Scott is the driving force behind MFS. As Executive Director, he manages our day-to-day operations, handling everything from film scheduling and talent bookings to moderating the audience Q&A’s with our guest speakers.

Scott is originally from Dallas but moved to Malibu full-time after opening an office here in 1992. With more than 40 years in broadcast journalism, management and consulting, Scott also owns CommCinema – which designs and builds portable and fixed installation large-scale projection systems.

2016 marks Scott’s 30th wedding anniversary with his wife Jimy, who is actively involved in wildlife rescue and is also a featured contributor to The Malibu Times.

As MFS Board President, Scott Hillman presides over the Board planning and decision making process and coordinates event operations and logistics. Calling on his experience in the high-tech industry, Scott also helps to tell the MFS story and streamline the reservations and membership processes through the design and management of the MFS web site.

Following a forty year career as an operations senior executive in the computer industry and as a business management consultant with Andersen Business Consulting, Scott now focuses his energy on supporting arts-related causes and organizations such as MFS. He currently also plays a key role in running a non-profit Hawaiian Music and Culture Program on Maui and has authored two books on traditional Hawaiian music and culture.

Scott's entrepreneurial activities have included founding member roles in five startup businesses. In his spare time, Scott maintains an active video and photography business, specializing in event, conceptual, and environmental portraiture photography. A native Californian born into an entertainment industry family, Scott earned a BA in Math and Computer Science and an MBA in Finance and Operations Management from UC Berkeley and the Anderson School of Business at UCLA, respectively.

John Johannessen is a California Licensed General Building Contractor with over thirty years of experience in the designing and building of upscale custom residential and commercial buildings that include the installation of custom movie theaters, complete with dropdown movie screens and elite sound speaker systems that includes the system installed for the Malibu Film Society.

Karen York is one of the founding members of the Malibu Film Society and a member of its Board of Directors. She and her husband, Arnold are also among its founding sponsors, providing major advertising support through their publications, The Malibu Times, The Malibu Times Magazine and Malibu Times OnLine.

Karen was also the founding partner of The York Group, an award winning advertising agency specializing in promoting healthcare products and services. After its acquisition, she has continued to providing marketing consultation and executive recruitment services to healthcare companies around the country.

Ms. York has served in leadership roles with multiple national and local organizations including the Medical Marketing Association, The Healthcare Public Relations and Marketing Association, The Rotary Club of Malibu and the Malibu Jewish Center and Synagogue. Currently, she and her husband are founders and sit on the Board of Directors of the Malibu Dolphin Charitable Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides recognition and support to groups and individuals which make significant contributions to the Malibu community. Karen was born in Minneapolis and grew up in the San Fernando Valley where she attended Grant High School, She is a graduate of UCLA (BA) and USC (MA) with certification in Medical Marketing from the UCLA Anderson School of Business and the Kellogg School of Management of Northwestern University. Karen’s hobbies include cooking, weaving, cinema, musical theater and politics. Karen, Arnold and family have resided in since 1976 and are the proud (and doting) grandparents of Lana, Griffin and Ahnika.

E. Barry Haldeman is a founding Board Member of the Malibu Film Society. He is an experienced entertainment attorney practicing with Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell LLP in Los Angeles and represents actors, directors, writers, producers, authors, independent films and production companies in all areas of the entertainment industry. He is a long time Malibu resident.

A graduate of both UCLA and UCLA Law School, Barry is a committed film lover and comes from a family with many ties to the entertainment industry. He worked in several areas of the business as he was growing up. For 5 years he served as Executive Vice President of Business and Legal Affairs for the Paramount Pictures Motion Picture Group and during that time was instrumental in the creation, structuring and administration of Paramount Classics, which later became Paramount Vantage, a division specializing in acquiring and distributing independently produced films. He is one of the founders and on the Board of the UCLA Entertainment Symposium, which every year presents a day and a half “state of the industry” seminar to the entertainment community. Barry has spoken and written extensively about the entertainment business.

