JETAANY is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization overseen by a Board of Directors. To learn more about the role and responsibilities of the Board, please refer to our Bylaws (PDF Download). Learn more about Board members by clicking on their names below.
Sara Beinert
Shannan Spisak
Randall David Cook
Katrina Barnas
Steven Horowitz
Monica Yuki (ex-officio, JETAANY President)
Jim Gannon
Nancy Ikehara
Cindy Hoffman
Clara Solomon
Sara Beinert
Sara Beinert is proud to be the only non-JET alum to serve on the JETAANY Board. Sara is a professional fundraiser, working as Major Gifts Officer for the Center for Constitutional Rights, a social justice and civil rights legal organization. Prior to joining CCR in August 2007, she was Manager of Individual Gifts at the Brennan Center for Justice. She began her career organizing special events at the Ms. Foundation for Women, rising to the position of Special Events Manager.
Sara holds a BA in Psychology and Sociology from the State University of New York at Geneseo (1998), and a Certificate in Fundraising from New York University. She serves on the Boards of WIMN: Women In Media and News, a media analysis and advocacy group working to increase women’s power in the public debate.
Shannan currently works as a Program Officer at the Institute of International Education, continuing her passion for international exchange, which began with her participation in the JET Programme as a “One Shot” ALT at multiple Kawasaki-city JHSs in Kanagawa-ken from 1996-98.
Upon her return from Japan, Shannan served as President of the JET Alumni Association NY Chapter (US 2) from 2002-2005 and then in the position of JETAA USA Country Representative from 2006-08. Her involvement in JETAA includes organization of the Eastern Regional Conference (2001), participation in National Conferences in Seattle (2003), and DC (2004), as well as participation at the International Conference in Vancouver (2002), and host chapter of the International Conference in NYC (2004). As a Country Representative, she organized and facilitated the 2007 National Conference in Atlanta, GA and the 2008 National Conference in Seattle, WA in addition to participating in the JETAA International Meetings in Sydney, Australia (2006) and Toronto, Canada (2007).
In her role as Country Representative, Shannan coordinated communication between 19 US Chapters and has strengthened the support network for smaller chapters / sub-chapters while also reviving the Kintetsu Annual Essay Contest (themed to represent the 20th Anniversary of the JET Programme), which resulted in a special publication for promotion of the JET Programme.
She was invited as the U.S. representative to speak at the Returning JETs Conference in Yokohama in March 2005, and as guest speaker at the 2008 JETAA Canada National Conference. She is a member of the original team of JETAA NY officers to establish 501c3 status for the organization and has served as the Database Manager since 2005.
Shannan earned an M.A. in International Educational Development from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a B.F.A. in dance performance from the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. She currently lives in Harlem with her long-time Significant Other, Todd, and their rescued cat, Percy.
Randall David Cook was an ALT in Fukui-ken from 1991-1993. His experience in Japan was the basis for his critically acclaimed Off-Broadway play Sake with the Haiku Geisha. Additional Off-Broadway credits include Fate’s Imagination, A Night in Gotham, and Another Night in Gotham: Bullets Over Off-Broadway. In addition to being the resident playwright of Gotham Stage Company, since 2009 he has also been the writer of the annual Fred and Adele Astaire Awards, the annual honors awarded to the best dancers and choreographers on Broadway and in film. His play Sushi and Scones won Best Play award at the Southeast Region Playwrights’ Conference and was later broadcast as a radio play by the BBC. American Idle: Murdering the Music, his parody of the ever-popular television phenomenon, has received more than 150 productions in North America, Europe and Australia. He’s dabbled in screenwriting twice and has both times been named a finalist for the Sundance Filmmakers Lab.
Randall David hails from South Carolina and holds an International MBA from the Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina and a Bachelor of Arts from Furman University. In addition to his life in the theater, Randall David is a nationally certified dog trainer (after interning at the NYC ASPCA) and is co-owner of The Zoo Crew, a pet-care business, and Big Apple Dog School, a dog-training business.
Randall David is dedicated to the continued success of the JET Programme and of JETAANY. He has interviewed prospective JET candidates for more than ten years, and for the past three years he has also served as the keynote speaker at the official NYC JET Pre-Departure Seminar. He served as moderator of the 2009 JET Alumni Author Showcase and most recently organized and directed a one-night-only reading of Sake with the Haiku Geisha for the 2010 JETAA National Conference.
