GFAA Team, Research & Nominating Committees

The GFAA team and committee members represent the heart and soul of the program. These talented individuals ensure the ongoing operations and exciting future of the program.

Leadership, Art Research and Marketing Team

• Judy Holm, GFAA President and CEO, Founder of Aspirations PR, Art Concierge, MBA from l’Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Paris (ESCP), Bachelor of Arts in Economics and French Literature and Philosophy from UC Berkeley
• Hogan Fritz, GFAA Video Production, William Morris Endeavors Assistant, Artistic producer; Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies with a minor in Journalism from Marymount Manhattan College.
• Carolyn Cruz, GFAA Public Relations and Art Liaison Europe, San Francisco native, residing in London, International marketing professional and former VP of global brands including Apple and The Gap
• Felipe Gehrke, GFAA Creative and Art Direction, Brazilian native, Marketing Analyst with international experience in the creative and marketing world across three continents.
• Chloe Lu, GFAA Young Visionaries Co-Chair and Marketing Committees, Born and raised in China, BA in French Language and Literature; Master’s degree from Sotheby’s Art Institute
• Nikki Ramirez, GFAA Young Visionaries and Marketing Committees, New York native, Bachelor of Science in Art Conservation from the Marist College (Florence, Italy), and Bachelor of Arts from Fairfield University, with a double major in Art History and Physics.
• Viktoria Szanto, GFAA Young Visionaries and Marketing Committees, Born in Hungary, BA in Art History and Comparative Literature at St. Andrews University in Scotland; Master’s degree candidate at King’s College London.
• Jenna Agres, GFAA Graphic Design, Student at the University of Florida, studying Graphic Design and visual communications. Graduate of DASH (Design and Architecture Senior High) in Miami.

 GFAA Research Committee

• Chair Kimberly Lin– BA in Art History with an emphasis on modern and contemporary art from the UC Berkeley; Degree in fashion design from Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising; Post War Contemporary Art program, Sotheby’s London
• Renee Farina– Biennale di Firenze (Florence) International Selection Committee;Gallery owner; formerly of Christie’s Masters, Modern and Contemporary Departments, NYC, former GFAA Research Committee Chair

GFAA Nominating Committee

• Chair Betsie Piussan– MBA from NYU; BA Stanford University, studied at l’Université de Paris and l’Ecole du Louvre, Design Certificate NY School of Interior Design
• Peter Trippi– Editor-in-Chief, Fine Art Connoisseur magazine; GFAA Judge Emeritus
• Salwa Mikdadi– Associate Professor of Art History, NYU Abu Dhabi
• Patricia Lannes– Founder of Cultures and Literacies through Art for the 21st Century; Chair of the Global Latino Network AAM
• (Emeritus) Terence Riley– Architect, former Director at MoMA New York and Miami Art Museum
• (Emeritus) Tiffany Chestler– Director of Cultural Programming at DACRA and Craig Robins art collection

BIOs – Team and Committees

Judy Holm, GFAA President and CEO

As part of a lifelong passion for art and education, Judy Holm has been immersed in the world of art fairs, biennials, galleries and museums for several decades.

Ms. Holm’s background includes twenty-five years of experience in arts and culture, direction of more than 60 art installations and 600 cultural events throughout the United States and Europe. Her career and education span fine art, opera, symphony, ballet, literature and film.

Founder of the Global Fine Art Awards, and director of the program for the past five years where she presides over 40 Advisory Board members and the Judges, previously Ms. Holm developed and curated programs and client events integrating culture and education for Wells Fargo, Fidelity Investments, Charles Schwab and Citibank.  Recent clients include Art + Auction magazine and the Italian Cultural Institute; career highlights include developing strategic partnerships in Art Basel (Switzerland) for a large media client; and corporate and private client events during Art Basel Miami Beach for the past seven years including Louis Xlll and the Biltmore Hotel.

