Board of Trustees

Robert Redford
President and Founder

Walter L. Weisman
Chairman of the Board

Walter L. (Wally) Weisman is the chairman of the Board of Trustees of Sundance Institute. He began his career as a lawyer and is a graduate of Stanford University and the Stanford University Law School. He entered the health care field in 1969 and in 1972 joined American Medical International Inc., a hospital management company that owned and operated acute care hospitals across the United States and in Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, Asia, and Australia. Weisman became the company’s chairman and later its chief executive officer in 1985.

Weisman is also a past chairman and now a life trustee of the Board of Trustees of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. He is a senior trustee of the Board of Trustees of the California Institute of Technology and a member of the Institute’s oversight committee for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.  He is a director of Occidental Petroleum Corporation (Los Angeles), and Fresenius Medical Care (Frankfurt, Germany). Mr. Weisman lives in Los Angeles with his wife Sheila. They have three children and five grandchildren.

Pat Mitchell
Vice Chairman of the Board

Pat Mitchell is the president and chief executive officer of the Paley Center for Media which she led through the transition of renaming  (formerly the Museum of Television and Radio), with centers in New York and Los Angeles. Mitchell further evolved the 30 year old institution’s mission to be a center for all things media, with public programs and forums for media executives that use the lens to better understand the past, explore the present, and imagine the future.

Prior to her tenure at the museum, she was the chief executive officer at Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Mitchell rejuvenated the National Program Service and oversaw the development of many new projects including a new primetime documentary series, the launch of a new channel for children, the first public media and commercial partnership, and the digital conversion of the 352 public television stations. She also established the PBS Foundation to provide an endowment to support and sustain public service media.

From 1990-2000, Mitchell was an executive in charge of original productions for Ted Turner’s cable networks, overseeing as executive producer more than 400 hours of documentaries and specials a year. During her tenure as president of Turner Original Productions and CNN Productions, the programs produced under her direction were awarded 37 Emmy Awards, 5 Peabody Awards, and 2 Academy Award nominations.

In the mid-'80s, Mitchell founded and ran an independent production company specializing in programs produced for and about women. She was the first American woman to host, produce, and own a national television series, Woman to Woman, which was nationally syndicated and won the Emmy for Best Talk program in 1984.

As well as serving as the vice chair of the Sundance Institute Board, Mitchell is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the U.S. Afghan Women’s Council; a founding president of Mikhail Gorbachev’s global environmental organization, Global Green USA; an adviser to the Center for Public Leadership at the Kennedy School of Harvard University; a member of the Mayo Clinic’s Board of Trustees; and on the corporate board of AOL.

She is married to Atlanta businessman Scott Seydel, and together they have six children and eight grandchildren.

Sean Bailey
Sean Bailey is President of Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production and oversees all aspects of live-action development, film production and physical production for Walt Disney Pictures. Upcoming titles include Tim Burton's Frankenweenie; Oz The Great and Powerful, directed by Sam Raimi and starring James Franco, Rachel Weisz, Mila Kunis and Michelle Williams; and The Lone Ranger, starring Johnny Depp, directed by Gore Verbinski and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. Prior to joining The Walt Disney Studios in 2010, Bailey produced Disney's TRON: Legacy, directed by Joseph Kosinski, starring Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund and Olivia Wilde, developing it in tandem with other media ranging from the Grammy-nominated, RIAA Gold-certified soundtrack by Daft Punk to a multi-platform video game and an upcoming Disney XD television series.

In 2008, he founded Idealogy, Inc., with a focus on the evolution and future of creative content, developing high-quality stories that can live across media. Bailey worked as a writer-producer under an exclusive deal with ABC Studios from 2004 to 2008, during which time he continued in his capacity as chairman and board member of LivePlanet, the production company he co-founded in 2000 with Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Chris Moore. While at LivePlanet, he executive-produced the innovative LivePlanet/HBO/Miramax series Project Greenlight, nominated for three Emmy Awards, and co-created the LivePlanet/ABC series Push, Nevada with Affleck.

