“If we can be that center where people come to help one another, I think that's very much in keeping with the mission of the Nixon Foundation.” Jim Byron '15
SUPPORTING COMMUNITY AND HISTORY BY STACE DUMOSKI
As CEO of the Nixon Foundation, Jim Byron ’15 hopes to increase historical understanding and contribute to civics education. The pandemic presented challenges to every institution, and the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum was no exception. “Every single one of our revenue streams disappeared, practically overnight,” says Jim Byron ’15, the newly elected president and CEO of the Nixon Foundation, the nonprofit that operates the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, Calif. “We couldn’t do events. We couldn’t welcome museum guests.” But what they could do was shift gears. During the 14 months that the Nixon Library remained closed to visitors, the foundation supported the local community’s pandemic response. It opened its beautiful replica of the White House East Room for blood drives and food drives. It acquired 1 million disposable face masks and donated the bulk of them to local schools, businesses and houses of worship.
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CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE
“We really embraced our role as a partner to so many in the community in a different way,” says Byron. “If we can be that center where people come to help one another, I think that’s very much in keeping with the mission of the Nixon Foundation.”
A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY Byron, who graduated from Chapman University with a BA in business administration and a minor in history, is intimately familiar with the foundation’s mission. He started working there as a teenager more than 15 years ago. “I wrote a ‘to-whom-it-may-concern’ letter to the Nixon Library, and much to my surprise I received a response,” says Byron, who was offered an internship working for a few hours a week in the
