Alberta Arthurs (Chair)
MEM Associates
New York, NY
Alberta Arthurs is a consultant with MEM Associates, which provides programming, planning and research services for non-profits. She is the former Director of Arts & Humanities at the Rockefeller Foundation, and from 1996-97 she was Director for the Program in Culture and Development at the Council on Foreign Relations. She is currently on advisory or visiting committees for the New School for Social Research, the Bunting Institute of Radcliffe College, Princeton University and several other institutions. She has taught and held administrative positions at Tufts, Rutgers and Harvard Universities and was the President of Chatham College from 1977-1982.
Peggy Charren
President, Action for Children’s Television (ACT)
Cambridge, MA
Author, visiting scholar at Harvard University Graduate School of Education and founder, in 1968, of Action for Children’s Television (ACT), a non-profit organization dedicated to program diversity and the elimination of commercial abuses in children’s television. She is a member of the board of trustees of Boston’s WGBH and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1995.
Eli Evans
President, Charles Revson Foundation
New York, NY
Since 1977, Eli Evans has been President of the Charles Revson Foundation, which makes grants for programs that deal with urban affairs, education, the changing role of women, and Jewish philanthropy. He served in the U.S. Navy and worked as an aide and speechwriter in the Lyndon B. Johnson White House. From 1967 to 1977, he traveled extensively in the South as a senior program officer for the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and was a member of the Carnegie Commission on Public Broadcasting. He has written for numerous publications and is the author of a number of books.
Lisa Hsia
Senior Vice President, NBC Universal Bravo
New York, NY
Lisa Hsia is Senior Vice President of New Media at Bravo, the cable network owned by NBC Universal. She is responsible for identifying and maximizing programming opportunities in new and emerging media, including wireless, digital, interactive TV, electronic sell through and video on demand. From 2001-2005, Hsia was Vice President at NBC News, supervising Dateline NBC, the TODAY show and NBC News Productions. During her tenure at NBC News, Hsia was one of three news executives responsible for several major successes: 9/11 and Iraq war coverage, two Olympics, the seamless transition of Tom Brokaw to Brian Williams on NBC Nightly News, the introduction of a new Weekend Today anchor team and the creation of “Democracy Plaza” for the 2004 Presidential Election. All shows remain #1 in their time slot. Hsia came to NBC News in 1994 as a senior producer for Dateline NBC, where she oversaw hundreds of hours of programming and was Executive Producer on shows about roots of Islamic rage and the long-term effects of Columbine on a family. She has worked as a producer for Katie Couric and Diane Sawyer at ABC News and is the recipient of six Emmy awards, an IRE Award, a Sigma Delta Chi Award and the National Press Club’s Freedom of the Press Award. Hsia graduated from Harvard University with a degree in documentary filmmaking. She is the recipient of the Michael Rockefeller Fellowship and the John S. Knight Journalism Fellowship at Stanford University.
Brian Newman (Executive Director)
Renew Media
New York, NY
Brian Newman joined Renew Media as Executive Director in 2004, and is responsible for oversight and strategic direction of all NVR programming, development and operations. Prior to joining Re:New Media, he served as executive director of IMAGE Film & Video Center, producers of the Atlanta Film Festival, and as market coordinator for the Independent Feature Project in New York City. Mr. Newman also served as assistant coordinator of Media Arts for the South Carolina Arts Commission, managing the Southern Circuit film tour. He brings expertise in audience building, marketing and community outreach.
Sam Pollard
Director, Producer, Screenwriter, Editor
New York, NY
Sam Pollard is a Professor in Film Studies at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, a feature film and video editor, and an award-winning documentary producer and director.
Laurie Racine
Co-Founder, Public Knowledge
New York, NY
Laurie Racine is co-founder and President of dotSUB, a young technology company that has developed a unique browser based tool for subtitling film/video. She is a Senior Fellow at the Norman Lear Center in the Annenberg School of Communications, University of Southern California where she serves as co-director of the Creativity, Commerce and Culture project. Until she closed the foundation in January of 2006, Racine served for six years as President of the Center for the Public Domain, a private foundation endowed by the founders of Red Hat, Inc. During her tenure, she co-founded Public Knowledge, a Washington, D.C. based public interest group that is working to sustain a vibrant information commons. She serves as Chair of the Board. Racine currently serves on the board of Creative Commons and is Chair of Teachers Without Borders. Racine was also the President of Doc Arts for six years, the non-profit corporation that produces the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. Before joining the Center for the Public Domain, Racine was the Director of the Health Sector Management Program at the Fuqua School of Business, Duke University. She has spent many years as a strategist and consultant for non-profit and for-profit enterprises. Racine received a BA from New York University and conducted coursework for a PhD in Human Genetics at the University of California, Berkeley.
John G. Roche
Founder, Petunia Productions
New York, NY
Mr. Roche is a publisher and producer of documentary feature films. He is the former Chairman and CEO of Telecommunications Reports International and of Wellspring Media. He serves on the Board of the Film Society of Lincoln Theater.
N. Bird Runningwater
Native American Initiatives Programmer, Sundance Institute
Beverly Hills, CA
N. Bird Runningwater is the programmer for Native American Initiatives at the Sundance Institute and the Sundance Film Festival in Los Angeles, California. Before joining the Sundance Institute, Runningwater was based in New York City and served as executive director of the Fund of the Four Directions, the private philanthropy of a Rockefeller family member. Prior to joining the Fund, Runningwater served as program associate in the Ford Foundation’s Media, Arts and Culture Program. He is a recipient of the Woodrow Wilson Foundation’s National Fellowship in Public Policy and International Affairs and an alumnus of Americans for Indian Opportunity’s Ambassadors Program and the Kellogg Fellows Program.
Judy Tabb
Partner, Carr, Tabb & Pope LLP
Atlanta, GA
Judy Tabb is a partner with Carr, Tabb, & Pope LLP, practicing in mergers and acquisitions, and tax-structured transactions. She has worked extensively with Planned Parenthood Federation of America, serving as Vice Chair of the Board, Planned Parenthood of Georgia (former Board Chair), and currently chairs Vote Choice: A Georgia PAC, the Education Impact Team for Leadership Atlanta and the Board of Image Film and Video. She is currently a member of the Board of the Alan Guttmacher Institute, Planned Parenthood Action Fund of Ga., Inc., Leadership Atlanta and the Southern Regional Council.
Diana E. Williams
Producer
New York, NY
Diana Williams produces critically acclaimed narrative and documentary films. In 2003 Ms. Williams founded Exit 5 Entertainment (E5E), a management and production company dedicated to managing filmmaking talent and producing filmed entertainment. Ms. Williams has served as an advisor to the New York International Latino Film Festival and as a programming consultant to the AFI Silver Doc, Tribeca, and GenArt Film Festivals.