Locally Barry has been involved in several Malibu causes including Cityhood, Earth Day and the campaign to stop a Liquid Natural Gas Port from being built off our coast.

Mike Thomas was born in Winchester, Virginia, raised in Hagerstown, Maryland, and moved to Malibu from Atlanta in February 2016. He lives in Point Dume with his wife, Olivia, and a menagerie of dogs and cats.

He has written, produced, and directed numerous projects for television networks and media companies, including Adult Swim, BBC, CNN, TCM, TEDx, Time Warner, Turner Sports, and the Grady Health Foundation. An avid blogger, Mike is Editor-In-Chief of TheDailyBoss.com where he writes about leadership and the creative workplace.

He is currently Creative Director, DP, and Editor with Production Avenue, Inc - Malibu’s Creative Address®.

Don began his career at Warner Bros. in 1976 and, other than a short stint at Lorimar Telepictures in 1987, made Warner Bros. his home for 40 years serving as Senior Vice President of Sales Operations.

Don currently is an entertainment industry consultant and is President of The INTER-SOCIETY for the Enhancement of Cinema Presentation.

Don’s other interests are philanthropic. He and his wife Linda founded the Neuro-Immune Disease Alliance a nonprofit to support medical research, physician awareness and education for complex chronic diseases such as ME/CFS, Fibromyalgia, Chronic Lime and Autism.

Don also actively supports both Variety, The Children’s Charity and the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation.

A few years after moving to California from her native Pittsburgh, Paula Ravets,PhD discovered the magic of Malibu, where her husband and two boys have had a home for the last two decades.

A clinical psychologist in private practice, Paula is also a Certified Mindfulness Teacher, serving as Community Liaison for MARC - the Mindful Awareness Research Center at UCLA, and also a mindfulness meditation facilitator for the staff at Cedars Sinai Hospital. As a life-long feminist, Paula is proud to serve on the Advisory Board for the international human rights organization Equality Now, and equally proud to serve on the Board of the Malibu Film Society, combining two of her passions - film and Malibu.

Lea Yardum is a seasoned entertainment marketing strategist with extensive experience in public relations, marketing, promotions, creative advertising, awards campaigning and special events.

She is a founding partner of Perception PR and has spearheaded campaigns for some of the most exciting and talked about film and television projects of the past 20 years, including the recent multiple Oscar®-winning film “Parasite.” She has been working with American Cinema Editors for over two decades and was honored with the organization’s prestigious Heritage Award in 2019 for her longtime commitment to illuminating the vital contributions that editors make to storytelling. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, TV Academy and Film Independent.

Ed loves films, especially historical fiction like Chinatown. He holds a Ph.D. in history and a law degree from Havard. The author of 16 books, Ed received the Pulitzer Prize in History for his book Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and American's Continuing Debate over Science and Religion, which includes all that most readers would ever want to know about the 1960 movie classic, Inherit the Wind.

Angel is an entertainment veteran, pursuing a Ph.D. in Media Psychology. A documentary producer, festival interviewer, Ms. Magazine writer, plus long-time SAG & indie awards voter, she also mentors creatives, including her two performer children. As an artist, her work is featured in Yale’s Women in Photography International archive and One Eyeland books "Best of the Best World Photographers." Now researching film magic, Angel owns: “I’m all about the movies!"

Maureen Haldeman, a long time Malibu resident, has been involved with the MFS since its inception. She is the administrator of the Malibu Film Society’s Facebook page which to date registers over 600 members. https://www.facebook.com/malibufilmsociety

Maureen was born in the Netherlands and raised in Montreal and has traveled extensively. She is a fine arts photographer who has exhibited her work in numerous galleries, including in Malibu. Her photographs are held in private collections throughout the world. She has been involved in several art related community based events and in 2011, was appointed to serve on the Malibu Arts Task Force, the first committee formed by the City of Malibu to identify public art opportunities and implement a public arts policy for the City.

Maureen is a member of the Los Angeles Art Association, Los Angeles Center for Photography and the Malibu Art Association.