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Board of DirectorsAnnette Niemtzow (Co-Chairperson) is a Broadway and West End producer whose credits include Jane Eyre and The Kentucky Cycle as well as numerous Off-Broadway productions. She is a member of the Broadway League and a Tony voter, as well as an Advisory Member of Hal Prince's T Fellowship, which supports the development of gifted emerging theatre professionals. Ellen Weiss (Co-Chairperson)(composer/lyricist) was thrilled that Transport Group was awarded $25,000 by the Shen Family Foundation for her musical score, Being Audrey. In 2006, she wrote the original vocal and harmonica score for TG's revival of All The Way Home. She is also extremely proud to be one of the writers for the company's historic production of The Audience (2005 Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Musical). A member of the Lehman Engle B.M.I. Advanced Musical Workshop and graduate of Carnegie Mellon University Drama Dept., her other works include Memorable (Dir. Larry Fuller, York Theater Company), Little Match Girl, Shel Silverstien's The Giving Tree, Requiem for William. Her songs have been recorded by Daisy Egan, Donna Murphy, Barbara Walsh, Brent Barret, Stephen Bogardus, Danny Burstein, Sarah Uriarte Berry, and the late Laurie Beechman. In addition to her writing, Ms. Weiss served as Chairman of the Board of TheatreWorks/USA. She lives in New York with her husband Ron and son Chris. Sarah Ackerman attended Vassar College where she received a BA in Drama with a minor in Art History. She received her Masters Degree in Elementary Education from New York University in 2003. She is currently employed by The Children's Museum of Manhattan (CMOM) where she teaches Early Childhood classes, focusing on helping children and families learn together in a unique environment of interactive exhibitions and programs. Anne L. Bernstein is a Broadway and film producer whose credits include Marlene and the award-winning documentary, Broadway’s The Golden Age. Irene Carney is an educator in Richmond, Virginia where she heads The Sabot School – a progressive program of Early Childhood Education. She has also served as a Trustee of The Richmond Montessori School and as Founding Chair of the Board of Directors of Orchard House School – an innovative middle school for girls. Marcia Cohen works at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney and has been providing accounting, tax and financial advisory services to mid size organizations in a variety of industries and also to high net worth individuals. Prior to this, Marcia worked for Geller & Company, Coopers & Lybrand, and Solomon Brothers. She is an AICPA Personal Financial Specialist, a CPA and a member of the AICPA and the NY State Society of CPAs. Marcia is also a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) and holds a BS in Accounting from the University of Delaware. Jack Cummings III (Artistic Director) co-founded Transport Group and serves as its Artistic Director. He received his BA in International Relations from The College of WIlliam and Mary and his MFA in Directing from The University of Virginia. He is married to actress Barbara Walsh. Tom Cunningham has worked in the advertising industry in New York for over ten years and currently manages corporate communications for Interpublic Group, http://www.interpublic.com. Jeff Davis is the creator and owner of a number of companies related to the music field, including night clubs and digital music service providers. Jeff is also a Broadway and Film producer. Lori Fineman (Executive Director) is formerly the Executive Director of the National Women’s Theatre Festival in Philadelphia. She worked as a systems analyst for Andersen Consulting and as the Global Director of Knowledge Management for Capco. Lori is the President of the Jewish Community Project of Lower Manhattan, an organization that develops educational and social programming for families living downtown. www.jcpdowntown.org. She holds a BSE and BA from the University of Pennsylvania. Shawn Flowers is an Assistant General Counsel with Time Inc., the publishing subsidiary of Time Warner Inc. Shawn specializes in contract and media law and her principal clients include health.com, Time Inc.’s interactive group and Time Inc.’s central advertising and custom publishing groups. She earned her B.A. from the University of Chicago in 1988 and her J.D. from New York University in 1993, where she was on the Law Review. Nancy Friedman spent nearly two decades as a freelance television writer and producer, creating marketing, promotional and branding material for clients as diverse as Nickelodeon, HBO, Lifetime Television, WCBS, The Points of Light Foundation, and The Disney Channel. A veteran blogger, her essays have appeared online in The Miami Herald, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and The Sacramento Bee as well as in numerous magazines and anthologies. She is a founder and co-host of The BloggingAngels, a popular weekly podcast for women about harnessing the power of social-media, and a social media consultant for clients as diverse as Microsoft Windows and Omni Hotels. Her own humor blog, From Hip to Housewife.com, is where she writes about momming, aging and her twenty-year quest to lose the same ten pounds. Nancy is the Queen Bee and co-founder of KidzVuz: video reviews by kids, for kids. Barbara Freitag is an associate producer/investor in many Broadway shows including: The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife, The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?, and