Nicholas L.D. Firth
President
Nicholas Firth has served as the President of the Jean and Louis Dreyfus Foundation since 1992.
As a music publisher in the United States and England for over 40 years, Nick published a wide range of music from Rock and Country to Classical and Broadway and Production Music. From 1987-2007 he served as Chairman & CEO of BMG Music Publishing, the world’s third-largest music publisher – with 34 offices in 24 countries.
Previously he had led an LBO, turn-around, and subsequent sale of leading US theatrical licensing company Music Theatre International. Prior to that he was President of Chappell International, then the world’s largest international music publisher. He attended McGill University and Harvard Business School.
Nick currently serves on the boards of The College of Performing Arts and Mannes College of Music (New School); Beth Morrison Productions; The Bedford Playhouse and The Mianus River Gorge Preserve. He was a long-time Board Member of ASCAP and the National Music Publishers Association.
Since his retirement, Nick has produced 11 shows and sung with SIX OF CLUBS – a group of six friends who perform the songs of the Great American Songbook.
In 2006, Nick received the Bertelsmann AG Lifetime Achievement Entrepreneurial Award and in 2003 he was honored by the Song Writers Hall of Fame with the Abe Olman Publishers Award.
He resides in Bedford, New York and St Rémy de Provence, France.
Katherine V. Firth
Vice President & Treasurer
Katie Firth was born in New York City and raised and educated in London, returning to the US to attend Williams College from which she graduated magna cum laude with a degree in Political Science and Theatre. Since then she has worked as an actor predominantly in New York, but also in regional theaters around the country. She is a member of The Actors Center, a resident workshop company devoted to artistic development and practice. She also works in the fields of voice-over and audiobooks. Katie has served on advisory boards and committees for several nonprofit institutions in New York City, predominantly focused on the arts and children’s issues, as well as teaching arts and literacy in underserved communities She lives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan with her husband and son.
Karen L. Rosa
Board Member
Karen Rosa retired at the end of December 2018 as Vice President and Executive Director of the Altman Foundation, a private, independent foundation awarding grants in New York City in four main program areas: education; health; strengthening communities; and community engagement, youth development, and the arts.
Prior to joining Altman in 1986, Karen served as a consultant to The Rockefeller Foundation’s Trustee Task Force on Development, and before that worked for eleven years for Dominique de Menil, a remarkable art collector and philanthropist in Houston, New York, and Paris. With an art history degree from Barnard College, Karen started out in the museum end of Mrs. de Menil’s activities and moved over time to assisting Mrs. de Menil with her international work in human rights, ecumenism, and social justice.
Karen is a former board chair of Philanthropy New York. In addition to serving as a Trustee of the Jean and Louis Dreyfus Foundation, she is also currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Rothko Chapel in Houston, Texas.
Winthrop Rutherfurd, Jr.
Board Member
A graduate of Princeton University and the University of Virginia Law School, Winthrop Rutherford, Jr. has worked at the law firm White & Case LLP since 1969, and became a partner of the firm in 1976, specializing in trusts and estates. He advised not only individuals and families but a number of charitable organizations and trusts.
A life-long resident of Manhattan, Win resides with his wife Mary, who is a real estate broker at Brown, Harris Stevens. In addition to serving on the Board of the Jean and Louis Dreyfus Foundation, Win serves as Chairman of the Board of the Metropolitan Opera Guild, is on the boards of the Fresh Air Fund and the Buckley School, is an Advisory Director of the Metropolitan Opera, and serves on the boards of numerous other charitable foundations.
Win is a very active amateur singer who has played numerous principal roles with the Blue Hill Troupe, which puts on Gilbert & Sullivan operettas for charity. He is also a member of the Six of Clubs, a small singing group that presents concerts of songs written by great American composers.
In memoriam: Edmée Firth
Vice President and Executive Director
1991-2021
Edmée Firth served as the Foundation’s Executive Director for 30 years and was deeply committed to the Foundation’s mission of supporting New Yorkers in need.
A link to Edmée’s obituary can be found here:
https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?n=edmee-firth&pid=198004709
Jessica Keuskamp
Executive Director
April 2021-present
Jessica Keuskamp joined the Jean and Louis Dreyfus Foundation as a Program Officer in 2001. She was promoted to Program Director in 2007, and in April 2021 succeeded Edmée Firth as Executive Director. Prior to her work in the field of philanthropy, Jessica held positions at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; The Jewish Museum, NY; and at the Art Department at Hunter College, NY, among others. She holds a B.A. in Art History from Boston University and has completed all coursework toward an M.A. in Art History from Hunter College (ABT). Jessica is a songwriter and musician and resides in South Orange, NJ with her husband and two children.