A 20-year industry veteran, Bailey has created, packaged and developed film, television and new media concepts for Walt Disney Pictures, Miramax, 20th Century Fox, Columbia Pictures, DreamWorks, New Line Cinema, Paramount, Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros., all major television networks, MSN and Yahoo. His feature film producing credits include Miramax's Gone, Baby, Gone, directed by Ben Affleck and starring Casey Affleck, Ed Harris, Morgan Freeman and Amy Ryan; Matchstick Men, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Nicolas Cage; The Core; and Best Laid Plans. His screenplay Solace, co-written by Ted Griffin, is in preproduction at New Line Cinema. Bailey's first job as a producer in the entertainment industry was developing the game show Debt for Buena Vista Television, which aired on Lifetime from 1996-1998.

Kenneth Cole

As a renowned American designer and humanitarian, Kenneth Cole believes that “it is great to be known for your shoes but even better to be recognized for your soul”. 

A business that began 20+ years ago out of the back of a 40 foot trailer, Kenneth Cole Productions has risen to the top of American fashion. With worldwide distribution of his lifestyle brand, Kenneth Cole has been able to unite his fashion instincts and business acumen with his philanthropic convictions. As chairman to the Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) and a founding board member to the homeless organization HELP USA, Kenneth Cole has made it his business to fuse fashion with social action. Kenneth is also a board member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA).

He resides in Westchester, New York, with his wife Maria Cuomo Cole and their three daughters.

Jack Ferraro

Jack M. Ferraro retired in January 2000 from Neuberger & Berman, L.L.C., where he spent 21 years as a money manager of individual and institutional accounts and became a general partner in 1983. Prior to joining Neuberger, Mr. Ferraro was a portfolio manager at the Banca Del Gottardo in Lugano, Switzerland, and a securities analyst with Oppenheimer and Co. in New York and London.

Ferraro sits on Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management's Advisory Council and was president of the Johnson School Alumni Association for several years. He also serves on the Boards of the Johnson School's Parker Center and of the Cayuga MBA Fund.  He served on the Board of Trustees of the Hackley School from 1985-2009 and as its president from 1990-2000.  He received the Hackley School Medal of Honor, the school’s highest award, in 2000 and was made an honorary alumnus of the School in 2003.  He was named to the school's Honorary Board of Trustees in 2009. Mr. Ferraro and his wife Marianne endowed the Ferraro Family Chair in the Arts at the Hackley School. While residing in the New York area, Jack also served on the Blair Academy Board of Trustees from 1994-2000 and as a Trustee of the Neuberger Museum of Art from 1996-2000.

Mr. and Mrs. Ferraro became full time residents of Utah in 2000, dividing their time between Park City and St. George. In addition to his involvement with Sundance Institute, Mr. Ferraro served on the Board of Park City’s National Ability Center ("NAC") from 2002-2008 and as its president in 2004. He was also a member of the Utah Symphony and Opera’s Deer Valley Music Festival's Advisory Council from 2003-2008.

From 2004-2010, Mr. Ferraro served on the Board of Directors of the BMP Sunstone Corporation, a Chinese pharmaceutical company listed on the NASDAQ, where he was a member of the executive, audit, and finance committees.

Jeanne Donovan Fisher

Jeanne Donovan Fisher is a producer, investor, and philanthropist living in New York City. Fisher is president of True Love Productions, a theater and film production company in New York that she formed in 2001. Prior to the producing venture, Fisher’s professional background was in strategic communications. From 1992 until 1998, she was a managing director and founding partner of Citigate SVC, a public relations consulting firm in New York. Before joining SVC, she was vice president and director of corporate communications at Morgan Stanley. She served as the company’s primary spokesperson, oversaw its communications on a worldwide basis, and was responsible for Morgan Stanley's public relations, media relations, advertising, and editorial services functions.

