Executive Director

Leora Kahn | Executive Director

Leora Kahn is the founder and Executive Director of PROOF: Media for Social Justice.  A photo editor for over 25 years, in 2006,  she and a group of internationally known photojournalists decided to combine their skills and experience to make an impact in the world.  PROOF was born six months later.

Leora was previously the director of photography at Workman Publishing and at Corbis.  She has also worked for Time, The New York Times magazine, Rolling Stone,  the New Yorker and US News and World Report as well as for the Ford and Annie E. Casey Foundations.  She has curated exhibitions for the Ford Foundation, ABC Television, Amnesty International, Women’s Refugee Commission and the Holocaust Museum in Houston.

As Executive Director of PROOF, Leora has been working on global projects with Amnesty International and Human Rights First as well as the United Nations. She holds a graduate degree from SIT in Conflict Transformation and Peace Building studies and a Masters Degree from the New School in International Affairs with a concentration on human rights.

Leora’s film credits include Rene and I, an award-winning documentary about the life an extraordinary woman who as a child was experimented on by Josef Mengele during the Holocaust. She also co-produced Original Intent; a documentary exploring the judicial philosophy promoted by Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.

Leora was previously a fellow at the Genocide Studies Center at Yale University where she conducted research on rescuers and rescuing behavior.  This year she was the Cathy Cohen Lasry Visiting Lecturer at Clark University’s Holocaust and Genocide Center. She is a recipient of The Adriane de Rothschild Fellowship
 for Social Entrepreneurship and recently received a Fulbright specialist grant.

Board of Directors

Rachael Barrett

Vice Chair

Rachael recently returned to the Women’s Refugee Commission, an advocacy and research organization affiliated with the International Rescue Committee, as the Deputy Director, Foundation and Government Relations. She had previously worked at the Women’s Refugee Commission in 2010 as the Senior Development Officer. Prior to her return, Rachael served as the Director of Development at two criminal justice organizations, The Bronx Defenders and Greenhope Services for Women. At both organizations, she reorganized the development operations, streamlining systems and processes. Rachael began her career in the nonprofit sector working directly with young people transitioning out of foster care and later managing supportive housing programs for persons with HIV/AIDS in New Haven, CT. Rachael earned her bachelors in communications from Emerson College and a MBA from the University of New Haven. She is a board member of PROOF: Media for Social Justice and Good Shepherd Volunteers.

David Garrison

Chair

David is Associate Principal and Director of Marketing at Edelman Consulting, the management strategy arm of Edelman, the premier global PR agency. Prior to joining Edelman Consulting, he held roles as CMO of Indaba Music, the leading collaboration tool for musicians, and Director of Strategic Initiatives at SS+K, a strategic marketing agency. He also spent several years consulting with Katzenbach Partners, a McKinsey & Co. off-shoot, and co-founded Remède Naturopathics, a clinic for integrative medicine in NYC.

David has long been involved with non-profits and in the Arts and has consulted for and advised a wide range of organizations, including the Ontario Arts Council, the New York Association of Naturopathic Physicians, and the Nathaniel Dett Chorale.

Paul Levitz

Treasurer

Paul is primarily known for his work for DC Comics, where he has written most of their classic characters including the Justice Society, Superman in both comics and the newspaper strip, and acclaimed runs on The Legion of Super-Heroes.

Cumulatively, Levitz has written over 300 stories with sales of over 25 million copies, and translations into over 20 languages. As a DC staffer from 1973, Levitz was an assistant editor, the company’s youngest editor ever, and in a series of business capacities, became Executive Vice President & Publisher in 1989 and then served as President & Publisher from 2002-2009. He continues as a Contributing Editor, but is now concentrating on his writing.

His current writing projects include Taschen’s 75 YEARS OF DC COMICS: THE ART OF MODERN MYTHMAKING, published for holiday, 2010, which has won the Eisner (comics’ “Oscar”), the United Kingdom’s prestigious Eagle Award, Germany’s Peng Award, and is currently nominated for America’s other major comics award, the Harvey.

He has been teaching “Writing For Media” at Manhattanville College since last fall, and will launch a new course in “The Business of Comics and Graphic Novels” for Pace University’s M.S. In Publishing program this fall.  He is developing a course on “Transmedia” for Columbia University’s American Studies department for spring, 2012.

Robert Stein

Bob Stein is an attorney who counsels and represents authors, literary agents, book publishers and others in all aspects of book publishing.   He also represents film producers in the pre-release review of screenplays and films (including Academy Award winners The Cove and Taxi to the Dark Side and Academy Award-nominated The Betrayal-Nerakhoon, No End in Sight and Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room), and assists insurers of film and television productions in determining the insurability of various productions.

Bob has been “Of Counsel” to the law firm of Pryor Cashman LLP since 1987.  He previously served as Vice President and General Counsel of Warner Publishing, Inc. (including its subsidiaries, Warner Books and DC Comics), as Deputy General Counsel of Simon & Schuster, Inc., and as an attorney at each of Random House, Inc. and CBS, Inc.

Bob is a graduate of Cornell University and of Columbia Law School.  He is AV Peer Review Rated, Martindale Hubbell’s highest peer recognition for ethical standards and legal ability.

Leslie Thurman

Secretary

Leslie Thurman is Director of Outreach Initiatives at Warner Bros. Entertainment. Her experience encompasses corporate social responsibility (CSR), philanthropy, strategic partnerships and international development. Leslie has worked extensively in both public and private sector environments, with significant experience leading corporate partnerships and community development activities on a global basis. She has technical expertise in community development, disaster relief, education, health and sustainability. Leslie is a passionate supporter of issues of environmental, social, health and cultural import, engaging stakeholders across a wide spectrum of industries and including corporations, high profile clients, entertainment and media executives, philanthropists, legislators and journalists.