffing and food service.
Nauticus plans to take care of its own food service to cut costs. Marriott had previously run it, but the staff is interviewing companies now to act as a partner in the kitchen.
Guernsey is collecting ideas from the board and the staff on improvements to Nauticus, what works, what doesn't, how to fix it.
Marketing will take more work, Guernsey acknowledges.
``The beauty of Nauticus is it deals with everything the ocean has to offer,'' he said, ticking off ecology, the weather, habitats of fish, ship construction, the sea, navigation and other topics on his fingertips.
``It deals with everything. That's what's so fun about it. It doesn't limit you to one subject title.
``On the other hand, I need to come up with one to two lines about what the National Maritime Center is,'' Guernsey said, comparing it to Disney Co.'s single-word theme of ``smiles.''
So far, he's described Nauticus as ``an educational interactive facility where people can discover the power of the sea.'' He hopes to refine that message when Paul Levine, Nauticus' newly hired marketing director starts.
Guernsey's last job required reopening a Savannah museum that had been closed. The Ships of the Sea Museum in Savannah had been in the red. Guernsey opened the museum, turned a profit, and worked closely with the community in promoting it.
``He ran it more or less like a (for-profit) business, which helped the museum stay in the black,'' said Jeff Fulton, acting director of the the Ships of the Sea Museum.
The Ships of the Sea Museum was small compared to Nauticus. A nonprofit operation, the Savannah museum had a gift shop and a standing exhibit. It had a staff of eight, a small endowment and a budget of $550,000.
Nauticus boasts a gift shop, a restaurant, a theater and exhibits. It has a staff of about 80 and a budget of $2.5 million for the first six months of 1996. Starting July 1, it will change its calendar year budget to a fiscal year budget to align its budget with the city's. Nauticus' 1997 fiscal year budget - from July 1, 1996 to June 30, 1997 - will be slightly more than $5 million.
Although Nauticus is substantially bigger than the Savannah museum, Guernsey isn't worried.
``There's a basic thread to running any nonprofit,'' Guernsey said.
With every nonprofit, he said, the question you ask is ``how do you generate as much income as possible and keep expenses down and at the end of the year come out at a break even point?''
``When you get to large organizations, it's just a matter of adding another zero.''
His background demonstrates his diverse experience managing nonprofit operations.
In 1976, Guernsey graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University with a degree in music. He moved to New York City to sell, trade and syndicate municipal bonds for Moseley, Hallgarten, Estabrook and Weeden.
He moved to Manchester to manage the New Hampshire Symphony, where he increased annual giving by 15 percent and season ticket sales by 25 percent. While in New Hampshire, he solicited corporations for a national public television appearance and raised funds for the first commercial recording of the orchestra.
In 1981, Guernsey started managing the Savannah Symphony Orchestra, where he stayed until 1983 before moving to the Ships of the Sea Museum.
``Part of the challenge of that was to generate income and community support,'' he said about the Ships of the Sea Museum.
Guernsey hopes to do much of the same in Norfolk. His appointment to president and CEO of Nauticus comes at a time when city officials are eager to increase the attraction's popularity. The city has hosted visits to the facility by citizens who are critical of Nauticus and focus groups to determine how to better market the attraction.
When the $52 million musuem opened in 1994, early feasibility projections called for 850,000 visitors a year as a benchmark for the museum to break even. But the attraction has faltered in meeting that goal.
Nauticus drew 280,000 people in 1995, down from more than 400,000 in 1994 when it was open half the year. Last year, the city council also approved an annual $1 million subsidy to Nauticus' budget.
Guernsey admits that Nauticus has ``got off the wrong foot'' with the community but he blames that on negative media reports.
He's made the standing offer to talk to civic leagues, although only two have invited him so far.
``I'm finding that people are generally supportive and want this place to work.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photos by Bill Tiernan/The Virginian-Pilot
Color cover photo: David Guernsey
Color photo
David Taylor Guernsey Jr.
Color photo by Vicki Cronis/The Virginian-Pilot
As the newly installed CEO of Nauticus, David Guernsey talked with
local business people outside the Nauticus theater after he was
introduced to the public recently.
KEYWORDS: NAUTICUS PROFILE by CNB