Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute today announced three new members of the Institute’s Board of Trustees: Sean Bailey, Anand Mahindra and Jacki Zehner.
Under the guidance of President & Founder Robert Redford and in close collaboration with Executive Director Keri Putnam, the 23-person Board is responsible for the governance of Sundance Institute and works to actively advance creative and financial support for artists developing original stories for the screen and stage. Wally Weisman continues as Chairman of the Board.
Said Weisman: “We welcome these new members of our Board. We are proud of the organization’s standing as an internationally recognized nonprofit arts organization, and we are extremely optimistic about the stability of the Institute and its recent growth to include several new initiatives that are connecting artists with audiences around the world.”
Putnam said, “Sundance Institute is honored to expand our Board with the addition of these new Trustees, whose vision, creativity and expertise offer us the innovative leadership needed to continue to evolve and develop as a cultural organization.”
In addition to those announced today, Trustees that have recently joined the Board are Sheila C. Johnson, James R. Swartz and Stanley Tucci, as well as Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Lynn Nottage and Heather Rae as Artist Trustees. Artist Trustees are participants from Institute programs, including the Sundance Film Festival, artistic Labs and direct granting, who share with the Board their perspectives and act as liaisons to other Institute alumni.
The other business, cultural and philanthropic leaders on the Institute’s Board are: Robert Redford, President & Founder; Wally Weisman, Chairman of the Board; Pat Mitchell, Vice Chairman; Jeanne Donovan Fisher, Secretary; Jack Ferraro, Treasurer; Kenneth Cole; Robert J. Frankenberg; George Gund; Mellody Hobson; Cindy Harrell Horn; Christine Lahti; Lyn Davis Lear; Geoffrey K. Sands; and John E. Warnock. In addition, Emeritus Trustees are: Glenn Close; Jake Eberts; Sally Field; Steven Haft; Thomas E. Rothman; and George White.
NEW TRUSTEES
Sean Bailey is President of Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production and oversees all aspects of live-action development, film production and physical production for Walt Disney Pictures. A 20-year industry veteran, Bailey has created, packaged and developed film, television and new media concepts for Walt Disney Pictures, Miramax, 20th Century Fox, Columbia Pictures, DreamWorks, New Line Cinema, Paramount, Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros., all major television networks, MSN and Yahoo. His feature film producing credits include Disney’s TRON: Legacy; Miramax’s Gone, Baby, Gone, directed by Ben Affleck and starring Casey Affleck, Ed Harris, Morgan Freeman and Amy Ryan; Matchstick Men, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Nicolas Cage; The Core; and Best Laid Plans. His screenplay Solace, co-written by Ted Griffin, is in preproduction at New Line Cinema.
Anand Mahindra is the Vice Chairman and Managing Director of the Mahindra Group, one of India’s largest, diversified corporations. Named one of the top 25 most powerful business people in Asia by Fortune magazine, he serves on the Board of Dean’s Advisors at the Harvard Business School, the India Council for Sustainable Development, the Asia Business Council, and the Global Board of Advisors of the Council on Foreign Relations. He has also served as the President of the Confederation of Indian Industry and on the Board of the National Stock Exchange of India. As an Undergraduate at Harvard, he majored in Filmmaking, and his continued commitment to the Arts was in evidence last year when he made the largest ever gift to the Humanities at Harvard University. The Mahindra Group’s media company, Mumbai Mantra, collaborated with Sundance Institute to organize the first-ever Screenwriters Lab in India. Anand is co-founder of Naandi Danone, a Life Trustee on the Board of Naandi Foundation and a Trustee of the K.C. Mahindra Education Trust. He received the 2005 Leadership Award from the American India Foundation for his commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility.
Jacki Zehner was the youngest woman and first female trader to be invited into the partnership of Goldman Sachs. Since leaving Goldman in 2002 she has become an impassioned philanthropist committed to the advancement of women and girls. She currently serves as CEO of Women Moving Millions, whose goal is to mobilize unprecedented resources for women and girls. Jacki is also President of The Jacquelyn and Gregory Zehner Foundation and former board member of The Women’s Funding Network, The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, The Center for Talent Innovation, The National Council for Research on Women and The University of British Columbia. She serves as an advisor for many other for-profit and non-profit organizations that are working to advance gender equality including The Geena Davis Institute for Gender in Media, the Pax Global Women’s Equality Fund and Women Effect Investments. She is a frequent media commentator, consultant and speaker on women’s success in the workplace, women and wealth, investing, financial current events and high-impact philanthropy. Jacki lives in Park City, Utah with her husband Greg and two children.
Sundance Institute
Sundance Institute is a global nonprofit organization founded by Robert Redford in 1981. Through its artistic development programs for directors, screenwriters, producers, composers and playwrights, the Institute seeks to discover and support independent film and theatre artists from the United States and around the world, and to introduce audiences to their new work. The Institute promotes independent storytelling to inform, inspire, and unite diverse populations around the globe. Sundance Institute has nurtured such projects as Born into Brothels, Trouble the Water, Son of Babylon, Amreeka, An Inconvenient Truth, Spring Awakening, I Am My Own Wife, Light in the Piazza and Angels in America. Join Sundance Institute on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
