Meet Our New Director of Organizational Advancement
Jennifer Rissler
Dr. Jennifer Rissler is Dean Emerita of the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI), an internationally renowned art college founded in 1871. Notable alumni include filmmakers Laura Poitras (academy award for best documentary feature, Citizenfour), Kathryn Bigelow (academy award for best Director, The Hurt Locker), and Christopher Coppola. While at SFAI, Jennifer oversaw a grant from the Mellon Foundation to restore the on-campus Diego Rivera Mural, The Making of a Fresco Showing the Building of a City. She has served as an interim Executive Director for the artist endowed foundation 500 Capp Street Project in San Francisco, where she oversaw grants from the Andy Warhol Foundation, among others. She currently teaches art history at the California State University, East Bay, the most diverse campus in the 22 campus CSU system. Jennifer also is a personal property appraiser specializing in fine art.
Dr. Rissler holds a PhD in Aesthetics, Philosophy and Visual Studies. She has written and presented widely on fine art pedagogies and is the past president of the College Art Association (CAA), a learned society of over 5,000 members in the fields of art history, art, and design. While presiding over CAA’s board of directors (2022-2024), she led a strategic repositioning for the organization and conducted a full board assessment that expanded and diversified the board. Additional board service includes a trustee of the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Skowhegan, Maine, long regarded as the most diverse artist residency program in the country. Rissler is President Emerita of ArtTable, Inc., a professional organization for female leaders in the visual arts. Jennifer was a founding board member of Oakwood Arts and is passionate about its mission. She is an effective public speaker, devoted to the diversification of the creative sector and education; an example of which is her keynote speech at the 2024 CAA conference in Chicago, and viewable here.
Jennifer’s role as Director of Organizational Advancement will include the following initiatives:
Increase operational capacity through strategic advancement initiatives;
Develop relationships with national foundations and funders;
Board assessment, development and structure; and governance structures
Assist with the creation of a national advisory board for OAJet Productions;
Expansion of Oakwood Art’s reach nationally (in California specifically);
Ongoing fundraising for narrative film production and documentaries which will support OAJet’s training.