Features

Cari B. Sacks’ journey to Chair of the Board of Trustees at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA), began with her educational choices. In college, she majored in psychology. “I became a therapist for my friends when they would call with problems, but that’s the extent of my degree,” jokes Sacks. She also received

In November 2021, Denise Gardner became the Chair of the Board of Trustees at The Art Institute of Chicago (AIC). One of her favorite artists featured in the permanent collection, Charles White (1918-1979), whose work was previously the subject of a major retrospective at the museum, helped Gardner clarify how to approach her new position.

Anne Kaplan jokingly calls herself a “serial board chair” having held the post for more than one Chicago cultural institution in recent years. Her interest in the arts started back in the ’60s, as a college student out East attending theater and visiting museums during frequent jaunts to Manhattan. That’s when she first encountered the

HELEN ZELL When Helen Zell moved to Chicago in her early 20s, she was eager to begin a new job in educational publishing and to embrace the cultural life of the city. On lunch breaks from her role as Assistant Editor at Science Research Associates, she frequently explored the galleries at the Museum of Contemporary

Sandra Deromedi distinctly remembers an elementary school field trip to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. “That experience made such a big impression on me—I was just so excited that day.” It marked an important moment, even at a young age, for her understanding of how an institution and its exhibitions