- News
- December 9, 2019
A team of proven leaders with a wealth of experience in policy, education, issues of faith and non-profit, museum and tourism management has been assembled to steer the future Faith and Liberty Discovery Center, opening on Philadelphia’s Independence Mall in 2020. The $60-million interactive and immersive experience will explore the relationship between faith and freedom in America from its founding to today.
Patrick Murdock, Executive Director
Patrick Murdock has a track record as a visionary leader and change agent. He has delivered strategic direction and management to industry leading non-profit organizations, Fortune 1000 corporations and start-ups through collaborative creation of vision, mission and objectives. In addition to his role at Faith and Liberty Discovery Center, he is vice president of the Faith and Liberty Initiative.
Prior to joining American Bible Society and leading the Faith and Liberty Initiative, Murdock served as co-founder/executive director of a think tank, managing director of development for a 50-year-old non-profit, and spent 21 years in sales and marketing leadership with Deluxe Corporation. He earned his bachelor’s degree from New Mexico State University and his MBA from Lake Forest Graduate School of Management and Regent University. Murdock assumed his post in February 2015.
Alan R. Crippen II, Chief of Exhibits, Programs and Public Engagement
Alan Crippen previously served as founding president of the John Jay Institute, an educational and professional civic leadership development organization. He brings to his position more than two decades of experience in non-profit executive management and college-level teaching. Crippen is an Anglican clergyman with ministry in educational chaplaincy and diocesan administration and has worked in national public policy research and advocacy, leadership training, and non-profit fund raising. He is a U.S. Army veteran with service as an artillery battery commander and battalion staff operations and planning officer. Crippen holds degrees from Westminster Theological Seminary (M.A.R.) and Cairn University (B.S.). He joined the Center’s leadership team in September 2016.
Daniel Corti, Director
Daniel Corti joins the team this month and will lead overall operations of the Faith and Liberty Discovery Center. He will have the retail, guest services, sales and marketing, security and technology teams reporting to him. He will also partner closely with Crippen in support of educational programming, exhibits and public engagement. Corti joins the center from The Mütter Museum of the College of Physicians, where he served as director of visitor experience. He served in a similar capacity for The Barnes Foundation and The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University. Bringing almost two decades of museum management experience to his role, Corti launched his career as guest services floor supervisor of The Franklin Institute Science Museum in 2000. He holds a bachelor’s degree in design and animation from Art Institute of Philadelphia.
Lisa Arrell, Senior Manager of Sales and Marketing
Lisa Arrell also joins the team this month. She will lead Faith and Liberty Discovery Center’s sales, marketing and communications efforts. Arrell will liaise with group and travel planners and other tourism partners as well as key influencers in Greater Philadelphia and throughout the East Coast. Arrell joins the center’s leadership team from Kitchen Kettle Village, an attraction in Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County, where she served for 15 years, most recently as director of tourism sales. For four years prior, she was marketing communications manager of the destination marketing organization, Discover Lancaster. Arrell was a broadcast and print journalist for WSBA Radio in York, Pennsylvania and KCRG-TV/AM in Cedar Rapids, Iowa for more than 10 years. She graduated from Penn State University with a bachelor’s degree in speech communications, minoring in broadcasting.
About the Faith & Liberty Discovery Center
The Faith & Liberty Discovery Center explores the relationship between faith and freedom in America from its founding through today, illuminating the influence of the Bible on individuals in key historical and personal moments. Among America’s essential founding documents, the Bible is a significant cultural force that has inspired, influenced, and informed American ideals of liberty that continue to shape our national identity as a free people. The Faith and Liberty Discovery Center is a member of a Global Philadelphia Association, a non-profit group that assists and encourages greater interaction among the many international organizations that are based in Philadelphia. It has been featured in Philadelphia’s groundbreaking citywide innovation festival, B PHL. Learn more at fldcenterstage.wpengine.com.