Prince Amyn Aga Khan (Chair) is a Director on the Boards of many institutions of the Aga Khan Development Network: Aga Khan Foundation, Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (Chairman of its Executive Committee), Aga Khan Agency for Microfinance and Aga Khan Trust for Culture (architecture, urbanism and more recently music in societies with significant Muslim presence). He is also a Director on World Monuments Funds and Silk Road Project Boards.
Riaz Ahmed is President and CEO, TD Securities – the investment banking arm of TD Bank Group. A passionate promotor of workplace inclusivity and diversity, Riaz is a past chair of TD's Inclusion and Diversity Leadership Council (2015-2018), is a member of the WCM Advisory Council and is Chair of the Aga Khan Foundation Canada, National Committee.
Huguette Labelle is Chair of the International Anti-Corruption Conference Council, Vice-Chair of the Rideau Hall Foundation, Board member of the Global Centre for Pluralism and former Chair of the Transparency International. She is also the past President of the Canadian International Development Agency and former Chancellor of the University of Ottawa.
Thomas Lentz is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He recently retired as the Elizabeth and John Moors Cabot Director of the Harvard Art Museums.
Henri Loyrette served as the President and Director of the Musée du Louvre from 2001 to 2013. Prior to that he served as Chief Curator at the Musée d Orsay from 1978 to 1994 and then Director of the Musée d’Orsay from 1994 to 2001. He is currently the Museum Advisor to the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC).
Malik Talib (Secretary), a Canadian entrepreneur and tax lawyer, is the past President of the Ismaili Council for Canada, serves on the National Committee of Aga Khan Foundation Canada, a non-denominational Canadian international development agency, and is the chairman of the Ismaili Leaders International Forum.
Raj Kothari was Vice Chair of PwC Canada and has served in various senior management positions at PwC including Managing Partner, Greater Toronto. He is very active in the community and currently serves as Chair of the Board, Toronto General & Western Hospital Foundation. He is also on the board of Soulpepper Theatre and Ontario Arts Foundation. Previously he served as Chair of the Board of Governors of Stratford Festival Endowment Foundation, Canada and President of the Indo Canada Chamber of Commerce.
Luis Monreal, the General Manager of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC), was previously the Secretary-General of the International Council of Museums at ICOM and Director of the Getty Conservation Institute.
Sultana Mangalji is an active leader in her community. Her board memberships have included The Aga Khan Foundation National Committee, UNICEF, Teach for America and MFAH Islamic Art Section. She currently serves on Asia Society Houston’s Women’s Leadership Section and Freedmen’s Town Preservation Committee.
Amin Lalji is CEO of the Larco Group of Companies, and has previously served as Chairman of the Aga Khan Foundation Canada National Committee.
Mahmood Khimji is a founding Principal of Highgate, a leading real estate investment and hospitality management company.
Mahmood serves on the National Committee of Aga Khan Foundation USA and is on the Board of the Asia Society, Sagicor Financial Corporation Limited, and Playa Hotels & Resorts. Additionally, Mahmood serves on the Board of Visitors for Columbia Law School.
Irfhan Rawji is Managing Partner at Relay Ventures, and Founder & CEO of MobSquad. Irfhan also serves on the boards of Business/Arts, the Institute for Canadian Citizenship, Glenbow Museum, and CIFAR.
Zainub Verjee is a Senior Fellow of Massey College and a laureate of the 2020 Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Art for Outstanding Contribution. She has held leadership positions in the Arts, Culture, and Heritage sector and is currently the Executive Director of Galeries Ontario/Ontario Galleries—voice of Art Galleries and Museums in Canada.
Dr. Ulrike Al-Khamis has over 20 years of experience as a curator and senior advisor for museum and cultural projects, working with institutions including the National Museums of Scotland and Glasgow. More recently Ulrike served as Co-Director at the Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilization as well as Senior Strategic Advisor to the Sharjah Museums Department in the United Arab Emirates.
Moyez Jadavji has 25 years of experience in operations. Moyez has held key leadership positions in institutions that range from public institutions (Cancer Care Ontario and five hospitals) to private organizations (Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi). Moyez also held appointed positions on various Boards and Social development organizations including the New Canadians’ Centre of Excellence; Pinecrest-Queensway Health and Community Services; United Way; Cancer Prevention Network – Southern Ontario; and Ismaili Council for Ontario.
