Leadership
Robert Williams, PhD
Chief Executive Officer and Finci-Viterbi Chair
Dr. Robert J. Williams is the Chief Executive Officer and Finci-Viterbi Chair of USC Shoah Foundation. He is UNESCO Chair on Antisemitism and Holocaust Research and the Advisor to the…
Catherine E. Clark, PhD
Senior Director of Programs
Catherine E. Clark, PhD, is the Senior Director of Programs at the USC Shoah Foundation. Trained as a historian of modern Europe in USC’s History Department, Clark comes to the Shoah Foundation from…
Sam Gustman
Chief Technology Officer, USC Shoah Foundation, Associate Dean of Technology, USC Libraries
Sam Gustman has been chief technology officer (CTO) of the Shoah Foundation since 1994. Gustman is also associate dean and CTO at the USC Libraries where he oversees IT for the Libraries and…
Jenna Leventhal
Senior Director of Administration
Jenna Leventhal is the Senior Director of Administration at USC Shoah Foundation. She earned a BA in history from UC Santa Barbara and an MA in public history from University of Houston, with an…
Meet our Team
Sandra Aguilar
Manager, Metadata
Sandra Aguilar oversees metadata, indexing, and institutional archiving. Prior to the Institute, Sandra worked as Director of Archives for USC School of Cinematic Arts' Warner Bros. and Moving Image…
Sedda Antekelian, EdD
Senior Learning and Development Specialist
Sedda Antekelian develops educational content, programming and community partnerships utilizing Armenian Genocide testimony collections. Sedda received her B.A. in History and Humanities from Loyola…
Alan Auyeung
Video Archivist & Post-Production Specialist
Alan Auyeung oversees the collection, management and transfer area of broadcast video equipment; administers educational, instructional and reference materials collections; and provides services for…
Doug Ballman
Technical Project Leader
Doug works in the Institute’s technology group as a Technical Project Leader on a variety of different technology projects including the current, major re-development of the Institute’s web…
Mollie Bowman
Managing Director, Living Links
A grandchild of Auschwitz survivors, Mollie’s 3G legacy has influenced her career path in advocacy and public service. Prior to Living Links, Mollie was the chief of staff and director of external…
Crispin Brooks
Curator
Crispin Brooks is the curator of the Institute’s Visual History Archive. He holds a M.Phil. in Russian Literature from the University College London School of Slavonic and East European Studies and a…
Mills Chang
Senior Software Architect
Mills Chang is the Senior Software Architect leading the software development of USC Shoah Foundation ITS Department. Mills received his Master in Computer Science from USC in 2002 and joined USC…
Lesly Culp, EdD
Director of Education
Lesly Culp, is USC Shoah Foundation’s Director of Education. In her role, she leads the educational strategic plan to make audiovisual testimonies and interactive biographies of survivors and…
Noah Ehrlich
Director of Development
Noah joined the USC Shoah Foundation in 2021 as Associate Director of Annual Giving and began his role as Director of Development in 2024. He is responsible for content development, strategy, and…
Daryn Eller
Archivist
Daryn Eller manages the Institute’s institutional media collection and participates in cataloging the Visual History Archive testimonies. She previously worked as a magazine and book writer, has an…
Shana Fishman
Senior Grant Writer, Constituent Affairs
Shana Fishman is a grant writer on the constituent affairs team responsible for composing grant proposals to support existing and planned program activities. Before joining USC Shoah Foundation,…
Lindsay J. Friedman
Managing Director, Echoes & Reflections
Lindsay is the Managing Director of Echoes & Reflections, the Institute's flagship Holocaust Education program in partnership with ADL and Yad Vashem. In this role, she leads strategic planning…
Inna Gogina
Archivist
Inna Gogina is the archivist of the USC Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive. Prior to that, she has worked at USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education in a variety of…
Zachary Goode
Post-Production Supervisor
Zachary Goode fulfills most filming and editing requests that come to ITS. He also helps oversee the digitization and quality control of new collections. He received his M.F.A in Film…
Rachel Herman
Program Platforms Lead
Rachel Herman is the Program Platforms Lead of the USC Shoah Foundation. In this role, Rachel manages IWitness, the Visual History Archive, SFI Access, Echoes & Reflections and the building of in…
Will Horowitz
Special Project Lead, Executive Office
Will Horowitz provides external relations for the USC Shoah Foundation. Will received his bachelor’s degree in political science and his master’s degree in public administration and policy from…
Brian Hughes, PhD
Director, Countering Antisemitism Lab
Dr. Brian Hughes directs the Shoah Foundation’s Countering Antisemitism Laboratory (CAL). In this role, he develops evidence-backed interventions to prevent and reduce antisemitic attitudes and…
Jeffrey Langham, PhD
Webmaster
Jeffrey Langham oversees the management and the strategic development of the Institute's website. Prior to the Institute, Jeffrey worked at a Los Angeles-area design firm for seven years as a web…
Susan McKibben, PhD
Program Manager
Susan is the Head of Project Management at USC Shoah Foundation. Prior to joining the USC Shoah Foundation she was Administrative Director of the USC Rossier School of Education's Center on Education…
Grace Nielsen
Social Media Coordinator
Grace develops content and strategies to promote the Institute’s programs. Grace received her bachelor’s degree in journalism from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and her master’s in public relations and…
Anita Pace
Managing Director of Technology
Anita Pace, Director of Technology for the Shoah Foundation Institute at the University of Southern California, is responsible for overseeing the technical network design and operations of the…
