Board of Directors

 

William J. Rouhana, Jr., Chairman, Co-Founder

William (Bill) J. Rouhana, Jr. has been the Chairman and CEO of Chicken Soup for the Soul Publishing, LLC since 2008. Rouhana started his career practicing law with a focus on media industry financing. He became a merchant banker and in 1993, launched one of the earliest internet companies, Winstar Communications, Inc., which went on to become one of the fastest growing companies in history with annual sales exceeding $1 billion in less than seven years. From 2002 to 2008 Rouhana served as an advisor to various media and other companies on strategy, acquisition and financing issues. While pursuing his business career, Rouhana also served as a Board Member of the United Nations Association, Business Executives for National Security (BENS) and Colby College. In 1998, Rouhana co-founded the Humpty Dumpty Institute and became chairman in 2010. Mr. Rouhana also chairs the Global Creative Forum, an annual summit that engages Hollywood’s film and television industry in the U.N.’s important development work around the world. For a complete biography of Mr. Rouhana, visit www.chickensoup.com.

 

Walter Simon Arbib, Director

Walter Simon Arbib is the President, SkyLink Group of Companies and Founder & Director, SkyLink Aviation Inc. SkyLink Aviation has become a leader in fast global deployment of food, peacekeepers and international humanitarian aid during war, major disasters and pandemics within fifty countries for clients such as World Food Programme, USAID, IOM, the Red Cross, and other national governments and NGO’s. Walter is on the Board of the Canadian Jewish Congress, Friends of the Simon Weisenthal Centre, B’nai Brith Canada, and Counterpart International Inc.  Walter is one of the founders of the Libyan Jewish Museum in Or Yehuda, Israel, a member of the Israel Policy Forum in the United States and a member of the Magna Carta Foundation in Italy

 

Esther Coopersmith, Director

Esther Coopersmith is a long time political activist. Among her many public commitments to the United Nations system she has served as co-chair of Americans for UNESCO as well as a United States Public Delegate to the United Nations. An advisor to the Department of State for the Status of Women Commission of the United Nations and based in Washington D.C., she is an Advisory Board member of the Center for International development and Conflict Management. In 1982 she became the first woman since Eleanor Roosevelt to receive the United Nations Peace Prize.

 

Ralph L. Cwerman, President, Co-Founder

Mr. Cwerman is President and Co-Founder of the Humpty Dumpty Institute. Previously, he served as Senior Vice President of Muus Asset Management Inc, Senior Vice-President of the United Nations Association of the United States, and Director of Research at Israel's Permanent Mission to the United Nations and senior aide to Ambassador Benjamin Netanyahu. Ralph.Cwerman@theHDI.org

 

Mark Epstein, Director

In 1976, Mr. Epstein founded the Izmo Family of Companies, Inc., a silk screen printing company serving the advertising and fine arts communities. Over the next twenty-one years Izmo became one of the most versatile silk screening printing companies in New York. While running Izmo, Mr. Epstein formed off-shoot businesses such as cosmetics, graphics, and advertising. Mr. Epstein started heavily investing in commercial and residential real estate in 1990. He co-founded Ossa Properties Inc., a real estate management company in 1992, and managed properties owned by him and others. Mr. Epstein decided to semi-retire at age 39 to be able to devote more time to non-profit interests including Cooper Union, The New School Concert Series, the New York String Orchestra Seminar, Ballet Inc., the United Nations and the Humpty Dumpty Institute.

 

Benjamin A. Gilman, Director

During his thirty years in Congress (1973-2002), Congressman Gilman was highly respected on both sides of the aisle for his commitment advancing human rights and fighting world hunger. He served as Chairman of the House International Relations Committee (1995-2002) and provided a leading voice for vigorous U.S.-U.N. engagement. In September 2003, President Bush appointed Congressman Gilman as a Public Delegate to the 58th United Nations General Assembly.

 

Peter Grossman, Director

Peter Grossman is an attorney who represents the principals of Ogden CAP Properties, LLC and the Seymour Milstein Family. He has served in this capacity for the Family since 2002. Prior to his representation of the Seymour Milstein Family, Peter spent ten years at the J.P. Morgan Chase Private Bank (and its predecessor institutions Chase Manhattan Bank and Chemical Bank), first as a Vice-President and then as a Managing Director. During his tenure at the bank, he worked with wealthy families on financial and tax planning issues and was responsible for the insurance services of the Private Bank. Peter Grossman has also practiced law in two New York City firms, specializing in the area of trust and estates. After graduating law school, he served as special counsel to New York State Transportation Committee for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Peter Grossman graduated with a B.A. from Columbia College in 1979;a J.D. (with distinction) from Hofstra University School of Law in 1981 and a LL.M. in Taxation from New York University School of Law in 1988.

 

Constance Milstein, Chairman Emeritus, Co-Founder

Ms. Milstein is a Principal of Ogden CAP Properties, LLC, a New York City property management and development company. She is a board member of many non-profit organizations including Refugees International (RI), the National Democratic Institute (NDI), the New York City Opera and the City Parks Foundation. Ms. Milstein is a member of the District of Columbia Bar.

 

Dr. Alexander Mirtchev, Director

Dr. Alexander Mirtchev is the founder and president of Krull Corp., a global strategic solutions provider, with a focus on new economic trends and emerging policy challenges. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, a Board Director of the Atlantic Council of the United States and Independent Director of the Board for Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund. Alexander Mirtchev has a distinguished academic career and served, among other positions, as Senior Fellow of the Institute of Europe, Russian Academy of Sciences; Senior Fellow of the National Public Center of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences; and as Adjunct Professor at St. Kliment Ohridski University, Sofia, Bulgaria.

 

Michael W. Sonnenfeldt, Co-Chairman Emeritus, Co-Founder

Mr. Sonnenfeldt is Managing Member of MUUS and Company, a privately owned investment fund. He has had a long and successful career as a property developer. Mr. Sonnenfeldt is past Chairman of the Israel Policy Forum and is a board member of the Synergos Institute. He is currently a Senior Lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He holds a number of other non-profit board positions and has received an Honorary Doctorate from Ben Gurion University.

 

Jay T. Snyder, Director

Jay T. Snyder is a principal of HBJ Investments, LLC, specializing in private equity investments. In 2007, he became the Non-Executive Chairman of Pelion Financial Group, a company that provides retirement wealth and plan management solutions for small and mid-sized businesses. He was a principal of Ashfield Consulting Group from 2003 to 2005. In addition to his professional work, he had previous U.S. Government service as a U.S. Representative to the 55th United Nations General Assembly. Mr. Snyder is currently a member of the Presidential Commission on Public Diplomacy and continues to serve on the Board of Trustees of the Beatrice Snyder Foundation, Phoenix House Foundation and Milano Graduate School of Management and Urban Policy, all non-profit organizations, and is an active participant in many charitable organizations. In 2008, he joined the Advisory Board of the Brookings' Saban Center/ Council on Foreign Relations Middle East Project.