Dr. Jay Xu has been director of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco since June 2008, and is the first Chinese American director of a major U.S. art museum. Under his leadership, the museum has organized a wide range of Asian art exhibitions and made a number of significant acquisitions. His vision for the Asian Art Museum is to embrace and explore the interconnectivity between Asia and the rest of the world, and between traditional and contemporary artistic practices. Xu has more than thirty years of international museum experience as a research scholar, curator, and museum director. He previously served as assistant to the museum director at the Shanghai Museum, and curator of Chinese art at the Seattle Art Museum. He also served as head of the Asian art department and chairman of the department of Asian and ancient art at the Art Institute of Chicago. A dedicated, award-winning scholar of Chinese art, Xu is well-published, particularly on ancient Chinese bronzes and archaeology, and has lectured extensively on Asian art and museum practice. In 2015, he became the first Asian American museum director elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since its founding in 1780. Xu received his PhD and MA in early Chinese art and archaeology from Princeton University, and BA in Shanghai, China.