Board Member
Siddhartha joined SPF:a in 2000, and some of his most notable built work includes the recently completed Rainbow Bridge in Long Beach, the 210,000-square-foot Getty Villa Museum renovation and expansion, and two UCLA projects, CENS (Center for Embedded Networked Sensing), a computer science related research facility, and UCLA Stunt Ranch, an off-the-grid reserve and biological field station in Malibu. He has also overseen several single- and multi-family residential projects and has developed expert working knowledge of the city’s various permit and bidding processes. Currently, he is managing two large city projects under construction, the Rancho Cienega Sports Complex, a $40 million, 45,000-square-foot sports facility in Baldwin Hills, and Rumblefish, a 400-foot pedestrian bridge spanning across the LA River connecting Elysian Valley to Taylor Yard.
Siddhartha began his professional career in the Office of the University Architect at University of Cincinnati, and his work on campus involved analyses of space utilization, user-satisfaction surveys, site surveys, construction phasing strategy. He also undertook programming for lecture/auditorium spaces, housing, office and recreation spaces, and prepared the Design Guidelines and Standards Manual, which became the benchmark for all new construction at the University. He has also taught design studio at the School of Architecture, University of Southern California, Los Angeles. He is passionate about cricket and currently captains the Pickwick Cricket Club of the Los Angeles Social Cricket Alliance. He is a licensed architect in California and India.
Board Vice-Chair
Dody Dorn is a film and sound editor, best known for working with director Christopher Nolan on several films including Memento (2000). Dorn was nominated for the Academy Award for Memento, which Variety described as a “…beautifully structured puzzle…” that “…deconstructs time and space with Einstein-caliber dexterity in the service of a delectably disturbing tale of revenge … Dody Dorn’s editing is top-notch as pic — scripted, acted and lensed with precision — smoothly toggles back and forth between sequences in B&W and in color.”
Dorn has worked multiple times with director Ridley Scott as well
as having edited SICK: The Life & Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist a
documentary film which chronicles the life of a sadomasochistic man who
struggles with cystic fibrosis.
Dody believes that experiencing the city and learning about its
history is best done in the company of others in “the real world.” She is
aligned with FORT: LA’s vision of giving Angelenos an inspired new way to
explore all the magic that can be found outdoors.
Founder and Board Chair
Filmmaker Russell Brown’s body of work includes five narrative features, two full-length documentaries, and a number of well-regarded narrative and documentary shorts. His feature films have opened theatrically in select cities to favorable reviews after playing at more than 270 festivals around the world. Brown’s work has garnered national and international awards for directing, writing, acting and editing. His diverse filmography includes Loren & Rose, Search Engines, The Blue Tooth Virgin, Annie and the Gypsy, Karen Black: On Acting, Conversation with a Cigarette, Mama Laura’s Boys, The 44 Scarves of Liza Minnelli, Above the Arroyo: A Dream of the Stairs of Los Angeles, Reality USA, and The Kaleidoscope Guy at the Market. Russell is a member of the Writer’s Guild of America and is a Film Independent Producing Fellow. His films are held as part of the collection at the UCLA Film and Television archive.
Brown serves as the Vice-chair at the MaddocksBrown Foundation, where he has spearheaded collaborations with the LA Philharmonic, the USC School of Poetry, Harvard-Westlake High School and the Da Camera Society. The Foundation focuses on higher education, the environment, the arts, human wellness, and animal welfare including Love On 4 Paws through which Russell provided support to hospital patients across Los Angeles as a certified animal therapist. He was awarded a commendation from the City of Los Angeles for his work with the Boys and Girls Club of Venice.
As Founder and Board Chair of FORT: LA, Russell brings a lifelong passion for celebrating the city of Los Angeles and its many diverse communities and cultures.
