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2021-2023 BOARD

OFFICERS

TRUSTEES

  • N.J. Burkett
  • Jeffrey Lesser
  • Janine Rose
  • Robert Bonardi - Alternate Trustee

GOVERNORS

Advanced Media – Julie Meyer: Julie Meyer is a NYC native, retired MTA train engineer and film industry professional. After co-managing her daughter's modeling and acting career until she went away to college, she began volunteering for many of the film festivals to remain connected to the film and television circuit that she became so familiar with. Julie took pride when screening and writing reviews for many of the submitted films, and carefully wrote reviews that helped to decide the fate of many filmmakers' content submitted to the festivals. She understood the festivals and networks process that resulted in award worthy content. Volunteering has equipped her with the tools to recognize stellar film performances, as well as the visual and audio presentation which is equally important. Julie recognized the need to share others pivotal moments of their careers hoping it would encourage others interested in film to believe in themselves and their dreams. With this in mind, she helped start an online entertainment company ‘TheNextComeUp.com where film and entertainment professionals discuss their commencement in the film industry, their journeys, and obstacles along the way to encourage others. Although it’s a different path from operating trains, she however, she feels still on the right track.

Broadcast Journalism – Marvin Scott: A member of the New York State Broadcasters Hall of Fame and recipient of 11 Emmy Awards, Marvin Scott the Senior Correspondent at WPIX-TV and anchor/host of “PIX11 News Close Up.” A veteran journalist with over 50 years of experience in both print and broadcast mediums, Scott’s background includes local, national and international assignments. Prior to joining WPIX, Scott was an anchor/reporter at WNEW-TV (now WNYW-TV). He held previous positions as anchor, correspondent and producer at CNN, Mutual Broadcasting System, and WABC-TV.  He is currently a Trustee of The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and the Awards Chair of the New York Chapter.  Among his many honors are his inductions into the Gold and Silver Circles of the Television Academy.

Creative Crafts – Robert Bonardi: Emmy Award-Winning Editor from Freehold, N.J. Along with several nominations, I have 20 years’ experience in broadcast television news. I have an associate degree in Broadcasting from Brookdale Community College and a bachelor’s degree from Montclair State University.  I started working in television in 1998 for the Brookdale Community College television station. From there, I interned and then worked full time as a Staff Video Editor for MSNBC, having worked on “Hardball”, “The News with Brian Williams”, “Countdown with Keith Olberman” as well as many other programs. I have also done work for PBS and Fox News Channel.  For the past 15 years I have been with WABC-TV as a Freelance Video Editor/ RF Engineer for Eyewitness News.  I am an active member of the National Academy of Arts and Sciences, and I volunteer as a Communications Adviser for Brookdale Community College, Montclair State University and Rutgers University. I have also served as a judge on several panels for breaking news and other categories. With my years of broadcast experience as well as being a teacher/mentor to future journalists, I feel I would be an excellent addition to the Board of Governors. 

Design - Mike Grabowski: Just your average former Philly street magician and sideshow performer who turned to the broadcast world, Mike Grabowski is a Senior Lighting Designer at The Lighting Design Group who brings with him nearly 20 years of experience to concerts, talk shows, video game launches, variety shows, game shows, and more. Both a Knights of Illumination Finalist for his work with Billie Eilish and MTV, and multiple Emmy nominations, he's been with LDG since 2007 and with a client list he honed before that, Mike’s recent projects include countless NBC Town Halls, MTV’s TRL, AMC’s Comic Book Men, History’s Forged in Fire, and the relaunching of all of Sportsnet New York (SNY) in their new facility. He also lights Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest, countless reality show reunion specials for Bravo, VH1, and MTV, and was MTV’s Broadcast Lighting Consultant when they converted their Times Square studio to a low power lighting system. He is the Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Jersey City Arts Council.

Direction – Peter J. Levy: President of Corniche Productions. Emmy Award Winner, Produced and/or Directed 27 NY Emmy Award shows, 81 Stevies Business Award shows internationally, 83 International Award shows for the NY Festivals, 5 live cable series, 3 Public TV programs, several Award shows for the National TV Academy and Executive Producer ‘97 National Sports Emmy Awards. Member since 1974. Member of NY Awards, Silver Circle & Forum Committees & chaired the Awards Committee (1995-96).  Governor NY NATAS.  Chair of the Emmy Gala Committee. Trustee NATAS.

