Discovery Gateway
“I’ve always loved museums. I remember being really little, standing in front of a painting, and my mom saying, ‘Someone made that - with a brush.’” For Kathleen Bodenlos, that moment stuck. Raised in Pittsburgh by a mother who found ways to expose her daughters to art, science, and culture despite limited means, Kathleen learned early on that museums were places of possibility. “We didn’t have a lot, but my mom made sure we had the arts,” she said. “Looking back, I realize how much she sacrificed, but she lit a spark in me that’s still burning.” Today, as CEO of Discovery Gateway Children’s Museum, Kathleen is paying that gift forward - revitalizing the museum into one of Utah’s most dynamic cultural institutions. But the path was far from linear.
Originally from Poughkeepsie, New York, and raised in Pittsburgh, Kathleen studied history at Thomas Edison University while raising two children and navigating a divorce. Her plan had been to teach college, but life had other ideas. She took a job in manufacturing in Ohio, then climbed her way into an executive role at an engineering firm. It was financially stable but unfulfilling. “I kept thinking, is this it?” she said. “I wanted to do something that mattered.”
When her youngest daughter expressed a desire to return to Pittsburgh for high school, Kathleen took a leap. She applied repeatedly for a marketing role at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History where she had spent countless childhood hours. “I must have called HR every week. I just kept asking for a chance.” Eventually, someone gave her one. The position came with a significant salary cut - nearly half - but it also offered something far more valuable. “It gave me the opportunity to do something I truly cared about: opening up the wonder of science to everyone,” she said.
At Carnegie, Kathleen became the bridge between scientific researchers and the public. Behind massive doors she had marveled at as a child were entire hidden collections: jars of frogs, shelves of snakes, and century-old specimens preserved in alcohol. One building, known to staff as “The Alcohol House,” housed row after row of preserved animals, each one a mystery, a story, a sliver of the natural world. Quickly realizing that some of the museum’s most fascinating content - the back-of-house collections, the archives, the live animals - were never seen by the public, Kathleen set out to change that. “Some of it was just me with my iPhone and a curious mind,” she said.
Kathleen launched a Facebook Live series featuring scientists like herpetologist Jose Padial, who documented expeditions to the Amazon, and paleontologist Matt Lamanna, who studied prehistoric life with infectious enthusiasm. She encouraged Padial to blog from the field and send photos via Bluetooth from remote mountaintops. The result? National press, a following of curious minds, and a job offer for Padial from a prestigious museum.
Once her daughter was settled in college, Kathleen moved to Cincinnati to be closer to her older child, taking on a vice president role at the Cincinnati Museum Center. There, her experience expanded beyond marketing to include operations, fundraising, and strategic leadership. “That job taught me how to juggle and trust my instincts.”
When COVID hit, Kathleen was furloughed along with 80 percent of the staff. At the same time, Discovery Gateway Children’s Museum in Salt Lake City was searching for a new leader. The board was honest: the museum was in crisis, with just $140,000 in the bank and no clear path forward. “I flew out in the middle of the pandemic. It was eerie - empty airports, masked interviews - but I felt something here. I felt like maybe I could help.”
Kathleen accepted the Children’s Museum position in 2020 and got to work. “She hauled, hustled, did everyone’s job for a while,” said Carlos Toledo, the museum’s marketing manager. “Thanks to her leadership, we have funding, we have vision, and we’re ready to grow.”
Kathleen brought with her a deep understanding of museum culture, honed during her years in Pittsburgh, an experience that forever shaped her view of what museums could and should be. The philosophy she developed there is now woven into the fabric of Discovery Gateway. Under her leadership, the museum launched its first major new exhibit: a paleontology experience called I Dig Dinos, filled with over 300 fossils and 600 real specimens - many of them donated by local collector Joe Dabelko, whose legacy now lives on through the children who marvel at his lifelong collection. At its center is a full-size Utah raptor skeleton, believed to be the most scientifically accurate in the world.
“There’s a new train installation too,” Carlos said, “the largest in the Intermountain West.” Valued at over $2.2 million and donated by a private couple, the display was painstakingly assembled over eight months by professional train experts. There is also a construction zone built by in-house fabricator Matthew Merton who brings his theater background to each build, designing everything from a replica food truck to a roadwork exhibit that teaches kids about recycling asphalt and infrastructure logistics. “Kathleen has a remarkable ability to see not just what a museum is, but what it can be,” Carlos added. “At Carnegie, she took material that no one else thought could be public-facing and made it come alive for everyone.”
Fifty years after opening its doors as The Children’s Museum of Utah, the institution is undergoing a full transformation. Carlos and a small, energetic team are helping usher in a new era of relevance, inclusion, and education. While many still remember the original location up on Beck Street, the museum is now firmly planted at the Gateway under the name Discovery Gateway.
Today, Discovery Gateway is a space of informal education where children can discover science, art, and culture through interactive, thoughtfully designed exhibits. It is also a place deeply committed to equity. Through the Museum Inclusion Fund and partnerships with fourteen nonprofits, the museum hosts quarterly free-admission days, complete with meals for hundreds of families across the state. “Every time we open our doors for one of those days, 500 to 700 people come through,” Carlos said. “It’s about access. It’s about dignity.”
“Our goal is to position ourselves as a true educational institution,” Carlos continued. Every part of the museum is infused with intention. Murals rotate regularly, funded by grants that ensure artists are compensated and celebrated. These rotating murals and Inclusion Days are supported by local partnerships making sure that the museum remains relevant and responsive to the community. Even the new food and drink options are designed to feel playful, comforting, and culturally rich.
Under Kathleen’s leadership, the museum has gone from struggling, to nationally recognized. The first floor was fully renovated in just two years. A second-floor renovation is underway for 2025, with a rooftop garden slated for 2027 featuring hands-on lessons in botany and mental wellness. “I thought it would take ten years,” she said. “We’re doing it in six.”
With a growing staff of young professionals who reflect the city’s diversity, and new exhibits on the horizon, Discovery Gateway is poised for its next chapter. “Most of us here are in our twenties or thirties,” Carlos said. “We’re proud to be part of a museum that supports women, queer staff, and people of color, not just in hiring, but in leadership. Kathleen leads by example.” She has already been named Utah Business CEO of the Year and is widely admired by her team not only for her progressive leadership style, but for her ability to see potential where others see limits.
“When you work with Kathleen,” Carlos said, “you start to believe that anything is possible. This place is more than just exhibits,” he added. “It’s where children start imagining who they want to be - and maybe where adults get to remember who they are.”
Kathleen agrees. “It’s the full circle for me,” she said, wiping away tears. “Just seeing a parent and child exploring together, I think of my mom every time. That’s why I do this. That’s everything.”
