How Mentoring Works
UBC2C mentoring sessions happen Sunday, July 25th at Columbia University’s Faculty House (64 Morningside Drive @ Amsterdam and 116th St.). Mentors will be stationed at tables in a career fair style setup to provide attendees with intimate access to their mentors of choice, in a casual one-on-one setting.
This coming Wednesday, July 14, beginning at 1pm, you will be able to access a special registration site where you will be able to schedule up to 5 appointments with mentors from the list below.
TO REGISTER FOR MENTORING VISIT: https://www.ubevents.org/event/mentor10
Mentors (in alphabetical order):
Pam Benson (BA ’76 Speech Communication & Political Science) is the Senior Producer for National Security at CNN in Washington, DC. Ms. Benson has been with CNN for 25 years. Before joining CNN, she worked for local Buffalo television stations. She serves on the board of directors of the UB Alumni Association as well as the Health Volunteers Overseas and the International Women’s Media Foundation.
Jody Kleinberg Biehl became the director of UB’s Journalism Certificate Program in January 2009. Before coming to UB, she worked as an editor at Der Spiegel Online, Europe’s largest news magazine and Germany’s most popular source for online news. At Der Spiegel she was part of an elite team of three journalists hired in 2003 to create an English-language Web site. The site, based in Berlin, now attracts millions of readers per month. www.spiegel.de/international is one of the only successful English supplements to a major European newspaper or magazine. Prior to Der Spiegel, Biehl worked as a European correspondent for the San Francisco Chronicle and as a freelance correspondent for USA TODAY and the Boston Globe. She also spent four years as a general assignment reporter for the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, a New York Times-owned paper in Northern California. She won numerous journalism awards during her time at the Press Democrat and in 2000 received an Arthur F. Burns fellowship, which took her to Berlin for three months as a reporter. (SIGN UP TO MENTOR WITH JODY KLEINBERG-BIEHL ONSITE, SUNDAY MORNING)
Elliot Caplan– Emmy Award-winning producer/director, best known for his documentary and avante-garde filmmaking with artists such as Merce Cunningham, John Cage, Nam June Paik, and Bruce Baillie. He served as resident filmmaker at the Cunningham Dance Foundation from 1983-1998. His collaborative films and videos with Merce Cunningham and John Cage have aired on PBS, Bravo, A&E and internationally in over 35 countries. Mr. Caplan is the Director of the Center for Moving the Moving Image and a Professor in the Media Studies Department at the University at Buffalo.
Peter Morton Coan (BA’79, English) – Principal at Coan Books and author of three successful nonfiction books. His fourth book, Toward A Better Life will be published in Summer 2011 by Prometheus Books. Peter is also a marketing and communications professional who has served as Vice President, Marketing & Communications at TD Ameritrade where he served as senior content editor, managing a team of writers, editors, proofreaders, project managers, and graphic designers.
Bobby Collins (BA ’73, History) American Comedy Award winner for Best Male Stand-up, Collins has hosted VH-1’s Stand Up Spotlight, A&E’s An Evening at the Improv, and Showtime’s A Pair of Jokers. He has opened for Frank Sinatra, Julio Iglesias, and Dolly Parton, to name a few. Collins has lectured extensively on the art and business of comedic writing and performing.
Matt Cowart – Director and producer with a specialty in developing new musicals. Most recently, he produced Sondheim: The Birthday Concert at Avery Fisher Hall with the New York Philharmonic. He has also served as Associate Director for the New York Philharmonic’s semi-staged production of Camelot in 2008. Matt is Resident Director at The CRY HAVOC Company.
Joe Czerwinski (BA’88, Anthropology) – Senior Editor/Tasting Director, Wine Enthusiast Media
Since he graduated UB in 1988, Joe has been involved in magazine, book and online publishing. He’s worked as a freelancer and for large multinationals and small, family-run publishers. In his current position with Wine Enthusiast Media, he oversees the tasting and review program, contributes original content for the magazine and Web site and helps formulate an annual editorial calendar.
