LACMA Adds Five New Members to Board of Trustees
The new appointees include entrepreneur Wendi Murdoch, Reliance executive Isha Ambani, and investment manager David Kaplan.
Isha M Ambani. Courtesy Reliance.
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has elected five new members to its board of trustees. They are: Isha Ambani, David Kaplan, Wendi Murdoch, Aussie business consultant Andy Song, and Fubon Art Museum founder Maggie Tsai.
'We are excited to welcome Isha, David, Wendi, Andy, and Maggie to our board of trustees,' said Michael Govan, LACMA's CEO and director. 'Their outstanding professional expertise, diverse perspectives, and wide experience in the arts will be an invaluable addition to the strength of LACMA's board as we prepare to begin a new era on our upgraded campus.'
Isha Ambani is the daughter of Mukesh Ambani, the chairman and managing director of Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries. He is the richest person in Asia, with a net worth of U.S. $105 billion. Isha helped launch Reliance's digital services business, Jio, and leads Reliance Retail. She also serves on the board of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art.
David Kaplan is the co-founder of Ares Management Corporation. He sits on multiple boards, including Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Dutch e-commerce company MYT Netherlands Parent B.V., and nuclear power company X-Energy Reactor. He has a net worth of $2.2 billion.
Wendi Murdoch is the ex-wife of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, whose net worth—counted with his family—is $20.9 billion. She is the co-CEO of investment firm GCM Partners, co-founder of Artsy, and a producer of films including the Cai Guo-qiang documentary Sky Ladder (2016).
Andy Song is an art collector who previously worked as a senior consultant at PwC. He has donated works and funds for acquisitions of works by Julie Mehretu, Ed Ruscha, Mark Bradford, and others to LACMA.
Maggie Tsai is the CEO of the Fubon Art Foundation and founder and director of the Fubon Art Museum, which opened in Taipei this year. She has served on LACMA's acquisitions committee and is part of the Asia Art Circle of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the International Council of Tate Museum, and the advisory board of Taipei Fine Arts Museum.
Including chairs and life trustees, LACMA's board includes some 70 people, with notable names such as TV presenter Ryan Seacrest, curator Thelam Golden, and Dasha Zhukova Niarchos, founder of Moscow's Garage Museum of Contemporary Art.
Over the weekend, LACMA held its 13th annual Art+Film Gala, which honoured artist Simone Leigh and director Baz Luhrmann and featured a performance by Charli xcx. Co-chaired by LACMA trustee Eva Chow and Leonardo DiCaprio and sponsored by Gucci, the gala raised more than $6.4 million—a new record for the event. —[O]
