Board

The San Diego Film Festival is governed by the Board of Directors for the Italian American Arts and Cultural Association of San Diego. 

  • Founder

    September 28, 1941
    March 17, 2022

    Retired Telecommunications Administrator & Station Manager/Director of Video and TV production, City of Pasadena.  Former film professor, Brown University & UCSD (joined 1st UCSD undergrad class in 1966; UCSD BA, 1973; Ph.D, 1975).  Board Member: House of Italy. Board Member: Italian Cultural Center. Board of Providence, R.I., Italian Settlement House.  Founding member of the Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena.  Founding member of IAACASD.

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  • Board Chair

    Jennifer Davies, a recognized local leader in communications and public affairs, serves as the chair of the San Diego Film Festival. She currently is works as a consultant.

    Davies has a robust record of leading communications, marketing strategy and program development for prominent San Diego organizations. She has served as the Director of External Affairs and Cultural Tourism for the San Diego Tourism Authority, Assistant Dean of External Affairs for UC San Diego Extension and Vice President of External Affairs for the Downtown San Diego Partnership. She also served as Director of Communications for former City Council President Sherri Lightner and worked as the Marketing and Communications Manager for the Centre City Development Corporation. Davies also has a background in journalism, having served as a staff writer for the San Diego Union-Tribune for almost a decade

  • Secretary

    Carolynn Crooks-Mueller joined the Board of the IAACASD in May 2016. She has over 30 years of Executive Management experience in corporations in the Human Resources and Job Placement industry, serving the last 10 years in the Retirement Industry. Her Italian heritage and the interest in the Italian language and film were the reason for joining the IAACASD Board. Having a B.A in Sociology, minor in Art History (UCSB) and a Masters in Library Science (CSU, Fullerton), she has been on many San Diego nonprofit boards. She is currently an Art Consultant for Contemporary Fine Arts Gallery in La Jolla.

  • Board Member

    Saundra Saperstein is currently a member of the San Diego Jewish Film Festival's Executive Committee and Film Selection Committee. She also recently held the past chair position. Saundra has taught at the University of Utah (Department of Theatre) and was the former Director of Marketing for the State of Utah Film Commission. Film has been a big part of Saundra's life. She also served as the Media Director and Event Producer for Sundance Film Festival and Media Consultant for the Maui Film Festival.

  • Board Member

    Raised in a Chicago Italian family, educated at George Washington University (BFA Theater Arts) and USIU (MFA Theater Acting & Directing), met Mel in college, married in Chicago. Came to San Diego for graduate school, lived in Ocean  Beach since 1972. Two daughters raised in San Diego, one now living in Lucca, Italy, other in NYC.

    Acting experience at the Old Globe, San Diego Rep, and North County Theater; recipient of three Old Globe Atlas Acting Awards.

    Founding Board Member, San Diego Ballet, seven years. Educational Outreach Director (Administrator and Narrator) of the San Diego Ballet for 15 years serving an average 20,000 students per year. This program has become a model for both primary and middle schools throughout San Diego County.

    Speech and Drama instructor at US International University, and Founder & Director of Del Mar San Dieguito Jr. Theater, an after-school theater program for secondary school children.

    Moderator for the League of Women Voters live Candidate Forums.

    Life-long love affair with theater and performing arts. Travel as much as possible, with Italy a prime destination.

  • Board Member

    Stefania Bruschi is a Software Engineering Manager at the USC Alzheimer’s Therapeutic Research Institute (ATRI), where she leads the development of the Alzheimer’s Clinical Trials Consortium Informatics Platform (ACTC-IP). Originally from Carpi, Italy, Stefania relocated to San Diego in 2006 after earning her Master’s degree in Software Engineering from the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. With over 10 years of experience in healthcare software development, she specializes in cloud-based solutions that support large-scale clinical studies. Stefania also holds an MBA from UC San Diego and is an active member of the San Diego Italian community, serving as an Ambassador Assistant for Italian Women USA and on the board of the San Diego Italian Film Festival.

