Meet the leadership and collaborators behind the Culture & Arts Policy Institute, a multidisciplinary team advancing cultural governance, open data, and policy innovation in the culture and arts sector.

GONZALO CASALS

CO-DIRECTOR

An arts administrator, policymaker, and educator. Recently, he was the Senior Research and Policy Fellow for Arts and Culture at the Mellon Foundation (2022-2023).
Bio
Black-and-white line drawing portrait of Gonzalo Casals

MAURICIO DELFIN

CO-DIRECTOR

An artist and international expert in cultural governance, civil society, and civic technologies. Mauricio is part of UNESCO’s Expert Facility for the 2005 Convention.
Bio
Black-and-white line drawing portrait of Mauricio Delfin

Board Members

Black-and-white line drawing portrait of Ali Davis
CHAIR

Ali Davis has over 20 years of experience in non-profit organizations and New York City government. Most recently, she served as COO at Friends of the High Line, which manages its complex namesake park on behalf of New York City. She also has several years of experience in real estate policy, working with property owners, developers, and managers as a VP and Chief of Staff at the Real Estate Board of New York. She has also worked in fundraising for the New York Public Library and held roles at various communications and arts organizations. Ali’s government experience includes serving as Senior Advisor in the Mayor’s Office specializing in arts and culture, parks, libraries, and various public space initiatives; managing lower Manhattan capital and programmatic redevelopment projects for the City; and overseeing Manhattan government and community affairs for NYCEDC. She has sat on several boards, including the Brooklyn Public Library, Brooklyn Bridge Park, The Alliance for Flushing Meadows Corona Park, and various public authorities, and has a degree in English Literature from Harvard University. In her free time, Ali enjoys traveling, cooking, and reading all the books.

Black-and-white line drawing portrait of Pierre Losson
SECRETARY

Pierre Losson, Associate Director of the Social Mobility Lab at The City College of New York (CUNY), has extensive experience in cultural policy, Latin American studies, and heritage restitution. Before joining City College in 2023, he served as Director of Institutional Engagement at Americas Society in New York, following positions in French cultural centers in Mexico City and Lima, where he lived for ten years. Losson studied international relations at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques of Strasbourg (France), holds an MA in arts administration from the University of Lyon, an MA in Latin American and Caribbean Studies from Florida International University, and a PhD in political science from The Graduate Center, CUNY, examining cultural heritage repatriation claims in Colombia, Mexico, and Peru. In fall 2020, he was a fellow at the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies at Columbia University and has taught at Hunter College, Lehman College, and Yeshiva University. His research on cultural policy in Latin America culminated in The Return of Cultural Heritage to Latin America (Routledge, 2022), with a Spanish translation published by Fondo de Cultura Económica in 2024. He has contributed articles to academic journals and to outlets such as Le Monde and Hyperallergic.

Black-and-white line drawing portrait of Stefaan G. Verhulst

Stefaan G. Verhulst is Co-Founder of The GovLab (NYC) and The DataTank (Brussels), and is Research Professor at the Tandon School of Engineering at New York University. He serves in several global advisory roles, including Chair of the Data for Children Collaborative with UNICEF and Editor-in-Chief of the Cambridge University Press journal Data & Policy. Over the past years, he has initiated and led numerous projects on open data, data collaboratives, AI localism, collective intelligence, and the emerging profession of strategic data stewardship. Previously, he spent over a decade as Chief of Research at the Markle Foundation and held academic appointments at Oxford University, the London School of Economics, and the University of Glasgow. His publications and public engagements have shaped international policy debates on how governments and civil society use data to address complex social challenges. He is widely recognized as a leading thinker in digital governance and systemic innovation.

Black-and-white line drawing portrait of Ana Chireno
Ana Chireno is Vice President at the MiRam Group, where she specializes in issue-based advocacy, coalition-building, and stakeholder engagement across sectors. She brings extensive experience at the intersection of community organizing and public affairs, with a career focused on supporting immigrant communities and strengthening civic participation. Ana previously served in the New York City Comptroller’s Community Affairs Unit, working closely with senior leadership to advance borough-wide initiatives and coordinate responses to constituent needs. Her experience also includes volunteer work with Make the Road New York, where she supported campaigns focused on immigrant justice, economic dignity, and community power-building. These roles have shaped her understanding of how local institutions mobilize constituencies and navigate public systems. She is recognized for her ability to connect grassroots, industry, and government perspectives in service of more equitable public policy outcomes.
Black-and-white line drawing portrait of Candace Thompson-Zachery
Candace Thompson-Zachery works at the intersection of culture, leadership, and organizational development. Over two decades, she has built a multidisciplinary career spanning professional dance, arts administration, cultural advocacy, nonprofit leadership, and coaching. Originally from Trinidad and Tobago, she began her professional career as a dancer after earning a BFA in Dance in New York City, developing expertise in performance, teaching artistry, festival production, choreography, and arts management. Drawing on her experience as both a cultural producer and nonprofit executive, Thompson-Zachery designs programs and strategic initiatives that help organizations navigate complexity, strengthen leadership, and deepen impact. She has led convenings from public panels to multi-day symposia and advocated for the dance workforce within philanthropy, government, and the nonprofit sector. Her work integrates strengths-based coaching, movement, and wellness approaches that support personal and organizational growth. She is currently completing a Master’s Degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology to support her work in the sector.
Black-and-white line drawing portrait of Ali Davis

Betsy McLean is a member of Team Wonder, a collective of planners, designers, and strategists who use research, data, and participatory engagement to transform cities. With more than twenty years of experience in community development, urban planning, civic engagement, and social change, she has worked alongside governments and communities across the United States and internationally to develop implementable, people-powered solutions. Her projects span neighborhood planning, affordable housing, climate resilience, economic and racial justice, immigration, well-being, cultural equity, and community safety. She began her career as a carpenter and remains a lover of cities, neighborhoods, data, and basketball, and a believer in collaboration, justice, and equity. She developed the first green public school in Brooklyn (PS/IS 89), served as Executive Director of Hester Street – a national community-led policy, planning and design technical assistance non-profit, stood up the first-ever NYC Mayor’s Office of Community Engagement (community engagement HQ!), and served as NYC Chief Policy and Innovation Officer. Her work is driven by love, rigor, creativity, and an abiding belief that cities must be shaped by and for the people, for democracy and the planet.

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