By Mary Johnson
I recently had the honor of attending the memorial service for a Great Dane and friend, Ivan Bart ’85. Ivan was the president of IMG, an agency that ignited the modeling careers of Karli Kloss, Ashley Graham and Gigi Hadid among many others.
The memorial was star-studded and I thought I might feel out of place. Each speaker talked about Ivan’s way of making them feel special, understood and unique. Upon listening to these tributes, I knew that Ivan's greatest quality was his ability to make everyone feel important. I no longer felt out of place.
IMG Models is an international modeling agency headquartered in New York City, but with offices in London, Los Angeles, Milan, Paris and Sydney. The agency represents more than half of the highest-paid supermodels in the world. Ivan joined the company as the creative director in 1994 and became its president in 2013. That same year, he made the unprecedented decision to sign models without regard to height, weight, race, age or other factors that have historically prevented diversity in model casting. Because of Ivan, IMG began to sign people who broke these barriers. He stepped down in the spring of 2023 when the company restructured but continued in a senior consultant role.
Years ago, at my first meeting with Ivan, I asked him how his psychology degree and experiences at UAlbany helped him in his job. After careful consideration, Ivan said “I use it every day. It’s what makes me understand everyone as an individual and the special person they are!” He felt he needed to understand different types of people, different ways of thinking and feeling and that he needed to look at his clients holistically and to elevate all kinds of people. I often wonder if those psych professors of the '80s realized what they had awakened in this young gentleman sitting in their lecture hall early on a Monday morning!
My job as a development officer requires me to raise money to support the University at Albany. I pride myself on making sure that funds from our donors match the needs of our University and that the needs of our University meet the desires of our donors. Ivan wanted to create a scholarship and we found the perfect match when he endowed the Deborah Kelsey Memorial Scholarship to assist non-traditional students attending UAlbany. Deborah was Ivan's classmate and friend who passed away and whose life he chose to honor.
Ivan was intimately involved with our NYC Alumni Fashion Show and his role was to emcee the event. However, that was not his only contribution. He always arrived with an entourage: six models willing to donate their time, hairstylists, makeup artists, his Aunt Rhea and half a dozen IMG folks. The purpose of the event was to raise funds for tuition. At the very first event, Ivan stood on the runway and asked for our totals. Hearing the sum, he decided it wasn’t enough and committed funds to bring it to a level he thought appropriate.
When Ivan entered the room, everyone knew it. He was a presence, a force of nature, a man who made everyone in the room feel special. He led the corporate need for inclusion before anyone knew it was necessary. Ivan described inclusion as the heart-pounding feeling that we all belong.
Ivan, you have made such a difference in so many lives. We have been fortunate to call you one of our own. Rest in peace, my dear friend.
Bart will posthumously receive the Alumni Excellence Award in Diversity and Inclusion at the April 2024 celebration.
By Mary Johnson
I recently had the honor of attending the memorial service for a Great Dane and friend, Ivan Bart ’85. Ivan was the president of IMG, an agency that ignited the modeling careers of Karli Kloss, Ashley Graham and Gigi Hadid among many others.
The memorial was star-studded and I thought I might feel out of place. Each speaker talked about Ivan’s way of making them feel special, understood and unique. Upon listening to these tributes, I knew that Ivan's greatest quality was his ability to make everyone feel important. I no longer felt out of place.
IMG Models is an international modeling agency headquartered in New York City, but with offices in London, Los Angeles, Milan, Paris and Sydney. The agency represents more than half of the highest-paid supermodels in the world. Ivan joined the company as the creative director in 1994 and became its president in 2013. That same year, he made the unprecedented decision to sign models without regard to height, weight, race, age or other factors that have historically prevented diversity in model casting. Because of Ivan, IMG began to sign people who broke these barriers. He stepped down in the spring of 2023 when the company restructured but continued in a senior consultant role.
Years ago, at my first meeting with Ivan, I asked him how his psychology degree and experiences at UAlbany helped him in his job. After careful consideration, Ivan said “I use it every day. It’s what makes me understand everyone as an individual and the special person they are!” He felt he needed to understand different types of people, different ways of thinking and feeling and that he needed to look at his clients holistically and to elevate all kinds of people. I often wonder if those psych professors of the '80s realized what they had awakened in this young gentleman sitting in their lecture hall early on a Monday morning!
My job as a development officer requires me to raise money to support the University at Albany. I pride myself on making sure that funds from our donors match the needs of our University and that the needs of our University meet the desires of our donors. Ivan wanted to create a scholarship and we found the perfect match when he endowed the Deborah Kelsey Memorial Scholarship to assist non-traditional students attending UAlbany. Deborah was Ivan's classmate and friend who passed away and whose life he chose to honor.
Ivan was intimately involved with our NYC Alumni Fashion Show and his role was to emcee the event. However, that was not his only contribution. He always arrived with an entourage: six models willing to donate their time, hairstylists, makeup artists, his Aunt Rhea and half a dozen IMG folks. The purpose of the event was to raise funds for tuition. At the very first event, Ivan stood on the runway and asked for our totals. Hearing the sum, he decided it wasn’t enough and committed funds to bring it to a level he thought appropriate.
When Ivan entered the room, everyone knew it. He was a presence, a force of nature, a man who made everyone in the room feel special. He led the corporate need for inclusion before anyone knew it was necessary. Ivan described inclusion as the heart-pounding feeling that we all belong.
Ivan, you have made such a difference in so many lives. We have been fortunate to call you one of our own. Rest in peace, my dear friend.
Bart will posthumously receive the Alumni Excellence Award in Diversity and Inclusion at the April 2024 celebration.
