Jane Hait is a Brooklyn-based arts advociate, philanthropist, and institution builder. She is the Founder and Board Chair of the Center for Art, Research and Alliances (CARA), a nonprofit art research center, publisher, exhibition space, and bookstore located in New York City's West Village. Before founding CARA, Hait was Co-owner and Co-Director of Wallspace, a contemporary art gallery in New York City, from 2003 to 2015. The gallery's closure, driven by the pressures of commercial real estate, prompted years of research and roundtable conversations that ultimately shaped CARA's founding conviction: that real estate is a barrier to equitable cultural practice, and that a genuinely responsive institution begins by listening to the artists, cultural workers, and communities it aims to serve.

Hait holds an Advanced Certificate in Management for Public and Nonprofit Organizations from NYU's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and a bachelor's degree in Art Semiotics from Brown University. She serves as a Trustee of the Brooklyn Museum, MoMA PS1, and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (ICA LA). She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, artist and writer Justin Beal, and their two children.