Board, Staff + Advisory Committee
Board of Directors

JAMIE ISAACSON, Co-PRESIDENT
Finance, Events, Marketing (Co-Chair), and Development committees

For over twenty years, Jamie has co-produced The North Atlantic Blues Festival, an annual two-day blues music festival featuring nationally known blues performers in Rockland. A musician in his own right, he plays Chicago-styled piano with The Blues Prophets, which has been together nearly fifty years. Formerly a principal in his family’s wood products business, Jamie is Chair of the Development Committee and serves on the Finance Committee. He and his wife Kris live on Munjoy Hill in Portland and in Wayne, ME.

MELINDA MOLIN, Co-PRESIDENT
Screening committee

Melinda has been a screening committee member for 10 years and is chair for 6. She is currently Board Vice President. A retired surgeon, Melinda was the founder and medical director of Breast Care Specialists of Maine. Volunteer experience includes faculty Bet Ha’am religious school, volunteer physician at Seeds of Peace International Camp, Portland High School Mentoring Alliance and Portland Adult Education. She lives in Portland.

KIM VOLK, TREASURER
Finance committee (Chair)

Kimberly L. Volk, CTFA, MBA is President of Maine Advisory Associates, a Registered Investment Advisory firm, and has more than 25 years’ experience in executive and financial capacities at wealth management/investment firms, including VP and CCO for a boutique investment advisory firm, as CFO for a local Trust company and as President of a high net worth family office. Her MBA and undergraduate work focused on business communications and economics. In addition to the Maine Jewish Film Festival, she has served as Chair & President of the Board of Trustees for Portland Downtown, and Treasurer of the Breakwater School. Kim lives with her daughter and two naughty but nice labs on Casco Bay.

SHEERA LABELLE, SECRETARY
Governance committee

Sheera worked at University of Southern Maine’s Health and Counseling Services for 26 years as a R.N. before retiring.  She has been involved on and off with the MJFF since its inception.  Sheera loves to read, watch movies, hike, and cook. She and her husband, Greg Adams, live in Portland, have two daughters and three grandchildren.

GREG BAKER
Development committee

After living in LA and working in film production pre-covid, Greg relocated back east and found a home in nonprofit work during the 2020 general election as an Organizer in Georgia. Blending this with his artistic background, he is thrilled to now work in Development at Ogunquit Playhouse. He is also an active member of Portland’s vibrant comedy scene running sketch comedy group Hey Party People!, and coaches the Cape Elizabeth HS Speech & Debate team.

CARIE BERNARD
Events and Screening committees

Carie grew up in Western Mass and attended Mount Holyoke College. She conducted Anthropological fieldwork in Argentina. Her interest in museum exhibits and education led her to move to Boston where she worked at The Children’s Museum. She moved to Maine 16 years ago, after living for 3 years in Los Angeles. Carie is passionate about gardening, cooking, film, and anything that promotes cross-cultural respect and understanding. Carie is an acupuncturist and has a private practice in Portland.

ELCHA BUCKMAN
Screening committee

A native of Boston who spent childhood summers in Maine, Elcha has finally made her home in the state that has always held her heart. With a BSN, MSN and EdD from Boston University, Elcha worked full time as an advanced practice nurse psychotherapist for nearly six decades before “semi-retiring” in order to spend more time volunteering, working with her synagogue,  serving as an active board member of MJFF and pursuing friendships and hobbies such as  needlework and reading spy and detective novels. Bringing compassion, humor, and commitment to all she does, Elcha lives with her sons and their family of mini-schnauzers in Lewiston.

PEGGY GREENHUT GOLDEN
Events and Marketing committees

Peggy, a native New Yorker is the past owner of Greenhut Galleries, Portland’s oldest contemporary art gallery.  She has fundraised for the Portland Concert Association (now Portland Ovations), served on the board of BIG SOUNDS FROM ALL OVER, was appointed by the City Council and served on the Portland Public Art Committee for 20 plus years, is the past Vice Chair of Maine Friends of Seeds of Peace, a past member of the Maine Small Business Alliance, a member of the Director’s Circle at the Portland Museum of Art and a former Commissioner of the Maine Arts Commission appointed by  Governor Angus King.  At the gallery she has presented shows in support of the Maine Women’s Lobby, National Breast Cancer Awareness and the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project.  She believes fiercely in giving back to the Portland community and enriching the Portland experience.

LAWRENCE GREEN
Development committee

A graduate of Wesleyan University and NYU School of Law, where he was a Root-Tilden Scholar, Larry is a senior partner with Burns & Levinson LLP, where he specializes in business litigation, including extensive experience in representing non-profits.  Larry served for 15 years as Chair of the American Jewish Society for Service and for three years as President of Temple Ohabei Shalom in Brookline, MA. He is the author of “Alphabet of the Invisible,” a short book intended to promote intergenerational discussion of values. A resident of Ogunquit, Larry is working to expand the offerings of MJFF in southern Maine.

RANDI GREENWALD
Governance (Chair) and Screening committees

Randi was a lawyer with the Peace Corps and the US State Department and on the development staff of an after-school arts organization that served at-risk youth in Washington, DC. Since moving to Portland from Maryland with her husband in 2010, she has served on the Obama for ME and Hillary for ME Finance Committees, the Board and Advisory Committee of the Maine Immigrants Rights Coalition, as well as the MJFF Board.

