In The Life Media's Board of Directors is comprised of community leaders, activists, philanthropists, and others who are committed to the production of independent media that produces change for the LGBT communities. The Board convenes for in-person meetings bimonthly in addition to participating in regular committee meetings. The Board provides crucial guidance and oversight for our organization and its programs, performs important fundraising duties, and supports the staff in their ongoing work.

If you are interested in joining In The Life Media's Board of Directors, please contact our Executive Director. You will be asked to fill out a short application and participate in an interview with one of our Board co-chairs.

Henry van Ameringen (Co-chair, Board of Directors) graduated from the Georgetown School of Foreign Service in the middle of the last century. He worked at International Flavors and Fragrances (IFF), ending up as Vice-President in charge of Fragrance marketing. In addition to his service with IN THE LIFE, Henry is on the board of Fountain House, a community of people with mental illnesses where they can find a job, a home and friends.

Henry is President of the van Ameringen Foundation, a family foundation that deals with mental health and mental illness in the New York and Philadelphia metropolitan area. He is also President of the H. van Ameringen Foundation, a personal foundation that concentrates on HIV/AIDS, and the problems of the Gay and Lesbian Community, mostly in New York City.

His partner is Eric Galloway.

Jayne Baron Sherman (Co-chair, Board of Directors) is an independent producer of film and theatre (most notably, "A Raisin in the Sun" on Broadway).  Prior to producing she was president and founder of Sagacious, Ltd., a marketing and communications consulting firm.  This grew from her experience in the corporate world where she was an officer of Marsh and McLennan Companies and worked for firms such as ATT and Morgan Guaranty.

A former co-chair of Lambda Legal, Jayne is active in the LGBT community with numerous organizations and has served on the boards of Stonewall Foundation and the American Cancer Society as well as others. She lives with her partner of 18 years, Deby Zum, and their two 17 1/2 year old poodles, Georgia and Mona.

F. Gary Knapp (Treasurer) is currently Managing Director, Liability-Driven Strategies, in Prudential Fixed Income. He oversees investment strategy development and implementation for Prudential Fixed Income's insurance company clients in the United States and abroad, including Prudential's affiliated portfolios. Mr. Knapp has held a number of senior positions at Prudential in asset - liability management, risk management and hedge fund strategies. He has worked at Prudential for 22 years.

Mr. Knapp is a graduate of Haverford College (BA) and Brown University (M. Sc.). He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst^TM (CFA®) designation from the Association for Investment Management and Research, the Professional Risk Manager (PRM) designation from the Professional Risk Managers International Association (PRMIA) and Financial Risk Manager (FRM^TM) designation from the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP®).

Jane Hoffman (Secretary) has been the President and Chair of the Board of Directors of the Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals since its inception in 2002. The Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals, which acts as a liaison between the government of the City of New York and the NYC animal care community, is a coalition of over 100 animal rescue groups and shelters that have joined together to reduce the killing of cats and dogs in NYC shelters.

Prior to helping create the Alliance, Jane was in solo/private practice, specializing in executive compensation and estate planning. Before she started her own law practice, she was a Vice President and Senior Consultant at Handy Associates, a management-consulting firm and an associate at the law firm of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, where she specialized in taxation and executive compensation.

In connection with her work with the Alliance, Jane continues to speak extensively around the country on the public - private partnership as a replicable model for bringing together animal welfare groups to develop creative solutions to companion animal overpopulation and animal control issues. Alliances modeled on the NYC Alliance now exist in many other municipalities and regions across the country.

Jane is the Chair of the Board of Directors of Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen, NY. She has previously served as both Secretary and Chair of the Board of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD).

Jane has a J.D. from Brooklyn Law School, an M.L.S. from Long Island University and a B.A. from Boston College.

David Beitzel (Chair, Major Gifts Committee) is a private art dealer specializing in international contemporary art, with a focus on new emerging talent.  Working closely with a range of clients, including private, corporate, and public institutions, David consults and advises them in several key areas: building and managing their collections, informing them of important new talent, valuation of existing collections, and the sale of collections and individual pieces.  
 
Prior to establishing himself as a private art dealer in 2001, David owned the David Beitzel Gallery in New York City for 12 years.  During that time, he was a member of The Hetrick-Martin Institute's board of directors, serving as chair of its development committee. He has served as a trustee for Bennington College, a member of its development committee and as chair (1994-2000) of the New York Associates, the school's high-level donor group.  David was a founding member of the 21st Century committee of the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, and, currently, is on the Board of Advisors of the Fleming Museum. He holds a BA from the University of Vermont and an MFA from Bennington College.

