Staff and Board

STAFF

Dan Nuxoll, President

Dan Nuxoll grew up in Queens and attended Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, later moving on to Vassar College. Following his return to New York in 1997, Dan began working with Rooftop Films and became full-time Program Director of Rooftop Films in 2002 and was named President in 2020. The programming for Rooftop Films has received increasing acclaim over the last years, and Dan has curated and organized events across North America and Europe. Dan has expanded Rooftop’s search and acquisition of stunning new venues, helped to expand their event production, rentals and sponsorship divisions, and has managed partnerships with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Sundance Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, Hot Docs, BAM Cinematek, MoMA, SXSW Film Festival, and he was instrumental in creating the Queens Drive-In and Brooklyn Drive-In in 2020 and in bringing the New York Film Festival to both of those venues. Dan also works as a writer, director, producer, composer and sound designer for films and theater, including work on the feature documentaries Kiss My Snake and Narrrowsburg and co-writing the off-broadway play Eat the Devil in 2019. Dan has served on film juries for SXSW, Slamdance, River Run, Doc NYC, IFFB, and the Denver International Film Festival, and has been named to Indiewire’s Influencers list as well as Brooklyn Magazine’s list of The 100 Most Influential People in Brooklyn Culture.

Maria Rhodes, Senior Programmer

Maria moved to New York and joined the Rooftop team in 2014 as an intern! Over the years, she’s spent a predominant amount of her time watching, studying, and just plain thinking about cinema; ultimately, she came to the conclusion that independent film is her passion, and subsequently decided to spread the gospel of said passion as far as she possibly could. Originally from Illinois, she received her Master’s in Film Studies from the CUNY Graduate Center in 2017. Nine times out of ten, you can find her in a dark movie theatre, watching an obscure silent era gem.

Kate Gellene, Operations Manager

Kate joined the Rooftop Films team as an intern in the fall of 2011 and wore many hats before becoming Operations Manager in 2014 — including event management, fundraising & membership, and social media. Born and raised in New Jersey, Kate studied Cinema Studies with a minor in French at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. During the summer, Kate can (occasionally) be found making your drink at the after-party. Or at the beach.

Kristen Kelley Rand, Communications Manager

Originally from Massachusetts, Kristen earned her bachelor’s degree from New York University’s Gallatin School, where—pursuing as well-rounded an arts education possible—she designed her own interdisciplinary program unifying the studies of marketing communications, production, and performance. She came to Rooftop following tenure at Universal Pictures, W Magazine, and inside the halls of the McKittrick Hotel with Punchdrunk’s Sleep No More. She credits Julia Roberts for helping shape her into the rom-com savant she is today, and firmly believes that you should eliminate the term “guilty pleasure” from your vocabulary if you haven’t already.

John Rossi, Technical Manager

John has a BA in English, which he has never regretted. When he isn’t designing and running shows for Rooftop, he enjoys writing, reading, and wowing his friends with his prowess at the NY Times Crossword. A veteran technician with Rooftop and a decade-long event hand, John comes to the Technical Manager role with years of experience and the ability to appreciate the sunsets & slight showers that always add a bit of charm to our wonderful outdoor series.

Mary Carpenter, Development Manager

Born and raised in New York, Mary earned a BA in Journalism and Public Relations from Salve Regina University. She joined Rooftop in the summer of 2022 as a member of the box office team, later working as the fundraising assistant throughout the spring of 2023. She now takes on the role of Development Manager, bringing over 15 years of experience in communications and development, both as a corporate and freelance consultant. In her spare time, you’ll find her walking across Brooklyn, frequenting queer dance floors, getting her weekly live music fix, writing poetry, and working to build community centered in inclusivity, sustainability and mutual aid. “Life’s short, live many.”

Saidah Russell, Programmer

Saidah joined the Rooftop Films team in 2022 and previously worked full time in film exhibition at an arthouse theater in Westchester, NY. She has experience working on screening committees for several festivals, including the Sundance Film Festival, Hamptons International Film Festival, and Indie Memphis Film Festival. She is the Director of Programming for the TIDE Film Festival, an emerging Brooklyn-based festival dedicated to showcasing work by filmmakers of color.

Isabella Jackson, Features Programmer

Isabella is a writer and dancer from a tiny town in Pennsylvania. She came to New York to study Dance and Film at The New School, and went on to get her MFA in Screenwriting from Brooklyn College. She’s passionate about independent filmmaking, having worked in and around the industry since 2014 with IFP, The Hamptons International Film Festival, Montclair Film Festival, NewFest, and DOCNYC. Outside of festivals, she works in TV as a Writer’s Assistant and Script Coordinator. In the world, you can find her listening to disco, writing strange stories, or watching a campy horror flick.

Darby Puckett, Shorts Programmer

Darby is an actress and filmmaker from Virginia Beach, VA. She started at Rooftop as an intern, and that’s when the addiction to watching short films began. Aside from film watching, she’s usually training for a random half marathon, memorizing lines, or dream-casting Broadway musicals.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Jess Jacobs, Board Chair
Filmmaker/Producer, Co-Founder Invisible Pictures

Evan List
Vice President & Client Advisor, Bernstein Global Wealth Management

Mark Elijah Rosenberg
Filmmaker, Founder and Former Artistic Director of Rooftop Films

Ryan Smith
Managing Director and Head of Financial Institution Analytics, Stifel Financial

Kay-B
Entertainment Journalist/Critic/Producer/Host

Adam Kersh
Co-Founder, Fusion Management

Sara Christoph
Business Development Manager, Morgan Stanley