James Merle Thomas is a curator and historian whose work spans museums, academia, and philanthropy. As Deputy Director of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, he guides strategic partnerships and leads the Foundation’s grantmaking programs, including the Frankenthaler Climate Initiative. Prior to joining Frankenthaler, Thomas served as the founding Executive Director of the Resnick Center for Herbert Bayer Studies at the Aspen Institute, and as Assistant Professor of Art History at Temple University. From 2006 to 2013, he was part of the leadership teams responsible for producing the 7^th Gwangju Biennale, the 2^nd Seville Biennial, and the Paris Triennale. Thomas’s scholarly and curatorial work bridges modern art and media with histories of ecology and the built environment, and has been supported by the NEH, the Smithsonian, and the National Gallery of Art. He holds a doctorate in Art History from Stanford University.