Amy Cappellazzo is former Chairman of the Fine Art division of Sotheby’s. Prior to accepting the position, Cappellazzo founded Art Agency, Partners with Allan Schwartzman. The firm filled a significant need in the art market for a client-oriented combination of industry knowledge, financial sophistication, and discretion. The company’s attention to detail and emphasis on client care catalyzed a paradigm shift in the market that did not go unnoticed; in January of 2016 Sotheby’s acquired Art Agency, Partners in a groundbreaking deal. Cappellazzo previously served as a market leader in the field of contemporary art at Christie’s, where she rose to the post of Chairman of Post-War & Contemporary Development over thirteen years. During her tenure Cappellazzo directed groundbreaking initiatives that led to record results, with upward of $650 million realized in a single sale. Previously, Cappellazzo was an art advisor, curator, and key figure in the establishment of Art Basel in Miami Beach. Cappellazzo received her B.A. in Fine Arts/Art History from New York University, where she was a Presidential Trustee Scholar. She holds a master’s degree in Urban Design from the School of Architecture at Pratt Institute, where she focused on the role of public art in shaping cities.

Cappellazzo left Sotheby's in July and after a restful summer, will begin a new company in the autumn.

Kate Bryan is an arts broadcaster, curator, mentor and writer. She is Head of Collections for Soho House acquiring new work for all new sites globally and custodian to the permanent collection of nearly 6000 artworks. Bryan has written and presented television programmes for Sky Arts, Sky Arte Italia, BBC Two and BBC Four. She is the presenter of Inside Art and a judge on the annual Sky Arts competition programmes Portrait Artist of the Year and Landscape Artist of the Year, and the author of The Art of Love (White Lion Publishing, 2019).

After attaining her MBA in finance from The University of Chicago, Alison worked in New York and London in investment banking and foreign exchange at Goldman Sachs, before moving to N.M. Rothschild as Director, Marketing in the firm’s fixed income asset management division. For the past 25 years, Alison has been an active private investor in early-stage technology and biotechnology firms, as well as  in residential and commercial real estate in the US, UK and Europe. She currently sits on the Advisory Boards of start-up technology companies Aerosax Ltd and Go Games Ltd and is the President and CEO of Oasi Sarparea Srl, a real estate company engaged in resort development in Puglia, Italy.

Alison is committed to supporting creative talent in both the visual and performing arts. In 2017, she and her husband, Paul Deighton, established the Deighton Family Foundation (DFF) to promote the arts through cultural exchange, artistic development and arts education. DFF established The Vannucci Artist Residency in 2017. Located in Umbria, the residency aims to provide international emerging artists the opportunity to live and work in Italy and to collaborate with local artisans.

Alison is currently a Trustee of the Royal Academy of Arts and a Governor of the Royal Ballet.

Dyala Nusseibeh has been the Director of Abu Dhabi Art since 2016. Having graduated with a BA from Cambridge University and an MLitt (with Distinction) from Glasgow University, she spent a year at the Cultural Foundation in Abu Dhabi followed by four years at the Saatchi Gallery in London as Head of Education. In this capacity she organised annual student shows, the education programme at the gallery and a travelling exhibition of works from the Saatchi collection to Ipswich in order to broaden outreach. In 2013, Nusseibeh became founding Director of ArtInternational Istanbul, managed by leading fair organisers Angus Montgomery, a position she held until 2016 when she joined the Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi.

H.H. Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan 

H.H. Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan graduated from the University of St. Andrews in 2011 receiving his Master of Arts with Honours in Middle Eastern Studies and Modern History.  Sheikh Zayed is Chairman of the Board of Directors of Alliances for Global Sustainability (AGS) and also serves on several non-profit boards, including Make A Wish Foundation-UAE. He is Chairman of the Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan Humanitarian and Scientific Foundation, and also chairs the Board of Trustees for the Sultan bin Khalifa Thalassemia International Award.  A prominent patron and collector of the arts, Sheikh Zayed is the founder and chairman of the satellite art platform UAE Unlimited that supports emerging local artists based in the UAE.  Sheikh Zayed is also a board member of the British Museum and Centre Pompidou for the acquisition of Middle Eastern Art.

Smita Prabhakar

Smita Prabhakar has been in the region for more than 30+ years. She founded an HR Outsourcing firm roughly 30 years back (AMS International) and has built it into a niche firm in the region in its area of service offerings. Further, Smita purchased the license of MRI Worldwide UAE in 2012 (part of the global MRI Network) to expand the scope of the already existing HR services that AMS International was providing. Under her leadership, AMS International has become a trusted partner of choice for clients across the countries it operates in and MRI Worldwide continues to be amongst the top 3 International offices of the global MRI Network.

Smita Prabhakar is the founder and Chairperson of the Ishara Art Foundation. The Ishara Art Foundation is her contribution to the arts and culture in the UAE, a space to share South Asian culture with the local community and diverse international audiences in the MENASA region.

She is well known in the corporate circles and is also an avid collector and connoisseur of contemporary Indian art. She is currently on the Advisory Board of Art Dubai and is an International Patron of the Peggy Guggenheim Museum, Venice.

