About
Education is at the heart of everything we do at the Barnes.
Executive Staff
Thomas Collins
Neubauer Family Executive Director and President
An innovative educator and accomplished art historian, administrator, and author, Thom Collins, a Philadelphia native, has more than 20 years of experience at some of America’s top arts institutions, including the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM); the Neuberger Museum of Art in Purchase, New York; the Contemporary Museum in Baltimore; the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati; the Henry Art Gallery in Seattle; and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Collins earned his MA in art history from Northwestern University and his BA with honors in art history and the history of religion from Swarthmore College. He serves on the Board of Trustees at Swarthmore College and is a member of the Association of Art Museum Directors, the Association of Art Museum Curators, and the College Art Association.
Nina Diefenbach
Senior Vice President, Deputy Director for Advancement
Nina Diefenbach leads an innovative, strategic advancement program and is responsible for a $100 million capital campaign to enhance educational programs and community engagement initiatives, support operations, and strengthen the endowment. She oversees the fundraising, upper-level membership, and public relations teams, working to maximize and expand the institution’s public profile. She holds an MA in arts management from New York University and a BA from Trinity College.
Steven Brady
Deputy Director for Digital Initiatives and Chief Technology Officer
Steven Brady oversees all digital and information technology, driving efficiencies, synergies, and revenue through technology and bringing digital experiences to life for both in-person and virtual visitors. He has been instrumental in the Barnes’s successful pivot to online learning, including the development of its exclusive, pioneering Visual Experience Platform. He has master’s degrees in computer engineering and technology management from Villanova University.
Will Cary
Chief Operating Officer
Will Cary oversees earned revenue and operations functions, as well as those related to select strategic initiatives, including the forthcoming Calder Gardens. In addition, he plays a leadership role in the measurement and execution of the organization’s strategic plan. He holds a BA in art history and economics from Williams College and is a graduate of the Museum Leadership Institute.
James Claiborne
Fleischner Family Deputy Director for Community Engagement
A program and visual arts curator and educator with nearly 20 years of experience in the nonprofit cultural sector, Claiborne works to strengthen the Barnes’s relationships with artistic and programmatic partners in Philadelphia and beyond. He is responsible for developing, implementing, and assessing a wide variety of public, family, and community programs that align with the Barnes’s progressive mission. Claiborne also works closely with the Deputy Director for Human Resources and Chief Diversity Officer to support the design and implementation of DEIA initiatives. He holds a BA from the University of Memphis.
Sara Geelan, Esq.
Deputy Director, General Counsel, and Secretary
Sara Geelan is the chief legal officer and corporate secretary of the Barnes Foundation. Her practice concentrates on nonprofit corporate governance; matters related to the foundation’s art collection, exhibitions, publications, charitable giving matters, and intellectual property; and institutional risk-management and responsibility for government relations. She has been counsel to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, Art Institute of Chicago, and Museum of Modern Art, and practiced in the individual client services department of Schule, Roth & Zabel, LLP in New York. She holds a JD from Columbia University School of Law and a BA from Johns Hopkins University.
Nancy Ireson, PhD
Deputy Director for Collections and Exhibitions & Gund Family Chief Curator
An executive leader and curator with over 20 years of industry experience, Nancy Ireson has held curatorial positions at Tate Modern, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the National Gallery, London. Exhibitions she has curated or co-curated include Modigliani Up Close (Barnes, 2022), Suzanne Valadon: Model, Painter, Rebel (Barnes, 2021), Picasso 1932: Love, Fame, Tragedy (Tate Modern, 2018), Modigliani (Tate Modern, 2017), Temptation! The Demons of James Ensor (Art Institute of Chicago, 2014), and Cézanne’s Card Players (Courtauld Gallery, 2010). At the Barnes, she manages the teams responsible for collections and exhibitions, including Curatorial, Conservation, Registration, and Publications. Ireson studied at the Courtauld Institute of Art, earning a BA in art history, an MA in European art 1907–1945, and a PhD on the work of Henri Rousseau. She also holds an MBA from the Alliance Manchester Business School.