Fisher is an active philanthropist who serves on the boards of Sundance Institute, Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Environmental Defense Fund, the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard (chair), and the American Fund for the Tate Modern. She also supports numerous other nonprofit institutions, particularly in the areas of arts and education.

Fisher was born in Boston and grew up in Hudson, Ohio. Her interests include theater, film, 20th century art and design, fiction, golf, and champagne. She is the wife of the late Richard B. Fisher, former chairman and chief executive of Morgan Stanley.

Robert J. Frankenberg

Bob Frankenberg is the owner of NetVentures, a management consulting firm focused on the high tech industry. Prior to its sale in 2004, Frankenberg chaired Kinzan, a leading provider of Internet services platforms. From April 1994 to August 1996, Frankenberg was the chairman/CEO of Novell, the world’s largest networking software company. Prior to Novell, Frankenberg was the corporate vice president and group general manager of Hewlett-Packard’s Personal Information Products Group, responsible for HP’s personal computer, server, networking, office software, calculator, and consumer product lines.

Frankenberg serves as a member of the board of directors of public companies National Semiconductor and Nuance Communications, as well as startup companies Veracity Networks, Digital Bridge, and Sylvan Source. He has served on the Utah Advisory board of the Sundance Institute since 1994 before becoming a Sundance Institute Trustee. He is chairman of the Westminster College Board of Trustees. He is a former member of the San Jose State University Advisory, Stanford Business School Alumni, America Online (AOL), Daw Technologies, Electroglas, Encanto Networks, Extended Systems, Kinzan, PowerQuest, Starlight Networks, Wall Data, and Placer Rehabilitation Industries boards.

Frankenberg is a 1974 Phi Kappa Phi/Tau Beta Pi, summa cum laude computer engineering graduate of San Jose State University. He is a SEP graduate of Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. He was recently inducted into the Silicon Valley Engineering Hall of Fame. He served in the U.S. Air Force from 1965 to 1969. He and Linda, his wife of 40 years, live in Alpine, Utah.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Joseph Gordon-Levitt has developed a distinguished career as a television and film actor. He starred on the hit television series 3rd Rock from the Sun (1996). Prior to his success on television, he worked steadily in feature films, debuting in the Robert Redford film A River Runs Through It (1992).

He has appeared in a number of films premiering at the Sundance Film Festival including Manic (2001), Rian Johnson's Brick (2005), Gregg Araki's Mysterious Skin (2004), (500) Days of Summer (2009), and Hesher (2010). Gordon-Levitt's short film Sparks, an adaptation of a short story by Elmore Leonard, was also selected for the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.

Additionally, Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s project hitRECord.org was featured at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival’s New Frontier performances and installations. His part media workshop, part social network, and part art exhibition, topples traditional ideas of artistic ownership, online communication, and film production. He is dedicated to Sundance Institute’s programs and mission and is a proven conduit for the Institute’s story and message and attended the Festival fundraiser “An Artist at the Table” as an artist table host.

George Gund**

George Gund III is a native of Cleveland who divides his time between San Francisco, New York City, and wherever his involvements in the worlds of ice hockey, basketball, and independent film take him.

Gund is a trustee of the George Gund Foundation, a Cleveland-based organization created by his father in 1952 known for its support of innovative community and national programs and organizations. He is a trustee of the Menninger Foundation in Topeka, Kansas, and a trustee of the University of Nevada, Reno Foundation. He is a board member of the International Founders’ Council of the National Museum of the American Indian. He is a trustee of the Musical Arts Foundation (Cleveland Orchestra), chairman of the National Advisory Board of the Western Folklife Center in Elko, Nevada, a member of KQED’s Signal Society, and a member of the Sierra Club National Advisory Board.

Since the 1970s, Gund has been importing and distributing Eastern European films and encouraging independent film production in the United States. He is active in several international film festivals, a longtime chair of the San Francisco International Film Society, a founder of the Cleveland Cinematique, and a board member of the Cleveland Film Festival. He is a trustee of the University of California Art Museum at Berkeley and its Pacific Film Archive and is a member of the Film Committee of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Gund is a trustee of the Gund Collection of Western Art and is a member of the International Council of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and Cleveland Museum of Art.

