Joan Rosenbaum

Joan Rosenbaum is Director Emerita of The Jewish Museum in New York, where she was the CEO for 30 years.

Focusing the Museum’s identity as an art museum presenting Jewish culture from ancient times to the present—as well as overseeing both major endowment and capital campaigns—Ms. Rosenbaum’s tenure was a period of significant growth during which the institution grew from a budget of $1 million  to $18 million. She was responsible for creating many critically acclaimed exhibitions, catalogs, and education programs, as well as adding significantly to the Museum’s world class collection.

Prior to The Jewish Museum, Ms. Rosenbaum held positions at the Museum of Modern Art and the New York State Council on the Arts. She is currently an arts management consultant, as well as a volunteer tutor; trustee of Artis, an organization that nurtures the careers of contemporary Israeli artists; and an active member of both The New School’s Institute for Retired Professionals and The Century Association.

Ms. Rosenbaum did undergraduate and graduate work at Boston University and Hunter College, and she received a certificate in not-for-profit management from Columbia University. Her honors and awards include recognition from the Ministries of Culture of Denmark and France.

Ira Silverberg

Ira Silverberg, former Literature Director of the National Endowment for the Arts, currently serves as Strategic Advisor, Author Brands for Open Road Integrated Media, a global digital publishing company. Mr. Silverberg’s work focuses on acquiring a wide range of authors and their backlist catalogs for Open Road to digitally publish and market.

Before joining the NEA in 2011, Mr. Silverberg held numerous positions in publishing, including Editor-in-Chief of Grove Press and Publisher and Founding Coeditor of High Risk Books, an imprint of Serpent's Tail. He was owner of a public relations company focused on independent literary presses and not-for-profit literary institutions. Silverberg spent 15 years as a literary agent and Foreign Rights Director at Donadio & Olsen and Sterling Lord Literistic.

Throughout his career as an agent, publisher, and editor, Mr. Silverberg has worked with authors such as best-sellers Neil Strauss, Ishmael Beah, and Jacqueline Susann (Estate) and National Book Award nominees Adam Haslett, Elfriede Jelinek, Herta Muller, and Kenzaburo Oe. 

He has been a panelist for the New York State Council on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Mellon Foundation, the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund, and the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance. Mr. Silverberg has served on the Boards of PEN American Center, BOMB Magazine, The New School MFA Writing Program, and the Jerusalem International Book Fair, among others.

Mr. Silverberg currently serves as an adjunct faculty member in the Columbia University School of the Arts’ MFA Writing Program.

Sydney Skybetter

Sydney Skybetter is a technologist, choreographer, and writer. His dances are regularly performed around the country, most recently at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Boston Center for the Arts, Jacob’s Pillow, and the Joyce Theater.

As a Founding Partner with the Edwards & Skybetter | Change Agency, he has consulted on issues of change management and technology for The National Ballet of Canada, Barnes & Noble, New York University, and The University of Southern California, among others. He lectures on everything from dance history to cultural futurism and is a frequent speaker at Juilliard, Dance/USA, and Opera America. He is a regular contributor to The Clyde Fitch Report and Dance Magazine, serves on the faculty of The Boston Conservatory, and is a lecturer on Dance History at Harvard University. He also produces shows at Joe’s Pub and OBERON with DanceNOW.

Andy Smith

During Andy Smith’s tenure at South Carolina’s Columbia Film Society, he led the organization through a period of dramatic growth, transforming its once small, local art house cinema, the Nickelodeon Theatre, into a nationally renowned media arts organization. He oversaw the organization’s relocation to a renovated historic theater in the heart of downtown Columbia and also founded the Indie Grits Film Festival, a platform for celebrating the work of Southern filmmakers.

Andy and co-director Seth Gadsden eventually expanded the festival into Indie Grits Labs, a year-round venture that provides assistance to artists and students through media education services and innovative project support. Under Andy’s leadership the Nickelodeon and Indie Grits received funding from the Ford Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts Our Town program, the Andy Warhol Foundation, the Surdna Foundation and others.

Andy was named as a 2017 Rockwood JustFilms Fellow and has previously served as a board member for the Art House Convergence, the Alliance (formerly NAMAC), and the South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center.

In 2018, Andy stepped down as the CEO of the Columbia Film Society in order to move to Western Japan, where he now works as an independent consultant and assists his wife, theatre artist Kimi Maeda.

Devon Smith

Devon Smith is the cofounder of Measure, an independent studio based in Portland, Oregon that helps nonprofit organizations understand their audiences and become better storytellers. Prior to founding Measure, Ms. Smith was director of social media and analytics at Threespot for four years where her clients included arts organizations (Ford’s Theater, Smithsonian, BBC America), philanthropic foundations (Barr, Bill & Melinda Gates, James Irvine, McKnight, Pew Charitable Trusts, Robert Wood Johnson, Stupski), and nonprofits (Brookings Institution, Business for Social Responsibility, Harvard Business School, National Park Service, Planned Parenthood) among many others. While at Threespot, she helped clients plan and manage social media campaigns, roll out new digital strategies across their organizations, and use data to more effectively make decisions.

Ms. Smith has been a featured speaker at more than a dozen arts and technology conferences in the US, UK, and Australia. Devon holds two bachelor’s degrees from the University of Washington, as well as an MBA from Yale School of Management and an MFA in theatre management from Yale School of Drama.

Stephen Whisnant

Stephen Whisnant founded Stephen Whisnant Strategies, LLC, in early 2014. He currently serves as managing director of this boutique consulting firm that provides philanthropic services to individuals, organizations, and charitable foundations.

Prior to establishing his own firm, he served as Director of Philanthropy and Advisor to the National Democratic Institute in Washington, D.C., and as an independent consultant to nonprofit organizations and initiatives nationwide. As a Managing Director for the United States Olympic Committee, he assisted with a number of special projects, helping to design their first capital campaign. He also served as the Campaign Director for the “Building for Peace Campaign” of the United States Institute of Peace.  The headquarters’ project, a $186,000,000 campaign, provided a permanent home for the Institute and included an expansive Global Peacebuilding Center on the northwest corner of the National Mall in Washington, D.C. 

Mr. Whisnant has an extensive background in fund development and general management in the nonprofit sector. Prior to joining USIP, he served as vice president of development and investor relations at Venture Philanthropy Partners. He also has consulted with a number of national and international organizations, advising them on their development plans and operations. He served as senior director of development and nonprofit initiatives, and then as a consultant to Paul Allen, Jody Patton, and the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation. He developed long-term fundraising strategies for the Experience Music Project, the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame, the Allen Institute for Brain Science, the Documentary Film division of Vulcan Productions, and the Microcomputer Gallery in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Mr. Whisnant spent 14 years in higher education as a senior development officer and advisor, including 10 years at Harvard University and three years at Davidson College. His tenure included work in alumni relations, major gifts, and two capital campaigns.

He holds a B.A. from the University of North Carolina and a master’s in education from Harvard University.