The executive director of Audubon Pennsylvania who is a longtime Vineyard visitor has been named the new executive director of the Martha’s Vineyard Museum.

Phil Wallis will step into the job on Feb. 16, the museum said in a press release Monday. He will replace David Nathans, who announced his resignation in September after six years at the museum.

Mr. Wallis is a native of southeastern Pennsylvania and has been coming to the Vineyard for 45 years, the museum said. He has an undergraduate degree from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public Policy and a master’s degree in business administration from the Wharton Business School.

Mr. Wallis has had leadership positions at several non-profits, most recently at Audubon Pennsylvania. The organization’s membership grew to 30,000 while he was at the helm, the museum said, and Mr. Wallis also led a team that completed education and conservation leadership centers, which included $30 million capital campaigns.

The new executive director will take over the leadership role at the museum during an ambitious capital campaign to relocate the museum from its current home in downtown Edgartown to the former marine hospital in Vineyard Haven.

“We are delighted to have Phil leading our museum during this very important stage in our history,” said Elizabeth Beim, the museum’s board chairman in the release. “This is an exciting transformational time as we grow our museum and move into the Marine Hospital building in Vineyard Haven. We have begun our final architectural design process and plan to open the new facility in 2018. This will require the support from all communities on the Island and Mr. Wallis is a proven collaborative leader and builder of nonprofit organizations.”

The museum was established in 1922 and was formerly named the Dukes County Historical Society. The museum is open to the public year-round, and serves as steward for the lighthouses in Gay Head, Edgartown and East Chop.