Micah Parzen

Micah Parzen is an experienced nonprofit leader, attorney, anthropologist, and agent of transformational change, who seeks to authentically partner with others in creating a ripple effect of good in the world. He has served as CEO of the Museum of Us (formerly the San Diego Museum of Man) since 2010. Widely regarded as a thought leader in the arts & culture/non-profit sectors, Micah is regularly invited by the likes of BoardSource, the Smithsonian Institution, and the American Alliance of Museums to deliver keynote addresses, serve on panels, and otherwise share his perspective on the most vexing issues of the day. In the past three years alone, his team’s work has been featured in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, the Washington Post, and the Atlantic, among other high-profile platforms. While practicing as an attorney, Micah was a Partner in the Labor & Employment Practice Group and the Pro Bono Legal Services Coordinator at San Diego’s largest law firm. While practicing as a psychological and medical anthropologist, he conducted ethnographic fieldwork on the Navajo Nation studying a wilderness therapy program for Navajo adolescents. In addition to serving as a trustee at La Jolla Country Day School, Micah currently serves as the President of the Board of the Balboa Park Cultural Partnership, a collaboration of 28 arts & culture institutions in Balboa Park, which sits on the unceded ancestral homeland of the Kumeyaay Nation. His past board appointments including the Western Museums Association, San Diego Volunteer Lawyers Program, Waldorf School of San Diego, and ElderHelp of San Diego. Micah holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Case Western Reserve University, a J.D. from UC Davis, and a B.A. in Anthropology from UC Berkeley.