Our Team
"I get goosebumps every day at work. As a staff, we want our visitors’ time here to be filled with wonder, tranquility, joy, and the pursuit of knowledge. We work to create a setting where astronomers and artists examine then express the profundity of the miracle of existence. My wife and I got married at Yerkes, had a son and a daughter, and now I work here. C’mon, we're Cosmos Mariners!"
Walt Chadick
Director of Programs & External Affairs
Walt runs the programs which include the speaker series, concerts, festivals, artists in residence, private events, and tours. He also oversees the overall visitor experience and community relations. He has been in radio, television, tourism, and events for thirty years and came to Yerkes after sixteen years at Chicago Trolley & Double Decker where he began as a tour guide and became executive director. He is currently on the boards of the Williams Bay Business Association, Discover Williams Bay, and Walworth County Visitors Bureau. For many years, he served on the boards of the Ernest Hemingway Foundation and Magnificent Mile Lights Festival where he was the Chair. He studied poetry and creative writing at the University of Arkansas and attended the University of California-Berkeley and the University of Washington-Seattle as well as being a student in Goiânia, Brazil and Edinburgh, Scotland where he wrote for and starred in the television show Festival Revue. His play Crack Files had its run at the Market Theatre in Seattle’s Pike Place Market. Walt and his wife Kate got married at Yerkes years before he began working here. They live nearby on their wooded acre with their babies Charles and Pearl.
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