Staff
Elizabeth Easton
DIRECTOR & Co-Founder
Elizabeth Easton is the Director of the Center for Curatorial Leadership (CCL), a non-profit organization she co-founded with Agnes Gund in 2007 to train museum curators in the fundamentals of management and leadership. Now in its eighteenth year and with over 400 alumni around the world, CCL’s mission is to expand and diversify the pool of curators who are empowered to lead museums and contribute to the field at large.
She previously served as the first elected president of the Association for Art Museum Curators from 2003-2006, and as chair of the Department of European Paintings and Sculpture at the Brooklyn Museum from 1999-2007. Easton earned her Ph.D. at Yale University, writing her dissertation on Edouard Vuillard's interiors of the 1890s.
She is the recipient of the Wilbur Cross Medal—the highest honor accorded to alumni of Yale University’s Graduate School—and in 2008 was appointed Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres by the French Government. In 2024, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. She is a trustee of MASS MoCA and the Alliance of HBCU Museums and Galleries, and has served on the boards of the Town School, the Spence School, Studio in a School, and the International Foundation for Art Research (IFAR). She is on the Visiting Committee of the Department of Paintings Conservation at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the advisory boards of a number of other cultural institutions.
Tatiana Mouarbes
PROGRAMS MANAGER
Tatiana Mouarbes joined the Center for Curatorial Leadership in 2024. As Programs Manager, she leads the Programs Team and guides the strategy, design, and delivery of CCL’s programs serving curators across the arc of their careers. As a team leader, curator, grantmaker, and creative strategist, Mouarbes is committed to fostering dynamic, equitable, and diverse cultural ecosystems where artists, arts leaders, and cultural organizations can thrive. Most recently, she served as the Senior Team Manager for the Global Culture and Art program at the Open Society Foundations, where she spearheaded and launched diverse arts-centered global initiatives, grantmaking portfolios, and multi-stakeholder partnerships, distributing over $15M to pioneering leaders, activists, artists, and organizations working at the intersection of art, culture, and social justice across Africa, the America’s, Asia, Europe, Eurasia, and the Middle East. During her tenure, she directed the Soros Arts Fellowship, led grantmaking to advance cultural and artistic freedom around the globe, and oversaw arts and culture grantmaking in the Middle East and North Africa, increasing support, visibility, and advocacy for arts and culture across the region.
Mouarbes regularly serves as a panelist reviewing fellowships and grant funding for private funders and holds panels and workshops on sustainability and resource mobilization for artists and cultural organizations. Her research and curatorial initiatives have been supported by the Interdisciplinary Art and Theory Program Fellowship (2019-2020); Joan Lazarus Curatorial Fellowship at The Artist's Institute (2015-2016); Hunter College Art Galleries Curatorial Fellowship (2014-2016); Kossak Research Grant (2015); and Home Workspace Program at Ashkal Alwan: The Lebanese Association for Plastic Arts, Beirut (2014). She received her MA in Art History from Hunter College and BA in Art History and Critical Theory from Gallatin School of Individualized Study, New York University.
Grace Oller
EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT & OFFICE COORDINATOR
Grace Oller joined the Center for Curatorial Leadership in 2023. As the Executive Assistant and Office Coordinator she serves as the key administrative support to Elizabeth Easton in her capacity as Director and Co-Founder of CCL, facilitating day-to-day operations within the organization as well as the initiation of long-term initiatives. Prior to joining CCL, Oller served as a Curatorial Research Assistant at the Columbus Museum of Art, assisting with the exhibition Raggin’ On: The Art of Aminah Robinson’s House and Journals. She has also served as a contributing writer for the Grey Art Gallery in partnership with the Anonymous Was a Woman Foundation and as Co-Editor in Chief of the IFAcontemporary online publication.
Oller holds an MA from the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU in Art History where she studied Modern and Contemporary Art, Institutional Critique, and labor theory. She was awarded an honorary distinction for her thesis on the political and economic implications of the performances of artist Mierle Laderman Ukeles. She received her B.F.A from the Columbus College of Art & Design where she majored in Fine Arts and minored in Creative Writing and the History of Art & Visual Culture. Her art historical thesis examined systemic structures in American art museums using case studies and personal experience to support her research.