She developed an Art Concierge business in 2011 in Venice, Italy for the Biennale, and continues to consult with private and corporate art clients internationally. She served as Vice-Chair for the Miami Beach Chamber’s Arts and Culture Council from 2011 to 2014, and for three years was the founding editor of the bi-weekly column “Arts and Culture (PRE)View – (RE)View for the Miami Beach newspaper.

A native of San Francisco, currently residing in New York, she has also lived in Paris, Venice and Miami.  Ms. Holm received bachelor’s degrees  with honors in Economics and French Literature from U.C. Berkeley, and an MBA from l’Ecole Superieure de Commerce de Paris (ESCP).

Peter Trippi, GFAA Advisory Board and Judge Emeritus

Peter Trippi is Editor-in-Chief of Fine Art Connoisseur, the bimonthly magazine that serves collectors of historical and contemporary representational painting, sculpture, drawings, and prints.

He is also president of Projects in 19th-century Art, Inc., the firm he established to pursue a range of research, writing, and curating opportunities.

Trippi holds a MA from New York University in Visual Arts Administration, as well as a MA in Art History from the Courtauld Institute of Art, London.

As director of New York’s Dahesh Museum of Art, Trippi guided its renovation of the former IBM Gallery and presentation of nine exhibitions of 19th-century European art.  In 2002, Phaidon Press published Trippi’s 250-page monograph J W Waterhouse, which reassesses the Victorian painter and Royal Academician best known for his Lady of Shalott at Tate Britain.  Trippi went on to guest-curate the Waterhouse retrospective that appeared at the Groninger Museum in the Netherlands, London’s Royal Academy of Arts, and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

He recently co-curated a touring exhibition about the Victorian painter Lawrence Alma-Tadema, which opened in 2016 at the Fries Museum, in the artist’s Dutch native city, Leeuwarden and is traveling to several additional venues, including the Leighton House in London in summer 2017.

Trippi was a two-year term as president of the nonprofit organization Historians of British Art, and then became president of the Association of Historians of Nineteenth-Century Art.

In his tenure he has had extensive exposure to numerous exhibitions in the US and around the world which have informed his critical thinking on exhibition development.

Carolyn Cruz, GFAA Public Relations and Art Liaison, Europe

Carolyn Cruz is an integrated marketing professional with over 20 years of experience managing global corporate brands for industry leaders including Gap, Apple, Bank of America and Sun Microsystems.

Her background in advertising and brand marketing includes both client and agency-side roles. She has extensive expertise in developing and producing national and global on-line and print advertising campaigns, in store materials, as well as managing global events. Carolyn has much experience managing both creative and media agencies.

Her career has taken her from San Francisco to NYC, and she now lives in London where she pursues her passion of arts and culture.

Stefano Rabolli Pansera, GFAA Advisory Board and Art Liaison Committee

Stefano Rabolli Pansera, Senior Director at Hauser and Wirth Gallery in London, is an Italian architect and curator. He studied at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, graduating with Honours in 2005.

After working at Herzog & de Meuron between 2005 and 2007, Rabolli Pansera returned to the Architectural Association to teach.  He has lectured in Cagliari, Cambridge, Naples, Wuhan, Seoul, Rejkyavik and Madrid.

Rabolli Pansera co-curated the first Angola Pavilion at the 13th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, and the Angola Pavilion at the 55th International Arts Exposition – La Biennale di Venezia, a project that won the Golden Lion for Best National Participation.

An Aspen Junior Fellow since 2011, Rabolli Pansera is also an official member of The Council for the United States and Italy.

