Museum also Welcomes New Members to International Advisory Committee 

New York City (2025) – The Hispanic Society Museum & Library (HSM&L), the leading institution dedicated to the preservation, study, and exhibition of the arts and cultures of Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking communities, is proud to announce the appointment of Yvette Ostolaza, James Blanco and Regina Weingarten to its Board of Trustees.

In addition to the new trustees, the Hispanic Society is thrilled to welcome several new members of the International Advisory Committee (IAC). The IAC, established by Board Chairman Emeritus Philippe de Montebello, convenes outstanding individuals from around the world who have distinguished themselves through their passion for Hispanic and Latino art and culture. IAC members are invited to serve as ambassadors for the museum, dedicated to advancing the Hispanic Society’s mission and vision for the future while fostering deep engagement with the institution and its collections.

New IAC Members Include:

• Bernadette Cruz and Patrick Moxey
• Yohir Akerman and Laura Santos
• Juan Santa Cruz
• Natica and Victor von Althann
• Manuel Bellod Alvarez de Lorenzana
• David Low
• Isabel Torres-Ullauri
• Frederick W. Beinecke

Yvette Ostolaza
Yvette Ostolaza is the Chair of the Management Committee of Sidley Austin LLP, a premier global law firm with 21 offices on four continents and 2,300 lawyers. She is the first woman or Hispanic person to lead any top seven AmLaw revenue firm. A highly accomplished trial lawyer and crisis manager, Ostolaza is recognized as one of the foremost business litigators in the world. Her legal expertise and strategic guidance have earned her numerous accolades, including a Band 1 ranking in Chambers USA and recognition as a “National Commercial Litigation Star” in Benchmark Litigation. Beyond her legal practice, Ostolaza is a passionate collector, splitting her time between New York, Dallas, and Miami. She also serves on the board of directors of Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation (NYSE: LGF-A), where she chairs the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. Her leadership extends to civic engagement, serving on the Orange Bowl Committee and contributing to education and mentorship through the University of Miami School of Law.

Ostolaza’s groundbreaking career has been recognized with numerous prestigious honors. In 2024, she was named to CNBC’s inaugural “Changemakers: Women Transforming Business” list, alongside leaders such as Taylor Swift, Centene CEO Sarah London, and professional tennis player Naomi Osaka. That same year, Forbes included her in its first-ever “America’s Top 200 Lawyers” list, and the American Australian Association honored her for her leadership in the legal industry.

James Blanco
James Blanco is a senior managing director at Guggenheim Securities, the investment banking arm of Guggenheim Partners. He has advised on some of the largest transactions in financial services, including the sale of Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic Bank—two of the largest bank failures in U.S. history. He has structured and executed more than $30 billion of equity issuance, convertible and asset-backed debt, high-yield, and preferred equity financing for various clients over his 20-year career.

Before joining Guggenheim, Blanco served as executive vice president and head of corporate development at OneMain Financial, the largest personal lender in the U.S., overseeing over 9,000 employees across 44 states. He was a member of the firm’s executive committee and led strategic initiatives to expand OneMain’s products, services, and digital capabilities. Previously, he was a managing director in the Financial Institutions Group of Barclays Investment Bank, where he advised banks, consumer finance companies, mortgage insurers and real estate investment trusts.

Blanco is the son of A. Paul Blanco, the former chair of Boricua College, which shares a campus with the Hispanic Society Museum & Library.  Blanco holds degrees from Cornell University, New York University and the Columbia Business School. He is a member of the ILR Dean’s Advisory Council at Cornell University, the Board of Trustees of the CUNY Graduate Center Foundation and is co-chairman of the Kingsbridge Heights Community Center in the Bronx.

Regina Weingarten
Born in Portugal and raised in Paris, Regina Weingarten received her undergraduate and graduate degrees from the Sorbonne and studied at Stanford University. She worked as a translator for French cinema before devoting herself to promoting cultural links between France and the United States, helping to organize transatlantic exchanges for the Paris Opera and Ballet with several prominent U.S. companies. She has since dedicated her efforts to championing cultural connections between Portugal, France, and the United States. Regina and her husband, Gregory Annenberg Weingarten, a Vice President and Director of the Annenberg Foundation, lived in Paris for more than two decades before moving with their two children to Los Angeles in 2015. Together, they founded GRoW @ Annenberg, a philanthropic initiative of the Annenberg Foundation.

Regina’s philanthropic efforts—and her work for creating a vibrant partnership between France and the United States—have earned her such honors as the Légion d’Honneur and the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. She serves on multiple boards, advisory committees, and American Friends groups including: Paris’ Les Talens Lyriques, Paris Opera and Ballet, École Jeannine Manuel, Louvre Museum, and Musée des Arts Décoratifs; Lisbon’s Afghanistan National Institute of Music; London’s National Gallery and Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum; New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and Guggenheim Museum; and Los Angeles’ LA Opera and LA Phil.

The Hispanic Society Museum & Library is thrilled to welcome the expertise, leadership, and dedication of Ostolaza, Blanco, and Weingarten in advancing Hispanic culture and scholarship.

For more information about the Hispanic Society, please visit Hispanic Society Museum & Library and follow the institution on Instagram, and Facebook.

MEDIA CONTACTS
Andrey Furmanovich & Melissa Olster
Andrey & Melissa, LLC
hsml@andreyandmelissa.com

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ABOUT THE HISPANIC SOCIETY MUSEUM & LIBRARY 

Founded in 1904 by the American scholar, philanthropist, and collector Archer M. Huntington, the Hispanic Society Museum & Library houses one of the world’s premier collections of art from Spain, Portugal, Latin America, and the Philippines. Located in a historic Beaux-Arts building on Audubon Terrace in the dynamic Washington Heights neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, the Hispanic Society is home to over half a million objects spanning thousands of years of art history across three continents. Unparalleled in scope and quality, the collection includes works by Baroque and early modern masters like El Greco, Diego Velázquez, Luisa Roldán, and Francisco de Goya; visionary 20th century artists like Joaquín Sorolla; and major figures from Viceregal Latin America such as Sebastián López de Arteaga and Juan Rodríguez Juárez, along with extensive collections of antiquities, ceramics, textiles, and decorative arts. The Hispanic Society’s library is one of the most important centers for research on Hispanic art and culture, containing an extraordinary array of rare books and manuscripts, including a map of the world dated to 1526 and a first edition of Don Quixote. The library is open to the public by appointment.

The Hispanic Society is committed to giving voice to Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking communities and cultures in New York, throughout the United States, and across the world. As an active member of the Washington Heights community, the Hispanic Society regularly hosts concerts, lectures, and tours, and invites contemporary artists and community members to dialogue with the collection. Through its ambitious special exhibitions, a world-class permanent collection, innovative educational programming, dedicated support of living artists, and advanced research initiatives, the Hispanic Society continues to reimagine the potential for a museum and its ability to lead meaningful change.