Meet the Team
Sam Barzilay
Creative Director, Co-Founder
Currently serving as Creative Director of United Photo Industries, Sam Barzilay is also the co-founder of Photoville, a photographic gathering that has rapidly become among the largest and best-attended photography events in North America.
Dave Shelley
Creative Producer, Co-Founder
Hailing from Detroit, Dave is UPI’s Creative Producer and our resident Get-Things-Done. He works in all of Arts & Entertainment, including multiple stadium shows with the Rolling Stones, Super Bowl events, and the Tribeca Film Festival. He is also a long-time associate of The Wooster Group Theater Company.
Laura Roumanos
Executive Producer & Co-Founder
After graduating from the prestigious National Institute of Dramatic Arts, Laura left the Land of Koalas for the Big Apple, where she has worked with creatives behind the World Science Festival, VICE, St. Ann’s Warehouse, Spike Jonze, and Karen O, and partnered with 100+ entities, including Nat Geo and Instagram.
Todd Hershberger
Senior Project Manager
Todd is UPI’s Project Manager, Bob the Builder, and all-around Jack of all Trades. From raising a photo village and rigging gallery storage to remodeling a home: UPI asks, “Can he build it?” Yes, yes he can.
Jasmin Chang
Programming Manager
Jasmin is UPI’s expert coordinator for all lectures, events, and programs at Photoville, and heads the Photoville Education program every year. Additionally, she regularly works with various photographers from all over the world to produce and distribute their work.
Nathan Bett
Teaching Artist
Nathan Bett is an artist and master beer drinker from the sandy shores of Lake Superior. When not hustling in the streets as a freelance photographer in Brooklyn and instructor for Canon, he enjoys long walks on the beach with his best girl and a couple of Tallboys.
Gilbert
Senior VP of Security Operations
Gilbert is UPI’s Senior VP of Security Operations, and he is extremely thorough at his job. As a maltese-pekingese-poodle mix, he loves to lay in the sun and bark at whoever’s not Sam, Dave, or Laura.
Viktor Koen
Design Director
Viktor holds a BFA from the Bezalel Academy of Arts & Design in Jerusalem, Israel and an MFA with honors from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. He currently serves on the faculty of the MFA Illustration and BFA Graphic Design departments at SVA.
Krystal Grow
Senior Producer
Krystal is a Senior Producer at UPI, where she manages and coordinates workshops and other public photography programs for Photoville. She is also a Senior Photo Editor on the Global Picture Desk at Getty Images. Her writing on photography has appeared in American Photography, TIME LightBox, LIFE.com, TIME.com, WIRED, and the New York TIMES Lens blog.
Kaitlyn Ellison
Social Media Manager
Kaitlyn Ellison is a community, content, and event manager who loves to explore and experiment. She’s built and supported creative spaces for artists and designers to connect with their audiences for The Penumbra Foundation, Sextanworks, and the New Museum.
Joan Koo
Graphic Designer
Joan is UPI’s in-house designer who moved to the Big Apple and discovered, much to her relief, that there was much more to it than Times Square and Broadway shows. When not camped at her desk, you can usually find her perusing obscure cafés with her friends.
Alexis Percival
Project Manager
Alexis is a Fine Arts photographer and Event Planner extraordinaire who puts the art in party. You can usually find her flexing her organizational muscles designing photo shoots, gallery shows, and wine events. UPI and Photoville provide a home base in which she can help make things happen.
Arthur Hylton
Programming Intern
Arthur is a visual artist/social activist born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. As a child, he would take photos of random things & people with disposable film cameras; as a New York Film Academy graduate, Arthur now collaborates with brands & influencers to bring their creative ideas to life.