How ALI Came to Be

A short history of the experience and decisions that shaped the Art Legacy Institute.

  1. 2004

    FBI Art Crime Team Created

    The FBI Art Crime Team was created to investigate theft, fraud, looting, and trafficking involving art and cultural property. Two ALI co-founders, Ronnie Walker and David Bass, were members of the original team. A few years later, Liz Rivas joined the team's work, bringing experience in covert operation management, international investigations, financial evidence, and provenance research.

  2. 20+ Yrs

    A Career Studying the Life of Objects

    Across decades of work involving art, cultural property, ownership history, and documentation, ALI's founders saw how much depends on the quality of the record that travels with a work.

  3. 2025

    Art Legacy Institute Is Founded

    After retiring from the FBI, ALI's founders turned their experience toward a new mission: helping artists preserve the record of their own work while they are still here to tell the story.

  4. Today

    Helping Artists Remove the Disadvantage

    ALI is building tools, education, and trusted resources so artists are not disadvantaged by missing records, scattered documentation, or uncertainty about the history of their work.

  5. Tomorrow

    Building a World-Class Institution

    ALI's vision extends beyond its first tools. Over time, the Institute is being built to become a world-class cultural institution—one that supports a healthier art ecosystem by helping artists, estates, collectors, scholars, and institutions rely on clearer records, stronger provenance, and better stewardship of creative legacy.

During their years with the FBI Art Crime Team, ALI's founders worked within a team that recovered more than $1 billion in stolen art and cultural property and helped prevent several billion dollars in fakes from entering the marketplace.

  • $1B+

    Stolen art and cultural property recovered by the FBI Art Crime Team

  • Several Billion

    In fakes prevented from entering the marketplace

But the lesson that shaped ALI was broader than theft or fraud. Again and again, the strongest protection for a work's story came from clear records: who made it, when it was made, where it had been, how it changed hands, and why it mattered.

ALI was created to bring that level of care and documentation closer to the artist—before uncertainty begins.

Founded by People Who've Seen What's at Stake

Decades of experience in art, provenance, and cultural property—now in service of living artists.

  • David Bass

    Co-Founder

    23-year FBI Special Agent, founding member of the FBI Art Crime Team, U.S. Army Veteran, art collector, gallery owner, artist, & estate manager.

  • Elizabeth Rivas

    Co-Founder

    25-year FBI Special Agent, FBI Art Crime Team member, Certified Fraud Examiner, specialist in complex international investigations and art crime operations, art collector.

  • Ronnie Walker

    Co-Founder

    29-year FBI Special Agent, founding member of the FBI Art Crime Team, 25-year undercover specialist, and art collector.

Built With Strategic Leaders and Artist Voices

ALI is guided by two complementary advisory bodies: one focused on strategic growth and institutional impact, and one focused on ensuring artists, estates, and cultural professionals have a direct voice in the tools we build.

Strategic Counsel

Executive Board

Strategic Leadership & Institutional Impact

The Executive Board is a prestigious leadership body composed of visionary philanthropists, sector leaders, and cultural influencers who help shape ALI's strategic direction, national visibility, partnerships, capital direction, and institutional impact.

Executive Board members help ALI:

  • Shape program strategy and technology rollouts
  • Guide resource allocation and operational priorities
  • Inform partnerships and institutional alliances
  • Advise on capital campaign direction and messaging
  • Advocate publicly as ambassadors for ALI's mission
  • Support senior leadership on key initiatives

Members are selected for transformative philanthropic capacity, influential networks, or recognized leadership in art, business, philanthropy, governance, or related sectors.

Members to be announced.

Artist Voice

Art LAB

Art Legacy Advisory Board

Art LAB is ALI's artist-centered advisory board. It advises on the development, accessibility, and ethical implementation of ALI's tools and services for artists, estates, and institutions.

Art LAB helps ALI:

  • Keep artists at the center of product and education decisions
  • Review and provide feedback on ALI tools, services, and public-facing content
  • Support beta testing, outreach, and pilot implementations
  • Promote ethical legacy preservation and anti-fraud practices
  • Ensure the Legacy Catalog remains accessible, equitable, and useful across the cultural landscape

Art LAB members may include artists, archivists, cataloging and conservation experts, secondary market professionals, art law professionals, nonprofit arts leaders, cultural technology experts, estates, galleries, collectors, and institutional voices. Art LAB has no fiduciary or fundraising obligations.

Members to be announced.

Press & Recognition

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