OUR TALENTED ALUMNI

Lawrence Leon

Lawrence J. Leon is the current chief of police for the Palm Beach County School District Police. Leon is the president of the Palm Beach County Association of Chiefs of Police and one of the 13 commissioners for the Commission of Florida Law Enforcement Accreditation.

Vernon Lewis

Lewis is a shareholder with the Greenberg Traurig Law Firm, where he is a member of the Litigation Practice Group. He represents individuals and corporations accused of violations of state or federal criminal laws related to healthcare fraud, tax fraud, securities fraud, antitrust, environmental crimes, money laundering, import fraud, mail fraud, benefits fraud, wire fraud, and commodities fraud.

Ron Feldman

Ron Feldman is currently a software QA engineer at Linq3 Technologies in Long Beach, California, where he resides. Prior to working at Linq3 Technologies, he was the lead software QA engineer at IBM in Costa Mesa, California.

Joe McDonnell

Joe McDonnell served as the keynote speaker for USchool’s annual student-led
Trade Fair. He shared his life experiences as a serial entrepreneur, inventor, and
spokesperson on TV shopping networks. Following his engaging presentation,
McDonnell visited various booths at the fair to hear pitches from our young
entrepreneurs and share his sage advice and insight.

Andrea Liska Finkle

Andrea, valedictorian of her class, spent almost three weeks of her summer rehearsing for and appearing in a one-act play at a festival in New York City. This was a dream come true for her because she had spent many years performing in scholastic and community theater productions in Florida.

Jonathan Penson

Jonathan produced and directed a documentary, Made in Venice. It is the inside story of the streetwise skateboarders of Venice and their endless struggle to make the dream of a skate park come true.

Andrew Weinstein

Andrew Weinstein is one of three private citizens nominated by President Joe
Biden to serve as a public delegate for the U.S. for the current United Nations
General Assembly session. Public delegates represent their countries in
committee sessions and meetings at the U.N. and work with other countries,
government officials, and organizations on various initiatives.

Matthew Pearl

Best-selling author Matthew Pearl’s novel, The Dante Chamber, the sequel to his highly successful novel, The Dante Club, was published in May 2018.

His books have appeared both on international and New York Times bestseller lists. They have been translated into over 30 languages. You can often read Matthew’s non-fiction works in the New York Times and the Boston Globe.

Keith Poliakoff

Keith is a managing partner in the Fort Lauderdale office of Government Law Group, PLLC, who has experience with all aspects of Florida governmental entities. Keith currently serves as Chair of the NSU University School Alumni Hall of Fame selection committee.

Scott Weinger

Scott recently reprised the role of Steve Hale for the Netflix reboot, Fuller House, a role he originated on the '90s series Full House. Scott has worked steadily in the entertainment business as an actor, producer, and writer and is well known as the voice of Disney’s Aladdin. Scott majored in English and minored in French literature at Harvard University, where he graduated magna cum laude.

Seth Yanklewitz

Seth is an Emmy-nominated casting director known for his work on New Girl (2011), The Hangover (2009), Blades of Glory (2007), and Fool’s Gold (2008).

Mandel Ilagan

Mandel was recently named Vice President, Current and Development, Game Shows for Sony Pictures Entertainment. Mandel has been a television executive and producer with years of experience in network and production environments. He has extensive knowledge in the reality and game show genres. Mandel’s most
recent projects include Celebrity Jeopardy! which premiered in September,
along with the new Celebrity Wheel of Fortune on ABC.

Alan Foreman

Emmy Award winner Alan Foreman has worked on numerous animated television
series including Home Movies (Cartoon Network), Word Girl (PBS), Welcome to
the Wayne (Nickelodeon), and The Casagrandes (Nickelodeon). Alan just got
the green light to direct Baby Shark’s Big Movie! for Nickelodeon Animation
Studio which will start streaming during the 2023 holiday season. This fulllength
feature movie is based on the Nick Jr series which was developed off of
the children’s internet video sensation with the catchy melody of “Baby shark,
doo doo doo doo doo doo.” The movie will follow Baby Shark and his family as
they move to Chomp City, the shark version of New York.

Adam Litwin

Adan is an entertainment and corporate attorney in Dallas, yet he still finds time to pursue his creative passions, including the film The Epoch and the film short Moxon’s Master. In 2017, Adam produced Frackers and was an Associate Producer on the film Bomb City.

