Boston attorney Richard Grahn has left his job at prominent law firm Looney and Grossman to become president and chief executive officer of the National Coast Guard Museum Association. 

Grahn formerly served as secretary of the museum association's board. Former state senator Cathy Cook, also on the board, has taken on that role. Grahn was unanimously elected to the position during the board's March meeting. The museum association is raising money to build a National Coast Guard Museum in downtown New London adjacent to Union Station.

"It's really an honor to be placed in a position where I think we have an opportunity to provide the Coast Guard with a world-class museum that is so needed by the only armed service that doesn't have a national museum," Grahn said by phone last Friday.

Grahn will make $125,000 a year in his new post, which he said is a significant drop from his salary at Looney and Grossman. He has served as a managing partner there for the past eight years and has been with the firm for nearly 40 years in total.

"We knew this was going to happen," Cook said. "We're kind of mushrooming in need for organization staff and all the different tasks that have to happen. Not only do we have to raise the money, we have to build the museum."

Grahn was on the West Coast on Friday, he said, "doing some fundraising out here and trying to encourage and excite some folks," about the museum effort.

While fundraising will remain a large component of the board's responsibility, Grahn's focus will be on maintaining the relationships with the Coast Guard; with the state of Connecticut, which has committed $20 million to the total $100 million project for a pedestrian bridge that will connect to the museum from Water Street; and with the board's partners like Cross Sound Ferry. Part of his job will involve dealing with the museum's architects, who are in Boston, and the interior designers, who are in Washington.

Cook described Grahn as "the guy that keeps all the ping pong balls in the court."

Present for the initial discussions around the need for a national Coast Guard Museum, Grahn was on the board of the Coast Guard Foundation when Adm. James Loy, then commandant of the Coast Guard, asked the foundation to assist in building the museum.

"We agreed to do that," Grahn said Friday. "Because it was the right thing to do. It was important to have the Coast Guard, which really never toots its horn, to be made visible to the American public."

However, it became clear after some time, Grahn explained, that there needed to be two distinct fundraising initiatives: the "capital campaign for the museum" and the "morale and welfare and level of excellence donations" that were being raised by the foundation.  

"When we discovered raising money for the museum just sucked air out of the fundraising room for morale support," Grahn said, that was when it was decided that a separate 501c3 tax-exempt organization should be created to solely fundraise for the museum, and that was done in 2002.

Grahn is currently a trustee of the foundation. Foundation President Anne B. Brengle said, "We are grateful for Mr. Grahn's service on the Coast Guard Foundation Board, as both a director and a trustee. His contributions to our organization will have a lasting impact on our work to support the men and women of the United States Coast Guard and their families, for many years to come. We wish him great success in his new role with the Coast Guard Museum Association; he is a capable and inspirational leader."

Adm. Loy and Adm. Robert Papp, both members of the museum association's board, indicated that Grahn was the right person for the job.  

"Dick Grahn is the classic combination of masterful administrator and passionate advocate," Loy said by email. "He's weathered the storms of our early years, knows how to connect the many dots that comprise this project, is an excellent collaborator who can bring factions to constructive closure and now enjoys a new burst of enthusiasm as our National Coast Guard Museum effort gains momentum. We're lucky to have Dick take the helm as we push this effort to the finish line."

"What I like about Dick Grahn is his long-term commitment to the men and women of the Coast Guard through his work in the Coast Guard Foundation as well as the National Coast Guard Museum. With over a decade of working the most detailed issues of the Museum, he is the perfect choice to work with the Board of Directors to take this project to completion," Papp said by email.

Grahn lives in Mattapoisett, Mass., but said he will continue to travel to New London two to three days a week, as he's done since March. The museum association keeps an office on Bank Street. In general, Grahn said, the job will involve a lot of travel.

j.bergman@theday.com

Twitter: @JuliaSBergman