Outstanding Women in Business: Krasnecky brings a world of experience to Old Sturbridge Village

Photo | Matthew Wright Tina Krasnecky

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By Susan Shalhoub

Many of us have been on field trips to Old Sturbridge Village, including Tina Krasnecky. From those early experiences, today she is the organization’s vice president, finance and human resources – her first role in a nonprofit – following a career that took her through multinational high-tech businesses, a company spinoff, and entrepreneurial startups.

Her success did not materialize as a result of Krasnecky being fearful of new things, said Jim Donahue, OSV president and CEO.

“She’s extraordinarily competent and collaborative. She’s very clear at presenting information to the management team or board. And she has an unusual quality: Courage. She’ll lean into a problem and innovate. A role of a CFO can often be to say, ‘No, no, slow down,’ but she gets that if you want to be relevant and sustainable, you have to innovate.”

Krasnecky started her career at Digital Equipment Corp. in Maynard. She then served as worldwide manufacturing controller for Quantum Corp.’s Recording Heads group in Shrewsbury. It entered into a strategic venture and formed MKE - Quantum Components, with Krasnecky becoming its director of finance, finance planning analyst, and business operations from 1997 to 1999.

She then co-founded Advanced Microsensors Inc., which made MEMS, or micro-electromechanical systems, like those used in automotive cruise control systems or anti-lock brakes.

“It was my first chance being entrepreneurial, my first transition out of a big corporation,” said Krasnecky.

After 11 years, Advanced was acquired by Plures Technologies, where she worked as corporate controller and vice president finance and administration.

“Then it was time to do something different,” said Krasnecky.

She wanted to try something where there was more opportunity to influence direction. Krasnecky saw an ad for the OSV position.

“Now that would be something different,” she said of her thinking at the time.

Having grown up in Ware and a resident of Sturbridge since 1986, Krasnecky took the OSV job in 2014, and did Old Sturbridge Village a world of good.

Revenues have increased by 57% from 2014 to 2019. Endowment more than doubled since 2014, with full-time employees growing from 82 to nearly 130. Special event programming increased from $100,000 to more than $1 million a year, Krasnecky said, with December 2021 attendance for OSV’s Christmas by Candlelight event coming in at 28,000.

But her role at the living history museum would involve more than finance and human resources responsibilities.

“I had to wrap my head around the concept of a nonprofit. We need to have stable financials to enable us to grow. And OSV has people at its core, so I needed to understand how we raise money or have revenue streams. People give gifts because of personal reasons. I had to adapt to what drives the revenue stream,” Krasnecky said.

Krasnecky has essentially said, “Great, how do we get started?” to every new challenge, Donahue said, even in areas in which she was untested, such as the banquet division and hotel offerings.

Krasnecky led the charge in launching an OSV charter school in 2017, building a solar field on OSV property in 2018, and adding theater programming, all in order to diversify revenue streams.

Krasnecky’s courage was especially evident during the pandemic, Donahue said. She secured two federal Paycheck Protection Program loans of $2.1 million to keep core employees on the job, creatively shifting employee duties and reclassifying spaces.

She’s been a significant mentor to her team, finding growth opportunities and creating a culture of support.

Krasnecky’s innovative tendencies, diverse experience base, and skilled professional development skills will take this mission-based organization to even higher levels.