Mellody Hobson

Mellody Hobson is president of Ariel Investments, a Chicago-based money management firm that serves individual investors and 401(k) plans through its no-load mutual funds and manages separate accounts for institutional clients. She is a graduate of Princeton University, where she received her B.A. degree from the Woodrow Wilson School of International Relations and Public Policy.

Hobson is a board member of the Chicago Public Library and its foundation, The Field Museum, and the Chicago Public Education Fund. She is also a director of three public companies: DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc., The Estée Lauder Companies Inc., and Starbucks Corporation. Additionally, she is on the board of governors of the Investment Company Institute, a member of the SEC advisory committee, and a former trustee of Princeton University. Hobson is a member of the Economic Club of Chicago, the Commercial Club of Chicago, and the Young President’s Organization (YPO).

Hobson’s extensive media experience includes her role as a regular financial contributor on ABC’s Good Morning America, World News Tonight, Nightline, and the 2009 special Unbroke: What You Need to Know about Money, for which she served as executive producer and host. She has been profiled in publications including the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Time, and Fortune Magazine.

Cindy Harrell Horn

Cindy Harrell Horn is an advocate for education, public health, and the environment. She has worked with the UCLA School of Public Health in California and the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico in their new effort to combat emerging infectious diseases. She has also helped secure bipartisan funding and support for the UCLA/LANL High Speed, High Volume Laboratory Network.

Horn is a cofounder and member of the Board of the Environmental Media Association (EMA), a nonprofit organization created to inspire and coordinate an entertainment industry response to global environmental crises. Horn was a founding trustee of Heal the Bay and The Archer School for Girls. She has also served as a board member for The Coalition for Clean Air, Tree People, The Natural Step, the Center for Environmental Education, the UCLA School of Public Health, and is a member of the Painting Conservatory Council for the J. Paul Getty Museum. In 1991 she was appointed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator, William Reilly, to serve on the National Education Advisory Council and was awarded the State of California Legislative Woman of the Year. Horn has been honored by American Oceans Campaign, Heal the Bay, The Archer School for Girls, EMA, and the UCLA School of Public Health. Horn and her husband Alan reside in Los Angeles.

Sheila C. Johnson

Ms. Johnson is CEO of Salamander Hospitality, where she oversees a portfolio of properties including Innisbrook Resort in Innisbrook, FL, Woodlands Inn in Summerville, SC, and Salamander Resort & Spa, currently being constructed in Middleburg, VA.  As Vice Chairman of Monumental Sports & Entertainment and President and Managing Partner of the WNBA’s Washington Mystics, she is the first African-American woman to have a stake in three professional sports teams, including the Washington Wizards (NBA) and the Washington Capitals (NHL).

Johnson is a partner in both ProJet Aviation, specializing in aviation consulting and charter services and Mistral, the makers of fine bath, body and home products.  Johnson is a founding partner of Black Entertainment Television (BET).  As a film producer, her projects include Kicking It, A Powerful Noise and Ella Es el Matador. Her latest film, The Other City, is about the HIV/AIDS crisis in Washington DC.

In 2006, Johnson was named global ambassador for CARE. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, serves as Chair of the Board of Governors of Parsons The New School for Design, and on the boards for the University of Virginia Board of Visitors, the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, Americans for the Arts, the Jackie Robinson Foundation, the Tiger Woods Foundation, Howard University and the University of Illinois Foundation. 

An accomplished violinist, Ms. Johnson earned a Bachelor of Arts in music from the University of Illinois. 

