Board Members
Chair
Morien Rees
Morien Rees studied architecture at the University of Wales and art history at the University of Oslo, and practiced architecture in the UK and Norway. He has worked in the Norwegian museum sector since 1994. At present he is attached to Varanger Museum as a researcher on museums and sustainability. He chaired ICOM’s Working Group on Sustainability and is now the chair of the ICOM’s International Committee on Museums and Sustainable Development, ICOM SUSTAIN, established in March 2024.
Vice-Chairs
Lucimara Letelier is a museum sustainability consultant, coach, and researcher who founded RegeneraMuseu in 2017, and coaches for Ki Culture. She is the ICOM Sustain Vice-chair and has also served as a Board member at ICOM Brazil and ICOM MPR (Marketing and Public Relations). Certified by Gaia Education, a UNESCO partner, as a trainer and Designer in Sustainable development, she gained her knowledge from previous work at ActionAid, a human rights/climate justice NGO, and training with the Al Gore Foundation, Regenerative Economy Canvas, Regenerative Development Institute, and other programs. She holds a Master’s in Museums Studies (Green Museum Specialism) from the University of Leicester, UK, and a Master’s in Arts Administration from Boston University.
Dr. Siyi Wang is an Associate Professor in the Museum Studies program at Shanghai University, Vice Chair of ICOM-SUSTAIN, and a member of ICOM’s standing committee for the museum definition (DEFINE). She joined Shanghai University in December 2019 after completing her Ph.D. in Museum Studies at the School of Art and Archaeology, Zhejiang University in partnership with George Washington University, USA (funded with a China National Scholarship). She is secretary general of ICOM-IMREC (International Museum Research and Exchange Centre) and has been involved in establishing a collaboration between ICOM and Shanghai University. Her research focuses on museum work safeguarding cultural heritage and increasing intercultural understanding.
Treasurer
Marina von der Heyde is Chief Sustainability Officer at Museo de Arte Moderno in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Marina is an experienced professional in sustainability, communications, and strategic development with more than two decades of experience spanning the public, private, and social sectors. She holds an MBA Magna Cum Laude from IAE Business School and an Economics degree from Universidad Católica Argentina (UCA). She is married with two children.
Secretary
Dr. Debra A. Reid is curator of agriculture and the environment at The Henry Ford (Dearborn, Michigan, USA). She joined ICOM in 1991. She serves on the Climate & Sustainability committee of the American Association for State and Local History, is a fellow of the Agricultural History Society, and remains an active past-president of the Association for Living History, Farm and Agricultural Museums. Her recent publications include Interpretating Agriculture at Museums and Historic Sites (2017), Interpreting the Environment at Museums and Historic Sites with David Vail (2019), and several essays in Interpreting Science at Museums and Historic Sites co-edited with Vail and Karen-Beth Scholthof (2023). Work in progress includes how to write museum environmental histories.
BOARD MEMBERS
Clémence Aycard is an ecocritical art historian and curator. After following a curriculum in art history and heritage in France (2013-2018), she moved to Scotland and worked with Glasgow Museums. Since 2020, she has focused on museums and the environmental crisis, using collections to discuss environmental history and concerns. She has edited the online tour Scenes from Our Climate (Smartify) for Glasgow Museums and focused her Museums & Galleries studies masters’ dissertation on fine art museums and climate engagement (Picturing Climate: Fine Art collections and the climate crisis, University of St Andrews, 2022). Additionally, she’s Carbon Literate, and has completed several other climate trainings, including Kate Gaertner’s Cultivate Course, the Open University microcredential ‘Changing Your Organization for Sustainability’, and One Resilient Earth’ ‘Becoming a Climate Artivist’ program. She is a Young Associate with Climate Museum UK and a supporter of Culture Declares.
Mohamadou Moustapha DIEYE graduated from Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, Senegal, in history and cultural engineering. He is a heritage manager at the Théodore Monod Museum of African Art IFAN-CAD. Currently, he specializes in his doctoral research on the evolution of post-colonial museology in Africa. Member of the previous board of ICOM-Senegal, Mr. Dièye has participated in scientific and cultural research programs in Switzerland, Italy, Nigeria and France during his professional career.
Susan Edwards served as Executive Director and CEO of the Frist Art Museum in Nashville, Tennessee 2004-2022. During her tenure, the Frist was awarded accreditation by the American Alliance of Museums and presented over two hundred critically acclaimed and popular loan exhibitions. Edwards earned BA and MA degrees at the University of South Carolina and a Ph.D. from the City University of New York Graduate Center. She is an acknowledged expert in American art and photography and has taught at New York University, Queens College/CUNY, School of Visual Arts, New York, and Vanderbilt University. Edwards was appointed Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Artes and des Lettres by the French Government in 2011. She was a Founding Fellow at the Liguria Study Center for the Arts & Humanities, Genoa, Italy. She is board member of The Porch, Museum of Medicine and Biomedical Discovery, and serves on numerous advisory boards.
Mårten Janson is Exhibition Producer at the Swedish Museums of World Culture. With a background in Journalism, Mårten has spent the last 15+ years in the museum sector, having seen the complex sustainability issues grow ever more important. There is so much to do in the field of exhibition production, which is highly unsustainable. Exciting examples of how to circulate material and diminish energy consumption are getting more common and Mårten is excited to be a part of a positive change.
