Julie Hart is the Senior Director for Museum Standards and Excellence at the American Alliance of Museums. She has been engaged with AAM’s Accreditation and Museum Assessment programs, and other efforts to nurture institutional excellence throughout her 20+ year tenure at AAM—providing her with insight into the best practices and challenges faced by museums of all sizes and types.  She is an internationally sought-after expert to speak, train, and advise on the US models of museum and non-profit standards and accreditation. She holds an M.A. and B.A in Art History and a B.A. in International Affairs.

Her public presentations and advisory work focuses on:

• Accreditation: AAM’s model, its history and evolution, and comparisons to other programs globally; assessing and consulting on creating or evaluating and accreditation programs
• Standards and Ethics: the approach used by museums in the United States; their role in creating a culture of excellence and accountability in the field at large and at individual institutions; and top-level standards and ethics issues, including deaccessioning
• Operational Infrastructure: Foundational documents (policies/plans), structures, and practices for operational success and institutional excellence, both for new and existing museums

Elizabeth Merritt is a futurist and the Alliance’s Vice President for Strategic Foresight, and founding director of the Center for the Future of Museums – a think-tank and research & development lab for the museum field. She is the author of the Alliance’s annual TrendsWatch report, and writes and speaks prolifically on the trends shaping the future of nonprofit organizations. (M.A. Duke University, B.S. Yale University, Museum Management Institute.) Her current lectures, workshops, and consulting focuses on:

• Strategic foresight: futures studies and trends analysis as applied to museum planning and operations

• Financial sustainability: fostering new mission-based income streams

• Social justice: museums as a force for social and economic equity