Kelly Frances is a leader in brand and business development. She brings over 20 years of marketing experience across diverse sectors and organizations, including the Royal Ontario Museum, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Republic of Armenia, and the Global Centre for Pluralism, among others. Prior to joining the Museum, she held key leadership positions at a technology start-up and at one of Canada’s leading integrated advertising agencies.
Dr. Sascha Priewe has over 12 years of experience in museum curatorship and programming and is an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto and Queen’s University. Prior to joining the Museum, Dr. Priewe served as Associate Vice President, Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships at the Royal Ontario Museum.
We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of Vartan Gregorian, a founding Board Member of the Aga Khan Museum.
Vartan Gregorian was an illustrious historian and humanities scholar, with an exceptionally distinguished career as twelfth president of the New York Carnegie Corporation, president of Brown University and the New York Public Library, as well as provost of the University of Pennsylvania.
Gregorian was born in Iran to Armenian parents. He received his secondary education in Beirut, Lebanon, before moving to California in 1956 to attend Stanford University. Here, he graduated with honors in 1958 and was awarded his PhD in 1964.
In his capacity as an internationally acclaimed scholar, humanitarian and tireless volunteer for a variety of causes, Gregorian served on numerous boards, including those for many years those of the Aga Khan University and the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto after its inauguration in 2014. He was the recipient of numerous fellowships, including those from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and the American Council of Learned Societies. He was also a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society.
Gregorian’s work was recognized with numerous honors, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the US’s highest civilian award, the National Humanities Medal, France’s Chevalier of the Legion of Honor in recognition of his efforts to strengthen U.S.-France relations, and Armenia’s Order of Honor in appreciation of Gregorian’s service to his home country.
In 2010, Prince Karim Aga Khan IV announced the establishment of the Aga Khan Visiting Professor of Islamic Humanities at Brown University in honor of Vartan Gregorian. He was a close personal friend of both His Highness the Aga Khan and his brother Prince Amyn Aga Khan.
We are privileged to have benefited from Vartan’s enormous knowledge and experience during the early days of the Aga Khan Museum. He will be sorely missed.
—Ulrike Al-Khamis, Interim Director and CEO, Aga Khan Museum
It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of James Wolfensohn, a key member of the Aga Khan Museum’s leadership team.
James was deeply committed to the arts and served on the Museum’s Board of Directors in 2014. He espoused completely the Museum’s aims and policy of education to promote pluralism and to reveal the cultural links that bind us. He also served as Chairman of the boards of both the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Carnegie Hall.
James, the 9th President of the World Bank Group, was a global champion of human rights, economic justice, and scholarship, as well as finding ways to alleviate poverty, to invest in sustainable development, and to promote social justice globally.
James Wolfensohn had a close relationship with His Highness the Aga Khan and presented him the Vincent Scully Prize on January 25, 2005 at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. His Highness recognized James for creating an ethic at the World Bank that recognizes that the development of individuals and communities are as important as return on equity.
We are honoured to have had James as a member of the leadership team at the Aga Khan Museum; he will be greatly missed.
—Ulrike Al-Khamis, Interim Director and CEO, Aga Khan Museum
“We at the Aga Khan Museum are deeply saddened about the passing of Peter George. Peter was a notable Canadian educator and economist, a Member of the Order of Canada, and a key figure in the Aga Khan Museum’s leadership team.
Peter was a driving force in the development of the Aga Khan Museum long before we opened. In May of 2012, he was elected as a Founding Director of the Board of Directors, and maintained the position until his death in April of 2017. From 2014 to 2016, Peter was also Chairman of the Finance and Audit Committee of the Museum.
Throughout his five-decade career, including an unprecedented 15 years as President of McMaster University, Peter influenced a generation of students and researchers to be informed, engaged global citizens. It was an honour and a privilege to have Peter share his expertise and enthusiasm with the Aga Khan Museum. His humour and incisive perspectives will be sorely missed.”
— Henry S. Kim, Former Director and CEO, Aga Khan Museum