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Board of Directors

The role of the Board of Directors is to determine the scope and character of the activities and operations of The Art Fund Association (“Art FA”), to approve and amend the annual financial budget and business plan, to approve the financial statements and auditor's reports, to amend any constitutive documents of Art FA, and to authorize acts of Art FA and/or its officers outside of the ordinary course of operations. Each Director is elected to serve for two-year terms.

The Board of Directors consists of the following individuals:

Enrique E. Liberman, Chair
Stanislas Gokelaere
Javier Lumbreras
Heitor Reis
Michael Sellinger
Michael Shvo
Evan Tawil

Enrique E. Liberman. As one of the founding members of Art FA, Mr. Liberman serves as Chair of Art FA's Board and has assumed the role of President of Art FA. Mr. Liberman has extensive experience in the formation and governance of art investment fun ds and art funds of funds and regularly counsels art fund managers and investors on legal matters ranging from the structuring of such funds to the various regulatory and compliance issues arising from their operation. Mr. Liberman is currently a Partner at Tannenbaum Helpern Syracuse & Hirschtritt LLP in New York City where he chairs the law firm’s Art Law practice group which represents prominent art market professionals and participants in a wide variety of art-related matters. Prior to his tenure at Tannenbaum Helpern, Mr. Liberman was Vice-President & General Counsel of Egyptinfo Technology S.A.E., a prominent Egyptian information technology company, and a corporate associate at Clifford Chance Rogers & Wells LLP. Mr. Liberman attended Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA where he received his Juris Doctor in 1999. His degree at Harvard Law School was preceded by his attainment of a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations with Honors and Distinction from Stanford University in Stanford, California, USA in 1996, where he was a recipient of the prestigious Firestone Medal awarded to the best undergraduate theses. During the past twenty years, Mr. Liberman has also participated in various internships with the Central Bank of the Republic of Argentina, the Superintendency of Financial Entities of Argentina, the American Red Cross, and the United States Congress. Mr. Liberman is certified in Credit Risks and Financial Calculus by the Association of Banks of the Republic of Argentina. Mr. Liberman is admitted to practice law in New York State and is a member the New York Bar Association and the American Bar Association. Mr. Liberman is also a devout art collector focusing primarily on the Chinese, Indian and Iranian Contemporary art markets and counts among his collection artworks by Cui Xuiwen, Vivek Vilasini, Shadi Ghadrian, Ren Sihong, Rina Banarjee, Pooneh Maghazehe, Liu Liguo, Omar Chacon, Farsad Labbauf, Wang Xieda, Dante Horoiwa, Jin Zi, Guo Jinyi, Samira Abbassy, Vandana Jain, Ruby Chishti, Lee Wells, Anajali Bhargavi, Abraham Yurberg and Julie Levesque.
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Stanislas Gokelaere. Mr. Gokelaere serves on the Board of Directors of Art FA, bringing his extensive experience in Fine Art investment and asset management. He is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Art Collection Fund, a Luxembourg closed-end investment fund whose objective is to build an exceptional quality collection of Modern and Contemporary Art and Tribal Art from Africa and Oceania. Stanislas Gokelaere is an art lover and dedicated collector, coming from a family of modern art dealers. With over 15 years of experience in Fine Art investment, he has built a reputation as a rigorous and successful collector and investor. His primary fields of interest are Tribal Art, Modern and Contemporary paintings, and 20th century design pieces. Prior to founding the Art Collection Fund, Mr. Gokelaere started his career as a chartered accountant with leading firm Ernst & Young. He was a financial consultant with Coopers & Lybrand. He then went on to have a successful career in investment banking and asset management. He led the Mergers & Acquisitions team of a Fortune 500 international company. Most recently, he managed a large investment fund active in international real estate development. Mr. Gokelaere has a master degree in Business Administration from Solvay Business School (Belgium).
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Javier Lumbreras. Mr. Lumbreras serves on the Board of Directors of Art FA, bringing his extensive experience as an accomplished fifth generation art collector and successful art fund manager to Art FA. Mr. Lumbreras is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Artemundi Global Fund, a diversified art investment fund with a strategic art investment portfolio covering half a millennium of universally recognized artists with consistent records of price appreciation. In addition to his position at the Artemundi Global Fund, Mr. Lumbreras is a respected consultant to private collectors, a sought after guest lecturer regarding the art market to banks, family offices and museums and a trustee to various international art institutions. He is the author of the book, The Art of Collecting Art, which has sold out of its first edition; a second edition is being reproduced by Banco Nacional de Mexico, CITIBank.
