Board of Trustees and Officers Biographies
Board of Trustees
Ellen S. Abramowitz (Chairman)
Ellen received her BFA with an emphasis on photography from the University of Arizona and worked as a professional photographer before receiving her real estate certificate from NYU and entering the world of corporate real estate. She remains active in the arts community as a collector of contemporary art and as a member of PWP - Professional Women Photographers. Ellen joined MoCCA's board of advisors in 2002 before becoming a trustee in 2004. She is active in a number of other civic and charitable organizations including Women's American ORT, The Real Estate Board of New York and NYCREW (New York Commercial Real Estate of Women).
David J. Ennis, 2 RA (Vice Chairman)
David is an architect and founding partner of EPoc Partnership, an
architecture and interior design firm which specializes in sustainable (or
"green") design. He has been honored with numerous design awards
including BSA awards for the proposal for a new tower for Merrill Lynch; a
new office building at Jamaica Station, Queens; NYAIA design excellence for
an entry for the Queens Museum of Art Competition. Currently David is
developing the program and design for the future expansion of the MoCCA facilities.
Lawrence Klein, Esq. (Chairman Emeritus and Founder)
Lawrence founded MoCCA in the summer of 2001. In New York City he worked as
in house counsel for high-technology companies. Currently, Lawrence lives in
Berkshire County, Massachusetts with his wife and newborn son.
Ken Fisher (Trustee, Financial Committee)
Ken is the creator of the weekly comic strip Tom the Dancing Bug, which he
creates under the pseudonym Ruben Bolling. Tom the Dancing Bug is
distributed by Universal Press Syndicate to over fifty newspapers, and also
appears on Salon.com. In addition to producing the comic strip, Fisher has
worked as an attorney and a banker.
Mark J. Lerner (Trustee, Financial Committee)
Mark is the President of Morgan, Evan and Company an investment banking
group created in 1992. In addition, he is currently the vice president of
the Asia-Pacific region of M&A International. A collector of contemporary
art, Mark has served on the board of directors of the Vassar College Art
Museum for five years and has been the chairman for the past two.
Keith Mayerson (Trustee)
Roger Reed (Trustee, Collections Committee)
Roger is president of Illustration House, America's foremost gallery
dedicated to illustration and cartoon art. He has written many articles and
papers on the subject and edited the definitive reference work by his
father, Illustration House founder Walt Reed, The Illustrator in America,
1860-2000. In addition he has been curator to exhibitions of such artists
as J.C. Leyendecker, Joseph Clement Coll, and John Held, Jr.
Jim Salicrup (Trustee, Public Relations Committee)
Jim is editor-in-chief at Papercutz, publishers of the new Nancy Drew,
Classics Illustrated and Tales From The Crypt graphic novels. Jim began his
career at Marvel, where he edited X-Men, Fantastic Four; Avengers, the best
selling Spider-Man # 1. As editor-in-chief of Topps Comics, Jim edited Bram
Stoker's Dracula, The X-Files, and a line of Jack Kirby super-hero titles.
At Stan Lee Media, Jim was senior writer/editor and the writer and voice of
Stan Lee's Evil Clone.
Fred Van Lente (Trustee, Collections Committee, Fundraising Committees)
Fred is the critically-acclaimed writer of such comics as Action
Philosophers, Comic Book Comics, Super-Villain Team-Up/MODOK's 11, The
Incredible Hercules (with Greg Pak), and is a leading creator of Marvel
Comics' all-ages line. Prior to becoming a trustee, Fred served as chair of
the MoCCA curatorial committee and was secretary of the board from
2002-2005. He helped curate the exhibits "Toon Town," "She Draws
Comics" and "Cartoons Against the Axis."
Kent Worcester (Trustee, Public Relations Committee, Art Festival Committee)
Kent is a writer and academic. He is the author of C.L.R. James: A Political
Biography (1996), and the coeditor, most recently, of Arguing Comics:
Literary Masters on a Popular Medium (2004, with Jeet Heer). He is also a
regular contributor to The Comics Journal. He has served as the program
chair for the MoCCA Art Festival since its inception in 2002, and he teaches
political science at Marymount Manhattan College.
Officers
Matthew C. Murray (President and Executive Director)
Matthew is a graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts where he received
his BFA in film and television production. He is currently pursuing a
certificate in not-for-profit arts management at Moravian College in
Bethlehem, PA. An avid fan and collector of animation artwork, Matthew was
the lead curator for MoCCA's popular "Saturday Morning" exhibit and is
recognized as a leading "Smurfologist."
Allan Dorison (Chief Operating Officer)
Allan is the conference coordinator for Credit Suisse Financial Bank. He
has been instrumental to MoCCA's Art Fest for over five years serving as
first its technical director and then co-director for the entire event. In
addition to his work with the festival, Allan has served as facilities
manager for the museum since 2005. He is a lifelong reader of comic books
and is a collector of comic art.
Bill Roundy (Secretary)
Bill Roundy is a freelance writer and editor. He has been a MoCCA volunteer
since 2005, and helped to curate both of MoCCA's current exhibits:
"Infinite Canvas: The Art of Webcomics" and "Things that Go Bump..."
He draws a webcomic journal (The Amazing Adventures of Bill) and has
contributed to the gay romance comic Young Bottoms in Love.
Sandra Schechter (Vice President)
Sandy is a graduate of Mount Ida College in Newton, Mass with a liberal
arts/journalism degree. Her publishing started when she joined direct sales
at Marvel, and currently, she is permissions manager at Bedford/St.
Martin's. Her interest in adventure and serial cartoon art gradually drew
her into collecting original political cartoons, comic strips,
illustrations, as well as building a diverse library of related books. |
