A Houston museum chronicling the history of human flight has a new leader.

Anna Hawley has been named President and CEO of the Lone Star Flight Museum, according to an announcement from the organization. Hawley succeeds Lt. General Doug Owens who led the museum over the last eight years and oversaw its relocation in 2017 from Galveston to Ellington Airport. Hawley, who has most recently served as Lone Star Flight’s chief operating officer, assumed the new role this month.

“I am thrilled to begin my new role as president and CEO and honored to have the support and confidence of the board of directors,” Hawley said in a statement. “As a native Houstonian, I am excited to lead what I believe is one of the best museum experiences in a city with dozens of great museums. I’m proud to be part of this museum and to have worked alongside General Owens. I wish him well and thank him for his leadership.”

Lone Star Flight Museum originally opened in Galveston in 1990. Under Owens, the museum relocated and expanded in 2017 with a revised mission focused on celebrating aviation history while also promoting STEM education through the science of flight.

Today, the 130,000-square-foot museum employs 43 full and part-time staff and more than 100 volunteers. The facility features a flying collection of rare and historic commercial, general aviation and military aircraft. Guests can experience a ride in a warbird and strap in for a simulation in the high-tech Aviation Learning Center and Flight Academy.

Lone Star Flight Museum Board Chair and former U.S. Congressman Pete Olson praised Hawley for helping lead the museum’s growth and community impact in recent years. “Her almost three decades of non-profit leadership, marketing, operations, tourism, and museum industry experience is exactly what the Lone Star Flight Museum needs in this next phase of our strategic plan,” Olson said. “Anna is the right person at the right time to keep our museum soaring higher.”

Written by A.J. Mistretta 

Pictured: Anna Hawley at LSFM