World Monuments Fund Names New Board Members
Kwame Anthony Appiah, Susan de Menil, Pauline Eveillard, Suzanne Kohlberg Cole, Her Excellency Shaikha Mai bint Mohammed Al Khalifa, and Juan Carlos Verme Giannoni to Serve as Trustees
World Monuments Fund (WMF) today announced the appointment of six new members to its Board of Trustees, reflecting the diverse international community that supports the organization’s mission of saving the world’s most treasured places. Bringing new perspectives and building on the Board’s range of expertise, they join a global network of advocates, scholars, philanthropists, and business leaders who care deeply about preserving humanity’s cultural heritage for future generations. New members of the WMF Board of Trustees added over the last year include Kwame Anthony Appiah, Susan de Menil, Pauline Eveillard, Suzanne Kohlberg Cole, Her Excellency Shaikha Mai bint Mohammed Al Khalifa, and Juan Carlos Verme Giannoni.
“We are honored to strengthen the Board of World Monuments Fund with this accomplished group of professionals, adding to the diversity of perspectives on the integral role of cultural heritage in society,” said Lorna B. Goodman, Chair of WMF’s Board of Trustees. “They are proven leaders and will bring new vitality to WMF’s mission to safeguard the irreplaceable.”
“We are pleased to welcome these tremendous individuals to our Board, who are united in a shared vision of saving the world’s cultural treasures while creating opportunities for the communities around them,” said Bénédicte de Montlaur, President and CEO of WMF. “They join World Monuments Fund at a critical time in the organization’s history, helping extend our global impact to address such pressing issues as climate change, underrepresentation, and the imbalanced effects of tourism at heritage sites.”
About the New Board Members
Kwame Anthony Appiah is an acclaimed scholar, author, and professor who currently serves as the Ethicist columnist for the New York Times Magazine. From 2002 to 2014, he held appointments at Princeton University in the Department of Philosophy and the University Center for Human Values. He has also taught at Harvard University, Duke University, Cornell University, Yale University, Cambridge University, and the University of Ghana. Appiah’s publications include In My Father’s House (1992), which explores the role of African and African American intellectuals in shaping contemporary African cultural life, Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers (2006); The Lies That Bind: Rethinking Identity (2018), among many others. In 2012, U.S. President Barack Obama presented him with the National Humanities Medal.
Susan de Menil is the founding co-president of the Art, Antiquities, and Blockchain Consortium (AABC), a nonprofit that uses blockchain-based infrastructure to guide the future of cultural heritage repatriation. Since 1991, de Menil has worked as the director of marketing, administration, and interior design for Francois de Menil, Architect, P.C. From 1999 to 2012, she served as the president and executive director of the Byzantine Fresco Foundation, overseeing the acquisition, conservation, exhibition, stewardship, and return of frescoes that had been taken from the Church at Lysi in Cyprus. During that time, de Menil conducted in-depth interviews with the many stakeholders in an international negotiation over the frescoes, which will be featured in her forthcoming documentary 38 Pieces. She also co-curated Angels & Franciscans: Innovative Architecture from Los Angeles and San Francisco, an exhibition which was awarded Best Architecture Show by the International Association of Art Critics. de Menil has served as a trustee at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, the Architectural League of New York, the Architecture and Design Committee of the Museum of Modern Art, NY, Religions for Peace, and the Council of the American Film Institute. She holds a BA from Barnard College and an MS from the Columbia University’s School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.
Pauline Eveillard is the CEO and founder of SOUKRA, an e-commerce platform that celebrates goods and apparel from Tunisia’s creative community. Her entrepreneurial spirit was ignited when living in Tunisia as a Fulbright fellow, where she established lifelong connections in the country. She formerly held positions in WMF’s programs and development departments from 2009 through 2016. During this time, she launched Fouta Lifestyle, importing and e-retailing the Tunisian fouta, a versatile 100% cotton fabric, after noticing a void in the U.S. market. She left WMF to rebrand Fouta Lifestyle into SOUKRA, expanding into new collections from Tunisian designers, artisans, and entrepreneurs with many launching since the Arab Spring. She graduated from Tufts University with a bachelor's degree in art history and the University of Chicago with a master's degree in humanities. She currently serves as co-chair of the campaign committee for the school of Arts & Sciences at Tufts University, and as board member of the Northern California Chapter of the Fulbright Association.
Suzanne Kohlberg Cole is an architect and artist based in New York, California, and Maine. Her philanthropic focus encompasses architecture, design, art, and empowering women and women's rights worldwide. She is currently on the steering committees of NARAL and Electing Women Bay Area (EWBA) in California. She is actively involved with The Portland Museum of Art (PMA), the Aspen Institute, and the V&A. She served previously on the boards of the Camalotte Foundation, The Plan for Social Excellence, and Mercado Global.
Her Excellency Mai bint Mohammed Al Khalifa
Shaikha Mai is a historian and scholar responsible for spearheading national efforts to develop Bahrain’s cultural infrastructure for heritage conservation and growth of sustainable tourism. As President of the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities, Shaikha Mai has been instrumental in the inscriptions of Qal’at al-Bahrain; Pearling, Testimony of an Island Economy; and Dilmun Burial Mounds as UNESCO World Heritage sites, and for founding the Arab Regional Centre for World Heritage. She was the first laureate of the Colbert Prize for Creativity and Heritage in 2010, as well as the recipient of the Légion d’honneur and the Moroccan Order of Ouissam Alaouite. In 2015, WMF honored Shaikha Mai with its Watch Award in recognition of the singular role she has played in the protection of heritage in Bahrain. The Aga Khan Award for Architecture announced the selection of Her Excellency Shaikha Mai bint Mohammed Al Khalifa as an Award Member at its fifteenth session, 2020-2022.
Juan Carlos Verme Giannoni is an entrepreneur, a private investor, and a cultural agent. Currently, he serves as vice-chairman of Inversiones Centenario, the leading real estate development firm in Peru, and as a board member of several Peruvian companies in the industrial, health, and education sectors. He is an active promoter of contemporary art and an avid participant in educational and cultural projects in Peru. He has been a member of the WMF Peru board since 2014 and has served as Board President since 2018. Verme’s 16 years as chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Museo de Arte de Lima (MALI) was essential in revitalizing the institution as a twenty-first century museum. In 2010, Verme founded proyectoamil, a contemporary art platform that fosters young emerging artists. Since 2012, he has served at Fundación Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid, Spain, as vice president and, in two terms, as interim president. Verme has also been a member of Tate Americas Foundation, sat on several acquisition committees at Tate Modern, and served as board member, treasurer, and vice president of Asociación Cultural Filarmonía.
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About World Monuments Fund
World Monuments Fund (WMF) is the leading independent organization devoted to safeguarding the world’s most treasured places to enrich people’s lives and build mutual understanding across cultures and communities. The organization is headquartered in New York City with offices and affiliates in Cambodia, India, Peru, Portugal, Spain and the UK. Since 1965, our global team of experts has preserved the world's diverse cultural heritage using the highest international standards at more than 700 sites in 112 countries. Partnering with local communities, funders, and governments, WMF draws on heritage to address some of today’s most pressing challenges: climate change, underrepresentation, imbalanced tourism, and post-crisis recovery. With a commitment to the people who bring places to life, WMF embraces the potential of the past to create a more resilient and inclusive society.
Media Contact
Judith Walker, Vice President of Communications, World Monuments Fund, jwalker@wmf.org
