Gillian Ferrabee - Director, Creative Lab at Cirque du Soleil Media (Canada)

Gillian Ferrabee wrote and directed her first play at the age of 10 –an updated version of Snow White. She chose to play Dopey, and in her version Snow White went into the audience at the end of the play to choose her prince, or princess (both options were equally encouraged). 

She has been fascinated with storytelling, and with the connection between creativity and our bodies for as long as she can remember. Her first professional career was as a contemporary dancer. Later she became an actor for TV and film. And in 2004 she joined Cirque du Soleil’s casting team. As an artistic casting advisor, she travelled the world finding extraordinary talent, and scouting new trends in performance and design. She was on the team that cast the Beatles LOVE show, as well as others in the company’s repertoire. In 2012 she was named Director of the Creative Lab at the new company, Cirque Du Soleil Media. She now leads a team in developing projects destined for the International TV, film and new media markets, including projects with partners such as Google Chrome, Fox studios and most recently the VR Occulus project ‘Inside The Box: Kurios’ for Samsung.  

Terri White - Editor-in-Chief, Time Out New York

Terri White has been Editor In Chief for Time Out New York since January 2014. Prior to Time Out, White served as Executive Editor of Life & Style Weekly in New York. Before moving to the US, she spent over a decade in British publishing: as Editor of Europe's leading men's title, ShortList - the first female Editor of a British men's magazine in more than a decade - and also Editor of Buzz, the entertainment title published with Britain's biggest newspaper, The Sun, and Deputy Editor of Maxim. She has written for Cosmopolitan, Elle, Grazia, Q, Stylist and The Observer magazine.

White has also worked on digital product development and launches for five major consumer print titles, including Look Magazine, Britain’s best-selling fashion magazine, and the former News International, a leading British newspaper publisher.

White received her BA, with Honors, in English Literature from the University of Leicester. She was named New Editor of the Year in 2010 by the Periodical Training Council; Men's Magazine Editor of the Year in 2009 by the British Society of Magazine Editors; and Young Journalist of the Year by the IPC Media Awards.

Leslie Koch - President for The Trust for Governors Island, New York

Leslie Koch is the president of The Trust for Governors Island.   

Governors Island is a 172 acre island in New York Harbor. Ms. Koch is responsible for the planning, redevelopment and on-going operation of the 150 acres of the Island owned by The Trust.

Under her direction since 2006, Governors Island has been transformed from an abandoned military base into a vibrant public space, welcoming hundreds of thousands of seasonal visitors and a diverse array of arts and cultural programs. Ms. Koch oversees an ambitious $300 million capital program which is adding 40 new acres of park and bringing the Island’s infrastructure into the 21st century. Ms. Koch is considered a leader in public-private partnerships, attracting new tenants and philanthropic support for the Hills, the centerpiece of the Island’s transformation. Her leadership has received recognition from such organizations as the American Institute of Architects and the Municipal Art Society, among others.

Prior to The Trust, Ms. Koch was the CEO of the Fund for Public Schools, the nonprofit organization affiliated with the New York City Department of Education. She increased public participation in education and secured nearly $160 million in private sector support.

Ms. Koch previously was an executive at Microsoft. A native New Yorker, she received a BA summa cum laude from Yale College and a MPPM from the Yale School of Management. She lives in Brooklyn.

Randy Weiner - Creative Producer

Hailed as “the leading impresario of nontraditional theater in New York” by the New York Times, and “a mad genius of nightlife” by The Wall Street Journal, Randy Weiner is a producer and playwright specializing in maximalist theatrical experiences.With partners Simon Hammerstein and Murtaza Akbar, Weiner is the driving force behind theater-nightclub concepts The Box (in New York and London), The Act (Dubai), and The Diamond Horseshoe at the Paramount Hotel in Times Square.

With partners Jonathan Hochwald and Arthur Karpati, Weiner produced the Drama Desk Award-winning theater experience “Sleep No More” at the formerly abandoned McKittrick Hotel. Weiner and his partners have gone on to restore the McKittrick Hotel to include a jazz club, Manderley Bar; a club theater, The Heath; and a roof garden restaurant, Gallow Green.