Executives - Kellie Castruita Specter: Kellie Castruita Specter is Chief Marketing and Engagement Officer for The WNET Group. Kellie oversees communications, marketing, research and branding for WNET and its affiliates THIRTEEN/New York, WLIW21/Long Island, NJPBS/New Jersey and ALL ARTS. She is also responsible for audience engagement for WNET’s productions for PBS including Great Performances, Nature, American Masters, and Amanpour and Company. Kellie is a member of the Board of Directors at American Documentary, Inc.; serves on the Advisory Board of the World Music Institute and sits on the Leadership Council of Convergence Center for Policy Resolution in Washington, DC. She is also an Adjunct Professor at Fordham University.

Music – Jeffrey Lesser: (aka - Jet Laser) Founder and President of Jet Laser Productions. He has received 4 Emmy Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction and Composition and has an extensive history as a music producer and recording engineer with many Gold and Platinum certifications and participation on Grammy, Tony and Academy Award-winning recordings. Music Credits: Ariana Grande, Barbra Streisand, Lou Reed, Kool and the Gang, Chieftains, Joni Mitchell, Linda Ronstadt, Sinead O’Conner, Vince Gill, Sting, Diana Krall, Kristin Chenoweth, Jason Robert Brown, Rupert Holmes, Lord of the Rings (Academy Award and Grammy winner - Best Score), Laurie Berkner, Loudon Wainwright III, Lyle Lovett. Cast Recordings: “The Last Five Years” (Tony Award), “The Rocky Horror Show”, Jonathan Larson’s: “tick, tick...BOOM!”, “Parade” (Tony Award) “Xanadu” (Tony Nomination), “13”, “The Marvelous Wonderettes”, “The Bridges of Madison County” (Tony Award), “Honeymoon in Vegas”, Prince of Broadway”, “A New Brain”. TV: “The Wonder Pets!” (Emmy Award), “Welcome to the Wayne” (Emmy Nomination), “3rd & Bird!”, “Small Potatoes”, “Oobi!”, “P. King Duckling”, “Copper”, “Blue Bloods” “Super Wings”, “Sing It, Laurie!”. VO Director: Eartha Kitt (Emmy Award), Steven Tyler (Emmy Nomination), Ziggy Marley, Idina Menzel, Mandy Patinkin, Kenan Thompson, Ben Vereen, Brooke Shields.

Performers - Jessica Moore: Jessica Moore is a 3-time Emmy Award-winning anchor for the weekend evening newscasts on CBS 2 and WLNY 10/55. Moore joined the stations in July, 2016. Moore’s broadcasting career has taken her all over the country from WDTN in Dayton Ohio, to WLEX in Lexington, Kentucky and most recently KSNV in Las Vegas, Nevada where she spent 6 years as the station’s primary weekday evening anchor. In Lexington, Moore made her network debut on CNN during the Northpoint Prison riots and reported for the Weather Channel when a massive snow storm pounded Kentucky. In 2009, a deadly tornado ripped through parts of Central Kentucky. Moore was awarded an Emmy for her spot news coverage of the storm’s aftermath. Moore moved to New York from Las Vegas, where she was nominated for nine Pacific Southwest Emmy Awards, including best news anchor and best live event anchoring. She anchored countless hours of live breaking news and election coverage and scored an exclusive interview with Mitt Romney during the 2012 presidential election. She has won 3 Emmys in three separate chapters across the country and been nominated for a total of 13 Emmy awards. Additionally, Jessica served as an Emmy judge for multiple chapters. She also has an Associated Press award for breaking news coverage.

Production - Amy Waldman: Former Assistant News Director at News 12 Long Island.  Prior to joining News 12 Long Island, Amy served as the NY Chapter’s Interim Executive Director.   She was a Board of Governor for the NY Chapter for four years and served as the Chapter’s Second Vice President for one term.  Amy is the recipient of ten Emmy® Awards, three Edward R. Murrow awards, four NYSBA awards and a New York Press Club award.   Amy has spent more than two decades in New York newsrooms.  She spent 12 of those years at WPIX where she served as News Director, Senior Executive Producer, Managing Editor, Executive Producer and Senior Producer.   Prior to PIX11, she served as Supervising Producer for Nancy Grace: Closing Arguments at Court TV, Producer of The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch at CNBC, Producer at Fox News Channel and Producer at WGRZ-TV. Amy is a proud alumnus of Syracuse University's Newhouse School of Public Communications.