  • Vice President

    Sandra Silverstein met “film” at the Film Society of the University of Wisconsin where she received a BA in History and an MSW. After 25 years dealing with children in trouble, she turned to the arts in retirement. She is a curator for the San Diego Jewish Film Festival and its Community Partners Chair and Co-chair of CJC Presents, the performing arts series at the Center For Jewish Culture, Lawrence Family JCC.

    Sandra met Italy when her husband received an appointment at the Universitá di Padova where her family spent two and a half incredible years.

  • Board Member

    With a University degree in Marine Biology, Paola became an expert in environmental communication and media relations, working in Italy as a journalist, information officer and campaign coordinator for national and international organizations.

    She specialized in publishing about health, food, environment and wildlife, for the National Geographic Italian website, The Huffington Post and the main Italian news website La Repubblica. She currently owns Gelato Love in Carlsbad, in partnership with her cousin Cristina Amoroso.

  • Treasurer, Certified Public Accountant

    Ron Sahmel began his accounting career in 1977 at Considine & Considine in San Diego and became partner there and managed the tax department.   From there he went on to work as the Chief Financial Officer of a real estate construction and development company in La Jolla. In 1993 Ron joined Nick Oliva and Tom Goddard to form Oliva, Sahmel and Goddard, a CPA firm in San Diego. Ron managed the tax department and provided expertise in accounting, taxation, tax planning, and business consulting. Ron founded Sahmel & Associates in January 2008 and is committed to partnering with his clients to provide excellent, on-time, comprehensive taxation, accounting, and financial services. Ron has served on numerous for-profit and non-profit boards over the years.

  • Board Member

    Fabrizio Scippa has been using his creativity and branding expertise hand-in-hand with digital design for 25 years. He has been described as the ideal combination between Italian sophistication and American efficiency.

    Fabrizio has served as Creative Director at various organizations before forming Fabrizio Scippa Grafica in 2011 to better serve his clients directly and more efficiently. Born and raised in Rome, he was influenced by the clean and minimalistic elements of modern Italian design.

    He is passionate about nature and typography. Being trilingual and having travelled extensively, he brings a multicultural perspective to the table and has launched many successful brands in the US, Mexico and Italy.

  • Board Member

    Creative and resourceful executive, experienced in R&D, management, product development and operations in Life Sciences.

    I am passionate about bringing disruptive ideas to market through rapid learning cycles. I enjoy building teams, empowering them to excel and providing vision and leadership, rapidly executing complex projects from concept through launch.

  • Board Member

    Ron Miriello received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in graphic design from Colorado State University and La Poggerina, Italy.  He works extensively now in the build environment, applying branding principles to help turn buildings into places. Ron works to advance design-thinking by lecturing and serving organizations such as: American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA), IDEATE Charter High School and the San Diego Innovation Center.  He is an AIGA National Fellow and recipient of the AIGA lifetime achievement award. His 100 Worlds Project sculpture exhibition is exhibition through 2017 at the San Diego International Airport.

  • Board Member

    Rosamaria Carrara Ruggeri is a native of Italy, she was born in Bergamo, a beautiful town 30 miles north of Milan. She started her professional teaching career, after she received the Laurea in Foreign Languages and Literatures at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan with the emphasis on German Language and Theater.

    She moved to San Diego in 1982 and in 1991 she received her Master Degree in Comparative Literature at the University of California San Diego. Her focus was on the Representation of Italy in German Literature and dealt with Politics of Representation.

    From 1986 she has taught Italian language, Literature, Cinema, Opera, Cultural Studies, at UCSD, Mesa College, Stella Maris Academy, Italian Cultural Center and since 2004 she is a Lecturer in Italian at San Diego State University.

    She also likes to  cultivate  her interests in Italian Cinema and Opera, which she has developed since  her early years in the very rich cultural environment of Milan. As a subscriber of the San Diego Opera Season and the San Diego Italian Film Festival   she communicates her enthusiasm to students and friends by inviting them to take part.