Last night, on January 11th, Mr. Gregory Nedved was sworn in as the NML’s newest President. We are sad to see Dr. Jill Robbins leave us, but Mr. Nedved is bringing a long history and commitment to the NML to his new presidency, and we are excited to see the future of NML with him. I had a brief interview with him about the NML moving forward into 2018 and beyond, and here’s what he had to say.
Please tell us a bit about your language background.
My language by profession was Chinese-Mandarin. Over a 30+ year career, I pretty much did it all, i.e., teaching, translating, interpreting for both the US Army and the Department of Defense. I also did freelance translation. I learned my Chinese at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA, and other Defense Department schools as well as at schools in China, Taiwan and Singapore. I also have a couple of translation program certificates from the University of Chicago. For the last ten years though I have not really been doing language work—I’ve been a historian for the Center for Cryptologic History, with my research focusing on Asia and on languages in general.
What is your history with the NML?
I have been with the Museum since 2008 (right when we opened our doors to the public) and have since served in various capacities, i.e., associate, trustee, secretary, vice president—and now president. I’ve run our speaker program (still do) as well as our newsletter.
What are you most excited about as president?
I’m looking forward to the challenge of taking this Museum into the next decade.
What is your vision for the future of the NML?
We are always looking for skilled and energetic volunteers—especially since we have just lost my predecessor, Dr. Robbins, who was an administrative and technical whiz. While our Virtual Museum experiment was a necessary step for us to take, I would like to get us back into an actual building again. The Virtual Museum was never intended to be a permanent solution.
Are there any new initiatives or projects coming in the future for NML?
One immediate goal is to complete our website games project—we are nearing the end for that. We will continue with our various outreach projects, e.g. summer camp, speaker programs. As stated, my goal is to take the Museum into the next decade.