Katelijne and I worked together for over 12 years. She started at The Armory Show as the Production Assistant and ended up becoming the Executive Director. No one knew The Armory Show like Katelijne did, and her talent and vision firmly established and grew The Armory Show as New York City's first Contemporary Art Fair.

She recruited and directed a stellar production team that worked with 200+ galleries from around the world, and managed a construction crew that transformed two piers into a first-class exhibition space. Besides producing a physical fair, Katelijne coordinated the fair's famous VIP program that grew to be emulated around the world.

In addition to managing a production staff, Katelijne also coordinated with the fair’s accounting and legal team. In 2007 Katelijne helped facilitate the sale of the fair to the Merchandise Mart where she then continued to direct the fair. There was no aspect of The Armory Show that didn’t benefit from Katelijne’s extraordinary expertise.

Katelijne's relationships within the art world span a broad spectrum of international dealers, art collectors and production teams. She is, not surprisingly, greatly respected in the art world and beyond.

Katelijne hired us when she was the Executive Director for The Armory Show and needed a lobbyist to deal with a number of New York City agencies during crisis situations. What struck me the most was her enormous determination to make things happen, even with major obstacles, while always staying gracious. We later invited her to serve on the board of the Children's Museum of the Arts, which she continues to do to this day, and we are extremely lucky to have her.

Katelijne is awesome, it’s that simple. It can be reduced to one word, she is awesome. She has energy, she has grace, she makes this fair [The Armory Show] an extraordinary event!

We met Katelijne when she headed The Armory Show and, around the same time, we started building the Vanmoerkerke Collection. We were always impressed by her enthusiasm, poise and the ability to multi-task with equal efficiency. When she visited our Collection in Ostend, Belgium, we got to know her a bit better and stayed in touch up until this day.

Katelijne has been teaching a class at Christie’s Education since 2008. She is one of the most experienced art fair directors, and conveys her depth of knowledge of art fairs, and the art world more generally, in a creative and engaging way. Katelijne’s presentations are fun, based on a wealth of experiences, and laced with great and relevant stories. The students learn so much from her, and enjoy the vibrant exchange of ideas in her class.

As art collectors from Belgium, we visited The Armory Show annually, and enjoyed the fair tremendously. We were always welcomed by the very attentive Director, Katelijne De Backer, who has an amazing international art-world network and, on top of that, is approachable, extremely friendly and personable. She even visited our home in Belgium to see our collection. Her network and desire to make things happen is impressive!

Katelijne was one of the pioneers of Antwerpen Open. She was responsible for national and international press and media relations of the major Anthony Van Dyck exhibition in 1999, celebrating his 400th anniversary with a temporary return of his masterpieces to his hometown. The outcome of her work was impressive: an unseen international media coverage and attendance figures that since then have never been surpassed. When she moved to New York, her departure was felt as a loss to the company.

Katelijne was and is absolutely the best person ever to work with when it comes to a sensitive and meaningful handling of art and the people who make it. She's an angel.