Christine Lahti

Christine Lahti is an actor and director whose work has appeared in TV, film, regional theatre, Broadway, and Off- Broadway. She earned her first Oscar nomination (and The NY Film Critics Award) for Swing Shift (1985) and won an Oscar 10 years later as a first-time director for her short film Lieberman in Love. In 1998 after multiple nominations, Lahti won both the Emmy and her second Golden Globe Award – the TV movie No Place Like Home was the first – for her portrayal of Dr. Kathryn Austin on Chicago Hope. Three years later her feature film directorial debut, My First Mister, opened the 2001 Sundance Film Festival.

More recent television work includes roles on Law & Order: SVU, A&E’s The Cleaner, Studio 60, and Jack and Bobby, and her recent film work includes the upcoming Flying Lessons, Yonkers Joe, and Obsessed.  Other film credits include Running On Empty (LA Film Critics Award), Housekeeping, and Just Between Friends. In 2009-2010, she starred on Broadway in God of Carnage. Other NY Stage credits include The Heidi Chronicles, Little Murders, (Obie Award), The Woods (Theatre World Award) and 3 Hotels (Drama Desk Nomination.) Regional theatre credits include Moon for the Misbegotten, Summer and Smoke, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. She also starred in Wendy Wasserstein’s final play, Third, at the Geffen Playhouse.

Lyn Davis Lear

Lyn Davis Lear is a cofounder and member of the Board of the Environmental Media Association (EMA), a nonprofit organization created to inspire and coordinate an entertainment industry response to the global environmental crisis. Formed in 1989, EMA educates and motivates members of the creative community to incorporate environmental themes and issues in television programming and films. In 2004, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from The Children's Health Environmental Coalition (CHEC).

In 2005, Lyn received the EMA Board of Directors Ongoing Commitment Award presented by the honorable Al Gore in recognition of her dedication to the environment. In 2008, Mrs. Lear received the Global Green 2008 Millennium Award for Entertainment Industry Environmental Leadership and is currently a member of the Board of Trustees for Sundance Institute.

Mrs. Lear holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and is married to television writer and producer Norman Lear. She resides in Los Angeles, California, and is the mother of three children.

Anand Mahindra

Anand Mahindra is the Chairman and Managing Director of Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. He graduated Magna cum laude from Harvard College and has an MBA degree from the Harvard Business School. Upon graduation, he returned to India and joined Mahindra Ugine Steel Company Ltd (MUSCO), the country’s foremost producer of specialty steels.  Today, the Mahindra Group is a US $ 14.4 billion organization, and one of India’s top 10 industrial houses. Mahindra has evolved into a socially and environmentally responsible global federation of companies with a leading presence in each sector in which it is present. 

Anand Mahindra is the co-founder of the Harvard Business School Association of India, dedicated to the promotion of professional management in India.  As a leading industry figure, he has served as President of the Confederation of Indian Industry in 2003-2004 and has also been President of the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI).  He also served on the Boards of the National Stock Exchange of India and the National Council of Applied Economic Research and currently serves on the board of the India Council for Sustainable Development, Harvard Business School’s Asia-Pacific Advisory Board, the Asia Business Council, and the Global Board of Advisors of the Council on Foreign Relations.  In 2011 Fortune magazine named Anand as one of the top 25 most powerful business people in Asia.

Anand is co-founder of Naandi Danone, which is the largest safe drinking water provider to rural areas of India catering to nearly 3 million customers.  Naandi brings the best of agriculture and natural resource management to the largest number of small and marginal farmers across India.  He is also a Life Trustee on the Board of Naandi Foundation, a leader in providing meals to 1.3 million children daily and academic support in over 1800 government schools. 

A firm believer in the power of education, Anand initiated the Nanhi Kali programme to provide free education to economically underprivileged girls in India.  He is a Trustee of the K.C. Mahindra Education Trust, which provides scholarships to students, and is also on the Board of Governors of the Mahindra United World College of India.

Anand believes that a study of liberal arts is essential in shaping leaders of the future. He has given the largest personal donation overseas by an Indian – an endowment of 10 million USD to the Harvard Humanities Center, which is being relaunched as the Mahindra Humanities Center.

