Gail Dexter Lord is an internationally respected cultural planner, and President and Co-founder of Lord Cultural Resources, the world’s foremost museum, gallery, and cultural planning firm. Based in Toronto with offices in New York, London, Mumbai and Beijing, Lord Cultural Resources has completed more than 2500 successful assignments in 57 countries and 450 cities. Gail has worked with numerous cities including Chicago, Toronto, Ottawa, Vienna, Salford, Bilbao, and Johannesburg to develop their museum hubs and cultural spaces. She conducts courses in cultural leadership, strategic planning and the application of soft power by cities and museums. An art critic, feature writer, frequent commentator, public speaker, and the co-author of six museum planning manuals and several books, her latest books are “Cities, Museums and Soft Power”, “The Manual of Strategic Planning for Cultural Organizations”, and “Museum Development in China/Understanding the Building Boom”. Gail is a Member of the Order of Canada, an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters of the French Ministry of Culture and holds an Honorary Doctor of Letters from McMaster University.