About ETA

A singer of great fame and a thirteen-time Grammy award winner, Tony Bennett has sold over 50 million records internationally and was honored with the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award as recognition for his extraordinary recording career that has spanned over fifty years. He has also won numerous other awards, including an Emmy and a Cable Ace Award and was honored by the United Nations who presented him with their "Citizen of the World" Award. Tony is not only recognized as an outstanding solo artist, but he has also enjoyed successful collaborations and friendships with other musical greats such as k.d. lang, Frank Sinatra, Duke Ellington, Judy Garland, Billy Joel, and Stevie Wonder, among others. Although he is most widely known for his singing, Tony Bennett is also an accomplished painter, who has exhibited and sold his work internationally. His paintings are part of the permanent collections at the Smithsonian Museum of American Art in Washington DC, the National Arts Club in Manhattan, New York, and the Butler Institute of American Art Museum in Youngstown, Ohio. Before his rise to fame, Anthony Dominick Benedetto was just a kid growing up in Queens, New York during the Great Depression. He was educated at the High School of Industrial Arts and later worked as a singing waiter before his talents were discovered by the famous performer, Bob Hope. As an artist of many talents with an urban, working-class background, Tony Bennett recently teamed up with Susan Benedetto to found ETA as well the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts (a public high school located in Queens) as a way to further the cause of arts education and give back to the community from which he sprang. To read more about Tony's career and life, click here.

Originally from the San Francisco Bay area, Susan got her BA in History from Fordham University in New York City and went on to pursue her MA in Social Studies at Columbia University's Teachers College, where she was also certified and licensed as a NY state teacher. She immediately began teaching Social Studies classes at Manhattan's prestigious public high school, Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and the Performing Arts. Susan then returned to Fordham and in 2005 received another MA, this time in Supervision/Administration, which served her well in her position as Assistant Principal at Frank Sinatra School of the Arts. Susan first began at the Frank Sinatra School as a Social Studies teacher and was also one of the school's original founders, alongside Tony Bennett. Since Exploring the Arts' early days, Susan has remained active as ETA's President and endeavors to bring her passion for interdisciplinary education to her leadership role at the organization. Before entering the field of education, Susan was the owner of Creative Artists Management in New York, where she advised artists in the management of their careers, along with coordinating publicity, bookings and recording projects. Prior to that, she worked as an administrative assistant with Merrill Lynch, and during her college years was awarded a competitive internship position in the White House's Presidential Advance Office.

Iris Cantor is Chairman and President of the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation, which she and her husband established in 1978 to fund institutions and programs in the fields of education, medicine, and the arts. Along with her late husband, Iris owns the world's largest and most comprehensive private collection of Auguste Rodin sculpture and artwork (from which they have donated more than 450 pieces to over seventy institutions worldwide). They have additionally endowed numerous galleries, sculpture gardens, and scholarly chairs at major museums and universities, and Iris herself has led many of the Foundation's other projects which include exhibitions and collaborations with: The White House, New York's Public Art Fund, and Rockefeller Center. Iris has also demonstrated her commitment to the cinematic arts by providing major support (along with her husband) for the establishment of the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Film Center at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, as well as through her work as producer on the award-winning documentary, Rodin: The Gates of Hell. In addition to her passion for the arts, Iris is also a dedicated supporter of healthcare research, which has led her to fund the UCLA Medical Center's Iris Cantor Center for Breast Imaging and also New York Weill Cornell Medical Center's Iris Cantor Women's Health Center. Iris additionally provides funding and Board member services to other causes and institutions, among them: NY Presbyterian Hospital, Lying-In Hospital, Strang Cancer Prevention Center, and Discovery Fund for Eye Research. She is also a member of the Blue Ribbon Committee, a grand patron of the Music Center in Los Angeles, and the recipient of myriad awards and honors from civic agencies, government agencies, universities, museums, and other such institutions.

John Desiderio is a Wall Street veteran with over 25 years of experience working in the investment industry. He has held senior management positions in such firms as Cantor Fitzgerald and Drexel Burnham Lambert and is currently Managing Director at L F Rothschild. Originally from Brooklyn, NY, John now divides his time between homes in Florida and New York and is an avid boater, automobile enthusiast, enjoys fishing and playing tennis. Possessing a strong love of the arts, John is honored to sit on ETA's Board of Directors in support of its worthy cause.

George Kaufman is Chairman of Kaufman Astoria Studios, home to many major motion pictures and television shows (such as Sesame Street, Law & Order, Angels in America, and The Stepford Wives, among others). With its home in Astoria, George is a strong supporter of all projects that contribute to the development and improvement of the borough of Queens. Along with his wife, Mariana, George commits his time and financial support to a number of philanthropic endeavors. He is currently serving on the Board of Trustees of the Whitney Museum, the Fashion Institute of Technology, the Museum of the Moving Image, and the Real Estate Board of New York. He is also Chairman of the Fashion Center Business Improvement District. Additionally, George serves as Chairman of Kaufman Organization which has been active for three generations in the ownership, management and development of commercial and residential properties, including office buildings, apartment buildings and shopping centers located primarily in the New York City area.

