The D&L Blog

The Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor (DLNHC) team has worked tirelessly since Congressional designation in 1988 to preserve, interpret, and share the story of anthracite coal fueling America’s Industrial Revolution and the nationally significant transportation route that carried goods along railroads and canals from Wilkes-Barre to Bristol. Today, the 165-mile D&L Trail through Eastern Pennsylvania adaptively reuses that historic transportation route and puts visitors among the storied history of the Corridor while providing access to health and wellness, economic opportunity, and the beauty of our natural world.

This progress would not have happened without steady and dedicated leadership for our National Heritage Area. Claire Sadler has been a champion of DLNHC for the past four years as executive director and in multiple positions for the six years before that.

In order to focus on her family and herself, Claire has decided to step back at the end of February from executive leadership of the organization and pass the baton to the next leader to take DLNHC into the future. To help us navigate through the transition successfully, Claire has offered to fill in as acting senior director of operations and finance until June.

She and the team that she built have had a myriad of successes for which we are all grateful. She navigated the organization through the pandemic and reopening the museum and canal boat. Building upon the legacy of state agency support, she was central in securing an unprecedented $7M of funding commitments toward connecting the D&L Trail: Lehigh Valley Gap by the end of 2026. She steered us through a data breach prompting increased IT protocols and has streamlined and structured our organization to make it more effective and efficient. In 2023 alone, she helped get the National Canal Museum a 10-year reaccreditation from American Alliance of Museums and oversaw the reimagining of both our major fundraisers: Taste of the Corridor and St. Luke’s D&L RaceFest. Claire’s leadership has been essential to the success of the organization.

Her dedication to the mission of the organization has been a guiding light. The light will be passed in 2025 to another for their steering of the organization. We will be working with the recruiting firm Dunleavy & Associates to seek the best candidate to fill the role of executive director and to build on the work of Claire and her predecessors. If you are interested in being a part of this mission, or know someone who would be, please visit the position description.

To you, our supporters and friends, you may not know Claire, but you have benefitted from her commitment and vision for what Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor means to our communities.

Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor, Inc. is stronger than ever, inventorying vast archival resources, connecting more trail segments, expanding education programs, working on new museum displays and always trying to connect people to the important natural resources and heritage of our region. We look forward to seeing you at our events, in the communities, visiting the museum and canal boat, and on the D&L Trail.

From DLNHC Board of Directors

Founded by Nancy Dunleavy in 2001, Dunleavy & Associates is a professional services firm that builds capacity, confidence, and bottom lines for nonprofit organizations. Dunleavy’s range of services include executive search, fundraising and development, strategic planning, interim contracted leadership, organizational assessment, communications, and event management services. 

See the position description and please share this link with potential candidates: https://www.matchingmissions.com/jobs