Maia Werner-Avidon

Maia Werner-Avidon, principal of MWA Insights, is an established museum evaluator with 15 years of museum research and evaluation experience. In 2017, she established her consulting firm, MWA Insights, and began providing research and evaluation services to museum clients nationally and internationally. Recent clients include The Tech Interactive (San Jose, CA), the California Academy of Sciences (San Francisco, CA), the Monterey Bay Aquarium (Monterey, CA), the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (Kansas City, MO), and the Michigan History Center (Lansing, MI). Prior to starting her firm, Maia served as the Manager of Research & Evaluation for the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, where she established the museum’s first research and evaluation department and implemented systems and processes for gathering feedback from museum visitors. Prior to this role, Maia worked for nearly eight years as a Research and Evaluation Specialist at the Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley, CA, eventually taking on the role of team lead for evaluation of museum-based experiences. Maia earned her bachelor’s degree from Macalester College and Master of Arts degree in museum studies from John F. Kennedy University.