Robert Dorf is managing director of Susan Marshall & Company as well as a free-lance consultant to small and middle size not-for-profit arts organizations. He previously served as managing director of Dances Patrelle, a New York based chamber sized dramatic ballet company from 1999-2004. Besides his professional work Dorf has always volunteered extensively and has served in a variety of capacities to many boards including as a director of the Artists Community Federal Credit Union while continuing to serve on the board of Dance/USA, the Dance/NYC Advisory Board, and the Colgate University Alumni Council. A native New Yorker, he earned a BA in English Literature from Colgate University and an MS in Not for Profit Management from the Robert J. Milano Graduate School of Management and Urban Policy at the New School.
Saul Elkin is a veteran actor, SUNY Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus, founder and artistic director of Shakespeare in Delaware Park and co-founder and artistic director of the Jewish Repertory Theater of Western New York. His acting and directing credits include over 250 Broadway performances (off/on),film, The Edge of the Night (a soap opera in which he played a doctor), and several regional and seasonal theater companies. Elkin holds both a BA and an MFA from Columbia University and a Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University.
Harris Ferris (BA,’78, Sociology) - Executive director of the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Ferris previously headed the Nevada Ballet in Las Vegas and New Jersey’s American Repertory Ballet, where he was managing director to the affiliated Princeton Ballet School. His early apprenticeship at Manhattan’s Don Pellini School of Dance while he was still in ballet training, gave Ferris a foundation for his later pivot into Ballroom. Stints as a part time instructor at American Ballroom Studios in Buffalo and the Arthur Murray franchise in Highland Park, New Jersey brought Ferris into the Arthur Murray Bronze level Pro/ Am showcases. Ferris is grateful for the chance to step up his ballroom skills by participating in the 2010 Dancing with the Celebrities of Pittsburgh!
Bob M. Fisher (BA’73, Political Science) – Owner, Celsius Films. As an experienced producer of TV commercials and films, Mr. Fisher has produced thousands of commercials for national clients throughout the world. Celsius has also produced numerous documentary and fundraising films for non-profit and educational organizations. Recently, Celsius has moved into the area of new media and is currently developing product-oriented short films for placement in free standing video kiosks. His commercials have been awarded 11 Clio’s as well as a Lion at Cannes and 2 AICP-MOMA awards. His 30 second films have won awards in almost every major award show. In 2009 he produced, “The Surge”, a documentary on the military strategy involved in the Iraq War. Recently he was the UPM and Line Producer for the 2010 release of “Cheech & Chong’s, Hey Watch This” based on the duo’s successful world tour and produced the theatrical trailers for “Jerry Seinfeld’s Marriage Ref”.
Chana Gazit (BA ’82, English) – is an award-winning producer/director/writer with an extensive background in documentary filmmaking. She was the Senior Producer of two acclaimed Public Television series: a four-part biography of Franklin Roosevelt and a four-part biography of Lyndon Johnson. Additionally, Chana has produced, directed, and written documentaries for the PBS series American Experience, including Chicago ‘68, Surviving the Dust Bowl, Meltdown at Three Mile Island, Fatal Flood, The Pill, and Test Tube Babies. Her films have been featured in major PBS stand-alone series including: Healing and the Mind with Bill Moyers, Slavery & the Making of America, Destination America, and “The Progressives”. Most recently, she has completed a two-hour episode for the PBS series, “This Emotional Life.” Chana’s work has been honored with multiple EMMY nominations and three EMMY Awards. Additionally her films have been recognized by the DuPont-Columbia Journalism Awards, the Peabody Awards, the Writer’s Guild Awards, the Sundance Film Festival, and many other industry honors.
Harrison Greenbaum is one of stand-up comedy’s hottest rising stars. A summa cum laude graduate of Harvard and founder of the Harvard College Stand-Up Comic Society, Harrison has been featured on SPIKE TV, the Science Channel, and on SIRIUS Satellite Radio. He’s also won several awards, including being named a finalist for the Andy Kaufman Award, a finalist for the New York Comedy Contest, and a semi-finalist in the Boston Comedy Festival. In addition, Harrison had the honor of headlining the sold-out “Andy Kaufman Funhouse” shows at TBS Just for Laughs Chicago and was the official co-host of the Times Square New Year’s Eve World Wide Webcast, seen by over 250 million people around the globe. A writer for MAD Magazine, Harrison has been featured in publications such as the New York Times, Boston Globe, and TimeOut NY.
