Jim Jimirro
Executive Producer & Co- Founder

James P. Jimirro is the creator and founding President of The Disney Channel and Walt Disney Home Video. During his tenure at the helm of The Disney Channel, Mr. Jimirro was responsible for the conception, development and launching of the fastest-growing pay service in history. Under Mr. Jimirro’s guidance, The Disney Channel introduced many innovations, such as interactive programming and The Disney Channel Magazine.

The channel achieved profitability in less than two years and has remained a jewel in the world-wide array of Disney products and services.

From 1979 to 1985, Mr. Jimirro was President of Walt Disney Home Video and during this period was a pioneer in the industry. He introduced a number of innovations in the marketing of home video, among them the world’s first home video direct-marketing campaigns.

By 1991 Mr. Jimirro, having started his own public company, J2 Communications, acquired a moribund National Lampoon and spearheaded the effort to successfully turn the company (and the legendary brand) around. The Company was sold in 2017.

Mr. Jimirro received his BA degree in Radio-Television from Penn State University, and a Masters in Mass Communications from Syracuse University.

Mr. Jimirro is a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Oscars), and serves on the Board of Visitors for the College of Communications at Penn State.  He is a Director Emeritus of the Westwood Village Business Improvement District, and Theatre LA. He is listed in “Who’s Who in America.”

He has been honored as Distinguished Alumnus by Penn State and was the Vision Fund of America honoree for achievement in the entertainment industry.

Mr. Jimirro is active in a number of enterprises involving the Great American Songbook, the music of Porter, Rodgers and Berlin, et al. These include having served as chairman of the selection committee in the Traditional Pop category at The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (Grammys).

He conducts a popular lecture series on this music at the Beverly Hills Public Library, at the 92nd Street Y in New York, and at other venues worldwide. This series, and its impact on those who attend, is the subject of a documentary,Jim J’s Jukebox.

0n another front, Mr. Jimirro has maintained a life-long interested in the broader aspects of media and society. He is the author of numerous articles on this subject.

To further his interest in this area, Mr. Jimirro has endowed at the Paley Center for Media in New York The James P. Jimirro Media Impact Series. This on-going program brings together prominent media personalities to explore media and society in a thoughtful and nonpartisan fashion. Media professionals that have appeared in this series include Lesley Stahl (CBS), Bill Hemmer (Fox), Nancy Gibbs (Times Magazine), Rich Lowry (National Review) and former Presidential press secretaries Joe Lockhart (Clinton) and Ari Fleischer (Bush 2).

In another media initiative, Mr. Jimirro has endowed a permanent professorship at his alma mater, Penn State. The James P Jimirro Professorship in Media Effects, housed at the College of Communications, provides the wherewithal for one known and respected scholar to explore, research, write about and teach the continuing effects of all forms of media on human behavior, including voting patterns, buying habits, and even thought.

Robert W. Schneider (he/him)
Artistic Director & Co-Founder

Robert is one of New York City’s most acclaimed concert producers and director. As an original programming producer at Feinstein’s/54 Below, Robert has produced and directed over thirty five concerts at the venue including Feinstein’s/54 Below 5th Anniversary Concert (w/Michael Feinstein & Marilyn Maye), 54 Celebrates The Colonial Theater, which helped to save Boston’s famed Colonial Theater from destruction, tribute shows to Broadway’s Neil Simon, Broadhurst, and Music Box Theaters, and the celebrated Broadway Bound series, which introduced audiences to musicals that closed on the road. Shows in concert include: How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (w/Robert Morse), Sugar (w/Tony Roberts), Woman of the Year (w/Joyce DeWitt), Curtains (w/Karen Ziemba and Richard Kind), Memphis (Original Cast Reunion), Lennon (Original Cast Reunion), and We Will Rock You (w/Alice Ripley).

Robert is also the co-host of Behind The Curtain: Broadway’s Living Legends, which launched on iTunes in 2016. The podcast is dedicated to collecting the anecdotes of Broadway’s greatest legends from yesteryear. Guest have included Carol Lawrence, Peter Marshall, Charlotte Rae, Charles Strouse, Martin Charnin, Mimi Hines, Kaye Ballard, William Ivey Long, George S. Irving, Len Carious, Anita Gillette, and many others. 

As an award-winning director whose work has been seen in the United States and Europe, Robert has directed the regional premieres of Pasek and Paul’s Edges, Memphis(LA Ovation Award/StageSceneLA Award for Best Musical and Best Director) and Rock of Ages. Regional credits: Wonderful Town, The Drowsy Chaperone, Merrily We Roll Along, Nine, The Last Five Years, Spamalot, I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change,and over seventy others. Robert has worked with such theatres as Center Theatre Group, Walnut Street Theatre, Manhattan Theater Club, York Theatre, Second Stage Theatre, and Lincoln Center Theater. As an associate/assistant director he has worked with Emmy Award winners Lonny Price and Don Scardino, and Tony Award winner Richard Maltby Jr. 

He has also collaborated on projects with some of this century’s greatest artists including Stephen Sondheim, Audra McDonald, Emma Thompson, Seth McFarlane, Christina Aguilera, Bernadette Peters, Sutton Foster, Christopher Durang, Kristen and Bobby Lopez, Jason Alexander, Will Roland, Jane Lynch, and many others. 

He has lectured on musical theatre at Yale University, Penn State, Kent State, USC, UCLA, and holds academic appointments at Penn State and the New York Film Academy. 

He is a proud member of SDC and represented by ICM.

Ben Nissen (he/him)
Associate Artistic Director

Ben has spent several years working in producing, marketing, and publicity in the entertainment industry. Broadway/National Tour credits include An Officer and A Gentleman, Anastasia, Come From Away, Diana, Fiddler On The Roof, Harry Connick Jr - A Celebration of Cole Porter, Moulin Rouge! The Musical, The Phantom of the Opera and The Prom. Off-Broadway credits include Broadway Bounty Hunter (Greenwich House Theatre), Party Face (New York City Center Stage II), Playing Hot (Theater 511), The Wrong Box (Theater For The New City), and various concerts and events at Feinstein's/54 Below. Film credits include “Neighbors,” “The Worst People You Know,” and MT Shorts' "Hey, Beautiful!" and "Still Here." He is an Associate Member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from Penn State University and an MS in Marketing from the University of Alabama.

Ajchara (AJ) Jimirro
Associate Producer

Although having lived in the Unites States for just over 10 years, AJ has learned to embrace many aspects of American life, including the New York Yankees, the Penn State Nittany Lions and perhaps most interesting, the Great American Songbook and musical theater. When Jim and Robert came up with the idea of J2Spotlight, AJ jumped right in, bringing her computer skills and project management to the project.

AJ received a B.Eng. in Telecommunication Engineering from Suranaree University of Technology, where she became a Teaching Assistant after graduating. She then received a M.Eng. in Electrical Engineering from King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang.

During that time, she was a team member in establishing 3DB Systems Co., Ltd., and worked as a system analyst. AJ then joined Gewinn Consulting Co., Ltd. and led Gewinn’s software team to develop a Risk Management System which is used by many companies in Thailand, including Thai Oil and CAT Telecom.

Coming to America, AJ received a certificate in International Trade and Commerce from UCLA Extension. She then began to work as a Project Coordinator at Thai Trade Center, Los Angeles under the Department of International Trade Promotion, Thailand Ministry of Commerce, where she worked on budget planning, project management, trade promotion and IT support.

Honorary Board