Alex Paiva, Jr
Programmer Analyst III
Alex Paiva Jr is a programmer helping build the Dimension in Testimony platform by using AI services to allow for an interactive experience with testimonies from survivor. Previously in his career…
Larina Palacpac
Department Business Administrator
Larina Palacpac supports the financial management of the Institute by assisting in account reconciliation, budget development and financial reporting. Prior to joining USC Shoah Foundation, Larina…
Rachel Peacock
Collections Production Program Administrator
Rachel Peacock has a B.S. in Telecommunications Production from University of Florida's College of Journalism and Communications. She has eight years of professional experience in educational video…
Wendy Pedersen
Senior Analyst, Budget Management
Wendy Pedersen earned her MA (MCG) from Annenberg USC. She has extensive experience in Global Education Management and Budget Oversight from her time at USC. She manages budgets, serves as a bridge…
Kobi Penland
Program Specialist
Kobi is the Program Specialist for Organizational Engagement and Strategic Partnerships - Programs, and assists with all USC Shoah Foundation agreements. Kobi has engaged in direct services…
Susan Popler
Director, Collections Programs
Susan Popler is Director of the Visual History Archive Program where she is driving initiatives to reimagine how audiences access, engage with and learn from testimony with the goal of expanding…
Matthew Rabin
Senior Director of Development
Since December 2021 Matthew Rabin has served as Senior Director of Development for USC Shoah Foundation, coming from his prior role as Chief Development Officer for the Doheny Eye Institute. He has…
D. Wes Rist
Director of Government Affairs
D. Wes Rist is an atrocity prevention professional with nearly 20 years of experience in international human rights law, transitional justice, and international criminal justice. He previously served…
Zovaira Rodriguez
Procurement Specialist
Zovaira Rodriguez is the Procurement Specialist for the USC Shoah Foundation and has been with the institute for 3 years. She works within our Operations Department overseeing and managing all…
Arie Salma
Programming Analyst III
Arie Salma is a web developer and program analyst for the Shoah Foundation. He specializes in front end, back end and CMS development.
Cynthia Schirmer
Director of Budget and Finance
Cynthia Schirmer currently oversees the finances and business operations of the Institute. She has worked for the Shoah Foundation since March 2016. Prior to that, Cynthia worked as the Shoah…
Jeff Schulz
Senior Software Engineer
Jeff Schulz is a Senior Software Engineer leading the Angular development for USC Shoah Foundation's interactive web sites.
Raquel Diaz Serralta
Learning and Development Specialist for Primary Education
Raquel Diaz Serralta is the Learning and Development Specialist for Primary Education. She creates developmentally appropriate testimony-based educational content, delivers training, and…
Alla Svitlynets
Program Specialist
Alla Svitlynets graduated with honors from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Ukraine, holding a bachelor's degree in history and a master's degree in anthropology. She started her career…
Hoan Tran
UNIX System Administrator
Hoan Tran oversees the data archival and storage infrastructure for the Institute’s content. Hoan has experiences in software dev-ops, systems engineering, system administration, and information…
Edith Umugiraneza
Indexer
Edith Umugiraneza joined the USC Shoah Foundation in 2009 as a consultant and later became an indexer. Before that, she lived in Canada for 10 years. Edith graduated from College Sainte-Foy with a…
Svetlana Ushakova
Program Specialist
Svetlana Ushakova provides the service of research, annotation, and evaluation to the Dimensions in Testimony program. In 2014-2018, she worked at USC Shoah Foundation as an indexer and research…
Cate Wilson, PhD
Interim Deputy Director of Programs
Cate Wilson is the Interim Deputy Director of Programs. She earned an MA in Religion and completed her PhD, both from Claremont School of Theology. She joined the Institute in 2016. In…
Letisha Young
Senior Office Manager
Letisha Young joined the Shoah Foundation in July of 2017 as the Program Manager of Administrative Programs. She oversees Human Resources and Facilities for the Foundation. Prior to…
Founding Executive Directors
June Beallor
Founding Executive Director
Award-winning producer June Beallor was one of the two founding executive directors of Survivors of the Shoah, which became the USC Shoah Foundation. She also produced several documentaries for the…
James Moll
Founding Executive Director
Director and producer James Moll was one of the two founding executive directors of Survivors of the Shoah. He directed the Academy Award®-winning documentary The Last Days.
Founding Advisory Committee
Karen Kushell
Founding Advisor
A production assistant on Schindler’s List, Karen Kushell led the effort to organize a team of experts to realize Steven Spielberg’s project of recording Holocaust survivor testimony.
Branko Lustig
Founding Advisor
Academy Award®-winning producer of Schindler's List and the Gladiator, Branko Lustig served on the founding advisory committee. As a Holocaust survivor, Branko also gave his testimony to the…
Gerald Molen
Founding Advisor
Gerald Molen, Academy Award®-winning producer of Schindler’s List, served on the founding advisory committee.
In Memoriam
Ita Gordon
Indexer
Ita was a cataloguer and indexer of Holocaust survivors testimonies. She also worked as a translator. She was fluent in Portuguese and Spanish, as well as conversant in Yiddish. Ita Gordon trained…
Kim Simon
Managing Director
Having been at the Institute for 25 years, Kim Simon was involved in developing and scaling the Institute’s impact and reach globally. She directed the development and implementation of key…