JHFAF is the brainchild of Rick Friedman, who has pioneered the concept of upscale regional luxury fine art fairs around the nation. During the past decade, he has successfully produced a series of fine art fairs in affluent markets such as the Hamptons, Aspen, Houston, San Francisco, Palm Springs, and Silicon Valley. After a short retirement, he has most recently produced fairs in the interior design/home decor sectors, and as well as Fine Jewelry.

Mr. Friedman has over 30 years experience in producing live events around the world. He has produced and staged many of the premier cultural events on the Hamptons over the past 14 years. His focus is on creating a memorable and lucrative show experience for all participants and effectively maximizing audience turnout.

Mr. Friedman is a serial and seasoned entrepreneur. During the 1990’s, he pioneered advanced software technology through his computer-oriented magazines, journals, conferences, books and trade shows. SIGS Publications became one of INC Magazines’ fastest growing businesses in America during that era, with offices in 5 countries. After selling that business, he focused on pioneering digital video in 2001 to 2005, producing The Digital Video Show, which was attended by tens of thousands in LA, NYC and Chicago. He ultimately acquired LA’s venerable ShowBiz Expo, from Variety magazine, the largest production/post conference/trade show for filmmakers in the world (18,000 filmmakers and 250 exhibitors).

A colorful entrepreneur, Mr Friedman has also been involved in other entertaining ventures in the late 1970s to 1980s. He pioneered the sport of volleyball, which culminated in gaining the production rights to the USA Volleyball Team, (men and women’s programs) playing at Madison Square Garden and a major nation tour (Volleyball Across America). During the late seventies, as member of the marketing team of both Studio 54 and Regine’s, he also created, produced and was MC of a series of disco dance contests that served as the foundation of the popular syndicated TV show, Dance Fever.

Mr. Friedman is an avid collector of modern and Post-war art, with over 300 museum level pieces. A portion of His personal collection will be subject of two upcoming museum shows in 2019 and 2020. “The Heroines of Abstract Expressionism” (2019) and “Artists in the collection of Rick Friedman and Cindy Lou Wakefield” (2020).

Mr. Friedman is a philanthropist, is a longstanding and distinguished member of the YPO. He resides in Southampton, NY.

Rick Friedman and Cindy Lou Wakefield with some of the more than 250 artworks on display in Mr. Friedman’s Southampton home, including pieces by Henri Matisse (“Head of Woman,” top far left), Jackson Pollock (“Untitled,” from 1940, top to the right of the mirror), Willem de Kooning and Lee Krasner. Read NYTimes Article

As a life long admirer of fine art, Donna is a seasoned sales and marketing professional, coming from the interior design/home decor sector. She was the Show Director of the successful Hamptons Contemporary Design and Décor Show.

Nanci has over a decade experience in event management executing all aspects and details of large scale events. She served as show manager for the 2018 Hamptons Jewelry Show. Previously she has been in the marketing, printing and direct mail sectors. She started her career as the Production Manager at Vogue magazine.

A graduate of Ohio State University  in journalism and dance, Leisa comes to  the visual arts  from  the performing arts sector. She has held key marketing positions with serval NYC based dance companies. Ms DeCarlo has been a leading voice on the development side- raising substantial and important funds from foundations, corporations, individuals, government sources through grant writing, annual appeals, events, strategic campaigns and social media. She has excelled in donor relations, donor recruitment, and audience development-and  also has  solid background in effective press and media relations with various dance initiatives. She has promoted,  strategically  marketed and oversaw programming of The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s first dance company in residency, Gallim Dance. Currently also an accomplished performer, Lesia advises dance companies on creating engaging content and best practices for growing digital their audiences.

Hilary Pierce Hatfield is a fine art professional with over 25 years of experience in the visual arts, in both the non-profit and private sectors. She is a graduate of Maryland Institute College of Art, first working for the Contemporary Museum in Baltimore, designing exhibitions and producing a film on the work of Alison Saar, which aired on Public Television.

Over her career, Ms. Hatfield has worked with numerous museums in facilitating exhibitions, loans, gifts and acquisitions; including the Musee de Vernon, in France, The Hunter Museum, The National Museum of Wildlife Art, The Canton Museum of Art, The New York Historical Society, The African American Museum in Philadelphia and The Museum of Kyoto in Japan. She is an advisor and curator for private and family foundation collections, and was an associate curator for the Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African American Art, which was exhibited at the Portland Art Museum in 2017.

She has lectured on art collection stewardship for PNC Bank’s Hawthorn Family Wealth Advisors and will give a private lecture for major donors to Olana Partnership in 2019. In 2020, Ms. Hatfield is co-curating an exhibition of works by contemporary artist Freya Grand along with works by 20th century Latin American artists at The Museum of the Americas in Washington DC.

Ms. Hatfield is the Founder and President of Art Collector’s Athenaeum, a unique service that digitizes private art collections for estate planning and improved art collection management. Her company has catalogued, researched and digitally archived thousands of works of art to support and secure the legacy of serious collectors. www.artcollectorsathenaeum.com