Basic Information
| Field | Detail |
|---|---|
| Full name | Katherine Komaroff Goodman |
| Also known as | Kathy Goodman |
| Primary occupations | Art dealer, gallery executive, mediator, negotiation instructor |
| Education | Bachelor studies at University of California Berkeley (art history and psychology), M.S. in Negotiation and Conflict Resolution, Columbia University, 2013 |
| Key organizations | Katherine Komaroff Fine Arts, Inc. (founder and CEO); James Goodman Gallery (former vice president and co-owner); ACCORD (founding principal) |
| Notable roles | Lecturer in Columbia University School of Professional Studies, mediation practitioner, arts-sector board member |
| Family highlights | Married to James Goodman until his death in 2019; step-children listed in family obituary include Jill Goodman, Laura Goodman, and Drew Goodman; publicly associated with Dr Andrew Weil in social and event photography |
| Public presence | Photographs in major society archives, institutional lecturer bios, mediation community profiles |
Career and Craft
Kathy Goodman has a career that reads like a study in negotiation in its many forms. She learned to read both artworks and people, which are not so different when both must be valued, explained, and placed into a larger story. Early years were spent in the art world, building collections, brokering sales, and running gallery operations as vice president and co-owner of the James Goodman Gallery. She later founded Katherine Komaroff Fine Arts, Inc., where the eye for provenance met organizational skill.
A pivot began in the 2010s and became explicit after 2013, when she earned an M.S. in Negotiation and Conflict Resolution from Columbia University. That degree did more than add letters to a résumé. It marked a professional shift from negotiating transactions to resolving disputes. The tools of appraisal and persuasion stayed the same, but the table changed. Auction rooms gave way to mediation rooms, where the currencies were trust, empathy, and process rather than price alone.
Goodman practices both private and court-connected mediation. She is a founding principal at ACCORD, a conflict-management collective, and she trains others in emotional intelligence and negotiation techniques. Her public teaching work includes a lecturer role at Columbia University School of Professional Studies, where she has helped shape a next generation of mediators and negotiators since completing her graduate degree.
The Arts, Boards, and Civic Life
Her biography on institutional pages places her squarely inside the arts ecosystem. She has served on arts-oriented boards and foundations, contributing governance and curatorial knowledge. Names tied to her service include the Arshile Gorky Foundation and other visual arts organizations, where the combination of market experience and nonprofit stewardship is especially valuable.
Event photography from the 2000s and 2010s shows a presence at cultural gatherings, often in the company of notable public figures. Those images are part of the public trace of a life spent in both private commerce and public civic engagement.
Family and Relationships
| Name | Relationship | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| James Goodman | Husband, deceased 2019 | Longtime gallery figure; obituary lists Katherine Komaroff Goodman as his wife and names children in the family |
| Jill Goodman | Child of James Goodman | Listed among survivors in the family obituary |
| Laura Goodman | Child of James Goodman | Listed among survivors in the family obituary |
| Drew Goodman | Child of James Goodman | Listed among survivors in the family obituary |
| Dr Andrew Weil | Publicly associated companion | Frequently photographed together at public events and described in some profiles as a partner or companion |
Family life and professional life intersected in public records and social coverage; an obituary for James Goodman from 2019 confirms family names and Goodman’s status as his wife. The lives of people in the art world are sometimes recorded in event pages and society archives, and this is the context where much of the public familial information appears.
Timeline of Public Milestones
| Year or Period | Event |
|---|---|
| Undergraduate years | Studied art history and psychology at UC Berkeley (exact years not public in compiled materials) |
| 2000s to 2010s | Active as an art dealer and gallery executive; photographed at cultural events |
| 2013 | Earned M.S. in Negotiation and Conflict Resolution from Columbia University |
| 2010s to present | Founding principal at ACCORD; lecturer at Columbia SPS; mediation practice |
| 2019 | Death of James Goodman; obituary names Katherine Komaroff Goodman as spouse |
Numbers and dates anchor the arc. The clearest chronological pivot point is 2013, which marks the formal transition into conflict resolution education and practice.
Public Profile and Media Footprint
Goodman does not appear to have cultivated a mass-media persona in the way some public figures do. Her digital trace is professional and institutional, residing in lecturer bios, mediation community pages, gallery histories, and photo archives. Society photographs locate her within a social milieu that includes health and wellness figures as well as arts patrons and curators.
Video archives and lecture recordings under her professional name are not prominent in mainstream platforms, and core content about her work tends to appear in institutional contexts rather than in branded channels or frequent broadcasted interviews.
Financial Notes
There are no authoritative public financial disclosures or reliable net-worth figures attached to her name in standard financial or regulatory sources. Public material emphasizes roles and responsibilities rather than personal wealth, so any numerical estimate would be speculative and not grounded in verifiable filings.
What Remains Unconfirmed
Several items about private life remain characteristically private. Public images and secondary profiles describe her as socially and personally associated with certain public figures, and family relationships are documented in obituary notices, but formal filings such as marriage certificates are not part of the public record compiled here. Similarly, precise financial details and an exhaustive public video record are absent from the available institutional and archival material.
FAQ
Who is Kathy Goodman?
Kathy Goodman is an art dealer turned mediator and negotiation instructor who founded Katherine Komaroff Fine Arts and later established a practice in mediation and conflict resolution.
What is her educational background?
She studied art history and psychology at the University of California Berkeley and earned an M.S. in Negotiation and Conflict Resolution from Columbia University in 2013.
What are her main professional roles?
Her roles include gallery executive, founder and CEO of an art consultancy, lecturer at Columbia University, and founding principal of a mediation collective called ACCORD.
Is she related to James Goodman?
Yes, James Goodman was her husband and he died in 2019; the family obituary lists children who are part of the extended family.
Is Kathy Goodman married to Dr Andrew Weil?
Public profiles and event photographs show them together and describe them as companions or partners in some accounts, but there is no public legal filing presented here to confirm a formal marriage.
Does she have a public YouTube channel or lecture videos?
There is no widely recognized dedicated YouTube channel or abundant lecture videos under her professional name; most of her public presence is in institutional bios and event photography.