Riva Gambert is the Director of the Jewish Federation of the East Bay's Israel Center and the Director of the East Bay International Jewish Film Festival. She also staffs the Contra Costa Jewish Book & Arts Festival as well as the Holocaust commemorations in Oakland and Contra Costa. For more than a decade, she taught at the Contra Costa Midrasha. A frequent lecturer in the East Bay on Israel and film-related topics, Riva lived in Rehovot, Israel for several years before moving to California.