Yeon S. Hong (BA ’94,Studio Art) - has founded a number of businesses from an award winning design studio, Y Design Ltd., to a publicly traded $100 million Internet media company, Medium4.com (AMEX:MDM). Medium4.com employed renown media professionals such as Peter Arnett and Dr. Ruth Westeimer. On January 1, 2000, Yeon was featured in a documentary on YTN, a Korean CNN counterpart, as one of the leading entrepreneurs in the digital media. In the same year, he formed an Internet consulting & E-commerce company, Y New Media, Inc. As President of Y New Media, he directed the development of multi-million dollar websites. On January 2009, Yeon re-branded his business to Internet E-Business, LLC., and developed a proprietary system, Internet E-Business SystemTM (IES), combining Pay Per Click (PPC), Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Web site Content Management System (CMS), Shopping Cart, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Support Ticket System, Project Management, Billing and E-mail Marketing into one integrated system to empower small to mid-size businesses.
Susan Ievoli is Director of Publicity at HISTORY CHANNEL where she develops public relations campaigns and strategy for the network’s original programming. Susan started her publicity career at Turner Broadcasting System, where she worked for nine years for a variety of networks, including her first role in Atlanta, Ga. at Turner South, the company’s regional entertainment network. After being quickly promoted she moved over to Turner Classic Movies as manager of public relations and handled publicity for TCM host Robert Osborne, along with many of the network’s Emmy award-winning documentaries. In 2006 she relocated to New York City for a position at Court TV (now known as truTV), managing public relations for the daytime news anchors. Most recently, Susan managed and executed all press outreach for the Turner Entertainment Networks portfolio (TNT, TBS, TCM and truTV) in New York and managed successful public relations campaigns for high profile programming such as The Closer, Men of a Certain Age, Saving Grace, HawthoRNe, Raising the Bar, Lopez Tonight and Christmas in Washington.Susan received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Advertising and Communications from The University of Florida. (SIGN UP TO MENTOR WITH SUSAN IEVOLI ONSITE, SUNDAY MORNING)
Rosalind Jarrett (BA ’69,Theater) – an executive in Charge of Publicity for the Screen Actors Guild Awards®, Rosalind has contributed to expanding the audiences for the SAG Awards telecasts on TNT and TBS since 1999. She began her television career at Los Angeles PBS station KCET/28. During her subsequent 13-year tenure with the ABC Television Network Group, she was honored with the Publicist Guild of America’s Maxwell Weinberg Publicists Showmanship Award. She has also been a PR consultant for E! Entertainment Television and Jeff Margolis Productions. In 2009, Jarrett co-produced the inaugural UBC2C HOLLYWOOD Entertainment & Media Symposium for the UB College of Arts & Sciences with fellow Dean’s Advisory Council member Christine La Monte, BA ’69.
Chanon Judson (BFA ’01, Dance)- is a member of D UNDERBELLY Dance Company, critically acclaimed modern dance company Urban Bush Women and is an instructor for the Alvin Ailey Arts and Educational Division.
Scott Kerr – A 28-year media and marketing veteran, Scott Kerr is a Director at Time Inc for the Style & Entertainment Group magazine brands – including People, Entertainment Weekly, InStyle, StyleWatch and People en Espanol. He oversees the research & insights for these brands and helps position them to advertisers.
John LaBarbera (BA’97, Psychology) – is the Paryoll Director for Roundabout Theatre Company and a 13 year veteran in New York City arts administration. He oversees the company payroll for all Roundabout Theatre Company staff and all of their Broadway and Off Broadway Productions. He’s been on Roundabout’s staff for over 100 Broadway and Off Broadway Productions including the TONY award winning revival of CABARET at Studio 54, NINE starring Antonio Banderas and THE PAJAMA GAME starring Harry Connick Jr.
Robert Lamoreaux has written, developed, and produced some of the most popular animation series for Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and ABC Family.
