Leadership
RISD president
Crystal Williams | President
Crystal Williams believes that education, art and design, and commitments to equity and justice are essential to transforming our society. Williams has more than two decades of higher education experience. She is an institutional catalyst, helping to envision, define and achieve greater outcomes for students, faculty and staff. As a faculty member, she has focused on advancing artistic inquiry and engagement. As a leader, she ensures through her work that institutions are more effective, mission-aligned and diverse, equitable and inclusive.
Prior to RISD, Williams served as Boston University’s inaugural vice president and associate provost for community and inclusion starting in 2020. There she provided leadership, vision, management and strategic direction for initiatives that support the development of strong communities of faculty, staff and students, promoting diversity, equity and inclusion within BU’s 17 schools and colleges.
President’s Cabinet
Renee Byas | General Counsel
As RISD’s general counsel, Renee Byas provides legal services to trustees, administrators, faculty, staff, student leaders and others regarding activities they conduct on behalf of the institution. She is also a member of the President’s Cabinet and liaison to the Board of Trustees. Currently managing partner at Texas-based Byas Smith and Associates, Byas has served as general counsel and in similar capacities for several institutions, including Illinois State University, Houston Community College and the Lone Star College System in Texas.
Sarah Ganz Blythe | Director of the RISD Museum
Sarah Ganz Blythe joined the RISD Museum in 2009 as director of education and then as deputy director for exhibitions, education and programs before assuming her current role as the museum's interim director. Investigating the complicated histories of museums, art pedagogy and interpretation in her own work, she holds a PhD in art history from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. Previously Ganz Blythe served as director of interpretation and research at The Museum of Modern Art, New York and also held positions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Tony Johnson | Associate Dean for Student Social Equity and Inclusion and Assistant Vice President for Social Equity and Inclusion
Tony Johnson is an “artivist” (artist-activist) who bridges the realms of creative endeavor, equity and educational policy. At RISD he provides strategic leadership in realizing an environment where advancing inclusion and equity are central to the student experience and where artists and designers develop personally and socioculturally in preparation to enter today’s global contexts.
Jim McGill | Senior Vice President of Finance and Administration
Across a decades-long career, Jim McGill has held several leadership positions in higher education finance and operations, including 12-plus years as the senior vice president of Johns Hopkins University before retiring in 2010. He currently maintains a higher education consulting practice, through which he has provided financial and administrative leadership for more than a dozen clients.
Rick Mickool | Chief Information Officer
Rick Mickool leads RISD’s central information technology services area, providing IT vision and leadership over the course of a 25-year career in this rapidly changing field. He has presented at numerous national and regional conferences, speaking about such topics as distributed learning, on-demand and cloud service delivery, and re-engineering in higher education.
David Milstone | Associate Vice President of Student Affairs
David Milstone has worked in higher education for four decades, most recently as University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s chief student affairs officer responsible for student development and leadership offices. He has served as a dean of students at three colleges and universities, taught academic classes on leadership theory, civic engagement and Social Justice, and is a certified community mediator. Milstone earned his doctorate in educational leadership.
Anais Missakian | Provost
Before becoming provost, longtime faculty member Anais Missakian was the Pevaroff-Cohn Family Endowed Chair in Textiles. Among her accomplishments in professional practice, she works with close colleagues at MIT on the transformation of traditional textiles into integrated and networked devices and systems. Through this collaboration, Missakian was among the coauthors of a paper on acoustic fabrics that appeared in Nature in March 2022.
James O'Hara | Vice President of Enrollment Management and Student Affairs
Jamie O’Hara joined RISD’s top leadership team in September 2017 after serving as vice president for Enrollment Management at Rider University in Lawrenceville, NJ since 2004. At RISD he oversees enrollment strategies that enable the college to continue to attract and retain the best and most talented students from increasingly diverse backgrounds.
O'Neil Outar | Vice President of Institutional Advancement
O’Neil A.S. Outar joined RISD's leadership team in January 2018, bringing more than 20 years of fundraising and leadership experience from some of the world’s leading public and private research universities. Since beginning his career at Tufts University, he has held key advancement roles at MIT, the University of Alberta, Harvard and the University of Pittsburgh.
Liz Rainone | Vice President of Human Resources
With more than 30 years’ experience in the field, Liz Rainone leads RISD’s Human Resources team in providing comprehensive services to our faculty and staff community, as well as attracting, retaining, developing and rewarding a diverse workforce. Before assuming her current role, Rainone served as our director of employment and, prior to RISD, held human resources VP positions for both Bank of America and Fleet Bank.
Jack Silva | Vice President of Campus Services
As vice president of campus services, Jack Silva oversees campus facilities, along with safety and auxiliary services. Since coming to RISD in 1996 as a mechanical supervisor, he has contributed a wealth of engineering and leadership experience to the needs of a growing and changing campus.
Kerci Marcello Stroud | Chief Marketing and Communications Officer
Kerci Marcello Stroud oversees the development of marketing and communications initiatives that engage the college’s key audiences and amplify the impact of art and design on the world. She previously served as Teach For America's vice president of communications and then-New York City Council Member Bill de Blasio's chief of staff.
Stanley Wolukau-Wanambwa | Assistant Provost for Social Equity and Inclusion
Photographer and writer Stanley Wolukau-Wanambwa arrived at RISD in 2019 as a faculty member in Photography and the department’s graduate program director. His essays are published widely and his debut monograph, One Wall a Web (ROMA Publications, 2018) won the Paris Photo-Aperture Foundation First PhotoBook Award. He has also lectured at Yale, Cornell, New York University and The New School.
