Board of Directors

Varina Bleil is the Executive Director of Inside Out Community Arts, which provides free after-school arts and education programs to at-risk and underserved youth throughout Los Angeles.  Varina received her Master’s in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s “Arts in Education” program, where she worked closely with the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations.  She previously served as the Development Executive at The Help Group and has over a decade of experience as a Teaching Artist with various arts organizations in Los Angeles, supervising theatrical performances for underprivileged teenagers, juvenile offenders, and psychiatric patients. Prior to her work with nonprofits, Varina worked in the film and television industry in which she served as a development executive, producer and writer, working with such companies as Warner Bros., Miramax, New Line, and NBC/Universal.  Her experience includes Senior Vice President at Weed Road Pictures; staff writer on the television series Eureka; and Associate Producer on the film Mr. & Mrs. Smith.  She is honored to be one the Board of Directors of Elemental Strings, and to be of service to the incredible work Elemental Strings provides in our community.

Janie Docter

Kevin McKeown is an instrumental music teacher for the SMMUSD, as well as the conductor of Wind Ensembles for both Santa Monica College and the Claire Trevor School of the Arts at UC Irvine.  Prior to joining the Santa Monica community, he held positions at CSUN, CSULA, and Long Beach City College.  Kevin earned the Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Education and a Master of Music degree in Conducting from UCLA.  He is an active guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator in the Southern California area.  Outside of his passion for teaching musicians of all ages, he enjoys playing golf and spending time with his wife and son.  Kevin has been a strong advocate for this program since its inception and is now honored to be a Board Member of the Elemental Strings program.

Aaron Mendelsohn is the Founding Board Member of Elemental Strings. founder and Chairman of the Maestro Foundation. During the over 25 years that he has spent in the financial services industry, he has retained titles from vice-president to senior director at Stearn Frank Meyer & Fox, Inc., Drexel Burnham Lambert, Blyth Eastman Dillon & Co., Paine Webber, and Bear Stearns & Co. Aaron currently serves on the board of the following companies: International Aircraft Investors, MRG, Display Products, and 2nd Sight.  In a charitable capacity, he serves as the founder and Chairman of the Maestro Foundation and is also a director of several charities, including The Alfred Mann Institute for Biomedical Engineering at USC.

Joseph A. Pertel is a civil rights attorney in Santa Monica. He and his wife, Dr. Tina Tan, are proud parents of two children, Anya, who attends John Adams Middle School, and Minya, who attends Grant Elementary School. Anya, a violist, has been a member of Elemental Strings. He holds a BA from Yale University.

Grace Phillips

Tim Tortora is currently CEO of Andrews, Sumitt & Allen Management, a financial management company specializing in Outsource CFO services for the entertainment industry. Prior to founding ASA, Tim was CFO of Benji Returns Distribution a film production and distribution company that independently produced and distributed Benji Off the Leash in 900 theatres domestically generating more than $4.2MM in box office revenue. Prior to that, Tim was in charge of worldwide production for ASA Management’s production services partner Milk & Honey Pictures, headquartered in Los Angeles and Prague with offices and affiliates in Mexico, Italy, Canada, South Africa, England, Spain, Russia and Italy. Recently Tim was Executive In Charge Of Production for Oprah Winfrey’s film production arm – Harpo Films. As head of production, he was in charge of all aspects of production from deal execution through delivery with an emphasis on financial/logistical execution and hi-definition delivery on such films as Tuesdays With Morrie (Jack Lemmon, Hank Azaria), Amy & Isabelle (Elisabeth Shue), The Wedding (Halle Berry) & Before Women Had Wings (Ellen Barkin). Prior to running production at Harpo, Tim was a production accountant for such projects as “Home Improvement,” “Ellen,” “The Fan” and “Metro.” Tim started his career as a recording engineer at a post-production facility producing feature and record projects.