Kitt Lavoie – is an award-winning playwright and director and the Artistic Director of The CRY HAVOC Company, where he has overseen the development of more than one hundred new plays. Recently, Rainbow Rabbit Reliant, written and directed by Kitt Lavoie, is screening as an Official Selection of the NYC Downtown Short Film Festival at the Duo Theater and Kitt’s play: realer than that, has been published by Samuel French and is now available to be licensed for production through Samuel French, Inc.
Richard Lawrence (BA ’67, Sociology)– is President of Rebel Entertainment Partners one of the preeminent talent agencies in Los Angeles with a client roster that boasts some of the most renowned and reputable talent in the industry. Lawrence’s many industry credits include selling TV shows such as Judge Judy, The Rebel Billionaire with Richard Branson, Crossing Over with John Edward, and Real Stories of the Highway Patrol, in addition to many others.
Lisa Leder (BA ’92, Sociology) is a casting director and producer (print, film, TV and events). Her company LL Productions and Casting, specializes in Real People” Casting for clients including J.Crew, Target, Banana Republic. Lisa was featured in the book Creative Careers in Fashion by Debbie Hartsog (Sept. 2007).
Ray Leslee (BA ’76, Music Theater) - is one of the leading composers of music for Shakespeare in the world. His compositions for the theater include: AVENUE X, the a cappella musical (Playwrights Horizons) about racial tensions in New York City. After an extended run Off-Broadway AVENUE X went on to some 50 productions around the world, winning Best Musical awards in Dallas, Seattle, Austin, Los Angeles (Ovation Awards); as well as 13 Philadelphia’s Barrymore Awards for the 1997 and 2009 productions, including Best Musical at the Wilma. STANDUP SHAKESPEARE, directed by Mike Nichols and produced by the Shubert Organization for Off-Broadway, televised and toured the US and Canada, and revived in New York at the Culture Project in 2005 starring Alfred Molina, F. Murray Abraham and Alice Ripley. A GOOD MAN, a new musical about a Mississippi tenant farmer, premiered in 2007 at The Vienna Chamber Opera in Austria, and was selected for the NAMT Festival of New Musicals in New York. He has written over 75 scores for various acting studios and companies around the country. Honors and commissions include fellowships in music composition from the New York Foundation for the Arts (2002 and 2008), Artist In Residence at the Folger Shakespeare Library (2009), the Richard Rodgers Award (twice), the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Antara Ensemble, the Manhattan Community Arts Fund (2009), the Garland Award (Best Score for A Christmas Carol in San Diego), the American Music Center’s CAP award, the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, and the ASCAP Special Award annually since 1982. In 1997 he received The Gilman & Gonzalez-Falla Musical Theatre Award for lifetime achievement and was honored at Lincoln Center.
Drew Livingston (BA ’95, Communication) – is Chief Creative Officer-Co Founder TrashTalkFCM (A nontraditional advertising and innovation company) He’s responsible for the creation, management and execution of campaigns for clients such as Proctor & Gamble, The Coca Cola Company, US Navy, Philips, Citibank, General Mills and HBO. Drew is an entrepreneurial thinker with expertise in strategic planning, new technologies and innovation. As Chief Creative Officer, he’s responsible for such award-winning campaigns as the “Full Throttle Mack Cement Truck Campaign” for The Coca Cola Company, which won a Silver Addy and a Creative Media Award and the “Starbucks Red Cup Holiday Campaign” which won the Yahoo! Purple Chair Award and a One Show Gold Pencil for Exceptional Innovation in Media.
Thomas McDonald (BA ’97, College of Arts and Sciences) Product Development Manager at MTV Networks
Thomas McDonald attended UB as an undergrad from 1995 to 1997 in the Media Studies program. He has been doing creative design, software development, and management within the digital media industry in New York City for ten years. He is currently product development & prototyping manager at Viacom MTV Networks Global Digital Media group, focusing now on iPhone and smartphone applications. In his spare time he organizes reading groups around the city for the discussion of philosophical and ethical issues related to business and other aspects of modern life. He currently lives in Manhattan’s East Village and works for Viacom/MTV Networks creating mobile media applications. Also working now on a blog and book about the history of philosophy, phenomenology, and the culture of technology.