Martha Lucy, PhD
Deputy Director for Research, Interpretation and Education
Martha Lucy oversees the Barnes’s research efforts, working with colleagues across departments to produce new knowledge about the permanent collection and the institution’s history. She also leads all educational endeavors—including adult classes, academic programs, pre-K–12 programs, Art Team, docents, and archives. An art historian specializing in 19th-century French art, she holds a PhD from New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts.
Maryanne Murphy
Chief Financial Officer and Assistant Treasurer
Maryanne Murphy is responsible for the finance department, overseeing the institution’s budget; financial policies, procedures, and regulatory requirements; and annual audit. She graduated from Drexel University with a BS in accounting and is a certified public accountant (CPA).
Board of Trustees
Aileen Roberts
Chair
Aileen Roberts is a philanthropist and civic leader in Philadelphia. For more than 20 years, she has advocated for organizations dedicated to arts and culture, education, health care, and conservation—including as president of the Aileen K. and Brian L. Roberts Foundation, where she supports initiatives that address equity in education. She has been a member of the Barnes's Board of Trustees since 2005 and was elected to serve as Chair in 2020. Roberts has also served on the boards of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, the Franklin Institute, the Avenue of the Arts, the International House, William Penn Charter School, and Sheriff's Meadow Foundation in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.
Chair, Executive Committee
John R. Alchin
Vice Chair
John R. Alchin retired as executive vice president and co-chief financial officer at Comcast Corporation in 2008. Before joining Comcast in 1990, he was managing director of Toronto Dominion Bank, and he was active in the founding of the bank’s US Communications Finance Group in 1980. Alchin was elected to the Barnes’s Board of Trustees in 2017. He also serves as a trustee on the boards of BNY Mellon Funds Trust and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
David A. Fleischner
Treasurer
David A. Fleischner is the chief operating officer for vegetation at Asplundh Tree Expert LLC. A graduate of Johns Hopkins University, Fleischner has been involved in Asplundh’s operations in vegetation management, utility construction, and landscape businesses in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand since joining the firm in 1998. Fleischner serves on the boards of St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire, and the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. He and his family support many local civic and charitable organizations, including MANNA, Mural Arts Philadelphia, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Elected to the Barnes’s Board of Trustees in 2022, he is also a Trustee Co-Chair of the Ambassadors Board.
Chair, Finance & Audit Committee
The Honorable Jacqueline F. Allen
Secretary
Jacqueline F. Allen served as a judge of the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas for more than 25 years before retiring in January 2024. Throughout her distinguished career, she has served the Philadelphia community through several civic and charitable organizations, including the Barnes, to which she was elected a Trustee, and Secretary of the Board, in 2002. She served as chair of the scholarship committee of the National Bar Association Women Lawyers Division, Philadelphia Chapter, for 15 years and is on the board of the Presbyterian Community Ministries of the Delaware Valley. Judge Allen is a graduate of Lincoln University and Temple University Beasley School of Law.
Chair, Nominating and Governance Committee
John J. Aglialoro*
John J. Aglialoro was born in Philadelphia and graduated from Temple University. He is an entrepreneur who has owned and operated a variety of public and private businesses throughout the US for over 40 years. He currently serves as chairman and cofounder of UM Holdings Ltd., which included Cybex International and EHE International, and is the former mayor of Tavistock Borough in Tavistock, New Jersey. Aglialoro was elected to the Barnes’s Board of Trustees in 2014 and also serves on the boards of the Atlas Society and the Museum of the American Revolution.
Armando I. Bengochea, PhD*
Armando I. Bengochea is senior program officer for Higher Learning and director of the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship (MMUF) of the Mellon Foundation. Previously an academic dean at Brown University and Connecticut College, he helps oversee Mellon’s higher education grantmaking for faculty development, curricular enhancement and innovation, undergraduate research, and other purposes that improve access to scholarly and other humanities careers. Previously, he headed the Mellon Foundation’s grantmaking program in diversity. Bengochea was elected to the Barnes’s Board of Trustees in 2019. He is also a trustee of Colby College, where he chairs the principal board committee for faculty and student affairs.