Julia Jedelhauser is a distinguished architect committed to sustainable development, and a member of ICOM Germany for 20 years. Julia holds a degree in Architecture and was a recipient of a DAAD scholarship in New Zealand, recognizing her academic excellence. She has held significant roles as an independent consultant and senior lecturer, where she focuses on sustainable, resource-saving practices and the circular economy in the building industry. Julia’s active participation in the Bavarian Architecture Association, her founding membership in ÖGNI (Austrian Sustainability Building Council), and involvement with architects4future affirm her dedication to promoting sustainable building practices. As the deputy head of the Architectural Museum in Augsburg, Julia blends her architectural expertise with a passion for museums, excelling in areas of sustainable building, resource conservation, urban planning, and public real estate management.
Jamie Larkin is Assistant Professor of Culture, Media and Creative Industries at the University of Warwick, in the UK. His research examines the ways in which museums can become more sustainable, from their physical operations (such as greening the museum shop) to how they communicate issues surrounding the global planetary emergency. In particular, he is interested in ways that object-based storytelling can help connect people to the natural spaces around them. He has previously held positions at Chapman University and was part of the Mapping Museums research team at Birkbeck, University of London. He is currently co-editor of the journal Museums and Social Issues.
María Auxiliadora (Dora) Llamas Márquez joined ICOM in 2008 and serves as President of ICOM-Spain (2023-2025). She is a graduate in Art History with a Diploma of Advanced Studies in Art History and Master in Museology from the University of Granada as well as a Master in Didactic and Interactive Museography from the University of Barcelona. She has worked in the Museum of Málaga, in the Museum of Cádiz and in the Central Services of the Ministry of Culture of the Government of Andalusia in Seville where she has been Head of Museum Service. She has actively collaborated in the commissioning and opening of museum headquarters in Jaén, Granada and Málaga. She speaks regularly on topics related to the management and strategic planning of museum institutions, preventive conservation of collections, collection documentary management systems, feminism, perspective gender and role of women in museums, accessibility in historical heritage, sustainability and sustainable development in museums.
Ben Melham has spent his career operating, maintaining and developing internationally significant institutions in the UK and around the World with a focus on advancing sustainability within the global museum sector. After studying Environmental Science, he pursued practical sustainable solutions through his work with significant cultural sector institutions including the Imperial War Museums, the Victory & Albert Museum, Natural History Museum, and British Museum. Ben chairs the Cultural Sector Sustainability Hub, serves on the working group focused on representing the cultural sector in the development of a Net Zero Carbon Building Standard for the UK, and is a member of the Steering Committee for the International Museum Construction Congress, and chaired the congress from 2019 to 2021.
Dr. Jenny Newell is the Curator for Climate Change at the Australian Museum, Sydney. She runs the AM’s Climate Solutions Centre, working to advance understanding and engagement in climate solutions through exhibitions, events, publications and conversations. Jenny has worked with communities and collections at the British Museum; National Museum of Australia; American Museum of Natural History and the Australian Museum to amplify voices on climate change for broad audiences. Jenny is a board member of the Sydney Environment Institute and a co-convenor of Sydney Climate Institutions for Climate Action and the Museums & Climate Change Network. Her recent exhibitions include Spark: Australian innovations tackling climate change (2021) and Future Now (2022-), a diorama-based touring exhibition. Her publications include Trading Nature (2010) and edited volumes Curating the Future: Museums, Communities & Climate Change (2016) and Living with the Anthropocene (2020).
Dr. Michela Rota, architect, holds a PhD in Cultural Heritage focused on the science of sustainability and museums. Between 2008 and 2017, she worked as a research fellow at the Energy Department, Politecnico di Torino, Italy. She undertakes research, museology and architectural projects with sustainability at the core. Her book Musei per la Sostenibilità integrata (2nd ed. Editrice Bibliografica, 2022; EN: Museums for the Integrated Sustainability) advocates for green museum management that proposes a range of approaches aimed at sustainability and that communicate with audience in a dialogue about the importance and the urgency of taking action on the topic. In ICOM she participates as a Board member SUSTAIN, Member Strategic Planning Committee, Coordinator of ICOM Italy Working Group on Sustainability and Agenda 2030 (https:// www.icom-italia.org/gruppo-di-lavoro-sostenibilitae-agenda-2030/).
Johanna Sentef is an anthropologist with a background in interdisciplinary science and technology studies (MA, Goethe University Frankfurt) and works at the intersection of art and science. From 2021 to 2023 she contributed to the exhibition program at Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden as curatorial assistant and co-curator. Her focus encompasses digital curation and an approach to sustainability through the concept of naturecultures. As a member of the ICOM Young Professionals network in Germany, she is currently investigating the awareness for sustainable banking in and around museums together with the team of the sustainability working group within the YP network. In her practice, she is committed to making visible under-researched instruments and strategies for sustainable transformation processes in and through museums.
Hélène Vassal is Chief Curator specializing in Heritage Conservation and Director of Collections Support at the Musée du Louvre since 2023. She directed the publication of the first French-language work on museum registration and has participated in the creation and renovation of many museums and storage facilities, including the Musée du Quai Branly, the Centre Pompidou, the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the Musée Guimet and the Centre National des Arts Plastiques. Her teaching and involvement with ICOM sparked her focus on the intersection of heritage and sustainable development and inspired her to publish and develop training programmes on sustainable collections management.