Carol Morris and Patrick Morris –founded, as an arm of the Morris Family office, in 2005, 57th and Irvin
g Productions.The film company has made a name for itself by uniting financiers and filmmakers to create timely and marketable entertainment projects. Among some of the films credited to them are Cake Eaters and American Teen. Before beginning the company in September of 2005 with the help of the family, Patrick, a native of Buffalo, New York had over 12 years of investment experience. 57th and Irving and the Morris Family take pride in producing and sourcing quality, quality, marketable pieces and delivering them to audiences worldwide through meaningful releases. Film and the arts are passions of the Morris Family and sound investments are their foundation. The company is currently in the process of releasing a horror film as well as partnering with the 7th Floor to form 7-57 Releasing. The newly formed company will be releasing its second film in 2010, La Soga.
Stephen Petronio (Artistic Director /Choreographer) – Initially inspired by the dancing of Rudolf Nureyev and Steve Paxton, Petronio was the first male dancer of the Trisha Brown Company (1979 to 1986). He has gone on to build a unique and powerful language of movement in a career than spans 25 years. He has received numerous accolades, including a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, as well as awards from the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, an American Choreographer Award, and a New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Award. He has created over 35 works for his company, and has been commissioned by some of the world’s most prestigious modern and ballet companies, including William Forsythe’s Frankfurt Ballet (1987), Tulsa Opera (1990), Deutsche Oper Berlin (1992), Lyon Opera Ballet (1994), Maggio Danza Florence (1996), Sydney Dance Company (2003, full evening), Norrdans (2006), the Washington Ballet (2007), and The Scottish Ballet (2007). Stephen recently completed an evening-length work for 30 dancers in collaboration with composer Ryan Lott (aka SON LUX) for Ballet-de-Lorraine. The dance, titled Tragic/Love, premiered in Montpellier, France in June 2009. His company works have been set on Norrdans in Sweden, The Scottish Ballet, Dance Works Rotterdam, Diversions Dance Company of Wales, and X Factor Dance Company in Edinburgh, among others. Major repertory works have recently been set on Ballet National de Marseille, Ballet-de-Lorraine, and London Contemporary Dance Theater. He received a BA from Hampshire College in Amherst, MA, where he began dancing in 1974.
Georgiana Pickett ( BA ’94, Women’s Studies) – is a steadfast contributor to the arts environment on local, national and international levels for 21 years, Georgiana serves as Executive Director of Brooklyn-based 651 ARTS, an internationally recognized presenter and producer of contemporary performing arts from the African Diaspora.
Elizabeth Polito (BA ’96, Theater and Dance) - Broadway Performer/ Energy Healing – Elizabeth has been dancing, singing and acting since the age of 6. She earned a B.A. in Theatre and Dance from the University of Buffalo, and has performed in musicals all across the U.S. (including on Broadway), Canada, Hawaii and Asia. In addition to her work as a performer, Beth is also an Energy Worker, facilitating sessions in Higher Awareness Coaching, Reconnective Healing, and Resonance Repatterning. She believes success is inevitable when you follow your bliss, and that the mind/body/spirit are integrated equally in everything we do. Beth is currently training for her Yoga teacher certification.
Dennis R. Reiff (BA ’69, Politcal Science) is the President of Reiff & Associates an insurance broker specializing in all areas of entertainment insurance. His firm arranges insurance for numerous feature films, Broadway and Off-Broadway plays, documentaries, commercials, photographers, event planners, music producers and television shows.
Peter Riegert is a veteran actor/writer/director. He has appeared in more than 30 films such as ‘The Mask’ and ‘Coldblooded.’ He was nominated for an Emmy for his role in ‘Barbarians at the Gate,’ (CBS), played Richard Nixon in the Emmy-winning ‘Concealed Enemies’ (PBS), and played Herbie to Bette Midler’s Rose in ‘Gypsy,’ (CBS). He was part of the award-winning short ‘The Response,’ about military tribunals in Guantanamo, which received the American Bar Association’s Silver Gavel Award.