Lynn Nottage

Lynn’s Pulitzer Prize winning play Ruined is currently playing Off-Broadway at Manhattan Theatre Club (coproduction with Goodman Theatre in Chicago).  Ruined has also received an OBIE, the Lucille Lortel Award, NY Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Awards.  Other plays include Intimate Apparel (NY Drama Critics Circle’s Best Play; Roundabout, CenterStage, South Coast Rep); Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine (Obie Award; Playwrights Horizons, London’s Tricycle Theatre); Crumbs from the Table of Joy; Las Meninas; Mud, River, Stone; Por’knockers; and Poof! Nottage is the recipient of numerous awards including the 2007 MacArthur Foundation “Genius Grant,” The National Black Theatre Festival’s August Wilson Playwriting Award, the 2004 PEN/Laura Pels Award for Drama, the 2005 Guggenheim Grant for Playwriting, as well as fellowships from the Lucille Lortel Foundation, Manhattan Theatre Club, New Dramatists, and the NYFA. Lynn’s most recent publications include: Intimate Apparel and Fabulation (TCG) and an anthology of her plays, Crumbs from the Table of Joy and Other Plays (TCG). 

Lynn has been an active participant and supporter of the Sundance Institute Theatre Lab and was instrumental in securing the Governors Island location for Sundance Institute’s upcoming spring Theatre Lab in New York. On several occasions, she has served as a Creative Advisor at the Theatre Lab. She is a member of The Dramatists Guild, an alumna of New Dramatists, and a graduate of Brown University and the Yale School of Drama, where she is a visiting lecturer. She resides in Brooklyn with her husband and daughter.

Heather Rae

Heather Rae is an American film producer, director, and actress of Cherokee descent. She produced Frozen River (2008), which won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and garnered two Academy Award nominations. One of her first films produced in 1990 is a short documentary entitled Birth Our Own. Rae has also worked as an actress in films such as Silent Tears (1998), Backroads (2000), Norman Waiting (2006), and Disappearance (2006).

Heather Rae has been engaged with Sundance Institute on many levels. She served as the head of the Sundance Institute Native American Program from 1997 to 2001, as a Creative Advisor at the Institute’s Native Lab, and has also been involved in the Creative Producers Initiative. Rae is married to screenwriter/director Russell Friedenberg and has three children.

Geoffrey K. Sands

Geoffrey Sands is a Director of McKinsey & Company and heads its Global Media, Entertainment and Information Practice in North America. He also co-leads McKinsey's Digital Marketing Practice. He has over 25 years of experience working with many of the leading marketing, media and entertainment companies. His clients span a wide range of businesses that include: newspaper, magazine and book publishing; broadcast and cable television; internet service providers; recorded music; filmed entertainment; professional publishing; business information services; education; marketing services; video games; consumer electronics; and sports.

Geoff serves on the Board of Directors of the Sundance Institute, Thirteen/WNET and the Paley Center for Media. He is also Chairman of the Board of The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Since 2004, he has been the Industry Advisor to the World Economic Forum's Media & Entertainment Governors' Meetings, and also serves as a member of the Forum's Council on the Future of Journalism.

Geoff received his BA and MBA from Yale University. He resides in Rye, NY with his wife and four children.

Jim Swartz
James R. Swartz has been active in venture capital for four decades. He has served as a director at more than 50 successful companies and has been closely involved as lead investor with the emergence of numerous industry pioneering technology companies including Riverbed Technology (RVBD), where he is currently the lead director. Before founding Accel Partners in 1983, Jim started Adler & Company with Fred Adler in 1978 after his tenure as a vice president of Citicorp Venture Capital. He is a graduate of Harvard University with a concentration in engineering sciences and applied physics and holds a M.S. in industrial administration from Carnegie Mellon University, where he sponsors the James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellowship Program and the Swartz Scholarship.