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Heitor Reis. Heitor Reis is a founding partner and manager of BGA (Brazil Golden Art) fund. He has over 25 years of experience in the Brazilian art market having occupied several important positions. From 1983 to 1987, Mr. Reis served as coordinator and director of the state-run organization Museus do Estado da Bahia (Museums of the State of Bahia), and between 1991 and 2007 he held the same posts at the Museum of Modern Art of Bahia (MAM-Bahia). He sits on the board of the Museum of Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro (MAM-Rio), as well as being a member of AICA - Associação Internacional de Críticos de Arte (International Association of Art Critics). Mr. Reis has organized and curated multiple exhibitions, biennales and residency programs in Brazil and abroad. During his tenure at MAM-Bahia he established the Salão da Bahia (Bahia Salon) to map out and advance the work of emerging artists from all over the country. Under the auspices of the museum, he edited and published several catalogues and put together an outstanding collection of contemporary Brazilian art. He holds a degree in Museology from Universidade Federal da Bahia (Bahia Federal University). Mr. Reis is also a film director and art collector.
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Michael Sellinger. Mr. Sellinger serves on both the Board of Directors and is the Marketing Director of Art FA. Mr. Sellinger is the founder of Cottelston Advisors, a full service art advisory and lifestyle marketing company that provides access and guidance. In addition to creating and executing integrated branding opportunities for corporations, Mr. Sellinger, through Cottelston Advisors, provides clients with strategic planning and comprehensive market analyses. Cottelston Advisors also regularly produces exhibitions and art fairs. Mr. Sellinger has organized and moderated numerous panels on art investment funds. Prior to his tenure at Cottelston Advisors, Mr. Sellinger was the executive producer of Scope Art Fairs, an international series of cutting-edge art and emerging culture exhibitions, where he helped build Scope into an international brand name. Prior to working in the art world, Mr. Sellinger held various positions in banking and real estate. Mr. Sellinger has been collecting art works for over 20 years. He received an MBA in Finance and Accounting with honors from Columbia Business School and a BS in Biology with honors from Muhlenberg College.
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Michael Shvo. Michael Shvo is the President and CEO of the SHVO Group of companies, covering the gamut of real estate development and finance, venture capital investments, design and lifestyle marketing, and art acquisitions and divestitures. Mr. Shvo is a recognized leader in the real estate industry, a visionary in the field of global marketing and an accomplished art collector. His various companies have created unparalleled marketing and sales initiatives in real estate, including successful partnerships and ventures with Armani Casa, Philippe Starck, W Hotels, GHM and Aman Resorts. Mr. Shvo is also a highly respected venture capitalist known for identifying early stage commercial enterprises with unrealized intrinsic value and through his expertise in marketing, management and finance, producing significant investment returns for his investment group. Mr. Shvo is a renowned art collector and patron of various emerging artists.
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Evan Tawil. Mr. Tawil joined Art FA’s Board of Directors in May of 2011 bringing his extensive experience and contacts in the art market to the Association. Mr. Tawil is the principal of NYSA Management, LLC, an art fund investment management company that advises art investment funds on acquisitions for, and dispositions of, their art investment portfolios. For over twenty years, Evan Tawil has been a noted Post-War and Contemporary art collector. Mr. Tawil was first chronicled as a collector of serious merit in 1992 at the age of 26 in ARTnews magazine. In 1997, Tawil was chronicled in ARTnews, as one of nine major American collectors under the age of 45. During his acquisition & investment career, Mr. Tawil has developed a disciplined, focused approach to collecting and investing in post-war and contemporary art, viewing the process as a value driven exercise as well as a passion. Mr. Tawil attended and graduated from the Fleming School. He subsequently attended and graduated from Riverdale Country School followed by Vassar College.
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