Caroline, or Change. Other projects include Tony Award-winning The Drowsy Chaperone with producer Kevin McCollum, Legally Blonde, The Homecoming, August: Osage County, and November with Nathan Lane. Benjamin D. Goldberg is an attorney at Barclays Capital, the investment banking division of Barclays Bank, PLC, where he focuses on technology, intellectual property, outsourcing, professional services and other related contracts. Prior to joining Barclays, he was an associate at Robinson & Cole LLP. Ben received his B.A., cum laude, from New York University (Journalism, Political Science) and his J.D., cum laude, from Case Western Reserve University School of Law. Ben has been interested in theater ever since he was a young boy seeing touring Broadway shows and helping out backstage at the Gallery Players of the Jewish Community Center in Columbus, Ohio. Francesca James has five daytime Emmy Awards and was the first person in the history of daytime drama to travel the distance from acting to directing to Executive Producing, receiving several nominations in all three disciplines. She began her professional life acting in the theater. Yael Jekogian is a fund-raising consultant to not-for-profit organizations. Previously, she served as Director of Development for Women's Way, a women's funding federation in Philadelphia. Prior to her fundraising career, Yael practiced as an environmental engineer with environmental insurance companies and environmental consulting firms, focusing on contaminated property remediation, environmental compliance, and landfill design. Tom Koltis is a lawyer with Covanta Energy, focusing on corporate finance and corporate acquisitions. Claire Labine began her professional career in 1966 as staff writer for Captain Kangaroo. She became a script writer for the CBS daytime serial, "Where the Heart Is," and then with Paul Avila Mayer, head writer for that show and subsequently for CBS' "Love of Life." Labine-Mayer created, produced, and wrote for ABC the multi-award winning serial "Ryan's Hope" through its first five years, and Labine served the show in various capacities in the years following. During that period, she also taught the ABC Writer's Development Program, and in its final two years, returned to "Ryan's Hope" as head-writer with Eleanor Labine Mancusi and then with Matthew Labine. She wrote four movies of the week aired on CBS, ABC, and NBC, and wrote and produced the feature film, Tristan and Isolt, with Richard Burton and Kate Mulgrew. She returned to daytime television as headwriter of "General Hospital," again in collaboration with Matthew and Eleanor, and during their three-year tenure, the show annually won the Emmy for Best Daytime Serial; the writing team was awarded two Emmies and two Writers Guild Awards. Subsequenlty, she was headwriter with Matthew Labine on ABC's "One Life to Live" and CBS' "Guiding Light." Labine has ten Emmies and thirteen Writers Guild Awards for her work in daytime television. She served the Writers Guild of America East for three terms as Vice President and on the WGA Council for twelve years, served on two national negotiating committees, and was given the Richard Jablow Award for devoted service to the Guild. She has received Lifetime Achievement Awards from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and Soap Opera Digest. She was given the Writers Guild Evelyn Burkey Award for one whose work has brought recognition and dignity to writers everywhere (other recipients of which have included Arthur Miller, Horton Foote, Vcalv Havel, John Sayles, Art Buchwald, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala). Scott Manville (Secretary) is a Senior Vice President of Computer Services for U.S. Trust Company, where he has spent his entire career. Jennifer Orr is an attorney at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP, where she specializes in securities, derivative, and general commercial litigation. Jenny received her bachelor's degree, with honors in the liberal arts, from The Ohio State University (Anthropology) and her law degree, cum laude, from Case Western Reserve University School of Law, where she was Managing Editor of the Law Review. Jenny has been a fan of the theater since first being exposed to classic movie musicals as a child. Richard Page serves as Senior Director of Enterprise Systems at NYU Medical Center and is currently responsible for oversight of a capital project re-engineering the financial processes and systems of the organization. Rory Stanton (Treasurer) is the Finance Director for Conde Nast Portfolio magazine. Richard Winkler is a lighting designer and producer. As a lighting designer, he works for Broadway, off-Broadway, national and international tours and regional theatres, working on plays, musicals, opera, concerts, and dance. While his 35-year career as a lighting designer continues, he began producing commerically in 2008. HIs most recent shows: The Norman Conquests (Tony Award), Memphis: The Musical (Tony Award), La Cage Aux Folles (Tony Award), A Little Night Music, La Bete (London and Broadway), Long Story Short with Colin Quinn, A Little House on the Prairie (national tour with Melissa Gilbert), The 39 Steps (national tour and off-Broadway). Coming: Catch Me If You Can: The Musical. In development: Langston in Harlem (musical), The Al Jolson Project musical), Idaho! (musical), Southern Rapture (play). His production company is Red Hanger Productions. Artistic Advisory BoardBrian Crawley, lyricist and librettist Michele Pawk, actress |