Georgina Adam 

Georgina Adam has spent many decades writing about the art market and the arts in general. She is editor-at-large for The Art Newspaper and a contributor to the Financial Times. She initially studied Islamic Art at the Ecole du Louvre and also lived for five years in Japan. She has written two books about the art market – Big Bucks (Lund Humphries, 2014) and Dark Side (Lund Humphries, 2018) and a third book, The Rise and Rise of Private Museums, came out in September 2021. She is a member of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA) and The International Art Market Studies Association (TIAMSA). 

Ian Wardropper

Ian Wardropper has served as the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Director of The Frick Collection since the fall of 2011. After completing his Ph.D. at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, he was curator and later Head of the Department of European Decorative Arts and Sculpture and Ancient Art at The Art Institute of Chicago for nineteen years, until returning to New York in 2001 as Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Chairman of the Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.  He has organized over twenty exhibitions in his specialties of European sculpture, earlier decorative arts, and twentieth-century design and decorative arts. He has taught art history at six universities and published numerous books, catalogues, and articles.  His most recent publications include European Sculpture, 1400-1900, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Bernini: Sculpting in Clay, Limoges Enamels at The Frick Collection, and Director’s Choice: The Frick Collection.

Racheal Muldoon

Racheal Muldoon is a junior barrister at Maitland Chambers located in London's Lincoln's Inn. Racheal has a thriving art and cultural property law practice which began with her advising the British Museum on all aspects of the Museum's work as Senior Legal Counsel in 2018. From these very traditional beginnings, Racheal is now recognised internationally as a leading expert on the intersection of art and Web 3.0, inclusive of NFTs and the Metaverse. Last year, Racheal secured the first court order of its kind in the World freezing stolen non-fungible tokens or 'NFTs' representing digital works of art in the case of Osbourne v Persons Unknown. In recognition of her expertise, Racheal has been ranked as a leading barrister by Chambers & Partners and appointed as an expert advisor to the UK Government.

Aarti Lohia

Aarti Lohia is a London-based Indian-born philanthropist and collector.  She is the Head and Trustee of the SP Lohia Foundation and the Indorama Charitable Trust.  With the support of her father-in-law, SP Lohia, the Founder and Chairman of Indorama, a family-owned corporation, Aarti has initiated and overseen a wide range of philanthropic ventures which include education, healthcare, and sports.  The Lohia family collaborates with and supports some of the most impactful charities today in Asia, Africa and the United Kingdom.  In October 2022, Aarti Lohia and the SP Lohia Foundation were announced as the Leading Philanthropic Supporter of the Modern and Contemporary Programme at the National Gallery in London.  Aarti is the leading philanthropic partner for developing the India Foundation for the Arts Archive (IFA archive) based in Bangalore, India.  She also sits on the Victoria & Albert Museum's International Council; The South Asian Acquisitions Committee at Tate Modern, the Serpentine Gallery’s International Council; the British Fashion Council Foundation; the David Rockefeller Council at MoMA.  In 2016, Aarti was listed in Apollo magazine’s 40 under 40 Asia Pacific as one of the world’s Top 100 Asian Art Collectors.  Known widely for lending her support to South Asian contemporary art scene and its artists, Aarti also believes passionately in preserving India's unique cultural heritage for future generations. 

Leslie Ramos 

Leslie Ramos is a philanthropy and strategy advisor and co-founder of The Twentieth, a boutique cultural agency for private individuals, philanthropic foundations, and non-profit arts institutions in the US, Europe, Asia, and South America.

 She is a strategic advisor to the Fondation Maeght, Delfina Foundation, and Peckham Platform and sits on Artangel’s Development Committee. She frequently lectures in arts philanthropy, museum strategy and funding, as well as Latin American art.

 Leslie has previously held positions at the Royal Academy of Arts, Christie’s, The Art Newspaper, Teatro La Fenice, and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection and holds an MSc in Art, Law and Business from Glasgow University, and a BA in History of Art and Conservation of Cultural Heritage from the University of Padua.

Her forthcoming book on arts philanthropy will be published by Lund Humphries in autumn 2023.  Leslie is based in London.  

Mary-Dailey Desmarais  

Chief Curator of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) since 2020, Mary-Dailey Desmarais oversees a multidisciplinary team dedicated to enriching, promulgating and preserving a collection of over 45,000 art works and objects dating from antiquity to the present. In addition, she is responsible for devising and developing the MMFA’s exhibition and publication projects. In cultivating close ties with the artistic community, she favours a critical and intercultural approach to art. 