Chuck Edwards (Chair, Special Events Committee) began his systems career at J.P. Morgan in 1986, after receiving a Master's in Computer Information Systems from Dartmouth. He worked with Monarch Resources as a key developer of proprietary LAN-based investment management products, and Macmillan, providing corporate-wide computer support, before going independent in 1990. Chuck and his associates bring a unique combination of technical and business skills to the field of off-the-shelf and custom designed micro-computer systems. They function as an extension of their clients' technical resources, ensuring high standards of quality, while following company guidelines. Chuck is quite aware of the integral need for cost effective systems, constrained by small budgets.

His client base spans from entrepreneurial start-ups, to successful not-for-profits, to major corporations. One-on-one sessions range from setting up home offices to tutoring senior corporate executives. Organizational clients have included Macmillan Publishing, Revlon, American Playhouse, School of American Ballet, New York Bankers Group, Chase Bank, Community Prescription Service, Hyperspace Cowgirls, ARTnews Magazine, Matador Records, CPC International, Kmart, Fujifilm, Christie's, and the Columbia Business School.

Michelle Francis is Senior Vice President and Legal Consultant to New Corporation. Although born in San Francisco, Ms. Francis spent 22 years in Los Angeles where she received a BA in English from UCLA and a JD Pepperdine University School of Law. Ms. Francis has lived in Singapore, Japan and Greece while not in Los Angeles growing up.  Settling in Los Angeles, in 1990, Michelle began her career in private practice focusing on general litigation, entertainment and intellectual property at Knapp, Petersen and Clarke, and subsequently, Kulik, Gottesman and Mouton.

In 1997, Michelle joined the News Corporation family of companies.  While her first 4 years were spent at Fox Entertainment Group in Los Angeles handling worldwide film and television intellectual property enforcement matters, Michelle moved to New York in 2001 to join the legal team in the General Counsel's office of News Corporation, which handles a wide range of multi-national media/entertainment legal and business issues.  During that time, as Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, Michelle headed up the intellectual property practice of News America Incorporated, charged with the global management and protection of the intellectual property and Internet assets of News Corporation and many of its operating and joint venture companies. As of January 2008, Michelle has been assisting News Corp as a legal consultant on intellectual property and Internet matters.

In addition to her legal career, Ms. Francis is an avid tennis player, equestrian and student of yoga. She has studied genres of non-fiction expression and oral history at The New School and Columbia University, respectively. Ms. Francis is the recipient of the 2006 YWCA Academy of Women Leaders Award

Michael Sennott (Chair, Catalyst Committee) is an Illinois native, and a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, in South Bend, Indiana, where he received a BA in History. After relocating to New York City in 1965, he joined the Interpublic Group of Companies as a trainee; retiring in 2002 as Vice-Chairman. During his 37 years at IPG, Michael held a variety of posts principally at McCann-Erickson, including Director of the New York office, and Regional Director Europe/Middle East/Africa for 8 years. He returned to New York in 1998 as Vice Chairman of McCann World Group, and in 1999, he was called upon to engineer the merger of Lintas Worldwide into The Lowe Group. After successfully completing that merger, he became Vice Chairman of The Interpublic Group of Companies.
 
Michael now devotes his time to volunteering and fundraising. He is Chairman of the Board of God's Love We Deliver, and is also a director of The Grand Street Settlement.  Formerly, he was a director at IES, a consortium of American Colleges and Universities providing overseas education with 24 campuses around the world.  A grandfather and avid traveler, Michael enjoys reading and boosting the virtues of Martha's Vineyard.

Orlando Reece is Senior Vice President, Broadcast Sales for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. He is responsible for all MSLO's broadcast properties including the Emmy Award-winning, nationally syndicated, daily TV show The Martha Stewart Show; Everyday Food on PBS; Martha Stewart Living Radio on SIRIUS Satellite Radio as well as MSLO's Video on Demand and iTunes.

Orlando has over 15 years of experience in network, cable and digital sales and a proven track record creating cross-platform programs for advertisers. He started his career as a page at NBC and moved as a media buyer to the International Communications Group. He became an Account Executive for MTV Networks and later moved to the Walt Disney Company's ABC Television division where he held several positions including: ABC News Sales, Director of Special Program Sales, Primetime Sales and was last Vice President of Disney ABC Unlimited, the integrated sales and marketing arm of the Walt Disney company. Prior to joining MSLO, Orlando was Executive Director Sales Strategy at Yahoo!

A graduate of the College of William and Mary, Orlando is an active member of the advertising community and was awarded the 2007 ADCOLOR Award "Sales Innovator of the Year."