President and CEO Dr. Alexa McCarthy brings over fifteen years of experience working in the United States, United Kingdom, and Europe with auction houses, museums, galleries, and private collectors. She has lectured at institutions around the globe, devised and implemented training curricula for the international staff of Christie’s Auction House, contributed to the development of museum-wide collections management standards at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, was part of a 6-person team that coordinated the traveling exhibition of over 75 artworks by Rembrandt and his school to venues in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, and has overseen numerous successful public art installations.

Dr. McCarthy currently serves as Executive Director of the Greater Des Moines Public Art Foundation. She is spearheading the Des Moines International Airport Public Art Project, overseeing the completion of a successful 10-month, $4 million fundraising campaign and the installation and fabrication of five expansive artworks. Prior to joining the Greater Des Moines Public Art Foundation and founding Expanse, Dr. McCarthy was a Lecturer in Art History at the University of Southern Maine and a St Leonard’s Postgraduate Fellow at the University of St Andrews. She obtained her PhD from the University of St Andrews in 2022. Her dissertation, “Carta azzurra / blauw papier: Drawing on blue paper in Italy and the Netherlands, ca. 1450-ca. 1660” explores the origins and impetus behind the use of blue paper in the early modern period. She was co-organizer of the international online conference "Venice in Blue: The Use of carta azzurra in the Artist’s Studio and in the Printer’s Workshop, ca. 1500-50," the proceedings of which were published in 2024 (see below). Before beginning her PhD program in 2019, Dr. McCarthy held positions at The Leiden Collection, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Christie’s. She has published and lectured internationally on a range of topics from early modern to contemporary art. She holds a BA in Art History from Bowdoin College and an MA in Art History from The Courtauld Institute of Art.