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A leading art museum director and internationally renowned curator and art historian, Raphaela Platow has served as the Executive Director of the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Kentucky since August 2021. Under Platow’s leadership, the Speed has revitalized its visitor experience and community focus by centering equity, inclusion, and belonging at the core of the museum’s work, presenting programming, exhibitions, and reinterpreted permanent galleries that explore broader narratives of art and culture and engage with contemporary issues that reflect and serve the Louisville community. Through major initiatives like the Speed Art Park, opening in 2025, Platow has championed shaping inclusive spaces that serve as both a shared public gathering place and a beacon for creative expression, furthering her belief that art and the creative process contribute to the holistic wellbeing of people and communities.

Prior to the Speed, Platow served as the Alice & Harris Weston Director and Chief Curator of the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) in Cincinnati, Ohio; the chief curator and acting director of the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University; the International Curator of the Contemporary Art Museum in Raleigh, North Carolina; and has held positions at the Kunstforum München and Projektraum Berlin. Platow earned her M.A. in Art History and Business Administration from Humboldt University Berlin, her B.A. in Art History and Economics from Albert-Ludwig University in Freiburg, and received certificates in French Civilization, Art History, and Philosophy from the University of Sorbonne in Paris.