Salwa Mikdadi, GFAA Advisory Board and Art Liaison

Salwa Mikdadi, Associate Professor, Practice of Art History, NYU Abu Dhabi, specializes in the history of modern and contemporary art of the Arab world. Prior to joining the NYUAD, Mikdadi worked at Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority where she established the professional development program for museum professionals including a customized executive program (2012 – 2014) and was a lecturer at the Paris-Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi in the postgraduate program – History of Art and Museum Studies (2010-May 2014). Mikdadi was the Executive Director of the Arts and Culture Program at the Emirates Foundation in Abu Dhabi (2009-2012). She wrote the reference guide on the history of the twentieth-century art of West Asia, North Africa and Egypt for the Metropolitan Museum of Art Timeline web pages and is the editor and co-editors of several publications on the subject. She conducted research in Jordan, the West Bank, UAE, Syria and Lebanon on the governance and management of museums and art institutions. Mikdadi curated several exhibitions including the first Palestinian collateral exhibition at the Venice Biennial in 2009. She was the co-founder and director of the Cultural & Visual Arts Resource/ICWA, a non-for-profit organization dedicated to the study and exhibit of art of the Arab world in the United States (1988-2006). Mikdadi is a founding board member of the Association of Modern and Contemporary Art of the Arab world, Iran and Turkey. She received her B.A. from the American University of Beirut; and M.A. . 

Renee Farina, GFAA Art Research Committee and Art Liaison Committee

Renee Farina holds a Master’s degree in History of Art and History of the Art Market; Modern and Contemporary Art from Christie’s.

She received her BA in History of Art focusing on Roman History and Italian Medieval and Renaissance Art from Indiana University, Bloomington. Ms. Farina presented her Thesis on Botticelli’s Mystic Nativity and competed for an academic scholarship (Menz Award).

In Christie’s Wine Department, she was involved in sales, warehouse inventory, photography for catalogues, phone bidding, and wine connoisseurship.  She completed three major projects: South and Central American Market Research, International Price Analysis, Proposal for Sales.  Ms. Farina also worked in Christie’s Old Masters Department, where she worked on cataloguing, condition reports, research, photography, catalogue essay writing and inventory.

She is trilingual: Italian, Spanish and English. While at Christie’s, she translated manuscripts, served as a translator with Italian and Spanish speaker clients, translated simultaneously during meetings, and assisted with multi-lingual phone calls during auctions.

Her background also includes gallery experience; she managed the Ca D’Oro Gallery in Miami; responsibilities including installations in NYC and Miami, exhibition curation, art fair organization and logistics. In 2014, she opened Gallery Farina in Wynwood, which she recently sold.

Betsie Piussan, GFAA Nominating Committee Chair

A native of New York, Betsie Piussan received a B.S. Degree from Stanford University, Stanford, CA in social sciences and second concentration in French. She also studied at l’Université de Paris and l’Ecole du Louvre.

She completed her MBA at NYU Graduate School of Business. After graduating, she worked for nine years at Republic National Bank of New York, specializing in international lending.

Mrs. Piussan subsequently founded her interior design firm, Bremer Designs, after earning a Design Certificate from New York School of Interior Design. She specializes in renovations in NYC, Westchester, Connecticut and The Hamptons.

A long-time resident of Manhattan, Mrs. Piussan currently resides in Miami Beach with her French husband and children.

Patricia Lannes, GFAA Advisory Board and Art Liaison Committee

Patricia Lannes has worked in the fields of visual literacy and museum education for over 20 years. She is the Founder and Project Director of CALTA21 (Cultures and Literacies through Art for the 21st Century,) a model initiative funded by a National Leadership grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. As Project Director, she leads all aspects of the initiative from conception to completion. CALTA21 invites adult immigrants and their families to use works of art and museums to break language barriers and build academic, social, and cultural capital.  Prior to her work as Project Director of CALTA21, she was Director of Education at the Nassau County Museum of Art, and worked as an independent consultant to museums, NY school districts, institutions of higher education, and private arts organizations.

A native of Uruguay, she is the Chairperson of the Latino Network, a professional interest committee of the American Alliance of Museums (AAM).

Hogan Fritz, GFAA Video Production  

Artistic producer, enthusiast and social media aficionado, Hogan Fritz lives in New York City where he now works for William Morris Endeavors. Hogan  graduated from Marymount Manhattan College, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies with a minor in Journalism.

From Portland, Oregon, he attended Arts and Communication Magnet Academy focusing on Theatre and Moving Image Arts.

