People

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OUR TEAM

AbelCine’s leadership brings a wealth of expertise in production, post-production, engineering, and business to our organization.

Executives

Pete Abel

CEO & Co-Founder

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Rich Abel

COO & Co-Founder

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Henry Jiang

Chief Financial Officer

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Andy Shipsides

Chief Technology Officer

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Directors

Joe Facchini

Director of Product Strategies

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Jerrod Haarstad

Director of Sales Operations

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Jeff Lee

Director of Education

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Jeff Lee

Director of Education

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As Director of Education, Jeff Lee oversees the educational initiatives of the company and develops business opportunities in this area. Jeff helps develop new curriculums, whether for in-person workshops, online courses, or custom training. He also manages the training team across all three offices.

Jeff is a technical editor on AbelCine’s blog and serves as the lead technologist for AbelCine NY. He joined AbelCine in 2009 as a member of the sales team. He then transitioned to Camera Technology Specialist and Trainer, eventually becoming the National Training Manger.

Additionally, Jeff is an accomplished still photographer who has traveled extensively working on documentary projects. His work has appeared in publications such as Shutterbug, and he has been a featured Gawker Artist. His photo blog can be found at jeffleephoto.com.

Born and raised in NYC, Jeff attended Rutgers’ Mason Gross School of Arts where he concentrated in both photography and filmmaking.

Gala Napakh

Director of Human Resources

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Jesse Rosen

Director of Technical Development

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Dawn Terranova

Director of Sales

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Managers

Girvan Calder II

Service Department Manager / LA

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Megan Donnelly

Training Manager / Chicago

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Megan Donnelly

Training Manager / Chicago

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Megan Donnelly joined the AbelCine team in 2015 as the first Camera Technology Specialist based out of the company’s Chicago location. Prior to joining AbelCine, Megan was the Technical Manager at Fletcher Camera and Lenses / CineVerse in Chicago, where she provided technical and workflow support for multiple features and television series. She also developed the curriculum for the International Cinematographer’s Guild Digital Loader Workshops, which she taught nationwide.

Megan is an accomplished Director of Photography for commercials, music videos, and narratives. One of her television pilots was a finalist in the New York Television Festival in 2013, while another television pilot won the Chicago Television Pilot Competition in 2014. Most recently one of her commercials won a Midwest Emmy in 2014. View her work at megandonnelly.net.

Originally from Mesa, Arizona, Megan Donnelly graduated summa cum laude from the University of Arizona with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Media Arts with a concentration in Cinematography.

Tzvi Gerstle

National Fulfillment Manager

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Juan Gomez

Procurement Manager

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Kari Hess

Head of Production Sales / Chicago

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Alex Kurze

General Manager – Rental / NY

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Gabriel Mays

Rental Department Manager / LA

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Mike Nichols

Business Development Manager

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Mike Nichols

Business Development Manager

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As Business Development Manager, Mike Nichols oversees new and existing rental business in New York and Los Angeles, as well as identifying opportunities for all departments.

Before joining AbelCine’s rental department in June of 2008, Mike was the head of production for a NY-based commercial production company, Zooma Zooma, whose clients included Nike, McDonald’s, Sony and Kodak.

In 2000, he was invited to the Cannes Film Festival as part of Kodak’s Emerging Filmmakers Program. In 2011, Mike’s first feature film, BreadCrumbs was released worldwide. Recent co-producing credits include A Woman, A Part and 11:55 Holyoke, which was Executive Produced by John Leguizamo.

Mike earned his B.A. in Film Production at Brooklyn College, where he was the president of the Film Society. His first professional job was as a production assistant on the Robert De Niro film, A Bronx Tale.