Pamela Mays McDonald

Pamela Mays McDonald is an award-winning artistic, cultural and political professional who has transformed and supported arts venues and creative individuals worldwide. Pam's arts career began as a Museum Studies Fellow at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC and stints in TV news and radio. She is a former director of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, including the de Young Museum, the Asian Art Museum, the Legion of Honor and the Museum of the African Diaspora. She has been an undergraduate and graduate school lecturer in Arts Management and Marketing for Diverse Audiences.

She is an Arts Commissioner for Alameda County and Board Chair of External Relations for Oakland Art Murmur. an associate member of the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee and an arts and social justice advocate within the California Democratic Party.

Pam holds a BS in Linguistics from Pomona College in Claremont, California, earned an MS and PhD candidacy from the School of Languages and Linguistics at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, a nonprofit arts management credential from the Getty Leadership Institute and completed post-graduate marketing studies at UC Berkeley.

Her list of awards includes a Fulbright Lecture Fellowship, a Smithsonian Institution Museum Leadership Award, the Bernard Osher Award (as an "unsung hero in the arts" and KQED Citizen of the Year. She is a member of the Berkeley Bay Area Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, San Francisco Chapter of the Links, Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Americans for the Arts. She founded Friends of Faith, Hope Against Hate, and the Treasure Island Arts Incubator