Mrs. Fairouz Villain 

Mrs. Fairouz Villain is a person that has always been active in different parts of the art and culture space.   After returning to Abu Dhabi in 1992 she became one of the three Founding Members of the Abu Dhabi Concert Committee. From its formal creation in 1994 the Committee, chaired by HH Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, organized nearly one hundred concerts of classical music. In 1999 she contributed to found, with the same committee, the Al Ain Music Festival which has now been repeated every year   Just after the opening of University Sorbonne Abu Dhabi in 2006, she created the Association of the Friends of University Sorbonne Abu Dhabi; she continues to serve the Association as Chair-person.   She is actively supporting Abu Dhabi Art as Patron since the creation of the first Abu Dhabi Art Fair in November 2007 contributing to many of their events.   More recently Fairouz became the Founding Patron of Louvre Abu Dhabi Patron Circle.    Outside of the United Arab Emirates, Mrs. Fairouz Villain is a Patron of "Les Amis du Centre Pompidou" de Paris, participating notably to the works of the MENA section of the International Circle.   In Paris she is also Patron of the "Association Portes Ouvertes sur l'Art", an association created to support artists in exile in France; she is particularly concerned by artists coming from Syria her country of origin.   Since two decades Fairouz has focused her collecting efforts on paintings and sculptures from the region; she started essentially with Modern paintings from Syria and Lebanon before broadening to Contemporary art, particularly from Emirati artists. She is particularly attracted by sculptures.   In February 2012, Mrs. Fairouz Villain was awarded the prestigious title of “Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres” by Mr. Frederic Mitterand, Minister of Culture under President Sarkozy, for her “significant contributions” to the arts.

Alejandra Castro Rioseco

Graduated in Civil Engineering, dedicated to philanthropy for the last 12 years. The three main pillars of her engagement are Gender Empowerment & Rights, Education, Arts & Technology. She founded in March 2020 the MIAANYWHERE Virtual Museum, a technological platform for promoting women artists allowing visitors to walk through a virtual museum space.  The platform stepping stone was her personal art collection of exclusively contemporary women artists. (www.miaartcollection.org) She serves as first South American woman on the Board of the worldwide International Chopin Society Federation headquartered in Warsaw, Poland. Her love for the arts guided her to integrate the Board of the Museo del Barrio in NYC from 2015-2019, the Latin America art acquisition Committee for the NYC based Guggenheim Museum and since 2020 she integrates the Middle East Guggenheim art acquisition committee. She is founder of the project”Exiled for the Arts, NYC”. She serves on the Board of the prestigious International Jose Limon ballet, with a mission towards education of children and youngsters through dance in the world. Previously she founded the Mujer Opina Foundation in Chile to promote and educate on women development and empowerment, emphasizing the importance of first nation and indigenous traditions and language through the project Las Ultimas Mujeres, or “Last of the Women” to safeguard aspects of the millenary Mapuche culture in Chile. Alejandra was an active participant in the establishment of the Gender Equality Roundtable in the Chilean Senate, collaborating with Human Rights organizations and supporting the Abortion Law to be allowed for in specific predefined causes. Her commitment to build towards a better and more harmonious and balanced society is expressed through her active engagement with organizations protecting the environment, promoting gender equality, promote music as part of basic children education. Alejandra spends her time between Dubai, UAE, New York and Europe.

Born in Beirut, currently lives in Oxford, UK.

Maya El-Khalil is an independent curator, who for the last decade has been working locally, regionally and internationally with artists, collectors and institutions to develop the identity and ideas that have defined the contemporary art scene in Saudi Arabia. From its inception in 2009 until 2016, she was the Founding Director of AthrATHR, a leading contemporary art gallery based in Jeddah. She is the curator of the 7th Edition of 21,39 Jeddah Arts.

El Khalil holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA from the American University of Beirut. She is currently enrolled in an MA Program in Art and Politics at Goldsmiths University.

Asmaa Al-Shabibi is the director of Lawrie Shabibi, a contemporary art gallery in Alserkal Avenue Dubai that she cofounded with William Lawrie in 2011. Born in Baghdad but raised from birth in London, Kuwait and Bahrain, she is also the founder of Unit 21 Consulting which provides advisory work for private and public art spaces.

Asmaa Al-Shabibi holds an LLM from London University and an LLB from Bristol University. She trained and practiced banking law in the London and Singapore offices of Allen & Overy, one of the world’s leading international law firms, working with clients such as Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley. Her career took a turn towards her passion for the arts when she moved to Dubai in 2003 where she currently resides.

The gallery Lawrie Shabibi, founded in 2011, works with a multi-generational group of artists with a focus on the Middle East, Africa and artists from the diaspora. 

Prior to this she was the Managing Director of Art Dubai from 2007 to 2010, initiating the Abraaj Capital Art Prize and overseeing the fair’s initial stages.

Dyala Nusseibeh has been the Director of Abu Dhabi Art since 2016. Having graduated with a BA from Cambridge University and an MLitt (with Distinction) from Glasgow University, she spent a year at the Cultural Foundation in Abu Dhabi followed by four years at the Saatchi Gallery in London as Head of Education. In this capacity she organised annual student shows, the education programme at the gallery and a travelling exhibition of works from the Saatchi collection to Ipswich in order to broaden outreach. In 2013, Nusseibeh became founding Director of ArtInternational Istanbul, managed by leading fair organisers Angus Montgomery, a position she held until 2016 when she joined the Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi.

Dyala Nusseibeh has been the Director of Abu Dhabi Art since 2016. Having graduated with a BA from Cambridge University and an MLitt (with Distinction) from Glasgow University, she spent a year at the Cultural Foundation in Abu Dhabi followed by four years at the Saatchi Gallery in London as Head of Education. In this capacity she organised annual student shows, the education programme at the gallery and a travelling exhibition of works from the Saatchi collection to Ipswich in order to broaden outreach. In 2013, Nusseibeh became founding Director of ArtInternational Istanbul, managed by leading fair organisers Angus Montgomery, a position she held until 2016 when she joined the Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi.