Executive Director
Appointed executive director in November 2022, Gaëtane Verna is responsible for the leadership of the Wexner Center for the Arts, including its artistic vision, programming, strategic initiatives, financial and institutional priorities, as well as local, national, and international relations.
Prior to joining the Wexner Center, Verna was the director and artistic director of The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery in Toronto, Canada. Her tenure was characterized by significant growth in attendance and the establishment of robust public programs and publication programs, while expanding the scope of the institution’s exhibitions and integrating dynamic touring programs throughout Canada and internationally.
Previously, Verna led the Musée d’art de Joliette in Québec as its executive director and chief curator. There she oversaw a capital project that encompassed the renovation of the entire museum, an in-depth study and reorganization of its 8,000 work collection, and the publication of an extensive collection guide.
Born in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, and raised in Montreal, Canada, Verna holds an International Diploma in Heritage Administration and Conservation from the Institut National du Patrimoine in Paris and received a DEA and master’s degree in art history from the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne as well as a bachelor’s degree in management and international business from Concordia University, Montreal. She began her career as curator of the Foreman Art Gallery at Bishop’s University in Sherbrooke, Québec, from 1998 to 2006, while also teaching in the art history department of both Bishop’s University and the Université du Québec à Montréal.
Verna has contributed to and edited several significant publications and organized many contemporary art exhibitions. In April 2024, she was the curator of the Canada Pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale represented by the Canadian and French multidisciplinary artist Kapwani Kiwanga.
She is a member of the Sobey Art Foundation and the Franz Erhard Walter Foundation, and she serves on the advisory committee of the Art Gallery of Ontario’s Arts of Global Africa and the Diaspora. In 2017, Verna was named a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of Arts and Letters) by the French Minister of Culture.