Marilyn is the President of the Board of Jewish Creativity International. Marilyn has worked in the Houston Jewish Community for 54 years. In May 2018, she retired after a 35-year career with the Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center (JCC/The J) holding the title of Assistant Executive Director. Prior to her 35 years with The J, Marilyn pursued a 10-year career in formal Jewish Education as both a teacher at Congregation Beth Yeshurun and as the founding principal of the I. Weiner Jewish Secondary School—now Emery Weiner School. Currently, Marilyn is a consultant with the Jewish Book Council. 

At the J, Marilyn was responsible for producing performing, visual, literary and film arts. She produced four JCC Maccabi Opening Ceremonies, launched the Horvitz Scholar in Residence month-long program and Rice University Jewish Studies Fall Lecture Series. Her awards include the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston Hans Mayer Jewish Communal Professional Award (1997), the National Council of Jewish Women Hannah J. Solomon Award for Outstanding Service in the community (2001), and the JCC Jerry Wische Staff Excellence Award (2018). In 2008, the Marilyn Hassid Emerging Authors Program Endowment was established to celebrate her 25 years with the JCC.

In retirement, Marilyn has contributed arts and culture essays to Jewish books and publications, lectured widely on her work at the J, interviewed numerous authors in live and virtual programs, and served on numerous national panels addressing all topics related to Jewish and Israeli arts and culture. She completed two major archival projects for the Houston JCC: Curating presidential
leadership and milestones from The J’s inception in 1936 to today, and Jewish and Israeli Arts and Culture materials, photos, and videos that will be digitized in the Joan and Stanford Alexander South Texas Jewish Archives at Rice University.

Since retirement, she enjoys traveling with her partner, Marc Gessner, taking care of their three grandchildren, and answering the call from the J when projects are needing her touch.

Michael is the Vice President of the Board of Jewish Creativity International. He is Managing Director of MPL Productions, Inc., which produces, advertises and markets the arts. He is President of the Board of the American Society for Jewish Music and has served on the Boards of the Museum of Yiddish Theater, Chorus America, The Mendelssohn Project, and the Institute for Study and Advancement of Boychoir.

For more than 35 years, through MPL Productions, Empire Music Group, a record distributorship, and Allied Artists Bureau, a management firm, he has produced, managed and promoted the performing arts, working with such organizations as Amor Artis, the Gregg Smith Singers, Horizon Concerts, the Beethoven Society, the MTA (Music Under New York), and with dancers from New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theatre, as well as an array of distinguished individual performers.  He has produced more than 50 recordings, three of which have been nominated for Grammy Awards, and written an award-winning radio series heard by more than 350 million listeners.

Naomi is the Treasurer of the Board of Jewish Creativity International. Orig­i­nal­ly from Lan­cast­er, Penn­syl­va­nia, she is the CEO of Jew­ish Book Coun­cil (JBC). Pri­or to her roles as Executive Director and then CEO at JBC, Naomi served as the found­ing edi­tor of the JBC web­site and blog and man­ag­ing editor of Jew­ish Book World. In addi­tion, she has over­seen JBC’s dig­i­tal ini­tia­tives, and also devel­oped the JBC’s Vis­it­ing Scribe series and Unpacking the Book: Jew­ish Writ­ers in Conversation.

Naomi  grad­u­at­ed from Emory Uni­ver­si­ty with degrees in Eng­lish and Art His­to­ry and stud­ied at Uni­ver­si­ty Col­lege Lon­don.

Debby is a Director at Large of the Board of Jewish Creativity International. Debby joined JCI in 2019, bringing with her a longstanding commitment to Jewish arts and cultural life. Her involvement builds on her tenure as Chair of the Hong Kong Jewish Film Festival and her continued service on the film selection committees of both the Hong Kong and UK Jewish Film Festivals. Through these roles, she has actively championed Jewish storytelling and creative expression on an international stage.

Beyond the cultural sphere, Debby is deeply engaged in philanthropic initiatives supporting vulnerable women and children. She serves as a trustee of a UK domestic abuse charity and has held a board position with the Jewish Women’s Association of Hong Kong, raising funds for a broad range of women and children’s charities in Israel.

Growing up between London and Israel, Debby spent two decades working in sales and marketing before living in Hong Kong for 16 years and New York for four.

Today, she happily divides her time between London and Tel Aviv, remaining closely connected to the communities and cultural life of both cities.