The C.M Russell Museum board has hired Chris Warden as the museum’s new director.

Warden is a Great Falls native currently serving as vice president of technology at the Washington Companies in Missoula.

He replaces Tom Figarelle, who resigned as director last fall.

He was selected after a national search led by Museum Search and Reference and begins his appointment on July 30.

Warden previously service on the museum board, according to museum documents.

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“Chris brings immense experience in organizational leadership and strategic growth. As a valued long-time Russell volunteer and recent board member, he has built a solid rapport as a visionary and collaborative leader within the Russell and Montana communities. We look forward to his leadership as a core member of our team,” Anne Martinez, museum board chair and co-chair of the search committee, said in a release.

Warden and his family returned to Montana in 2004 after working in California, according to the museum.

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Warden has also served on the boards of the Foundation for Montana History, Leadership Montana, Watson Children’s Shelter and Missoula Sunrise Rotary. He has also sat on advisory boards at the University of Montana and currently serves on the Montana steering committee for the Jeannette Rankin Foundation, according to the museum.

“Alongside my private sector career, I have always valued community service and helping nonprofits achieve strategic and significant growth,” Warden said in a release. “The Russell Museum has a very bright future, and I am honored to be part of its next chapter.”

Warden graduated from C.M. Russell High School in 1988 and the University of Montana in 1996.

His family has been in Great Falls since 1890, when his grandfather, O.S. Warden, settled here and became publisher of the Great Falls Tribune.

His uncle Alex Warden was a founding director of the Russell Museum, where his father, Jock Warden, and stepfather, Elliott Dybdal, also served on the board.