Personnel

Jeff Britting

Archivist, Editor, Archives Annual

Jeff Britting is Department Manager of the Ayn Rand Archives. He holds a B.A. degree in philosophy from the University of California at Berkeley, where he attended the university’s first course on Objectivism. He is the author of Ayn Rand, a biography in the Overlook Illustrated Lives Series published by Overlook Press in February 2005. His “Adapting We the Living,” an essay on the theatrical and film adaptations of Rand’s first novel, is included in Essays on Ayn Rand’s “We The Living,” edited by Robert Mayhew (Lexington Books in 2004). He has managed the Ayn Rand Archives since 1997, when he began the first systematic preservation and arrangement of its Ayn Rand Papers and special collections. Mr. Britting developed and associate-produced the feature documentary Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life and co-produced the first stage productions of Ideal and Anthem. His special interests are music and drama.

Yaron Brook

President and Executive Director

Yaron Brook is president and executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute. He is a regular contributor to Forbes.com and a contributing editor of The Objective Standard. A former finance professor, he has been published in academic as well as popular publications, and his opinion-editorials appear in major newspapers. He is frequently interviewed on national TV and radio. Dr. Brook lectures on Objectivism, business ethics and foreign policy at college campuses, community groups and corporations across America and throughout the world.

Advisors

Michael S. Berliner

Senior Advisor, Writer, Lecturer

Michael S. Berliner is Senior Advisor. He holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from Boston University. He was executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute for its first 15 years. Previously, he taught philosophy of education and philosophy at California State University, Northridge. Dr. Berliner conducted the first detailed surveys of the papers and memorabilia left by Ayn Rand at her death, and he created the first finding aids of the Ayn Rand Papers and Special Collections at the Ayn Rand Archives. He is currently compiling definitive inventories. He is editor of Letters of Ayn Rand (Penguin Dutton, 1995), Penguin’s “Teachers Guide to Anthem” and Ayn Rand’s Russian Writings on Hollywood (ARI Press, 1999). He has lectured throughout the United States and in Europe, Australia and Israel on Ayn Rand’s life.

Dina Schein Federman

Russian Translator, Writer, Lecturer

Dina Schein is a native speaker of Russian, holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Texas and is currently a lecturer in the Department of Philosophy at Auburn University. She has translated Ayn Rand’s early fiction pieces written in Russian, Russian correspondence written to Ayn Rand and other Russian writings, and has given talks on her life at Objectivist conferences.

Scott McConnell

Oral Historian, Researcher, Lecturer

Scott McConnell is Archives Researcher. He graduated from MacQuarie University in Australia in 1992 with a B.A. degree in behavioral science. He is conducting a comprehensive oral history of Ayn Rand and has completed the editing of a book based on this material. He has managed archival research and acquisitions in both the United States and Russia. His “Parallel Lives,” an examination of biographical aspects of Rand’s first novel, is included in the Essays on Ayn Rand’s “We The Living,” edited by Robert Mayhew, and published by Lexington Books in 2004. Originally from Australia, Mr. McConnell is a former high school English and history teacher, who has also worked in Hollywood as a script reader. He has given biographical talks and has contributed to the Ayn Rand Institute’s op-ed program.

Lisa Courtney Forman

Paper Conservator

Lisa Courtney Forman is a paper conservator in private practice, specializing in the examining, documenting and treating of 19th- and 20th-century archival works on paper. Clients include Southwest Museum, Japanese National Museum, the Getty Research Institute at the Getty Center. Ms. Forman consults with the Ayn Rand Archives in the areas of collection management and preservation.