Pauline Willis is the director of the American Federation of Arts (AFA), where she has worked for over ten years and previously served as chief operating officer, deputy director, and chief financial officer. In her first year as director, Willis expanded the schedule of currently traveling and upcoming exhibitions from two to more than twenty. She initiated a curatorial research travel program that has created new collaborations with museums in Europe, Asia, South America, and the Middle East, and promoted the AFA’s expertise through staff presentations at conferences for museum professionals. Along with Asia Society, she co-commissioned the first detailed research study assessing the capacity of Chinese museums to participate in international art exhibition exchanges. Willis led the AFA to partner with the Nanjing Museum to co-organize “Meeting the West: Exhibitions from American Museums” in 2014, and served as a panelist at the 2014 American Alliance of Museums (AAM) annual conference on the subject of organizing U.S.-China traveling exhibitions. Under her directorship, the AFA was chosen to design and host 2013 AAM China Program’s portion in New York. In 2012, Willis was selected to attend a special travel program organized by Asia Society to launch in-depth conversations with Chinese museum directors. Willis holds an MPA from Baruch College, City University of New York.