Alexa Cummins (she/her)
MSAA Board Chair
Alexa Cummins is an Education Coordinator at Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, where she works on e the museum’s National Design Awards as well as producing public programs. She has prior work experience at institutions including the New Museum, Creative Time, and the Grand Rapids Art Museum. She has served in leadership as the chair of MSAA’s board since 2020. Alexa has her undergraduate degree in Art Education from Michigan State University and she earned her master's degree in Museum Studies from New York University in 2019.
Houda Lazrak (she/her)
MSAA Board Member
Houda Lazrak is the Director of Development and Communications at the International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP), New York's largest visual arts residency program. Previous to ISCP, she graduated with an MA in Museum Studies from New York University, and was awarded a fellowship at the Humanities Research Program at New York University Abu Dhabi. She holds a BA from McGill University, Canada, in Anthropology and Human Geography. Houda has worked with several non-profit organizations focused on offering free online resources on urban art and public art. She currently serves on the steering committee of the POWarts–Professional Organization for Women in the Arts.
Jacqueline Masseo (she/her)
MSAA Board Member
Jacqueline Masseo is the Director of Individual Giving at the Prospect Park Alliance. Her prior work experience includes positions at the September 11 Memorial & Museum, Tenement Museum, and Fraunces Tavern Museum as the Director of Education & Public Programs and Museum Director. She recently decided to use her fundraising experience to pivot into development work for the non-profit that stewards her local community greenspace, working closely with the community to keep Prospect Park green and accessible for all. She received her B.A. in History & Anthropology from SUNY New Paltz, and graduated from NYU’s Museum Studies program in 2015.
Katherine Wilson (she/her)
MSAA Board Member
Katherine Wilson is a Registrar at Hauser & Wirth in New York. Previous to her current role, she worked as the Designer at Downing Frames, where she worked closely with living artists, Estates, and Institutions to design archival, handcrafted, museum frames. Prior to that she worked with NYU Museum Studies Faculty Ileen S. Gallagher (ISG Productions) as an Exhibition Project Coordinator on The Rolling Stones: EXHIBITIONISM. She received her B.A. in Art History and Music from Agnes Scott College in Decatur, GA and earned her master’s degree in Museum Studies from NYU in 2015.
Megan Villa (she/her)
MSAA Board Member
Megan Villa is the Project Coordinator of the OpenSpace Project at the American Museum of Natural History, where she shares NASA-funded OpenSpace software with museums and other informal science institutions around the world. Her prior museum work experience includes positions at the Fraunces Tavern Museum, the Museum of Sex, and the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C. She received her Bachelor of Art in Anthropology and Bachelor of Journalism in Advertising and Public Relations from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Megan graduated with her Master of Arts in Museum Studies from NYU in 2022 with her thesis highlighting the range of community engagement in public programs at the New-York Historical Society.
Sydney Yaeger (She/her)
MSAA Board Member
Sydney Yaeger is the Public Programs Coordinator at the Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, where she creates and executes the Museum’s public programs and adult education courses. Her prior work experience includes internships at the Center for Colorado Women’s History and the American Museum of Natural History, along with a variety of theatrical-based positions. Sydney received her Bachelor of Arts in History and Theater Arts from the University of Arizona, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude with Honors. She received her Master of Arts in Museum Studies from NYU in 2021 and her Master of Arts in History from NYU in 2022.
Eli Fisher (They/them)
MSAA Board Member
Eli Fisher is a Part-Time Educator at the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum, and a School Programs Educator at New-York Historical Society. Previous work experience includes being a Discovery Garden Instruct at Brooklyn Botanic Garden and an intern in School and Teacher Programs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as a wide range of STEM-based extracurricular programming. They have a Bachelor of Art in Physics and Astronomy from Bryn Mawr College, and they received their Master of Arts in Museum Studies from NYU in 2021.
