Marie-Josée Kravis appointed MoMA board chair, replacing Leon Black amid Epstein controversy

Marie-Josée Kravis will assume the board chair position at New York's Museum of Modern Art on July 1, taking over from Leon Black whose term expires then. Black faced mounting pressure after an independent review disclosed $158 million in payments to Jeffrey Epstein between 2012 and 2017 for tax and estate advisory services, following Epstein's guilty plea for soliciting prostitution from a teenage girl. This financial relationship led Black to resign as CEO of Apollo Asset Management and compromised his reelection prospects at MoMA. Kravis brings extensive institutional history, having served as board president from 2005 to 2018 and as a board member since 1994, while also participating on multiple committees. Black's controversies extended beyond Epstein to include criticism from artists in MoMA PS1's 2020 exhibition Theater of Operations: The Gulf Wars 1991–2011 over his connections to Constellis Holdings, formerly known as Blackwater, which was implicated in the 2007 Nisour Square massacre that killed 17 Iraqis. Despite stepping down as chair, Black will remain a board member. Kravis is recognized for her philanthropic work and art collecting alongside her husband, financier Henri Kravis.