Desmarais joined the Museum in 2014 as Associate Curator. Subsequently, she was appointed Curator of International Modern Art in 2015, followed by Curator of International Modern and Contemporary Art in 2018. Among the recent exhibitions she has curated are Seeing Loud: Basquiat and Music (2022); Adam Pendleton: These Things We’ve Done Together (2021); How Long Does it Take for One Voice to Reach Another (2021) and Once Upon a Time… The Western: A New Frontier in Art and Film (2017), whose accompanying catalogue won two awards. Championing critical perspectives on art history and an inclusive approach to institutional collections, Desmarais has significantly diversified the Museum’s collection and exhibition program by promoting the work of women artists and artists of color. Desmarais also co-led the museum’s digital initiative, Echo, designed to open art historical discourse to a plurality of voices, and has been responsible for pioneering performance programs at the Museum.  

Anny Shaw 

Anny Shaw is a contributing editor for The Art Newspaper, reporting on auctions, art fairs and market news globally since 2011, and is also a contributor to the Financial Times. Before that Anny trained as a journalist, working on the news desk at the Daily Mail Online. She has a first-class BA in Art History from the Courtauld Institute of Art and an MA in Contemporary Art Theory from Goldsmiths, University of London.

Eric Crosby 

Eric Crosby was appointed the Henry J. Heinz II Director of Carnegie Museum of Art in 2020. He initially joined the museum in October 2015 as the Richard Armstrong Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, becoming Senior Curator in 2018 and Interim Director in 2019. Guided by a belief in museums’ potential to facilitate meaningful connections between artists and communities, Crosby is charting a new course for the 125-year-old institution by creating an artistic program that animates local concerns within a broader picture of the world today. Integral to that program is the Carnegie International, one of the world’s most significant surveys of contemporary art and the museum’s flagship exhibition. Under Crosby’s direction, the museum opened the 58th edition of the Carnegie International to critical acclaim on September 24, 2022.  Since joining Carnegie Museum of Art, Crosby has sought to advance the museum’s strategic impact through celebrated exhibitions, ambitious acquisitions, dynamic events and educational programs, and award-winning publications. He recently curated Working Thought, a group exhibition exploring how contemporary artists have engaged with critical issues of labor, class, and economic disparity that have shaped American life past and present.  

Grace Rong Li  

Grace Rong Li is an art advisor and writer based in Zurich; building bridges between China and the world through art for more than two decades.  

Prior to founding her art advisory, she was the director and owner of Grace Li Gallery in Zurich. Her pioneering gallery launched and helped build the careers of some of the most prominent Chinese artists in the international art world today – placing their work into top museum exhibitions and collections, and exhibiting their work at international art fairs, including Art Basel.  

With a firm belief that art is a powerful universal language that crosses cultures and boundaries to connect people, Grace founded her global art advisory business in 2009.  As one of the first art advisors to educate and advise Chinese collectors and private museums to collect western modern and contemporary art, her expertise was instrumental in expanding the careers of major western contemporary artists in China. 

Her art advisory specializes in international modern and contemporary art; advising private museums, private collectors and corporate clients worldwide as they build their art collections. 

Grace has been an Executive Member of the Association of Professional Art Advisors since 2012. 

Grace has been a writer on art for media outlets in China including Harper’s Bazaar and The Financial Times. Since 2010, with Harper’s Bazaar China, Grace has published a series of extensive interviews and articles on influential artists, collectors, and museum curators and directors worldwide. With The Financial Times Chinese, Grace writes a column about art, science, spirituality and philanthropy.

Luyang Jiang 

Luyang Jiang is President and Chief Strategy Officer at the Baer Faxt and brings her leadership skills in strategic planning, business development, and multicultural communication accumulated in cross-industry fields for more than 20 years. From journalism to investment banking, from strategic consultancy to art auction houses, Luyang's life and work experience as a corporate spokesperson and strategic advisor to international companies spans Asia, the United States, and Europe.