Seth Gabel

2017 was a busy year for Seth who could be seen on TV in recurring roles on both Genius and Salem. Prior to these appearances, you might recognize him from American Horror Story or Arrow.

Josh Gad

Josh Gad, Class of 1999, will reunite with Andrew Rannells in “Gutenberg! The Musical!” The pair, who were the original co-stars of “The Book of Mormon,” will return to Broadway this fall in a two-man musical comedy. Josh is best known for voicing Olaf in the Frozen franchise, playing Elder Arnold Cunningham in the Broadway musical The Book of Mormon, and playing Le Fou in the live-action adaptation of Disney's Beauty and the Beast. And, of course, USchool’s stage productions of Fiddler on the Roof and Guys and Dolls and many more!

Ellice Martinez

As assistant vice president of community engagement at HCA Healthcare’s East Florida, she directs and manages all division-wide community engagement strategies with the goal of furthering HCA Florida Healthcare’s reputation in the Southeast region and deepening the company’s community partnerships. Ellice has worked to strengthen the foundation’s partnership with Girl Scouts and as such, recently announced its support of the new Girl Scouts Mental Wellness Patch Programs to address mental health among young girls.

Marla Neufeld

Greenspoon Marder’s Surrogacy & Assisted Reproductive Technology partner Marla Neufeld was a featured speaker on the CBS daytime talk show “The Doctors” where she discussed her insights on the legal rights for donors and
surrogates. Marla has also spoken to our high school students as part of
USchool’s Experiential Learning Legal Education Internship Program.

Brett Novek

Brett is a successful model, actor, and entrepreneur. He has appeared on television in Hopelessly Awkward (2010), The Brotherhood Alumni (2009), Criminal Minds (2005), and appeared in national commercials for Taco Bell. He has modeled for Hollister Co., Armani Exchange, Emporio Armani, and Target Corporation. In 2011, Brett started a successful clothing company called good hYOUman, of which a portion of its profits goes to help people with leukemia and lymphoma (in memory of his father).

Lauren Book

Lauren Book presented as the keynote speaker at NSU’s inaugural conference on Child Abuse, Neglect, and Human Trafficking. Book serves as founder and CEO of the Lauren’s Kids Foundation, which educates adults and children about sexual abuse prevention through in-school curricula, awareness campaigns, and speaking engagements around the country and the world.

Myles Karp

Myles Karp lived out his lifelong dream of appearing on TV’s Jeopardy! (in
February 2023). When not phrasing responses in the form of a question on
the hit game show, Karp works as a journalist and freelance research and
strategy consultant.

Neda Ghomeshi

Neda Ghomeshi joined Akerman, LLC as a litigation associate in the firm’s Fort
Lauderdale office. Her practice focuses on business and commercial litigation.

Raquelle Newman

In April 2019, Raquelle Newman began her residency in Family Medicine at the Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas, Nevada. Newman recently earned an M.D. from The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences.

Andrew Dolberg

Congratulations to Andrew Dolberg, Class of 2011, and his writing partner, Rob Long, who officially published their first children's book, The Great Weather Diviner, today! The Great Weather Diviner is about a young groundhog’s adventure to find his purpose and save his town. The story is a fractured fairy tale, reimagining the origin story of Punxsutawney Phil and Groundhog Day. This fantastic book is currently available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Bookshop.org and for each book sold, a portion of the proceeds goes to Habitat for Humanity!

Nico Perea

Club Futbol Playa Miami player and 2011 USchool alumnus, Nico Perea, has joined the roster for the 2024 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup representing the USA! The World Cup will kick off in Dubai on February 15 and last until the end of the month. 16 teams compete in the tournament which begins with four groups of four where each team will play each other. Following the group stage matches, first and second-place finishers will move on to a knockout-style tournament for the quarter-finals, semi-finals, and finals. Congratulations, Nico! Go USA!

Simone Garcia Johnson

Simone Garcia Johnson recently signed a contract with the WWE (World
Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.) and has begun training with the WWE Performance Center. She is living her life-long dream and on her way to becoming WWE’s first fourth-generation superstar!

Dan Hernandez

Dan Hernandez co-wrote Pokémon Detective Pikachu with writing partner Benji Samit bringing the beloved video game franchise to the big screen in live-action for the first time. Taking inspiration from the 2016 spinoff game of the same name, this movie had a very successful opening in May 2019. He is currently collaborating with Josh Gad and Benji Samit on a screenplay for a sequel to the film Spaceballs.