PAFA Welcomes Six New Board of Trustee Members

PHILADELPHIA (July 13, 2016) – The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is pleased to announce six new members of its Board of Trustees, who were elected during PAFA’s June Board Meeting.

PAFA Board Chair Kevin F. Donohoe says, “We are delighted to welcome these six exceptional individuals to PAFA’s Board of Trustees. The expertise, enthusiasm, and leadership they bring to the table will be invaluable to PAFA’s continued success in fulfilling our mission of promoting the transformative power of art and art making.”

The new trustees are:

MARK A. DOUGLAS is President of FMC Agricultural Solutions, a specialty company serving agricultural, industrial and consumer markets worldwide. Mr. Douglas joined FMC Corporation in March 2010 as Vice President of Global Operations and International Development and as a member of the Executive Committee. He was named President of the Industrial Chemicals Group in 2011 and President of Agricultural Solutions in 2012. He previously held key positions at Dow Chemical, including Vice President, President Asia of Dow Advanced Materials. Prior to joining Dow, Mr. Douglas was Corporate Vice President, President Asia of Rohm and Haas Company based in Shanghai. He previously served as Corporate Vice President, Director Procurement and Logistics for Rohm and Haas in Philadelphia. Mr. Douglas and his wife, Madeline, who live in Haverford, are supporters of PAFA’s annual Bacchanal fundraiser.

ROBERT E. KOHLER, Ph.D. is Professor Emeritus of the Department of History and Sociology of Science at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Kohler has been at Penn since 1973, becoming a Professor in 1988, and Professor Emeritus in 2005. Dr Kohler and his wife, Frances, who live n Philadelphia, have donated more than 40 works of art from their private collection to PAFA. Dr. Kohler has served on the Collections Committee at PAFA since May 2013. Dr. Kohler was the 2004 recipient of the Sarton Medal, History of Science Society, for lifetime achievement in the history of science. He serves on the editorial boards of Social Studies of Science, Advisory Editor (1984–present) and Nature and Culture, Advisory Editor (2005–present), and has authored several books and articles.

JANNIE K. LAU is Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary at InterDigital, which produces, markets, sells and licenses wireless digital radio-telephone systems for voice and data communications. Ms. Lau joined InterDigital in 2008 as Associate General Counsel and was promoted to Deputy General Counsel in 2010. Prior to InterDigital, she served as securities and transactional counsel at IKON Office Solutions. She previously was a corporate associate at leading global law firms in New York and Boston, where she represented public and pre-IPO companies and private equity and venture capital fund managers. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Delaware Valley chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel, and the executive committee of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Pennsylvania. Ms. Lau was named to the 2013 “40 under 40” list. She also supports PAFA as a Development Committee member and through the Annual Student Exhibition. She and her husband, Todd Longsworth, live in Villanova.

KELLY LEE is Chief Cultural Officer of the City of Philadelphia’s Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy, also known as Creative Philadelphia, which manages and oversees city arts programs, is the steward of the largest and oldest public art program in the country, provides services to artists and arts organizations, and serves as the primary point of municipal contact for the arts and cultural community.  A native Philadelphian and University of Pennsylvania graduate, Ms. Lee previously worked as the President and CEO of Innovation Philadelphia, an economic development agency focused on the commercial creative sector. She has previously worked for the city's Commerce Department, and as Director of Communications for the Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority. She also spent two years as Regional Director of Economic Development at PECO Energy. Ms. Lee has served on a number of cultural organization boards, including those of the Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, the Arden Theatre Company and Art-Reach.

JAY H. SHAH is CEO of Hersha Hospitality Trust, working in all areas of the company, with an emphasis on strategic relationships, capital transactions, asset management and acquisitions. Mr. Shah was previously principal in the law firm of Shah & Byler LLP, which he founded in 1997, and managing director of the Hersha Group. Previously, he was a consultant with Coopers & Lybrand LLP, served the late Senator John Heinz on Capitol Hill, and was employed by the Philadelphia District Attorney's office and two Philadelphia-based law firms. He is a longtime supporter of the Bacchanal findraiser, and he served on the event’s Wine Auction Committee in 2015. Mr. Shah also serves on the Board of Trustees of The Episcopal Academy and Cornell University Dean’s Advisory Board for the School of Hotel Administration. He is also a member of the Dean’s Council for Temple University’s Fox School of Business, the Urban Land Institute’s Hotel Development Council, and the American Hotel & Lodging Association’s Board of Directors. Mr. Shah and his wife, Susie, live in Wynnewood.

JUNE MARSHALL SMITH is a member of the PAFA Women’s Board since 2014, and a Women’s Board event volunteer since 2005, the same year in which she co-chaired the US Artists Preview Gala. Among her many other leadership roles at PAFA, Ms. Marshall Smith has served on the Bacchanal Committee since 2008, and is the 2016 co-chair for the Bacchanal Wine Gala. She also chaired Bacchanal in 2011, one of the most successful fundraising years for the gala and auction during which $500,000 was raised to support student scholarships. She also served on the PAFA In Bloom Exhibition Committee in 2014. She and her husband, Henry DuPont Smith, live in Haverford.

In addition, two current members of PAFA’s Board of Trustees -- TOM BENNETT and HANK SMITH -- have been named Emeritus Trustees.

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Founded in 1805, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is America's first school of fine arts and museum. A recipient of the 2005 National Medal of Arts, PAFA is a leader in fine arts education with a world-class collection of American art.