Greenwald previously served as associate museum director, museum programs, at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM). Her 19-year affiliation with USHMM began in 1986, when she served as a member of the design team for its permanent exhibition.
From 1986 to 2001, Greenwald was the principal of Alice M. Greenwald Museum Services, providing expertise to various clients including the USHMM, the Baltimore Museum of Industry, the Pew Charitable trusts, and the Historical Society of Princeton.
Greenwald has also served as executive director of the National Museum of American Jewish History, Philadelphia; acting director, curator, and assistant curator of the Hebrew Union College Skirball Museum, Los Angeles; and as curatorial assistant at the Spertus Museum of Judaica, Chicago.
She is the author of several articles on museum practice, Jewish ritual art, and various historical topics. Her book The Stories They Tell: Artifacts from the National September 11 Memorial Museum, co-edited with Clifford Chanin and published by SkiraRizzoli, was cited in The New York Times as one of the best books about New York City published in 2013. She is also the executive editor and primary contributing author of No Day Shall Erase You: The Story of 9/11 as Told at the National September 11 Memorial Museum, the official companion volume to the September 11 Memorial Museum, published by SkiraRizzoli in August 2016. This book was awarded the bronze prize in the 2016 Foreword INDIES Awards in the category of History (Adult Nonfiction).
Greenwald currently serves on the boards of the United Kingdom Holocaust Memorial Foundation and Central Synagogue in New York City, and is an advisor to the repertory dance company 10HL. She holds an M.A. in the history of religions from the University of Chicago Divinity School, and a B.A. with concentrations in English literature and anthropology from Sarah Lawrence College, where she delivered the commencement address to the class of 2007.
