Jane Glassman, EDU '66, is too busy with today to think about the past. “I hardly look back,” she said. It's hard not to take her at her word. After all, when would she have the time? In addition to her role as the executive director of the national not-for-profit Fine Arts Dealers Association (FADA), Jane also works with her own clients to resell artwork from their private collections on a secondary market. Often this requires her to travel, which she relishes. “When I am on the road," she said, "I'm always working and having pleasure at the same time."

Just last November, Jane found herself in Paris for Art Basel where she experienced a career highlight. (Those aren't uncommon for her: "I try to have highlights all the time," she said.) At the suggestion of a colleague, Jane attended an offsite event where she found herself conversing with an art dealer. That dealer happened to represent an artist whose work Jane was looking to resell for a client. Months later Jane managed to consign the work for her client to the dealer, which led to the artwork selling for its asking price in a notable Los Angeles art fair.

“I mean, it was just win, win, win,” Jane said. “Everybody won. The person who bought it won, the dealer won, I won, and my client won. I felt like I connected the dots in such an organic way.” Her work is not always this easy. Connecting the dots, as she calls it—a combination of relationship-building, problem-solving and that trickiest of things, instinct—is a skill Jane has developed over decades in the field. “You meet somebody,” Jane said, “and you feel a confidence in them.”

Jane hasn't always been this certain of herself. In fact, she describes herself as having followed a friend from high school to Temple. Her brother must have sensed something in her, as he encouraged Jane to study liberal arts, but Jane instead studied education. "I wish that I had known about my passion for the art world when I was college-aged," Jane said. "Because I should have gone to Tyler." She would teach after graduating, though not for long.

“That's a very early age to have to pick what you're going to study,” Jane admitted. "I had not developed my ambition yet." She does, however, see a link between her background in education and her love of mentoring, having developed long-lasting relationships with many young people entering her field, from artists to former assistants.

Jane would not discover her passion for art until she moved to Los Angeles in the years after college. The move was not easy for her, however. During her time at Temple, Jane fell in love with the City of Philadelphia. "I kind of cried for a year when I had to leave," she admitted.

Even today, Philly holds a special place in Jane's heart. That friend of hers that she followed to Temple became her roommate during school. She still lives in Philly, and when Jane visited her a few years ago, they managed to squeeze their high school reunion and Homecoming & Family Weekend at Temple into the same trip. She particularly enjoyed Tyler’s annual Art Market event, supporting student and alumni art vendors. "I feel so lucky to have been born and raised and educated in Philadelphia," Jane said.

At the time, however, Jane felt that she needed to take a risk. That decision paid off. Upon moving to Los Angeles, a neighbor of hers offered to introduce Jane to her sister, a young art dealer. That introduction led to a friendship that would change the trajectory of Jane's life.

Not long after, that art dealer opened a gallery of her own. By that point, Jane had made many friends in the city and offered to host a lunch for the gallerist. In preparation for that lunch, Jane visited the studio of an artist the new gallery represented, fell in love with a handmade paper sculpture and purchased what would be the second acquisition of her collection. Twenty-five years later, that friend's gallery was a member of FADA, the organization of which Jane is now the executive director. It was a full-circle event and the artwork that Jane purchased remains a cherished piece in Jane's collection.

Jane's leadership ability brings people together. (Yes, she was out on the field as a Temple cheerleader back in the day.) Now she cheers and advocates for organizations close to her heart: chairing the Advisory Council for the Arts at Cedars Sinai Medical Center and the Modern and Contemporary Art Council at LACMA, as well as serving as the VP of the Board of ArtTable, the professional organization dedicated to advancing the leadership of women in the visual arts. Organizing that lunch for her friend's new gallery was just the beginning of threading those long-lasting friendships and professional relationships across her career—it's hard not to see these as further examples of that particular skill of Jane's, what she described earlier as "connecting the dots." But she insists that she comes by her connections honestly. Even the term "networking" doesn't feel quite right to her—it's more organic for her, more natural.

Still, bringing people together is often a component of what Jane does. In 2010, she brought together 100 people from a variety of roles in her industry, artists and professionals alike, for her first curated exhibition, In Bed Together. She invited her colleagues to select favorite pieces of contemporary art to be displayed at the Royal/T Cafe in Los Angeles.

“It was super fun for me,” Jane said of the show. “It was super fun for everybody who chose a piece. Since it was contemporary art, most of the artists were still living and a lot of them were in the LA area.” The exhibition was a huge success, yet another career highlight for Jane.

“It was a wonderful thing in my career to be able to do that," she said. "In fact, I'm hoping that I'll do it again.”

That Jane hopes to curate another show is no surprise. Throughout our interview, she used the word “journey” to describe things that have happened to her in the past, yes, but also those things that she'd like to happen in her future.

Her friendship with her former roommate, the woman that she followed from high school to college? That's part of her journey. But then later, while reminiscing about another college acquaintance of hers who is now involved with Broadway, she used that word again to describe her desire to learn more about the behind-the-scenes of musical theater. After all, her granddaughter just graduated with a degree in musical theater—why shouldn’t Jane learn about that as well?

“It hasn't come into my journey yet,” Jane said. Luckily there’s still time.