LEADERSHIP
The JWT Leadership Board serves as champions of Jewish women. Members of the Board dedicate time to the ideal that the lives and passions of Jewish women in America should be represented on the stage and documented for posterity.
Our Honorary Board includes Honey Kessler Amado, Nancy Berman, Cambria & Howard Gordon, Janice Kamenir-Reznik, Faye Moskowitz, Gina Nahai, Joy Picus, Gail Twersky Reimer, and Rosanne Ziering.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
RONDA SPINAK (Producer/JWT Artistic Director) created and produces JWT’s At-Homes Salon Theatre Series, now in its tenth season. She has curated more than 35 original Jewish-themed salon shows for JWT, as well as adapted many of the pieces performed. Spinak developed and produced Not That Jewish at JWT’s The Braid, which ran for 16 months, garnered an LA Drama Critics Circle nomination, only stopping to move to off-Broadway, where the show ran for over 200 performances. Spinak co-wrote Stories From the Fringe, putting the stories of women rabbis on stage for the first time. Since then, she and her team have interviewed on videotape, 150 national and international women rabbis, and in partnership with Jewish Women’s Archive have made many of the interviews available online at www. jwa.org. She’s the author of the critically acclaimed exercise book, ProBodX (HarperCollins), wrote for Rugrats, and her plays include Oscar Wilde’s Wife, a favorite at the Ashland New Play Festival. Spinak graduated from Stanford University, completed her MBA at UCLA and her masters in writing at USC. She has served as a grant reviewer for the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, is on the board of the Alliance for Jewish Theatres and is a member of the Dramatists Guild.
LYNNE HIMELSTEIN has dedicated herself to the Jewish community, assuming leadership positions on the board of National Women’s Philanthropy. In great demand as a speaker on Jewish philanthropy, she has traveled around both the United States and Israel, inspiring people to give to Jewish organizations. She is currently the chair of Lion of Judah Endowment for the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles and member of the board of Jewish Women’s Archive.
PATRICIA LINDEN is formerly the Director of Financial Management at the RAND Corporation, a non-profit policy research organization based in Santa Monica. She brings 30 years of financial management experience to her role on the JWT Board and she holds an MBA from UCLA. Prior to RAND she worked in public accounting for nine years with a specialty in entertainment and non-profits and worked in the film production and sports entertainment industry for six years prior to joining RAND in 1984.
Jackie Weintraub’s career has spanned several fields including pre school teacher for 10 years with a Masters in Early Childhood Education, Co-Founder of the Harvard Law School Child Care Center, Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Los Angeles Children’s Museum, and presently The Discovery Cube LA, thriving in the San Fernando Valley. Jackie served as Development Director of the LA Municipal Art Gallery, the International Students Center of UCLA and the Early Childhood Center at Cedars Sinai Medical Center. As a film producer, Jackie’s films have taken her across the globe to France, Lithuania and Croatia. Among the films she has produced are “Le Femme Musketeer” with Gerard Depardieu in 2004, and “Endangered Species” in 2005, both filmed in Croatia. She was Executive Producer of “Warrior Angels”, with Rutger Hauer and “Perilous” filmed in Lithuania in 2002. She was Executive Producer of “Amazons and Gladiators,” Supervising Producer on “Undertow” with Charles Dance for Showtime and a Senior Production Consultant for “The Devil’s Arithmetic” with Kirsten Dunst for Showtime. For Warner Brothers International Television, Jackie was a producer of “The New Adventures of Robin Hood”, 52 episodes produced from 1996 through 2000. Jackie is currently developing projects for television and the stage. She is a certified personal trainer and an active volunteer fundraiser for Jewish Women’s Theater since 2012.
SHARON LANDAU brings to JWT 20 years of non-profit leadership experience helping programs and organizations scale and thrive. As a non-profit Director and consultant, she engaged multidisciplinary stakeholders to design, pilot, scale and evaluate innovative programs improving contraceptive access at local, state and national levels that became replicable models. She launched Pharmacy Forward, the nation’s first leadership program for pharmacists in reproductive health. She previously worked in management consulting for Kaiser Permanente and as clinic manager for Planned Parenthood Los Angeles. She holds a Masters in Public Health from UCLA and is an alumnae of CA Women’s Policy Institute and Center for Collaborative Planning’s Leadership Institute.
JODIE MENDELSON is a licensed architect, and works in downtown Los Angeles managing construction of culture and entertainment venues for Cumming, an international project management and cost consulting company. When she’s not working at her day job, she is volunteering for Jewish Women’s Theatre, and spending time with her family and friends.
JANIS C. NELSON has worked in the entertainment industry for over 40 years. She is an entertainment attorney with the law firm of Cowan DeBaets Abrahams + Sheppard, LLP in Beverly Hills, representing production companies, financiers, producers, writers, directors and actors working in theatre, film, television, publishing and new media. She has served on the boards of several prominent arts and media organizations, including Women in Film, Los Angeles Ballet and Dance Camera West. She began her career at the Repertory Theatre of Lincoln Center in New York City and she is a graduate of Barnard College and the UCLA School of Law.
JWT ADVISORY BOARD
JULIE I BRAM is a full time community volunteer and activist. She has a B.A. in Communication Studies and an M.A. in Education, both from UCLA. As a founding partner of the Jewish Venture Philanthropy Fund, she has been blessed to work with many remarkable non-profit organizations. Her passion lies in using education and communication to effect positive change in the world. She was the chair of the 2013 Los Angeles Walk to End Genocide to raise awareness about today’s genocides and to fund raise for projects that help genocide survivors in Africa. Julie currently serves on several local and national advisory committees and boards of directors for a wide variety of charitable causes:
The American Friends of Hand in Hand, a group dedicated to supporting our growing network of award winning schools in Israel that educate Israeli Arab and Jewish children together.
American Jewish Committee, Board of Governors and Project Interchange national board as well as the executive board of the Los Angeles chapter. Current co-chair of the International Relations committee and participant in three diplomatic missions; one to Poland, the second to the Arabian Gulf States and most recently to Tunisia and Morocco.
Hebrew Union College, Zelikow School of Jewish Non Profit Management advisory board member and co-chair of its mentor program.
Jewish World Watch, an organization that fights against genocide and other atrocious human rights violations in Africa through education, advocacy, and refugee relief.
Jewish Women’s Theatre, board member, writer and advisor.
Julie is married to Steve Bram and they have two adult children, Ben and Alanna.
Robbie Diamond was born and raised in Los Angeles, attending Dorsey High School and Cal State Northridge. She has worked in many fields including founding the Kindergarten Extended Day Program at Warner Avenue School, which was the predecessor to the STAR Education program. Robbie was a personal assistant to real estate developer and art collector Arthur Gilbert for twelve years, and then, upon his death, she became the administrator of The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation. She has volunteered with many groups over the years, including The Beauty Bus, P.S. Arts and the Entertainment Industry Foundation.
Robbie loves to bake, read, travel and spend time with her family, including her two grandchildren, Oliver and Quinn.
Amirose Eisenbach is a writer and producer, with fifteen years of entertainment experience. She’s previously worked at Warner Bros., FOX Interactive Media and at AMC Theatres editorial, where she ran the independent film division. In 2016, to help champion independent cinema even further, Amirose launched Radiant J. Productions. Focusing on elevating female creatives, spreading mindfulness and making positive social impact in the community, Radiant J. is determined to bring more meaningful and important content into the world.
SANDY SAVETT is a retired family and child therapist. For over 20 years she worked with at-risk families dealing with abuse, neglect and cultural difference in child rearing. She developed her love of theatre in Toronto and frequent family visits to New York.