Hoong Yee Lee Krakauer currently works as Executive Director at the Queens Council on the Arts, where she oversees all programmatic activities, including: arts in education initiatives, information services, arts services, and grants programs (including the Queens Community Arts Fund, the Individual Artist Initiative, and the Arts in the Schools Grant Program). She is also the author and illustrator of Rabbit Mooncakes, a multicultural picture book for children published by Little, Brown & Company. Her second book, Peanut & the Chinese Dragon, is currently in development. A graduate of Oberlin College, she also attended the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria and received a Masters of Music in Piano Performance from the Manhattan School of Music. Hoong Yee is a firm believer in the power of the arts to mobilize and transform community.

President of Kaufman Astoria Studios (KAS), Hal Rosenbluth has led the executive team to diversify KAS’ businesses while revitalizing the neighborhood of Astoria, which is now home to Kaufman Astoria Stadium 14 (a United Artists 14-screen multiplex) as well as various national retail and restaurant chains and the ETA-supported Frank Sinatra School of the Arts. Hal began his career at KAS in 1980. Under his direction K/A/S Lighting was born and has grown to one of the largest inventories in New York, servicing clients on stage and on location. KAS’ diversification continued with the opening of KAS Music & Sound which brought to the studio one of the industry’s finest audio facilities for recording and post-production. Most recently Hal oversaw the expansion of KAS with the construction of Stage K, the new $22 million, 40,000-square-foot film and television production studio opened in March 2010. Hal’s work with government and industry professionals has been integral to establishing NYC as a sustainable marketplace for film and television production. The KAS complex is home to such popular TV programs as “Nurse Jackie” and “Sesame Street.” It also hosted the NY portion of the record-breaking “Hope for Haiti Now” telethon and such recent film productions as The Taking of Pelham 123 and Woody Allen’s Whatever Works. A graduate of the University of Florida, Hal was an advertising and marketing executive prior to joining KAS. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Long Island City Business Development Corporation and the Queens Council on the Arts. Hal and his wife, Madalyn, reside in Bronxville Heights, New York.

Ted Sarandos has led content acquisition for Netflix since 2000 and oversees the Beverly Hills office. With more than 20 years' experience in home entertainment, Ted is recognized in the industry as an innovator in film acquisition and distribution. During Ted's tenure, the Netflix library increased from 2,000 to 100,000 titles on DVD and more than 12,000 movies and TV episodes available to watch instantly on the personal computer and the TV. Ted has also spearheaded the company's original content initiative, Red Envelope Entertainment (REE), creating a national platform for films and entertainment programming through unique partnerships with filmmakers, networks and studios, including IFC, HBO, ThinkFilm, NewLine, Showtime, Magnolia Films and Sundance Channel. REE titles include the 2008 Oscar-nominated "No End in Sight," the New York Times' best film of 2007 "4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days" and the Clint Eastwood-produced documentary about Tony Bennett, "The Music Never Ends." Ted began his home video career managing a metropolitan retail chain from 1983 to 1988. He then moved to video distributor ETD, where he served as Western regional director of sales and operations. Until March 2000, Ted was vice president of product and merchandising for Video City, where he negotiated the industry's first DVD revenue sharing agreement and reduced the cost of content from all studios. Ted is a former chapter president and board member for the Video Software Dealers Association. He also serves on the Film Advisory Board for Tribeca Film Festival, the retail advisory board for the Digital Entertainment Group, FIND Advisory Board and MediaRights.org, as well as a serving as a trustee for International Documentary Association. Ted has been included in Variety's "Global 50," a list of the 50 most influential people in independent film distribution, as well as The Hollywood Reporter's "Indie Power 50."

Cheri began her studies and career as a freelance dancer, working throughout the United States and Europe. She has since built a strong record of over ten years in non-profit leadership positions. She served as Managing Director of Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College and prior to that was the Director of Development at North Carolina Dance Theatre.

Karin worked as an actress while growing up in New York City and performed with various award-winning theatre companies such as Lightning Strikes and The Mint Theatre Company. As a child she studied acting under Lee Gundersheimer and Ann Willis Ratray before majoring in Drama at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and the Performing Arts. She holds a BA from Mount Holyoke College. Before joining ETA Karin taught at the Bronx Institute of G.E.A.R. U.P. and Asociacion Tepeyac in lower Manhattan, and she worked as a freelance grants and case studies writer with Hudson Heights Partners for their nonprofit clientele. Karin is certified by the NY State Department of Health as a Volunteer Advocate & Crisis Counselor for Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Victims.

Hannah has worked continuously in arts education for over five years. Most recently, she managed over sixty after-school teen apprenticeship programs in the performing, visual, literary and culinary arts at Gallery 37 in Chicago, which later became After School Matters. She has also worked with the education programs at New York City Opera and New York's Children's Museum of the Arts, as well as in music and visual arts classrooms in New York and Chicago public schools. Hannah holds a B.A. in Cinema and Media Studies from the University of Chicago and an M.A. in Arts Administration from Columbia University.