PHYLLIS GRABER JENSEN
Screening committee (Co-Chair)

Phyllis is the director of photography and video for the Bates College Communications Office in Lewiston, Maine. A photojournalist committed to multimedia storytelling, she has completed a wide variety of community-based photography, video, and writing projects. Most recently, she presented “Shalom, Sisters,” an exhibition at the Maine Jewish Museum that featured text and still photographs of Jewish women and girls affiliated with Auburn’s Temple Shalom Synagogue-Center.

SUSAN KELLAM
Events, Marketing committees

Having escaped Washington, D.C. after thirty years of working as a journalist, adjunct professor, and communications expert on domestic policy at the Brookings Institution, writer Susan Kellam lives on a saltwater farm in Waldoboro. Earlier in her career, she was an organizer with Bonnie Raitt, James Taylor, Graham Nash and others in five nights of benefit concerts at Madison Square Garden known as Musicians United for Safe Energy (MUSE) which resulted in a feature documentary and a three-record set that went gold.

JEFF KLINE
Screening committee

Jeff Kline has been responsible for nearly 1000 episodes of scripted live-action and animated television as well as documentaries, graphic novels (via his decade-old Darby Pop Publishing), and a wide range of online and print content. He received multiple Daytime Emmy® Awards for the CG series, TRANSFORMERS: PRIME (The Hub), and most recently served as an Executive Consultant to Hulu’s Kids/Teens/Family division. He and his family have lived in Maine for 15+ years.

LIHI NAGLER

Liihi Nagler is a film scholar and film lover who holds a Ph.D. in Film and Television Studies from Tel Aviv University and is affiliated with the Department of Literature, Art & Linguistics at The Open University of Israel. A resident of Berlin, Germany, Lihi brings nearly three decades of experience in research and working with students, Lihi is the founder and director of the non-profit “Jewish Moving Pictures,” which organizes unique film events, such as an open-air cinema in the garden of a historic Berlin synagogue. Lihi is also the Program Director of the Warsaw Jewish Film Festival. Lihi lives with her husband and their two children in the Charlottenberg district of Berlin, and has a family in Portland Maine.

EVE L. NELSON
Development committee

Eve Nelson is a retired lawyer who, while running a solo law practice in New York City served on the Board of Directors of Anthology Film Archives for ten years. After returning in Maine and several years of work with her family business, Nelson and Small, she resumed legal work for the State of Maine as a small claims and family mediator for Kids First, and Maine rostered Guardian ad litem with expertise in cases of abuse. Eve swims two + miles a day five days a week, and— weather permitting— bikes 13+ miles on Sundays with her nearly ninety-year-old dad. An early member on the Board of the Maine Jewish Museum, she has now served on the Board of Directors of MJFF for ten years.

LAURIE OSHER
Development committee

Laurie Osher, PhD is an environmental scientist, community organizer, building energy efficiency expert, and climate resilience specialist. She is serving her second term in the Maine House of Representatives, representing the town of Orono. She serves on the Legislature’s Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee, the State’s HIV Advisory Committee, and the Secretary of State’s State Calendar working group. She is the leader of the Maine Legislature’s Progressive Women’s Caucus, LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus, and the Jewish Legislator’s Caucus. She also serves on the Board of A Wider Bridge: an organization that connects LGBT communities in the U.S. and Israel and advocates for LGBT rights in Israel. 

STEPHANIE M. PRIDGEON
Screening committee (Co-Chair)

Stephanie is an Assistant Professor of Hispanic Studies at Bates College where her specialty is 20th– and 21st-century Latin American film and literature.  Her research focuses on the intersections of race, ethnicity, gender, religion, and politics as depicted in recent cultural productions. Her book, Revolutionary Visions: Jewish Life and Politics in Latin American Film, is forthcoming with University of Toronto Press.

DAVID SCHOLDER
Marketing and Finance committees

David is a passionate believer in the essential role the arts play in building community. David is currently the Marketing Director at Harriman Associates, one of northern New England’s largest architecture and engineering firms. His diverse professional background includes experience in marketing, communications, publishing and arts administration. David also serves on the Board of the Jill Fox Memorial Fund and is a graduate of Bard College. He lives with his wife and 2 cats in Denmark, Maine.

STAFF
David Andrusia, Executive Director

David Andrusia has steered nonprofits arts organizations for more than two decades, with a proven record of fundraising, community engagement, and attendance success. He has served as a senior executive with the Downtown LA, Beverly Hills, Silver Lake, and March on Washington Film Festivals.

Prior to entering the nonprofit area, David held successively responsible positions with Revlon, 21st Century Film, and Warner Bros./New Line, where he was head of marketing for the home entertainment division.

He earned his bachelor’s at Columbia and the Sorbonne, and a master’s in communications and marketing at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg and Wharton Schools.  Fluent in five languages, he is the author of ten books, including the Random House business bestseller Brand Yourself. His work has been profiled in The New York Times, New York Daily News, Good Day New York, Good Day L.A., Cosmopolitan, CNN.com, and many other media outlets.

Christine Adams, Festival Manager

Christine is a graphic designer from Western Massachusetts. Spending her youth in an artistic mountain town, with a creative family, inspired her to pursue music and a creative career. Graduating with honors, she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Design & Media Arts from Southern New Hampshire University in 2017. She has worked with diverse organizations, individuals, and nonprofits as a web and graphic designer. She began her work with MJFF in May of 2022. She’s grateful to work with an organization with a mission that deeply aligns with her values and interests.

ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Gillian Britt

Susan Cummings-Lawrence

Eleanor Goldberg

Phyllis Givertz

Judy and Steve Halpert

Elizabeth Margolis-Pineo

Steve Passerman

Abby S. Peck

Robin Rubinstein