Board of Trustees
The primary responsibilities of the Board of Trustees are to:
- advance RISD’s mission
- provide organizational oversight
- set policies
-
Hillary Blumberg 92 FAV
New York, NY
Co-Chair
freelance design director and consultant -
Ilene Chaiken 79 GD/P 18
Los Angeles, CA
Co-Chair
writer, producer, show runner -
Karen Hammond
Providence, RI
Vice Chair
retired (former Managing Director, Devonshire Investors) -
Jon Kamen P 09
New York, NY
Vice Chair
Chairman, CEO, RadicalMedia -
Tavares Strachan 03 GL
New York, NY
Vice Chair
artist
OFFICERS OF THE BOARD
-
Her Excellency Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani
New York, NY
Chair, Qatar Museums, Doha Film Institute and Qatar Leadership -
Ashleigh Axios 08 GD
Washington, DC
Chief Experience Officer and co-owner, Coforma -
David C. Barclay P 10
Los Angeles, CA
retired (former Senior Vice President and Director, Capital Research and Management Company) -
Caroline Baumann
New York, NY
design leader; former Director, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum -
Gabrielle Bullock BArch 84
Los Angeles, CA
Principal and Director of Global Diversity, Perkins and Will -
Norman Chan BArch 85
Hong Kong
Director, BTR Workshop -
Donald Choi 82 BArch
Hong Kong
Executive Director and CEO of the Chinachem Group -
Erica Gerard Di Bona P 11
Los Angeles, CA
independent fundraising consultant -
Robert A. DiMuccio
Cumberland, RI
President and CEO, Amica Mutual Insurance Company -
Michelle Ebanks
New York, NY -
Shepard Fairey 92 IL / HD 21
Los Angeles, CA
artist and founder, OBEY -
Fabian Fondriest P 16
Boston, MA
CEO, American Family Direct and Homesite Insurance -
Joe Gebbia 05 GD/ID / HD 17
San Francisco, CA
Co-Founder and CPO, Airbnb, Inc. -
Robert W. Glass P 11
San Francisco, CA
Executive Vice President of Corporate Development, Robert Half International -
David Lee 00 GD
New York, NY
Chief Creative Officer, Squarespace -
Mary Lovejoy
Barrington, RI
retired (former Vice President and Treasurer, Textron) -
Nicole J. Miller 73 AP
New York, NY
fashion designer and Co-Founder/President, Kobra International Ltd. -
Michael Rock MFA 84 GD
New York, NY
Founding Partner and Creative Director, 2x4 -
William Schweizer P 19
New York, NY
Vice Chairman of Clinical Affairs, NYU Langone Medical Center -
Shahzia Sikander MFA 95 PT/PR
New York, NY
artist -
Michael H. Spalter
Providence, RI
financier, digital art collector -
Todd Waterbury
New York, NY
Chief Creative Officer, Target -
Margaret A. Williams
Westerly, RI
Co-Founder and Partner, Griffin Williams Critical Point Management, LLC
TERM TRUSTEES
-
Richard W. “Dick” Haining Sr. P 05
Atlanta, GA
Chair, Emeriti Trustees
retired (former Vice President, Montag & Caldwell) -
Shefali Khushalani P 22
New Delhi, India
Chair, Families Association
entrepreneur -
Crystal Williams
Providence, RI
President, Rhode Island School of Design -
Rex Wong BArch 03
Hong Kong
President, Alumni Association
CEO, Kum Shing Holdings
EX OFFICIO TRUSTEES
-
Anthony C. Belluschi BArch
66/P 95
Portland, OR -
Vincent A. Buonanno
Providence, RI -
Jamie F. Carpenter 72 IL
New York, NY -
Jane Chace Carroll HD 06
New York, NY -
Clara M. Dale BArch 75
New York, NY -
Susan W. Dryfoos P 01
New York, NY -
Bayard C. Ewing
Denver, CO -
Anne B. Fordyce 67 SC
Watertown, MA -
Katherine Freygang 80 IA/MFA 81 GD
Cornwall, CT -
A. Corwin Frost 59 AR/P 97
Bronxville, NY -
Wilfrid L. Gates, Jr. 65 LA
North Kingstown, RI -
Cathy Barancik Graham 76 PT
New York, NY -
Paula Koffler Granoff HD 10
Providence, RI -
Richard W. “Dick” Haining Sr. P 05
Atlanta, GA -
William R. Hammer BArch 65
Cambridge, MA -
Ronne Hartfield
Chicago, IL -
Dorothy Hebden-Heath 57 PT
Boston, MA -
Se-Ung Lee P 91
Seoul, Korea -
David A. Macaulay BArch 69 / HD 04
Norwich, VT -
Pauline C. Metcalf
New York, NY -
Stephen A. Metcalf
Providence, RI -
Stuart J. Murphy 64 IL/P 96
Boston, MA -
J. Terrence Murray
Narragansett, RI -
Dana M. Newbrook 63 AR
Cumberland, RI -
Joan Ress Reeves
Providence, RI -
M. Kate Rittmann P 95
Orinda, CA -
Merrill W. Sherman
Jamestown, RI -
Philip E. Tobey BArch 66
Reston, VA -
William J. Watkins P 83
Sarasota Square, FL -
Patricia A. White 64 IL/P 96
Cambridge, MA
EMERITI TRUSTEES
* RISD alumni are noted by a class year and major acronym following their names. Parents and grandparents of alumni are designated by P or GP, plus the year of graduation, and honorary degrees are designated by HD plus the year awarded.