Francine Ricchi (BS ’95, School of Management) – is a cable network programming strategist. She is a consultant with Rainbow Media International Networks, Sundance and WEtv Asia, and a consultant for digital strategy at Polemic Media. Formerly part of the Bravo TV Program Planning department, Francine has experience and knowledge in growing a successful cable network.
Andy Roth (BA ’92, Theater) – Specializing in voice over, Andy Roth is a casting director with almost two decades of experience. After many years as the in-house casting director for Cunningham Escott Sleven and Doherty (CESD), one of the country’s top commercial talent agencies, Andy struck out on his own. Since then he has been working for many of the biggest advertising agencies, casting houses and production companies in the world. In his career, he has served as casting director on thousands of projects ranging from commercials, animated films and television series, to documentaries and video games.
Dean Silvers, Esq.(JD ’79, Law School) – is an American award-winning film producer, film director, writer, and an entertainment lawyer. He has produced numerous noteworthy films, including Flirting with Disaster, Manny & Lo, and Spanking the Monkey, which won many awards, including the Audience Award at the 1994 Sundance Film Festival and two Independent Spirit Awards. (Twenty Two Productions, Inc. / Teatown Communications Group). Dean Silvers earned a Ph.D. from the University at Buffalo in 1980. He is a member of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Ken Tabachnick (BA ’77, Theater) - Ken has worked in all areas of entertainment for some 30 years. After a long career as a lighting designer for opera, dance, theater, and television, he earned his JD from Fordham Law School. He practiced law for seven years, working mostly in the intellectual property area. Most recently, Tabachnick was the general manager at New York City Ballet, where, among other things, he oversaw a $100-million renovation of the company’s theater at Lincoln Center, directed the Company’s strategic planning process, and began building its new media department. Ken Tabachnick was appointed Dean of the School of the Arts at Purchase College, SUNY on July 1, 2010.
Lou Vitulli is a veteran actor with over 25 years experience in television and film and commercials He has worked predominantly in New York, Los Angeles and Washington DC markets. Some of the shows he has been in: Loving, All My Children, Ryan’s Hope, NY Undercover and Swift Justice. Lou has appeared in numerous films, a short list of some of the films: Wall Street, The Mirror Has Two Faces, Sweet and Low Down and 54. He has worked for veteran and award winning directors Oliver Stone, Barbra Streisand and Woody Allen. He is a student of the teaching of Sanford Meisner. In 2009 Lou worked as a Creative Consultant on the 2009 Award Winning Indie Short Film “Hotflash”
Joshua W. Walker (BA ’99, English) - began his career in media as the Editor in Chief of The Spectrum student newspaper at UB. He graduated from the university in 1999 with degrees in journalism, English and political science. After obtaining his J.D. from Cornell Law School, Joshua moved to New York City, where he has worked for the past eight years. He currently works for the country’s number one marketing communications law firm, Davis & Gilbert, LLP, where he focuses his practice on media law. Among the clients Joshua represents is the world’s largest advertising conglomerate, WPP plc, which owns such agencies as JWT, Ogilvy and Y&R.Outside of work, Joshua serves as a member of the board of directors of a New York City film, theatre and music festival called the Crown Point Festival.
Robert A. Weiner (BA ’69, History) – Mr. Weiner is a Partner in the Trial Department of of McDermott Will & Emery LLP and has litigated numerous art law cases as well as cases in the music, television and film industries.
Don Zakarin (BS ’72, School of Management) - He is chairman of the litigation department at New York’s Pryor Cashman “having attained the position mostly by clean living and inertia.” He considers himself a general litigator, having represented clients in a wide variety of areas, including securities law cases, antitrust cases, commodities law cases and general corporate and commercial cases. However, over the past 35 years Zakarin has developed an expertise in representing both individuals and corporate clients in the entertainment field, with a particular focus in music. He has represented Mariah Carey, Enrique Iglesias, Jermain Dupri, Kanye West, Britney Spears in copyright infringement cases and contractual disputes. He regularly represents EMI Records and EMI Music Publishing as well as Sony/ATV Music Publishing, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group. He has also represented executives in the music business, including the legendary Clive Davis and L.A. Reid.
[Please note: Mentors may be subject to change]
