Staff

Learn more about our team

Leadership
Robert Williams, PhD
Executive Director

Dr. Robert J. Williams is the Finci-Viterbi Executive Director of USC Shoah Foundation. He is UNESCO Chair on Antisemitism and Holocaust Research and the Advisor to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, where he also served for four years as chair of the Committee on Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial.

Catherine E. Clark, PhD
Senior Director of Programs

Trained as a historian of modern Europe in USC’s History Department, Clark comes to the Shoah Foundation from MIT, where she has been the Faculty Director of MIT’s Programs in the Digital Humanities.

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 started the USC Digital Repository.

Jenna Leventhal
Senior Director for 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 emphasis in Holocaust education and oral history.

Kate Canada Obregon, PhD
Director of Marketing and Communications

Kate Canada Obregon, Ph.D. is the USC Shoah Foundation's Director of Marketing and Communications. Before this role, she served as a Managing Partner at Oishii Creative, a creative and brand strategy firm working with companies such as EA Games, FOX, NBC-Universal, NFL Network, Scripps Media, Disney, and Discovery.

Andrea Waldron
Assistant Vice President, Advancement

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... Read more

Sedda Antekelian, EdD
Senior Learning and Development Specialist

Sedda Antekelian develops educational content, programming and community partnerships utilizing Armenian Genocide testimony collections. Sedda... Read more

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... Read more

Nita Awatramani
Information Security Officer

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,... Read more

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... Read more

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... Read more

David Brown
Senior Systems Administrator

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... Read more

Cerllin Chill
Metadata Analyst Intern

Cerllin Chill is a metadata assistant at the USC Shoah Foundation. In her current role, she is responsible for inputting and organizing metadata... Read more

Lesly Culp, EdD
Director of Education and Outreach

Lesly Culp, is USC Shoah Foundation’s Director of Education. In her role, she leads the educational strategic plan to make audiovisual testimonies... Read more

Noah Ehrlich
Associate Director, Annual Giving

Noah began his role as Associate Director of Annual Giving for USC Shoah Foundation in 2021. He leads the Institute’s comprehensive annual fund... Read more

Daryn Eller
Archivist

Daryn Eller manages the Institute’s institutional media collection and participates in cataloging the Visual History Archive testimonies. She... Read more

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... Read more

Lindsay Friedman
Program Director

Lindsay manages Echoes & Reflections, the Institute's flagship Holocaust Education program with ADL and Yad Vashem.

Soumya Nambi Ganesh
Metadata Analyst Intern

Soumya Nambi Ganesh is a Metadata Analyst Intern at the USC Shoah Foundation. Primarily tasked with cleaning, tagging and annotating video interview... Read more

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... Read more

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... Read more

Elia Groode
Intern, Dimensions in Testimony

Elia Groode is a student majoring in Law, History, and Culture and minoring in Consumer Behavior. As an intern at the USC Shoah Foundation, Elia... Read more

Kathy Guyton
Office Manager, ITS

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... Read more

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... Read more

Porscha Johnson, MSW
Program Administrator, Outreach Specialist

Porscha specializes in bringing testimony-based education programming, multimedia resources, and digital tools to educators and students. Her top... Read more

Karen Kim, PhD
Senior Research Associate

Karen Kim is the senior researcher and evaluator for the USC Shoah Foundation. She was previously a faculty member at CSU Fullerton; education... Read more

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... Read more

Akhila Marupaduga
Quality Assurance Engineer

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... Read more

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... Read more

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... Read more

Larina Palacpac
Business Operations Coordinator

Larina Palacpac supports the financial management of the Institute by assisting in account reconciliation, budget development and financial reporting... Read more

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... Read more

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... Read more

Kobi Penland
Program Specialist

Kobi is the Program Specialist for Organizational Engagement and Strategic Partnerships - Programs, and assists with all USC Shoah Foundation... Read more

Jayne Perilstein
Executive Director of Development

Jayne joined USC Shoah Foundation in 2012, and is based in New York and Philadelphia. Currently the Director of Community Engagement & Outreach... Read more

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... Read more

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... Read more

Adriana Reynoso
Holocaust Testimony Indexer

Adriana Reynoso is a Holocaust Indexer for USC Shoah Foundation. She also supports the training program of new indexers for Holocaust and Guatemalan... Read more

Jennifer Rodgers, PhD
Director of Academic Programs

Jennifer Rodgers is a historian of modern Germany and Europe. She holds a PhD in History from the University of Pennsylvania, where she wrote a... Read more

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... Read more

Michael Russell
Programmer Analyst

Michael Russell is a lead web developer at USC Shoah foundation. He received a BA in French from University College London, England, and has been a... Read more

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.

Lacey Schauwecker, PhD
Program and Development Lead

Lacey Schauwecker is Program and Development Lead for USC Shoah Foundation’s education department. She manages higher education programs and partners... Read more

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.... Read more

Jeff Schulz
Senior Software Engineer

Jeff Schulz is a Senior Software Engineer leading the Angular development for USC Shoah Foundation's interactive web sites.

Ari Şekeryan, PhD
Armenian Genocide Testimony Indexer

Ari Şekeryan received his PhD from the University of Oxford in 2018 and has since held research positions at the University of Wisconsin–Madison,... Read more

Jaclyn Singer
Events Manager

Jaclyn Singer has a lifelong passion for Judaism, Israel and community-building. She holds a bachelor's degree in social science from San Diego State... Read more

Richard Starr
Application Programmer

Alla Svitlynets
Administrative Assistant

Alla Svitlynets graduated with honors from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Ukraine, holding a bachelor's degree in history and a master... Read more

Tom Tearney, PhD
Holocaust Testimony Indexer

Tom indexes Holocaust survivor testimonies for the Visual History Archive. He joined the Shoah Foundation in 2022 after earning a MSt in Yiddish... Read more

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... Read more

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... Read more

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... Read more

Consolée Uwamariya
Preservation Supervisor

Chetham Visweswar
Senior Software Engineer

Nicole Watkins
Director of Donor Relations

Nicole Watkins serves as the Director of Donor Relations for USC Shoah Foundation’s Advancement team and is responsible for managing our donor... Read more

Mark Weicht
Video Archivist and Post Production Specialist

Mark Weicht is a Video Archivist and Post Production Specialist. He also has fabricated many items designed for use with several DIT projects and... Read more

Cate Wilson, PhD
Manager of Organizational Engagement and Strategic Partnership

Cate Wilson is the Community Engagement and Outreach specialist for the USC Shoah Foundation’s education department. She earned an MA in Religion and... Read more

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... Read more

Aaron Zarrow
On Leave

On staff since 2011, strategic communications manager Aaron Zarrow joined the organization for the first time in 1995 as a production assistant. In... Read more

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.

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 public engagement programs that connect USC Shoah Foundation to its many distinct audiences.

Emeritus Staff

Karen Jungblut

Stephen D. Smith

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