We are excited to announce that our museum has re-opened and we look forward to your visit!

Our Team

Amy Osborn

Chief Executive Officer

Michele Knell

Gift Shop, Volunteer and Tour Manager

Ralph Mavis, USMC

Historian/Curator

Diana Chodnicki

Community Outreach Director

Andy Butzko

Guest Services Representative

Nellie Malet

Guest Services Representative
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Amy Osborn

This Ocean City native and former Miss New Jersey has been a ‘Voice for Veterans’ for over 30 years. She is an accomplished businessperson, who has enjoyed a diverse career that included world travel for a Fortune 500 company. Her career includes the distinct honor of having personally met several United States Presidents and Vice Presidents, as well as other world leaders from Mexico, Columbia, Turkey, and Pakistan, to name a few.

Amy began her career with the USO of Metropolitan New York, where she produced entertainment for veterans in our VA hospitals in NJ, NY, and CT, as well as for active-duty military, on the USS Intrepid, Fort Dix and other venues. She later served as Director of Special Events at the NJ Department of Military and Veterans’ Affairs, and has entertained our troops around the globe, as a performer with Armed Forces Entertainment, under the US Department of Defense.

She is a recipient of the James C. Gates Distinguished Service Award, awarded by the VFW Department of NJ, for her efforts to help veterans find gainful employment. Amy has served on the Board of the NJ State Veterans Home at Vineland, and currently serves on the Selective Service District Appeals Board, both of which are Governors’ appointments (the latter also required Presidential approval, making it a bi-partisan appointment). She is proud to have represented veterans’ service organizations on President George W. Bush’s “Hire Vets First” Committee, which during its tenure, decreased unemployment in the veteran community, nationally, by 25%. 

As a member of the American Council of Young Political Leaders, Amy traveled to and met with political leaders in Turkey, as part of a delegation selected by the US State Department.  She is also a distinguished alumna of the Christine Todd Whitman Excellence in Public Service Series.

A seasoned fundraiser, Amy began her career at the age of sixteen, when she won a fundraising contest in her hometown of Ocean City that benefited the Ocean City Rescue Squad. Since then, she has raised money for nonprofits, political candidates, and organizations from the local to the national level, through her own fundraising consulting firm. As a Board Member of the Patriot Fund, Amy was responsible for securing the Premiere Sponsorship of $25,000 for the annual golf outing, for four years in a row. These funds went to training service dogs for veterans in need, at no cost to the veteran.

As a Communications Director and Press Secretary in a legislative office, Amy was responsible for correspondence and interaction with constituents, lobbyists, other legislators, media outlets, and consultants.

Amy has served on the Board of Trustees for the Southern New Jersey Development Council and currently serves as the Vice Chair of the Senator Walter Rand Institute for Public Affairs at Rutgers-Camden.  Amy is the Founder of PINTS 4 PETS, a New Jersey non-profit that hosts a popular annual networking event, now in its tenth year, to raise funds for local shelters and rescues in South Jersey.

Prior to NJVVMF, Amy served as Vice President of Private Banking for Republic Bank in Philadelphia and South Jersey. In her role with the Bank, in addition to managing key relationships with high-net-worth individuals, she assisted her nonprofit clients in achieving their fundraising goals by Chairing events, assisting with development, planning & hosting events, securing sponsorships, and other areas where her thirty-plus years of experience are an asset.

In her spare time, Amy enjoys spending time with her two horses, as well as international travel, which is up to forty-five countries and counting…