Now based in Germany, Luyang began her career as a journalist in China at the age of 16, and at 19 she became the youngest-ever evening business news anchor on China Central Television (CCTV), with close to 1 billion viewers. After moving to the U.S. to earn her business degree at the University of California, Berkeley’s Haas school, she returned to CCTV as Host and Managing Editor for her own business talk show. Luyang then worked across multiple industries and regions, from marketing in Silicon Valley, to international investment banking in China, and a top European consulting firm, eventually becoming an instrumental figure in Christie’s entrance to mainland China and expansion in Asia, appointed in 2012 as the Vice President and Head of Corporate Communications. Before joining The Baer Faxt, Luyang left corporate life behind for a time to start her own consulting business with clients including Phillips, Hauser & Wirth, and UCCA. Luyang strengthens The Baer Faxt with decades of strategic consulting on the art market and unrivaled connections to its key players, as one of the few business strategists who knows how to lead a team and assist leaders to develop and innovate in multicultural and complex fields.  

Victoria Schmoll

Victoria Schmoll is an Investment Strategy Manager at Timeless Investments, the leading digital platform in Europe for fractional ownership of collectible assets. Timeless is at the forefront of revolutionising the way people access collectible assets. From luxury watches to fine wine and blue-chip art, the team is breaking down barriers to make these traditionally exclusive assets accessible to all.

At Timeless Investments, Victoria is responsible for developing investment strategies across multiple asset classes as well as managing the acquisition and sale of collectible assets, with a focus on art.

Victoria specialises in Modern and Contemporary Art with a background in art history as well as arts and cultural management. Before joining Timeless Investments, Victoria was an Art Consultant in London, providing strategic advice to artist estates, corporate clients and collectors. She has also consulted emerging and mid-career artists, helping them navigate the complexities of the art world. Through her work, Victoria hopes to inspire a greater appreciation of the arts among a wider audience.

Simon Hornby

Simon Hornby is Senior Vice President and General Manager of Crozier Europe & Asia, where he oversees the company’s operations and expansion initiatives. A recognized expert in developing risk assessment programs and mitigation strategies, he speaks internationally on art industry best practices at a variety of conferences and has been on numerous panels including AAM, ARCS, Appraisers Association, Transport Law Association, and has lectured at The Sotheby's Institute of Art London MA Art Logistics and Christie’s Art Business MA programmes. 

Prior to joining Crozier in 2009, Hornby served as Senior Vice President and Executive Director of Global Risk Partners, an international risk control and loss prevention firm specializing in fine art and valuables, where he was instrumental in developing the only global art storage assessment and accreditation program (GRASP) for the insurance community. 

Drew Watson 

Drew Watson is a Senior Vice President and Head of Art Services with Bank of America Private Bank in New York, New York. Drawing on more than 15 years of experience in the art and finance industries, he leads a team of specialists who provide a suite of art finance and advisory services to private collectors and institutions at Bank of America. Over the course of his career, Drew has developed a thoughtful understanding of the issues that can impact the financial lives of art collectors, their families, and art institutions. With a unique ability to understand clients with a passion for art, he provides personalized strategies to help incorporate art and collectables into their overall wealth management and estate plans. Drew helps clients generate liquidity from their collections through art lending as part of their art collection strategy. For collectors, heirs, or institutions wishing to sell their art and collectibles, Drew and his team can help streamline the overall process through partnerships with auction houses across the globe. Positioned at the nexus of art and philanthropy, his group also helps clients carry out their philanthropic objectives, including donations to museums and other strategic gifts. Prior to joining Bank of America Private Bank in 2016, Drew worked as a business manager for Christie’s where he oversaw profit and loss, commercial finance, deal structuring and negotiation for private, online, and auction art sales. 

Jennifer Schipf

Jennifer Schipf is AXA XL’s Global Chief Underwriter for Fine Art & Specie. In this role she is responsible for setting worldwide strategy, Underwriting guidelines and ultimate profitability. She’s been dedicated to the highly specialized market of fine art underwriting for nearly twenty years and helped establish the AXA Art Prize. She previously led the organization’s North American Fine Art & Specie team while also serving as leader of Broker and Client Management for North American Specialty.  Prior to joining AXA XL in 2008, she led the US Fine Art underwriting practice at another carrier and held various roles in claims, settling losses and performing loss control assessments for private collector clients. 

She started her career with a research position in the Old Master Drawings department at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. followed by development roles at both the Chazen Museum and Tandem Press, in Madison, WI.

Jennifer holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art History and Economics from Georgetown University with a concentration in the Italian Renaissance and Patronage of the Papacy. She also holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Interior Architecture from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She is actively engaged in various arts organizations, teaches fine art underwriting courses and regularly participates in industry educational conferences.