JERUSALEM.- Israel Museum Director James S. Snyder has been included in a prestigious list of the 100 most influential people in the art world compiled annually by the Journal des Arts, the French sister-edition of The Art Newspaper. American-born Snyder was ranked 46th on the power list, which includes, among others, collectors Eli Broad and Leonard Lauder; museum directors Glenn Lowry of The Museum of Modern Art and Neil MacGregor of the British Museum; artists Damien Hirst and Anish Kapoor; architects Frank Gehry and Zaha Hadid; designers Ron Arad and Philippe Starck; and gallerists Larry Gagosian and Arne Glimcher.

James S. Snyder has served as the Anne and Jerome Fisher Director of the Israel Museum since 1997. Under his leadership, the Museum recently completed a comprehensive $100-million, three-year campus renewal project. Designed by James Carpenter Design Associates, New York, and Efrat-Kowalsky Architects, Tel Aviv, to resonate with the Museum’s original architectural plan and to unify and enhance the facilities throughout the campus, the project was the most comprehensive capital undertaking since the Israel Museum’s founding in 1965. The Museum opened its renewed facilities in July 2010 to critical acclaim and has since welcomed nearly 600,000 visitors.

During Snyder’s tenure, the Museum has also strengthened its international presence with an ambitious program of important exhibitions in Jerusalem and traveling exhibitions worldwide; continued to expand its holdings across all of its collecting areas; developed its network of International Friends organizations, now operating in fourteen countries worldwide; and launched a campaign to double its endowment to $150 million.

Prior to his appointment at the Israel Museum, Mr Snyder held positions at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, culminating as Deputy Director from 1986 to 1996. He is a graduate of Harvard University and a Loeb Fellow of Harvard’s Graduate School of Design.