President and Eloise W. Martin Director, Art Institute of Chicago

Career Highlights

Dr. James Cuno became the President and Eloise W. Martin Director of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2004, halfway through the museum’s largest expansion project since the construction of its original 1893 building. In May of this year, the city of Chicago celebrated the opening of this Modern Wing and, with it, the completion of the largest fundraising campaign in the history of cultural institutions in the city. Dr. Cuno is an active advocate and scholar on the issue of cultural patrimony and on the role of museums in civic life, and he has written and spoken extensively on these topics, most recently in his authored work, Who Owns Antiquity?, and in his edited collection Whose Culture? For the past several years, he has developed programming with other cultural institutions (such as Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project) to present at the Art Institute year-long themed seasons of exhibitions, lectures, performances, and readings—all with the goal of bringing together cultural production around such central ideas as American identities, cultural exchange, “art beyond borders,” and, this year, the concept of the modern on the occasion of the opening of the Modern Wing.

President and CEO, Asia Society

Career Highlights

Dr. Desai is the sixth President and CEO of Asia Society, a leading global organization committed to strengthening partnerships among the people, leaders, and institutions of Asia and the United States. Dr. Desai sets the direction for the Society’s diverse programs relating to culture, commerce, and current affairs—from major U.S.-Asia policy initiatives and national partnerships for global learning to path-breaking art exhibitions and innovative Asian American performances. Guided by Dr. Desai’s leadership since 1990 and welcoming her as president in 2004, Asia Society has expanded the scope and scale of its activities, including opening new offices in India and Korea, inaugurating a new center for U.S.-China relations, and developing new initiatives on the environment, Asian women leaders and partnership among the next generation of exceptional leaders in Asia and the United States. Dr. Desai managed the Society’s $40 million, Bartholomew Voorsanger-designed renovation of its New York City headquarters in 2001 and is overseeing two new multimillion-dollar building projects currently under construction: one in Houston designed by Yoshio Taniguchi and another in Hong Kong designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien.

Prior to joining Asia Society in 1990, Dr. Desai was a curator at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and taught at Columbia University and other institutions.