Discovery Museum Welcomes Two New Board Members

Acton, MA – Discovery Museum is pleased to welcome Ruth Agbaji and Lisa Giglio to its Board of Directors.

Ruth Agbaji is Founder and CEO of Code Wiz, an emerging franchise system in the education space. Code Wiz is an after-school program that helps kids of all abilities unlock their inner geniuses through coding and robotics. Launched in July 2017, there are seven Code Wiz locations on the East coast, offering both in-person and online classes and camps for kids ages 7 through 17.

Ruth taught herself to code while growing up in Nigeria. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Ahmadu Bello University, and a Master of Science in Computer Science from Tufts University.

Prior to founding Code Wiz, Ruth held various programming and engineering positions at Cablevision, Microsoft, and Kronos. In 2016 she founded The Grad Spark, a platform of resources and mentoring for students of color applying to doctoral and master’s programs.

Ruth, who refers to herself as the Nerd in Chief at Code Wiz, is a 2019 International Franchise Association NextGen winner and was named the 2020 Woman Small Business Owner of the Year for Massachusetts. She and her husband and two children live in Boxborough and are members at the Discovery Museum.

Lisa Giglio is a Vice President at Dell Technologies where she leads HR Mergers, Acquisitions & Divestitures in addition to Global Payroll Strategy & Operations, which delivers on-time and accurate payments to Dell’s 135,000 team members spanning across 87 countries.  

Lisa started her career at Data General where she held financial controller positions in both Sales and Manufacturing.  Following the EMC acquisition, Lisa ran Sales Compensation and drove several global system implementations resulting in operational efficiencies and enhanced customer experience.   

Lisa is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where she earned a Bachelor of Business Administration (B.B.A.) in Finance. She went on to earn her M.B.A. in Finance from Bentley University and has also completed executive and leadership education programs through Northeastern University and Simmons College.

She is a founding member of The Conference Board’s Global Payroll Executive Council, has been an ADP Multinational Client Advisory Board member since 2012, and has served on the Bentley College Graduate School of Business Advisory Council. Lisa lives in Hubbardston with her husband, and they have two grown children who enjoyed visiting the Museum when they were young.

“We are very happy to add Ruth and Lisa to our Board at this important time in the Museum’s history,” said Harry Hollenberg, Board Chair. “Discovery Museum has continued to support families and school students through the pandemic with online, virtual, and in-person content, which has broadened our delivery of informal STEM education offerings to support learning as circumstances continue to evolve. Ruth and Lisa bring terrific perspectives and experience to that work and other steps the organization is taking to move into a future that is even more broad-based and sustainable.”

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About Discovery Museum
Discovery Museum is a hands-on museum that blends science, nature, and play, inspiring families to explore and learn together. The museum and its Discovery Woods accessible outdoor nature playscape and 550sf treehouse blend the best of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) learning on a beautiful 4.5-acre campus abutting 180 acres of conservation land in Acton, MA, about 20 miles west of Boston. Originally founded in 1982 and expanded to two museums in 1987, the museum reopened in a single, 16,000sf accessible building after a complete renovation and expansion in early 2018. Hands-on, open-ended exhibits developed by professional educators inspire curiosity and exploration, providing a fun and engaging experience for children and adults to discover their world together. Serving families and schools from towns throughout the region, the museum is devoted to informal education that enhances classroom learning. Discovery Museum is committed to accessibility and is a proud recipient of the 2017 Massachusetts Commonwealth Award, the only winner in the Access category, and a 2018 LEAD® Community Asset Award from The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. For more information, please visit www.discoveryacton.org. Discovery Museum is a community-supported non-profit organization.
Discovery Museum programming is supported in part by a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.

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