James Cuno currently serves the J. Paul Getty Trust as president and CEO. A national and international museum leader and scholar, Cuno was president and Eloise W. Martin Director of the Art Institute of Chicago before joining the Getty in 2011. Prior to directing the Art Institute of Chicago, he was the director and professor of the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London, from 2003 to 2004; the Elizabeth and John Moors Cabot Director of the Harvard University Art Museums and professor of the history of art and architecture at Harvard from 1991 to 2003; director of the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, from 1989 to 1991; director of the Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, UCLA, from 1986 to 1989; and assistant professor of art, Vassar College, from 1983 to 1986. He was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2001. He is on the Academy’s Council and serves as the International Secretary.

Cuno received his A.M. and Ph.D. in the History of Art from Harvard University in 1980 and 1985; an M.A. in the History of Art from the University of Oregon in 1978; and a B.A. in History from Willamette University in 1973. He wrote his doctoral thesis on "Charles Philipon and La Maison Aubert: the business, politics, and public of caricature in Paris, 1820-1840."