photograph by jon w. sparks
Editor's Note: Community leaders gathered at Memphis Botanic Garden on May 7th to honor the 2025 CEOs of the Year, honoring five business leaders who are making the best kind of impact on the Mid-South: Boo Mitchell with Royal Studios, Brett Batterson with the Orpheum Theatre Group, Laurie Powell with Alliance Healthcare Services, Dr. Stewart Burgess with the Children’s Museum of Memphis, and Ted Townsend with the Greater Memphis Chamber. Here, we spotlight Dr. Stewart Burgess and the work he's done with CMOM.
“Every child has the right to fall in love with learning,” says Dr. Stewart Burgess, CEO of the Children’s Museum of Memphis since 2019. “Here, we hope kids can make discoveries and realize, this is something I might enjoy when I grow up.”
A native of Fresno, California, Burgess never planned to be a museum director. He was looking forward to a career in academia, first earning a degree in psychology from Fresno State University. That was followed by a master’s in experimental child development from San Diego State University, with an emphasis in problem solving (which would prove very useful years later), and a Ph.D. in child development from the University of California at Irvine.
But somewhere along that path, he realized, “I loved academia, but I wasn’t 100 percent sure I was in love with the ‘publish or perish’ world and the constant pressure to obtain grants for your research.”
There was another factor. He attended Fresno State under a swimming scholarship. At one of the meets, he encountered another swimmer, who would become his future wife, Ann. She was studying biomechanical engineering at Tulane University. When they married, he realized that teaching opportunities in his field were limited, so he’d go wherever his wife landed a job.
“I really wanted to get my hands on this museum. With my experience as a developmental psychologist, it was easy to see what had originally been designed brilliantly, but other things that could be done for the next iteration of the museum.”
That happened to be Memphis, where she once lived; her father, Dr. James Carter, was the longtime chair of the University of Memphis chemistry department. She was hired as vice president of biologics with Wright Medical, and Burgess became the early childhood director at St. George’s School. He worked there 18 years, and along the way joined the CMOM board. In 2019, when director Dick Hackett retired, “I threw my hat in the ring. I really wanted to get my hands on this museum. With my experience as a developmental psychologist, it was easy to see what had originally been designed brilliantly, but other things that could be done for the next iteration of the museum.”
The timing wasn’t “super- genius,” he says. Six months later, Covid shut the doors to the museum, along with so many places around the country. At CMOM, that presented a special challenge, since the museum receives no funding from local government. Seventy percent of their budget comes from admission costs and membership sales; the remaining 30 percent from fundraising.
Closing the museum provided a chance to revamp the facility, which had opened in 1990 in the former National Guard Armory erected in 1940. “I am very mission-driven,” he says. “Those times gave me the chance to create a space that provided excellence in playful learning. I looked at every exhibit we had, and asked myself: Is it excellent in quality, is it playful, and does it provide a learning experience?”
Many of the exhibits, such as the historic Dentzel carousel from Libertyland, were already popular, but Burgess figured out ways to “sneak learning in, while the kids were still having fun.” He also wanted to connect the museum’s identity with Memphis. For example, children enjoyed the Role Play Theater, a performance space where they could put on their own plays. Today, visitors can enjoy a miniature Orpheum theater inside CMOM, complete with glistening chandeliers and ornate carpeting.
He added The Great River, so children could play with a flowing model of the Mississippi, complete with illuminated landmarks such as The Pyramid and Sterick Building. They can divert river channels, launch barges, and operate power plants, to better understand the river’s importance to Memphis.
Another addition is the Art and Innovation Lab, which offers hands-on computer graphics, or work with actual paint and clay. Local artists, chosen because their work is approachable to children, give talks and show how they create their works.
A key part of the museum’s current success was Burgess’ aggressive methods for increasing funding. “I inherited $4.2 million in debt when I came aboard,” he says. “We attacked that by refinancing, restructuring our mortgage, and going after every Covid relief grant on the planet. We got everything we applied for, while working hard to reduce expenses, with everybody wearing different hats.”
In his role as CEO, Burgess is unique. Out of more than 600 children’s museums in the United States, he is the only director who has years of professional experience in early childhood education.
Sum up his attitude in one word, and it’s passionate. “Draw a circle around Memphis,” he says, “and we are the only children’s museum in a 200-mile radius. I think about this place every single day, and instead of draining me, it gives me energy to make it better.”
