Advisory Council

 IPM's Advisory Council brings together colleagues from across theatre, opera, design, law and business who lend their counsel, experience and friendship to the company. 

Craig blames his 35+ years in the lighting industry on a little spotlight gig at a junior high band concert.

As ETC's Territory Manager for the Northeast & Eastern Canada, he oversees a group of talented Regional Sales Managers and Field Project Coordinators who assist Engineers, Architects, Specifiers, and Consultants with equipment demos and control system layouts, along with AIA/CES/LEU approved educational seminars — a role he grew into after serving as ETC's Architectural Regional Sales Manager for the Northeast & Eastern Canada.

Prior to joining ETC, Craig was Director of Project Management at a prominent NYC-based Architectural Design firm, managing a team of project managers who ensured the firm's national and international projects held design intent and stayed on budget. Before that, he was Senior Project Manager with a nationally recognized Systems Integrator, working on projects including the Studios at CNBC World Headquarters and the rebuild of the Winter Garden Atrium across from Ground Zero at the World Trade Center, along with countless schools, theatres, museums, and broadcast studios.

His path to project management began in the mid-1980s touring with a show as an Electrician and Spotlight Operator, rising to Electrics Supervisor and eventually Lot Supervisor for Operations and Logistics — building on the years he'd already spent as an Off-Broadway electrician.

craig.fox@etcconnect.com

A graduate of Hampshire College and Cardozo Law School, Robert E. Schneider’s career as a General Manager, Company Manager and Producer has spanned three-plus decades.  He has worked on theatrical productions from off-off-off Broadway to Broadway and on special events in spaces including Shubert Alley, Times Square, and New York Harbor.

With The Theatre Guild, Robert worked on national tours of Shirley Valentine, Stieglitz Loves O’Keeffe, Driving Miss Daisy, Love Letters, and the national tour and Broadway productions of State Fair.  Among his favorite productions/events with General Manager Maria Di Dia include Zanna, Don’t!, The Donkey Show, Here Lies Jenny, Address Unknown, Saint Lucy’s Eyes, Blue Man Group, Savages, Charles Aznavour on Broadway, Broadway On Broadway, Stars In The Alley, and OpSail 2000/International Naval Review. With Producer Carolyn Rossi Copeland, Robert managed the off-Broadway productions of Flamingo Court, An Error of the Moon, How 2 B A New Yorker, the off-Broadway, Chicago and Los Angeles productions of Freud’s Last Session, and the development of the musical Amazing Grace, for which he was a company manager on Broadway.   With Davenport/Architect Theatricals, he was the Associate General Manager on the Broadway productions of the Tony Award-winning revival of Once On This Island, Gettin’ The Band Back Together, and Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical, and the developmental productions of Harmony, Joy The Musical, and The Griswold’s Broadway Vacation.

Robert was the General Manager of the off-Broadway production of Churchill, and was a producer of the off-Broadway productions of Summer ’69, All Is Love, Serenade, Shafrika The White Girl, The Small of Her Back, I’ll Be Damned, and Stuck.  The founder of Res Productions, LLC, Robert’s upcoming productions include the off-Broadway-bound Fantasy Football Heist and Tuesdays With Morrie.

robert.resprods@gmail.com

General Director of Bronx Opera, a New York institution now in its 60th season, where he has directed 36 productions, including Iolanthe, Der Freischütz, The Poisoned Kiss, Idomeneo, Regina, and The Rivals.

Ben's work spans companies nationally and around New York City — including The Merry Widow and La fille du régiment at Indianapolis Opera, Don Giovanni and Turandot at Dayton Opera, La clemenza di Tito for dell'Arte Opera Ensemble's 25th Anniversary Festival, and Eugene Onegin and Passionfor Utopia Opera in NYC. Other regional credits include Lucia di Lammermoor for Opera San Jose, Carmen and Die Fledermaus for Opera Idaho, The Tales of Hoffmann for Opera in the Heights (Houston), The Face on the Barroom Floor for Central City Opera, and La Boheme for Syracuse Opera.

He's also Artistic Director of Oswego Opera Theater, where he has directed A Little Night Music, The Marriage of Figaro, Company, and the premiere of The Golden Cage, a reconstructed operetta written during World War II in Oswego's Safe Haven Refugee Center (the only place in the USA where European refugees were brought to escape the Holocaust).

He has directed several other World Premieres: Andrew Ager's Dracula (for New Opera Lyra in Ottawa), Marc Blitzstein and Leonard Lehrman's Sacco and Vanzetti (for After Dinner Opera in New York City) and, upcoming, Steve Wallace and Kenny Harmon's The Count of Monte Cristo for Bronx Opera. He spent a year as Interim Director of Opera at Rutgers University's Mason Gross School of the Arts (where he directed Cendrillon and Falstaff, both winners of American Prizes for Opera). In 2026-27, he'll make his debut with Troupers Light Opera in Connecticut (with The Mikado).

He is a native and resident of The Bronx, where he lives with his wife, soprano Hannah Spierman.

benspierman@gmail.com · (646) 281-9963

Lighting, scenic, and projection designer and writer for stage and screen, with more than 500 credits over 22 years, spanning theatre, dance, opera, circus, concerts, and permanent architectural installations at venues including the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, the Palace of the Arts (Budapest), and the National Center for the Performing Arts (Beijing) — including three productions at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

JoshBob designed the lighting for the NY Times-praised The Other Mozart, a touring one-woman show with over 400 performances on 4 continents and in 6 languages. His opera design and production management work includes Bronx Opera's La Traviata, Hansel and Gretel, Fra Diavolo, and La Bohème; Tri-Cities Opera's Suor Angelica and HMS Pinafore; four productions for New Camerata Opera including L'amant Anonyme and The Tragedy of Carmen; and several for the Martina Arroyo Foundation, including Don Giovanni, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and Madame Butterfly.

His event work includes a recurring large-scale New York nightlife production drawing more than 6,000 attendees annually and the World Science Festival Gala at Jazz at Lincoln Center. He was lighting supervisor/designer for the Limón Dance Company on international tour.

He is now a professor in the Department of Theatre and Performance at William & Mary and co-artistic director of Theatre 4the People.

joshbob.rose@gmail.com · www.joshbob.info · www.theatre4thepeople.org

469-231-2330

  Partner in the Litigation Practice Group at Congdon, Flaherty, O'Callaghan in Uniondale, NY, specializing in employment discrimination, municipal and premises liability, civil rights litigation, and related appellate practice in state and federal court, with published appellate decisions in New York state courts. A graduate of Fordham University and St. John's University School of Law, she is a member of the New York State and Nassau County Bar Associations 

Partner at Vink & Gold, PLLC in White Plains, NY, founded in 1997, holder of the AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell — the highest peer recognition in the legal profession. Paul's practice centers on construction and commercial litigation, contracts, and real estate, including mechanic's lien foreclosures and breach of contract matters, with admission to New York and New Jersey state courts, the U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, and the U.S. Supreme Court.

A 33-year executive in benefits, HR systems and Operations, spanning Siemens, Boston Scientific, Cigna, and Fidelity Investments, where she rose to Vice President level before retiring in 2025. Liz is FINRA licensed, and a Certified Employee Benefits Specialist with an MBA from Babson College and a BS in Communications from Pace University, both earned summa cum laude.

She is a strong supporter of the arts and performs with the Silver Stars, a senior performance group at the Palace Theatre in Manchester, NH, with credits including Guys and Dolls Sr, and most recently in the professional Palace performance of Fiddler on the Roof.