Caitlin Palmer
Finance & operations manager
Caitlin Palmer joined the Center for Curatorial Leadership in 2021. As the Finance & Operations Manager, she leads CCL's financial and operational functions to ensure organizational effectiveness and growth. She also serves as liaison to CCL staff, stakeholders, and Board of Trustees, overseeing the full scope of the organization’s stewardship of all institutional partners, donors, funders, and stakeholders. Prior to her role with CCL, Palmer was the Curatorial Administrative Coordinator for the Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania. During her time at ICA, she assisted on the notable exhibitionsRee Morton: The Plant That Heals May Also Poison,Cauleen Smith: Give It or Leave It, the Colored People Time series, and the Ulysses Jenkins: Without Your Interpretation Retrospective. Active as a volunteer Nonprofit Consultant, Palmer has also contributed her expertise in incorporation and structuring, development strategy and stewardship, and leadership models to organizations including Art for Philadelphia and Ulises Co.
Palmer holds an M.S. in Nonprofit Leadership with a concentration in the Arts & Culture sector from the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice. Her practicum focused on grant writing and management. She received her B.A. from Wesleyan University where she majored in the Science in Society program with concentrations in American & Latin American History and Neuroscience, and minored in International Relations. Her senior thesis in printmaking, temporal states, received High Honors in general scholarship and is included in the Wesleyan University permanent collection.
PARTNERS
ArtsPool
CCL is a member of ArtsPool, an administrative cooperative that provides nonprofit financial management, workforce administration, and compliance support to membership collective of 25+ New York based cultural organizations. Learn more at artspool.co
Lili Rusing
Development Consultant & grant Specialist
Lili Rusing manages all aspects of CCL's grant strategy and writing. Lili is a development consultant who helps nonprofit organizations raisecritical funds to support their missions, specializing in fundraising for the arts, humanities, education, libraries, and archives. Learn more at lilirusing.com
Villa Albertine
In 2023, CCL partnered with the Villa Albertine to deliver the "Museum Series," bring together 24 women museum directors from premier cultural institutions in France and the US for timely conversations on how museums must reinvent themselves to meet the challenges of the present, fostering dialogue and debate on the future of museums and promoting a new generation of leaders. a new French institution for arts and ideas in the United States, builds on the bold and innovative programs that have been the hallmark of the French cultural network abroad for more than a century. Created by the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, and supported by the French Ministry of Culture, Villa Albertine actively supports the endeavors of French cultural actors across the country through a bold and nimble program, in close collaboration with leading American cultural organizations. Learn more at villa-albertine.org
Columbia Business School
CCL partners with Columbia Business School to design custom curricula and provide core instructional components for all programs.
Joel Brockner
Faculty Advisor, Columbia Business School
PHILLIP HETTLEMAN PROFESSOR OF BUSINESS, COLUMBIA BUSINESS SCHOOL
Professor Brockner earned a B.A. in psychology from SUNY-Stony Brook and a Ph.D. in social/personality psychology from Tufts University. Since that time, he has taught at Middlebury College, SUNY College at Brockport, Tufts University, and the University of Arizona prior to joining the faculty at Columbia Business School in 1984.
Professor Brockner is a leading authority on a variety of psychological issues in the workplace. He has published four books including the award-winner, “The Process Matters.” In addition, he has published nearly 150 articles and book chapters in a variety of prestigious outlets and his article in the Harvard Business Review (HBR) was selected to appear in HBR’s, “Ten Must Reads in Emotional Intelligence.” He was the 2020 recipient of a Lifetime Career Achievement award by the Academy of Management entitled, “Distinguished Scholarly Contributions to Management.” He also is the 2023 recipient of a similar award from the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (a division of the American Psychological Association), entitled, “Distinguished Scientific Contributions.”
Professor Brockner also has served on the Editorial Board of numerous journals in the fields of management and psychology. He was the Chairman of the Management Division at Columbia Business School from 2005-2011, and he also is the Faculty Director of several highly regarded executive education programs at Columbia Business School. In addition, he is an executive coach, has served as an expert witness, and has consulted to a variety of private, public, and non-profit organizations.