Staff & Board

Lexi Leban joined the Jewish Film Institute as Executive Director in 2011. A longtime member of the Bay Area film community, Leban has over 20 years experience in all aspects of film, from production to distribution to exhibition. Prior to her appointment, she served as the Academic Director of the Digital Filmmaking & Video Production at the Art Institute of California and creator of their Bachelor's degree program. As a documentary filmmaker, Leban has directed award-winning films that focus on women's rights, criminal justice and LGBT issues. Her films have screened widely at festivals in the U.S. and abroad. Her most recent film, Girl Trouble aired nationally on the acclaimed PBS series Independent Lens and an interactive game based on the film debuted at Sundance. She served for 8 years in the marketing and web operation department at New Day Films, a 40 year old filmmaker-run educational distribution company with over 230 award-winning titles. She earned a BA degree in Political Science from Barnard College of Columbia University and an MFA in Cinema from San Francisco State University.

Jay Rosenblatt is an internationally recognized filmmaker whose work has received many awards. A selection of his films had theatrical runs at the Film Forum in New York and at theaters around the country. Eight of his films have been at the Sundance Film Festival and several of his films have shown on HBO/Cinemax, the Independent Film Channel and the Sundance Channel. Articles about his work have appeared in the Sunday NY Times Arts & Leisure section, the LA Times, the NY Times, Filmmaker magazine and the Village Voice. Jay is a recipient of a Guggenheim, a USA Artists grant and a Rockefeller Fellowship. He has served on numerous festival juries throughout the world including the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) and the Tampere Film Festival in Finland. In 2002, he co-produced and curated the 9/11 program "Underground Zero" which was named one of the Ten Best Films in 2002 by the San Francisco Chronicle. In 2005, Jay received the inaugural Freedom of Expression Award from the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival.

Jay is originally from New York and has lived in San Francisco for many years. Since 1989, he has taught film at various universities in the Bay Area, including Stanford University, S.F. State University, and the San Francisco Art Institute. He has a Master's Degree in Counseling Psychology and, in a former life, worked as a therapist.

A resident of the Bay Area since 1970, Lori Campbell has over 35 years of nonprofit financial and
management experience. Working closely with Trustees and senior staff, Lori has provided expertise in
areas of strategic planning, budget and finance, board training, fund development, human resource, risk
management and facilities operations.
Her specialties include strategic assessment of organizational financial health, designing and
implementing systems, policies and procedures for financial management, coaching agency leadership
and facilitating board and staff retreats.
Lori has been a member of the Board of the California Association of Nonprofits, the Foundation for
National Progress, the Bay Area Independent Schools Business Officers Association, the National Alliance
on Mental Illness and the San Francisco Wholesale Produce Market.
Lori graduated Phi Beta Kappa, cum laude from the University of California, Berkeley and was a PhD
candidate at the University of Chicago. 
Married with three sons, Lori lives in Westwood Highlands, a sleepy hamlet in the southwest corner of
San Francisco. She tries never to miss Opening Day, and prefers seats on the third base side.

Marcia Jarmel is a long-standing member of the Bay Area documentary filmmaking community. She co-founded PatchWorks Films with husband-collaborator Ken Schneider in 1994 and has been producing, directing, and managing impact for their slate of award-winning films ever since.

Together they’ve produced five feature documentaries and many shorts—the latest, a PBS film nominated for Best Music Documentary by the International Documentary Association and awarded Best Documentary at the Woodstock Film Festival, LOS HERMANOS/THE BROTHERS.

Earlier her THE RETURN OF SARAH'S DAUGHTERS and HAVANA CURVEBALL both premiered at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival.

Marcia has been funded  by public broadcasting's Independent Televisions Service (ITVS), Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB), and the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM). Other support has come from the National Endowment for the Arts, and many foundations and private donors. Her work has screened internationally at film festivals, on television, and in museums, libraries, and educational settings.

Additional credits include producing and directing films for the San Francisco World Music Festival, co-editing the Academy-award nominee, FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE, and assistant producing the Academy Award nominees BERKELEY IN THE SIXTIES and FREEDOM ON MY MIND.

Marcia has taught both undergrad and graduate film courses at NYU and Chapman University and been honored with residencies with Working Films, the Fledgling Fund, SFFilm, the Kopkind Colony, and BAVC Media Maker. She has served as a juror for the Emmys, BAVC MediaMaker, and many film festivals.  

Information on her work can be found at: www.patchworksfilms.net

Looking back, the through line from Jamie's life leading up to his role at the Jewish Film Institute is clear. A recent graduate of the dual USC Annenberg MCM and Zelikow School of Jewish Nonprofit Management programs, he has a lifetime of community involvement, leadership, connectedness, and communication ranging from a small family business, to attending, volunteering, interning, and working all across the Jewish nonprofit landscape. He is currently thriving in Oakland with his better half, Pearl, and Lucy the Snake Diva - a teenaged ball python.  

After relocating to San Francisco in 2018, Hayleigh soon became a part of JFI in a year-round capacity after working the box office for SFJFF38. Prior to joining JFI she worked in film production, exhibition and the film festival circuit in San Francisco, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, New York, LA, and England. She loves film and in her free time pursues her passion of screenwriting and exploring all the rich culture and arts the city has to offer. She studied Creative Writing and Film at Sarah Lawrence College and later went on to obtain her masters in Film Aesthetics from the University of Oxford.

A veteran of the filmmaking community in the Bay Area and Los Angeles, Claudia Finkle, brings her
expertise and enthusiasm to the Jewish Film Institute. After graduating from the Art Institute in San Francisco Claudia went on to edit over 20 feature length narrative and documentary films. Claudia has served on the Board of American Cinema Editors and Women In Film. When not watching films you will find Claudia dancing to the beat of the clave in Cuban music.

Have a question or comment and not sure who to reach? Contact the main office number or email and we will direct you to the appropriate staff member.