Zinnia Willits is the Executive Director of the Southeastern Museums Conference (SEMC). Prior to this role, which she assumed in May 2020, she served as the Director of Collections and Operations at the Gibbes Museum of Art where she managed the museum's permanent collection and operations as well as logistics for its active exhibition and loan programs for seventeen years. Zinnia was the President of the SEMC when she assumed the role of Executive Director and had been a member of SEMC Council of Directors since 2015. She served as Program Committee Chair for SEMC 2017 and also chaired the Scholarship and Evaluation Committees.
Zinnia completed two terms on the American Alliance of Museums National Program Committee (2018-2019), is a current Accreditation Reviewer as well as a Peer Reviewer for the Museum Assessment Program in the area of Collections Stewardship. She has presented sessions on registration and collections management at state, regional and national conferences and has expertise in the areas of collections management, storage planning, career management, grant writing and museum operations. Zinnia lives and works in Charleston, is an avid runner, and has tackled two half-marathons.