Dr. Vivian Pan Elected Chair of Studio Board

The Board of Directors of the Studio in a School Association is pleased to announce that Dr. Vivian Pan was unanimously elected to the position of Chair at its October 4, 2018 meeting. Dr. Pan serves as the sixth Chair in Studio’s 41-year history, taking on a position previously held by Studio’s Founder, Agnes Gund, as well as Edward Harding, Kathryn McAuliffe, Roy Simpson, and the late Richard Roob.

Dr. Pan succeeds Ms. Gund, who has held the position since 2014. “We are very happy to have Vivian as the next leader of our Board,” said Ms. Gund, who will continue to serve as Board Founder & Chair Emerita and Co-chair of the Development Committee. “I look forward to partnering with Vivian during her transition into her new role, and to serving alongside her on the Board in the years to come.”

Dr. Pan is a Senior Partner at Hamlin Capital Management, LLC. Raised in Queens and the Bronx in an immigrant family, she attended New York City public schools in the 1970s, at the time of Studio’s founding. She then enrolled at SUNY Binghamton, where she studied geology, then received a Ph.D. from Yale University.

Prior to her second career as an investment manager, Dr. Pan worked as an analyst with the U.S. Department of Energy, a Congressional Science Fellow serving the U.S. Senate, and a Faculty Research Associate at Arizona State University. In addition to her service on Studio’s Board, which she joined in 2015, Dr. Pan is a Trustee of the CUNY Graduate Center Foundation, and previously served as Board Chair and Governor of the Investment Adviser Association.

“As a former New York City public school kid, I am especially grateful for this opportunity to give back to my community,” Dr. Pan said. “Following the great example of my predecessors, I will do all that I can to ensure that every student in need of visual arts instruction gets to experience Studio in a School.”

In her role as Chair, Dr. Pan leads a Board that oversees a non-profit organization consisting of two companies: the Studio Institute, under the direction of President & CEO Thomas Cahill and Board Vice Chair Dorothy Lichtenstein, and Studio NYC, led by Executive Director Chris Wisniewski and Board Vice Chair Ken Cooper.

Reflecting on Dr. Pan’s election, Mr. Wisniewski observes, “Every time I have visited a school with Vivian, she has immediately sat at a desk or gotten on the floor to talk to a student about their painting or ask questions about their work on a collage. She makes an immediate human connection. Vivian exemplifies the commitment to social justice that drives Studio’s work, along with the belief that learning should be child-centered and infused with creativity.”

“I have had the honor of partnering with each of the distinguished Chairs who have led Studio’s Board through its four decades,” noted Mr. Cahill.  “Vivian has demonstrated her devotion to arts access and quality programming during her terms on our Board. As we continue our national expansion efforts through the Studio Institute, and with our strong and growing New York City Programs, I am confident we have in Vivian a committed leader, perfectly suited to finding new ways to realize Aggie’s enduring and inspiring vision—that every child deserves access to a quality art education, and that art enriches and supports learning.”