Officers & Staff

In accordance with the wishes of its founder, the Leon Levy Foundation maintains a small Board of Trustees and operating staff, to ensure focus on and efficiency in grant making.

OFFICERS:

Shelby White, Trustee
Ms. White is an author, collector and philanthropist.

She serves on the boards of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Institute for Advanced Study, The New York Botanical Garden, New York University, Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, Bard Graduate Center, and The Writers Room. She is president of both the American Friends of the Cycladic Art Foundation and the American Friends of the Israel Antiquities Authority in Jerusalem. Ms. White also serves as chairman of the Shelby White-Leon Levy Program for Archaeological Publications at Harvard University.

Ms. White’s financial articles have appeared in leading American publications including The New York Times, Town and Country, Redbook and Forbes. Her book, “What Every Woman Should Know About Her Husband’s Money,” was published by Random House (1992, 1994). She has taught seminar courses on philanthropy at New York University and museum studies at City College of New York and written articles about both philanthropy and art collecting.

Ms. White has appeared on television programs, including Good Morning America, Sonya Live, Bill Buckley’s Firing Line, and The Today Show. She received her B.A. from Mount Holyoke College and her M.A. from Columbia University.

Ms. White has been listed as one of the country’s top philanthropists in Business Week’s Annual Review of Top Giver’s and on The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s list of America’s most generous givers in 2007.

Elizabeth B. Moynihan, Trustee
Ms. Moynihan is an architectural historian who became friendly with Leon Levy in 1980, when they were on an archeological trip to Jordon.

In 1973, while living in India, Ms. Moynihan authored a survey of surviving Moghul gardens, which was published in 1979 “Paradise as a Garden in Persia and Moghul India.” She also served for many years on the Indo-U.S. Sub-Commission on Education and Culture while continuing her research on Babur, the founder of the Moghul dynasty. In the process, she located and documented four previously unknown 16th century gardens built by Babur.

In 1991, she was nominated by Leon Levy and elected to serve as an independent director of the Oppenheimer Funds, of which he was founder and chairman.

In 1996, Ms. Moynihan directed a joint project for the Archaeological Survey of India and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution, and edited the report published in 2000 as “The Moonlight Garden, New Discoveries at the Taj Mahal.”

A long-time board member of the Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery of Art and the Sackler Gallery, Ms. Moynihan has also served as a trustee of the National Building Museum, the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection of Harvard University, and the Preservation League of New York State, among other educational and cultural institutions.

Married to Daniel Patrick Moynihan for 48 years, Ms. Moynihan also managed three of his four campaigns for the United States Senate.

In 2001, Leon Levy asked Ms. Moynihan to serve with Ms. White as trustee of the Leon Levy Foundation.

John W. Bernstein, President and Chief Financial Officer
Before being appointed the first President of the Leon Levy Foundation in 2004, Mr. Bernstein was senior vice president for Institutional Development at The New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, where he was responsible for a successful $300 million campaign. Mr. Bernstein previously served as vice president for Finance at the Garden, overseeing all financial matters, including earned revenue and the endowment.

Mr. Bernstein, who holds a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A. from its Wharton School, worked for the New York Public Library until 1991, when he moved to The New York Botanical Garden. Mr. Bernstein is active in the cultural world of New York City and has served as president of the Ping Chong & Company theater group for many years. He is a member of the Foundation Financial Officers Group (FFOG) and currently serves on its Board, Executive Committee, and as the Chair of its Research Committee.

Nina Berg, Director of Administration
Ms. Berg worked closely with Leon Levy for over 20 years. Ms. Berg is intimately familiar with Leon Levy’s charitable preferences and activities. He felt she would be invaluable to the Foundation Trustees and Managers.

STAFF:

Randi Friedman, Senior Manager of Finance
Ms. Friedman has over 20 years experience in not-for-profit financial and administrative management. Prior to coming to the foundation, she previously worked for national organizations in both Washington, D.C. and New York.

Mirsad Kojasevic, Building Manager
Mr. Kojasevic was  the Building Manager at 15 East 84th Street when the Foundation purchased the building in 2004. He helped supervise the renovation of the building which now houses the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World. Before coming to to the Foundation he was in charge of maintenance at Victory Memorial Hospital in Brooklyn. His entire career has been in construction and building maintenance. 

CONSULTANTS:

Philippe de Montebello, Special Advisor
Mr. de Montebello is a special advisor to the foundation for major initiatives in its cultural program areas. He is Director Emeritus of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, having retired in 2008 as the longest serving director in the Met’s history. He is instantly recognizable as one of the most respected voices in the cultural world. Mr. de Montebello is the first Fiske Kimball Professor in the History and Culture of Museums at the Institute of Fine Arts of New York University. He is the first Scholar-in-Residence at the Prado Museum in Madrid and is on the Board of Trustees of the Musee d’Orsay in Paris. He  is currently co-host with Paula Zahn of the WNET/PBS weekly culture series SundayArts.  Among his honors are The National Medal of Arts, Officer de la Legion d’Honneur and the Amigos del Museo del Prado Prize. He continues to lecture throughout the world on art, museum, and other cultural matters.

Judith H. Dobrzynski, Senior Program Consultant
Ms. Dobrzynski is a consultant to the Foundation on arts, humanities and nature programs. Formerly a reporter and a senior editor at The New York Times and at Business Week, as well as a senior executive at CNBC, she is also a freelance writer. Her articles have been published in The Wall Street Journal, Conde Nast Portfolio, Town & Country, The Art Newspaper, Art + Auction, The New Republic and other publications. She has written op-ed columns for the Times, WSJ, Los Angeles Times, Forbes, Boston Globe and Chicago Tribune. Ms. Dobrzynski has also served as an adjunct professor at Columbia Graduate School of Journalism and as an editorial consultant to websites and documentarians.