President/CEO / Age 35
Building for Kids Children’s Museum
In his work for Appleton’s Building for Kids Children’s Museum, Oliver Zornow is most proud of both the personal and professional growth of his team members and successfully leading the museum’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He says the organization kept a focus on its mission, continued to invest in its team, and worked to ensure the community asset remained for future generations.
“Through innovation and principled commitment to this work, we used this uncertainty as an opportunity to innovate and build a more resilient institution against future crisis,” Zornow says.
Zornow is no stranger to programs that support children. He and his wife, Rebecca, both Lawrence University graduates, founded a primary school in rural Haiti in 2006 and continue to serve on the board of the Caneille Regional Development Fund nearly 20 years later. The organization partners with local parents and community leaders to assist more than 600 students annually.
Locally, the Zornows are deeply involved in their neighborhood, Historic Central Appleton, and their neighborhood school, Columbus Elementary, which their two children attend.
The couple also served in the Peace Corps in rural Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) from June 2011 through August 2013. A hidden talent of Zornow’s is a knack for solving escape rooms.
