JOHN WM. NAGEL
John Wm. Nagel earned BA and MA degrees by 1972 from San Francisco State University. In 1974 he assumed the position of instructor of photography in the Art Department of St. Louis Community College at Meramec. He coordinated the photography program until 1999 and then became the Director of the Center for Visual Technology. He retired from full time college teaching in 2007.
Nagel joined the board of directors of the International Photography Hall of Fame in 2005 and became the Executive Director in 2013. He was centrally instrumental in moving the museum from Oklahoma City to the Grand Center Arts District where he directed the IPHF galleries. He supervised and provided historical articles for the publication of several issues of the IPHF newsletter. He facilitated the Sister Cities alliance with Nanjing, China, through the World Trade Organization. A reciprocal arrangement was developed where ten prominent St. Louis photographers visited Nanjing in 2014 and hosted ten Chinese photographers in St. Louis in 2015. He delivered a lecture on the history of photography in Nanjing, and the work produced by St. Louis photographers was displayed at the Missouri Botanical Garden in 2015. He retired from IPHF in August 2015.