Manoa Heritage Center has appointed Jessica Welch as its first executive director as it celebrates its 20th anniversary.

Welch was most recently director of development at the Honolulu Museum of Art, where she oversaw fundraising programs. She has 16 years of experience working in museums. She was a part of the group that launched the popular ARTafterDARK program for the museum.

Mary Cooke, vice president of the board of directors, with her late husband, Samuel A. Cooke, co-founded Manoa Heritage Center in 1996 as a nonprofit with the mission of promoting the stewardship of the natural and cultural heritage of Hawaii. The center is home to the last intact heiau in the greater ahupuaa of Waikiki and a Hawaiian garden. A Visitor Education Hale is slated to open in 2017.