Jim serves as chairman of the Swartz Foundation and the Christian Center of Park City, director emeritus of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Foundation (where he established the Borgen-Swartz Education Endowment), trustee of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), and a member of the Board of Advisors of Tepper School of Business and Pacific Community Ventures.  Jim also led the establishment of the Deer Valley Music Festival as a founder and the YMCA of Martha's Vineyard as co-chairman of the Major Gifts Committee. From 1999 to 2002, he served on the Management Committee of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the Winter Olympics of 2002 (SLOC). He is the recipient of a Merit Award from Carnegie Mellon University and an Honorary Doctorate Degree from the Western Governors University.

Together with his wife Susan, Jim also founded Impact Partners, a financing and advisory firm dedicated to advancing independent cinema that addresses pressing social needs. Impact Partners has worked with such films as Academy Award Winners Born Into Brothels (2005) and The Cove (2010), and numerous Academy Award Nominees and Sundance Award Winners.

John E. Warnock

John E. Warnock is cochairman of the Board of Directors of Adobe Systems, Inc., a company he cofounded in 1982 with Charles Geschke. Dr. Warnock was President of Adobe for his first two years and chairman and CEO for his remaining 16 years at Adobe. Warnock has pioneered the development of graphics, publishing, Web, and electronic document technologies that have revolutionized the field of publishing and visual communication.

Warnock’s entrepreneurial success has been chronicled by leading business and computer industry publications, and he has received numerous awards for technical and managerial achievement. A partial list of awards includes: University of Utah Distinguished Alumnus Award (1995); Software Systems Award (1989, Association for Computing Machinery); Edwin H. Land Medal (2000, Optical Society of America); Bodley Medal (2003, Bodleian Library at Oxford University); Lovelace Medal (2004, British Computer Society); Medal of Achievement (2006, AeA); Computer Entrepreneur Award (2008, IEEE Computer Society); United States National Medal of Technology and Innovation (2009).Warnock is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. He has received honorary degrees from the University of Utah, the American Film Institute, and Nottingham University.

Warnock is a member of the board of directors of Adobe Systems Inc., Ebrary Inc., Mongonet Inc., and Salon Media Group. He is past chairman of the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose. He also serves on the Board of Trustees of the American Film Institute and Sundance Institute.

Before cofounding Adobe Systems, Warnock was principal scientist at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). Prior to joining Xerox, Warnock held positions at Evans & Sutherland Computer Corporation, Computer Sciences Corporation, IBM, and the University of Utah.

Dr. Warnock holds eight patents, B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mathematics, and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, all from the University of Utah.

Jacki Zehner

In 1996 Jacki Zehner was the youngest woman and first female trader to be invited into the partnership of Goldman Sachs. Most of her career at Goldman was in mortgage-backed trading, followed by two years spent in the Executive Office working in human capital management.   After leaving the firm in 2002, she became a Founding Partner of Circle Financial Group, a private wealth management operation consisting of a small group of women committed to effectively managing their families’ assets and philanthropic activities.  An impassioned philanthropic visionary committed to the social and economic empowerment of women, she is currently President and CEO of Women Moving Millions, which is a community of women who have committed a million or more to initiatives that advance the lives of women and girls.  Through strategic affiliations, knowledge sharing, and peer-to-peer outreach, the mission of WMM is to expand a vibrant movement that inspires and mobilizes greater resources for women and girls.  Jacki is also President of The Jacquelyn and Gregory Zehner Foundation and former board member of The Women’s Funding Network, The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, The National Council for Research on Women, The University of British Columbia and The Center for Work Life Policy.  In addition she serves as an advisor for many other for profit and non-profit organizations that are working to advance gender equality for women and girls.  She is a frequent media commentator, consultant and speaker on women’s success in the workplace, women and wealth, investing, financial current events and high-impact philanthropy.

Emeritus:
Glenn Close
Jake Eberts**
Sally Field
Steven Haft
Thomas E. Rothman
George White

**Deceased