|
Melissa Helmbrecht, Chair & CEO
In the course of a single decade, Melissa transformed herself from a struggling teen who failed ninth and tenth grades into one of the youngest women in history to run for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Melissa transformed her life by serving others. She credits her dramatic turn-around to the love of a mentor who encouraged her to volunteer with homeless children. So inspired by one trip to the homeless shelter, Melissa never failed another class and began a grassroots effort to engage young people in the volunteer experiences that changed her life. Read more...
|
 |
|
Christina Weiss Lurie, Director
Christina plays a leading role in the worlds of sports, entertainment, and philanthropy as co-owner of the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles, one of the most respected franchises in all of professional sports, co-founder of Vox3 Films, an independent film company in New York, and president of Eagles Youth Partnership, the charitable wing of the Eagles committed to improving the health and education of youth in the Greater Philadelphia region. Christina’s film Inside Job won an Academy Award in 2011 for best documentary.
|
 |
|
Thaddeus Ferber, President of Membership and Advocacy
Thaddeus is a leading national figure on youth policy, infusing youth voice into public policy, and building online communications and advocacy campaigns. As Vice President of Policy at the Forum for Youth Investment, Thaddeus successfully led efforts to draft and pass the Federal Youth Coordination Act, creating a council of the Secretaries of all major federal departments and charging them with creating a National Youth Strategy. Working closely with White House officials in each of the last three administrations, Thaddeus also led campaigns calling for the creation of a White House Office on Children and Youth, a Federal Youth Council, and a White House Youth Ambassador Fellowship. Thaddeus founded and directed leading high-traffic websites devoted to building online movements of and for young people including the Youth Policy Action Center, Connect for Kids, and SparkAction.org. Thaddeus also developed the Democracy Facebook application to leverage the power of social media for advancing social equity. Thaddeus serves on the Steering Committee of the Campaign for Youth and the Children's Leadership Council, and has received numerous honors including the prestigious John Gardner Public Service Fellowship, the Capitol Advantage Civic Award, the Mobilize 08 Award, and the Champion of Juvenile Justice Award.
|
 |
|
Rafe Pery, Executive Vice President Finance and Administration
Rafe Pery has 15 years of leadership experience in business operations, finance, accounting, and human resources. Rafe previously supervised the financial and administrative functions of Palotta Teamworks, a fundraising consulting company specializing in large-scale multi-day events. He designed an infrastructure that supported the organization from startup through a 350% growth period, including the creation and implementation of centralized accounting and financial systems to unify regional offices throughout the U.S.. Rafe was instrumental in the 2004 merger of the Starlight Children's Foundation with the Starbright Foundation, integrating business functions, organizational structure, and administrative policies. Rafe also oversaw the reorganization and legal separation of the Jewish Community Centers of Greater Los Angeles and helped retool Project Angel Food's meal delivery program to individuals living with HIV/AIDS and other serious illnesses.
|
 |
|
John Schimmel, Executive Vice President, Splashlife Productions
John Schimmel was most recently Partner and President of Production of Ascendant Pictures, an independent finance and production company whose films include Andrew Nicol's Lord of War, Paul McGuigan's Lucky Number Slevin, and The Big White starring Robin Williams and Holly Hunter. John also did stints as President of Michael Douglas' Further Films and as an executive at Douglas-Reuther Productions, Belair Entertainment, and Warner Bros.. John started his career as a musician, working mostly in New York studios, clubs, and theatres. He co-wrote and co-produced the show Pump Boys and Dinettes which received both Tony and Laurence Olivier nominations for Best Musical. He attended Wesleyan University and the NYU Courant Institute of Mathematics, and recently completed his MFA in creative writing through Goddard College.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Jonathan Prince, Chief Creative, Brand Relationships, Media Development and Production
Jonathan Prince is a writer/producer in television, features, and webseries. He has created, written, and produced the A&E series The Cleaner, the CBS series Cane, and the NBC Emmy winning series American Dreams. He wrote and produced the CBS.com/General Motors webseries Novel Adventures, the WB webseries Love 15, and is now in pre-production on the WB/MySpace Music webseries 8 Track. As a TV director, Prince has done multiple television episodes and pilots, as well as the Emmy-nominated after school special Word Up and the Hallmark telefilm The Great Mom Swap. In the feature world, Prince wrote and produced the body-switching comedy 18 Again, directed Hollywood Pictures' Camp Nowhere, and is currently writing Cadillac Gets KISSed, the true story of KISS and their 1974 visit to a small Michigan town.
|
 |
|
Gadi Roache, Creative Director
Gadi Rouache is the founder and creative director of Art the Change, which drove the Bama Bus, a hand-painted 1985 Volkswagen bus, through every battleground state in the final 31 days of the election — 7,034 miles. During the campaign he also conceived and designed STENCIL AMERICA! a grassroots art initiative to engage fellow citizens in political dialogue and campaigning for Obama through individually creating customized clothing and collaborative murals using spray paint and vibrant political stencils. He is currently producing a documentary and traveling museum exhibit surrounding youth creativity, empowerment, and activism. Gadi has worked for American Israel Public Affairs Committee and the United Nations, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Bangkok.
|
 |
|
Steven Kontz, Assistant to the CEO
Steven brings with him a wide variety of experience, ranging from sports and entertainment, to nonprofits, and sustainability. He is the president and co-founder of the Nicaragua College Fund, a nonprofit that provides scholarships for students to attend school in Managua. Before joining the team at Splashlife, Steven served as the Sports Program Coordinator at the UCLA Anderson Center for Managing Enterprises in Media, Entertainment, and Sports, and worked for two years in the UCLA Athletic Department. Steven graduated from UCLA with a degree in Environmental Science, participating in research on sustainable winemaking practices and working with faculty to incorporate sustainability into their curriculum.
|
 |
|
Brian Casey, Executive Assistant and Media Coordinator
Brian first became a part of Splashlife while at Samuelson Productions and has been involved in all aspects of the company. He started his career in entertainment working on the Ricki Lake Show in New York. Since transplanting to Los Angeles from his hometown of Bethel, Connecticut ten years ago, he has worked as an NBC Page on such shows as The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The Weakest Link. From there he segued into production on NBC's Watching Elle and Boomtown before working as a Writer's Assistant on American Dreams. He then joined the development team at Once a Frog Productions, assisting with the development of projects. The Los Angeles AIDS Walk and Outfest are just two organizations Brian volunteers for in support of the LGBT community. He also enjoys cooking, hiking, reading, and spending quality time with family and friends.
|
 |