Sales and Marketing – Vas Mountzouros: Director of Creative Services at PIX11, she is responsible for both internal and external branding. Vas joined PIX11 in 1993 as a Media Supervisor and has held several roles at the station, launching both the WB and CW networks and producing creative for New York’s most iconic events: The New York City Marathon, and the Macy’s Fourth of July Fireworks. As Creative Director, she helped launch a 5 and 6 p.m. newscast, the Emmy-nominated Social Media Center, and “Fuel My School,” championing schools that make a difference in the communities, and lives of their students. Vas began her television career at Viacom, launching shows like “Roseanne” and “A Different World” into worldwide syndication. She has been honored with numerous industry awards for her work, including nine Emmy Awards, two NYSBA Awards, a Promax National Gold and multiple Promax Local awards. From an early age, Vas has been passionate about television and has been eager to share what she has learned during her 29 years in the industry with tomorrow’s television and digital leaders. She is proudest that many of her interns have gone on to have successful careers in the industry and continue to seek her guidance and advice.

Writing - Mary Alice Williams: She is an Emmy Award-winning, pioneering television journalist.  She was the first woman Prime Time anchor of a network news division and first woman to hold the rank of Vice President of a news division.

She most recently served as the anchor of New Jersey’s Public television’s NJTV News.  As one of the primary architects of the first worldwide television network, Williams oversaw the construction of CNN’s New York Bureau at the World Trade Center prior to the launch of Cable News Network (CNN) in 1980. And served as New York Bureau Chief, before being named anchor and Vice President.

Her career began as reporter/anchor at WNBC in New York and included anchor roles at NBC News and Discovery Health.  She produced and anchored special broadcasts for PBS, Lifetime, Hearst and the Hallmark Channel.  She also worked at CBS news and CBS Radio.  Williams was inducted into the NY NATAS Silver Circle in 2017 and has been recognized with numerous television awards including a National Emmy, four Gracie Allen Awards and 15 honorary doctorates for her work.

Governor at Large - Elvin Badger: Elvin is an Emmy®Award winning director with extensive directing both live events and studio television. For Major League gaming (now Sports Engine), he has directed E-Sports E-Sports tournaments for such premier gaming franchises as Call of Duty, Gears of War, Halo and Madden '20. In addition, he directs a slew of news and public affairsshows in the PBS system for WNET, WLIW and NJPBS, Elvin has directed for the Wall St. Journal, NY Times, Activision, CUNY-TV, and the Daytime Emmy®Awards. This is his scond term as a Governor at Large.

Governor at Large - Virginia Huie: Winner of 14 Emmy Awards, 5 Edward R. Murrow Awards and recipient of 100 Emmy nominations, Virginia also has been honored with two New York Festival International Gold Medal Awards, for "Last Letters Home" and "Faces of Ground Zero;" a Deadline Club Award for Feature Reporting for "Fighting Spirit;" and two New York Associated Press Broadcasters Award for General Excellence of Individual Reporting. Virginia also won both a Gracie Allen Award and a national Gabriel Award for her Holocaust love story, "Girl With The Apple."

Born in Manhattan, Virginia grew up on Long Island. Prior to joining News 12 Long Island, Virginia worked as a reporter at KSTW-TV in Seattle, WA, after beginning her broadcasting career as a Leo Beranek News Reporting Fellow at WCVB-TV in Boston. Virginia graduated magna cum laude from Barnard College/Columbia University with a degree in Economics, earned a Master of Arts degree in Communication from Stanford University, and is a member of the National Honor Society, Phi Beta Kappa. A published writer, Huie's articles have appeared in the "Sacramento Bee," the "Boston Globe" and college text books. She is a member of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and Asian American Journalists Association. Virginia served a 2- year term on NY NATAS Board of Governors as Governor of Performers from 2019-2021.

 

New York Chapter Staff Listing:

Executive Director - Mike Kostel (mikekostel@nyemmys.org) or

(awards@nyemmys.org

 

© NY NATAS