Aside from his studies, he works professionally in theatre and film and has been awarded several accolades including Finalist at the International Youth Silent Film Festival and the ACMY Theatre Awards. He currently works during the summer at the Columbia Gorge School of Theatre located at Lewis and Clark College in Portland where he is the Lead Social Media Coordinator and a Camp Counselor. Hogan’s world revolves around the arts and he takes pride in his passion for the universal appreciation and strive for a global artistic connection.

Felipe Gehrke, GFAA Creative and Art Direction

Brazilian native Felipe Gehrke is a Marketing Analyst with international experience in the creative and marketing world across three continents.

Felipe received a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design from the Catholic University in Rio de Janeiro in 2009 and has worked as a creative and marketing analyst since then, with experiences at Coca-Cola, Sapient Nitro Miami and Ogilvy Paris.

His most recent academic achievement was graduating from Miami Ad School in 2013 as an Art Director, a two-year program based in Miami with practical training and studying abroad.

Felipe is the winner of the 2015 GFAA new logo global contest, and has contributed significantly to the rebranding initiatives of the GFAA program.                                                       

Jenna Agres, GFAA Graphic Design 

Jenna Agres is a student at the University of Florida, pursuing a degree in Graphic Design. She is a recent graduate of Miami’s DASH, Design and Architecture Senior High.

Aspiring to incorporate her passion for design in a future career, joining the Global Fine Art Awards team as the Graphic Design Intern for over three years has been a very beneficial and rewarding experience.

Jenna enjoys the process of ideas, as well as incorporating a strong layout, aesthetically pleasing color scheme, and trending typography in her work. Aside from design, Jenna loves experimenting with new media and techniques, such as darkroom photography, India ink, and book binding.

Jiachen (Chloe) Lu, GFAA Young Visionaries Co-Chair and member of the Marketing Committee, clu.gfaa@gmail.com 

Ms. Lu was born and raised in China.  She holds her BBA degree in French language and literature from Southwestern University.   As part of her studies, she lived in London and France, and traveled throughout Europe. For the past two years, she has worked with premier galleries, artists and art fairs in New York, and is completing her Master’s degree at Sotheby’s Art Institute. Ms. Lu recently completed an internship at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in their Membership Department.

Nikki Nita Ramirez, GFAA Young Visionaries and Marketing Committees

Nikki Ramirez, a native New Yorker, is currently working as a Development and Global Partnerships, Institutional Giving intern at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). She recently completed internships with The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and Cyrus Capital Partners, investment adviser with offices in New York and London, where she assisted with Investor Relations and research.

She studied and worked in Italy as a social media correspondent and art and conservation blogger. Ms. Ramirez is trilingual with English, Spanish and Italian, and is also knowledgeable in French and Arabic.

Ms. Ramirez received her Bachelor of Science in Art Conservation from the Marist College (Florence, Italy), and her Bachelor of Arts from Fairfield University, with a double major in Art History and Physics.

Viktoria Szanto, GFAA Young Visionaries and Marketing Committees

A native of Hungary, Ms. Szanto is a Master’s candidate in Arts and Culture Management at King’s College London. She received her BA in Art History and Comparative Literature student at the University of St. Andrews, where among other activities, she was a columnist for the school magazine and contributing writer for their art publication.

As part of her studies, she spent time abroad at Leiden University in the Netherlands, within various departments from Documentary film to Southeast Asian art.

She has volunteer and had internship experience at Christies’ London, the Scottish National Trust and St. Andrews Preservation Trust Museum.

About her future career “My dream job would entail promoting and enabling access to the arts in any form possible for audiences from different socio-economic backgrounds. For example, I really enjoyed interning as a museum educator in Hungary and a guide in Scotland, because these positions affirmed to me the importance of access and audience participation in the arts. I also like the idea of curating, but again with the emphasis on interactivity and inclusion/ education. The Global Fine Art Awards seems like an ideal project to get involved with, because it promotes diversity and recognises artists from different cultural and national backgrounds, and not just well-known artists and cultural institutions, but ones that may need support to sustain their practices.”