Katrina Barnas
Katrina Barnas is a senior program manager at the Jerome A. Chazen Institute of International Business at Columbia Business School where she manages international study tours for MBA students as well the editorial content and development of the Chazen Web Journal of International Business. She works closely with administration, faculty and students to expand international programming at the School. Katrina was an ALT in Choshi-shi, Chiba-ken from 2001-2002. Following her time on the JET Programme, she remained in Japan as a writer and editor for Toyota Motor Corporation in their Overseas Marketing Division until 2003. Upon her return to NY, Katrina served as Vice President of the NY chapter of the JET Alumni Association from 2005-2007. She is also an active volunteer for two New York City based non-profits, Big Apple Greeter and Open House New York.
Katrina has a BSJ from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University with a joint major in History and an MPA from Columbia ’s School of International and Public Affairs.
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Steven Horowitz Aichi-ken, Kariya-shi ALT 1992-1994 Professional Outreach & Development 2009-Present JETAANY Newsletter Editor 2002-2008 |
A New Jersey native, Steven is a lawyer by training and works for a bankruptcy services company in New York. After JET, he went to Duke Law School and spent time working for two Japanese law firms and studying at Waseda University before moving to New York to work for a law firm. In 2002 he began serving as the editor of the JETAANY Newsletter (now the JETAANY Magazine) and in 2005 was JETAANY’s representative at the JETAA International Meeting in Japan. He used his role as Newsletter editor to reach out to newsletter editors in other chapters, eventually leading him to create the Writers Interpreters Translators (WIT) Group and JetWit.com in 2008 as a resource for the JET alum community. His goal is to help JET alums connect with each other and find and create work opportunities for themselves. In addition to his JETAANY work, Steven is also the creator of Bankruptcy Bill, a cartoon about bankruptcy lawyers (and few bankruptcy haiku too!) Steven lives in Brooklyn with his wife Wynne and can often be found playing ultimate frisbee in or near Prospect Park.
Originally from Malibu, California, Monica attended the University of Colorado and has a B.S. in Business Administration with a double emphasis in Marketing and Human Resource Management. After graduating, she decided to trade the Rocky Mountains for the Kanto Plain and participated in the JET Programme. While serving as a high school ALT in Iruma-shi, Saitama-ken from 2002-2004, Monica developed a greater appreciation for Japanese culture and her family heritage. During her time in Japan, Monica performed in several traditional Japanese dance performances, joined the Ikebana club and coached her high school’s girl’s softball team.
Now residing in New York City, Monica works for USA Weekend Magazine as a Senior Research/Database Analyst. When not researching the hottest trends in consumer purchasing habits, Monica keeps herself busy playing softball, and volleyball. She is currently the Vice President of the Alpha Chi Omega Alumni Chapter in NYC and is involved in many NY Cares philanthropic activities. She also has a passion for travel which has taken her all over the world, most recently to the Galapagos Islands.
Jim Gannon
Jim Gannon is executive director of the Japan Center for International Exchange (JCIE/USA) in New York, the US affiliate of one of the leading nongovernmental institutions in the field of international affairs in Japan. JCIE brings together political leaders, policymakers, experts, and activists from around the world for programs of exchange, research, and dialogue designed to build international cooperation on pressing regional and global challenges.
Before joining JCIE in 2001, he conducted research with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation and, from 1992 to 1994, taught English in rural middle schools in Ehime Prefecture as part of the JET Programme. Jim received a BA from the University of Notre Dame, conducted graduate research at Ehime University, and has a master’s degree from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. He is also a fellow with the US-Japan Network for the Future, operated by the Mike and Maureen Mansfield Foundation; he is author of a number of publications on US-Japan and US-Asia relations; and at various times in his life he has worked as a forklift driver, at a travel agency, and baling hay.
Nancy Ikehara
Nancy Ikehara is the public relations specialist for Toyo Ink International Corporation in Manhattan, where she is in charge of developing the media relations, web communications and corporate communications program for the Toyo Ink Group in the Americas. Headed by its Tokyo-based parent Toyo Ink Manufacturing Co., Ltd., the Toyo Ink Group is the world’s third largest printing inks manufacturer and leading producer of color materials and specialty chemicals.
Nancy was born and bred in Los Angeles, CA. She attended Pitzer College in Claremont, CA, where she received a BA in Organizational Studies and Economics with a minor in Japanese Studies. She had also spent her junior year at Waseda University’s International Division in Tokyo. From 1994 to 1997, she worked for the Yokohama Association for International Communications and Exchanges on various sister city and international exchange-related projects as part of the JET Programme. Following JET, Nancy landed a public relations job with plastics and chemicals manufacturer Tosoh Corporation in Tokyo, from 1997 – 2001. She would later work in the information technology field for Fujitsu Limited’s public and investor relations divison at its Tokyo headquarters, from 2001 – 2006. She relocated back to the United States in June 2006 and now calls New York City home.
