David Kratz is a painter and the President of the New York Academy of Art. In 2008, he received an MFA from the Academy, where he focused on figurative art and won the Vasari Prize for best-in-show painting at the MFA Thesis exhibition. Kratz has shown in group exhibitions at the New York Academy of Art, Lodge Gallery and Sotheby’s, and at Eden Rock Gallery in St. Barth. Prior to attending the Academy, Kratz was the founder and CEO of Magnet Communications, a leading public relations firm. A graduate of Dartmouth College and Boston University School of Law, Kratz has served on the boards of Citymeals-on-Wheels, the Lifelines Center, and the New Group, as well as helping to found One Day’s Pay. He became president of the Academy in 2009, and since then developed a new strategic plan, spearheaded a facilities renovation and expansion, overseen the Academy’s accreditation from the National Association of Schools of Art and Design and the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, and organized some of the most successful fundraising events the Academy has seen.
