BRAD BURKHART – THE BIG CHEESE
Brad's experience spans film/TV production, print publishing and media sales and marketing. Over the last year, he produced a number of animated shorts -- ‘The Hightower Download’ series, ‘PSI WARS’ based on the book ‘Entangled Minds’ by Dean Radin, and ‘The Upwising Begins’ for The Institute of Noetic Sciences. From 2001-2006, he served as an Advisor to AMD Digital Media & Entertainment (www.amd64live.com). In 1999, Brad founded AFM Inc, a rep firm serving clients in the entertainment trade. Prior to that he ran ad sales for The GRAMMY Awards program, and GRAMMY, KCET and DGA magazines. In 1999, he also founded Artistpro, the leading publisher of educational resources for musicians with over 100 titles. In 1989, he launched the Recording Industry Sourcebook. Prior to 1989, Brad produced and edited programs for clients including KCET, ABC Sports and others.
Henri is a social entrepreneur and community technology pioneer. As co-founder and CEO of Vivid Studios, he contributed to writing "Demystifying Multimedia" and led the Internet launch of Windows 95 for Microsoft. In 2000, Henri joined Mandrakesoft as CEO and transformed the firm into the US retail market leader for Linux. In 2003, Henri created the first blog for a member of Congress and implemented technology for presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich. In 2004, he co-founded CivicActions LLC (www.civicactions.com) which today has over 25 consultants providing technology services to Amnesty International, ACLU, the Free Software Foundation, Creative Commons and many other progressive organizations.
George worked for more than a decade at various old media publications, including the San Francisco Examiner, Anchorage Daily News, and Newsweek magazine. After obtaining a law degree, he helped found a successful boutique law firm and has since specialized in First Amendment, IP, and media/new media matters. George is the General Counsel for CivicActions and advises technology start-ups on law and strategy. He has been an Adjunct Professor at the University of San Francisco Law School, where he taught media and new media law and recently served as a special counsel to the California Senate Judiciary Committee.
Sylvia develops media strategies for creating awareness of technologies, people, companies, publications, organizations, and events. She has worked with the founders of Ask.com, CNET, Wired magazine and many others. Since 1994, she has moderated the Berkeley Cybersalon, a monthly forum for discussing the impact of technology on culture. In 1995, she founded Gracenet, an international group promoting women in high tech. She was formerly marketing director for Software Ventures, and before that, a writer and co-producer of "Science Editor," a radio show distributed by CBS. Her first PR coup was the slogan, "A Woman's Place Is on Top," which helped finance the all-women's American expedition to Annapurna I, Nepal.
Lynn worked as a technical writer, trainer, and curriculum developer, making complex technical concepts intelligible. She worked for several large software companies including NCR, Oracle and Sybase. In 2003-2004 she became politically re-activated by Howard Dean's bid for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination and later campaigned for the defeat of Bush with the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) and America Coming Together (ACT) in New Mexico and Nevada. In 2005, she worked with local organizations on framing progressive messages and was the East Bay Coordinator for the California Clean Money Campaign (CCMC) through the 2006 election.
PHILLIP FRAZER – ADVISOR, NEWS AND EDITORIAL
In 1999 Phillip co-founded The Hightower Lowdown, a newsletter that he co-edits and publishes with Jim Hightower. He has written about politics, the environment, and life in general, and has edited and published numerous political magazines and newsletters. He started in Australia where he founded that country's first rock and roll newspaper (at age 19), the most-celebrated cultural magazine of the '70s called The Digger, and the Australian edition of Rolling Stone. In his longer career in print media in the U.S., he published The Washington Spectator for fifteen years, edited The Multinational Monitor, and been an editorial and publishing consultant for Mother Jones, The Nation, Ode, The Green Guide, and other organizations.
JIM HIGHTOWER – ADVISOR, NEWS AND EDITORIAL
Jim is a best-selling author, radio commentator, public speaker, and all-around political sparkplug whose credo is "You can fight the gods and still have fun." Twice elected to statewide office in Texas, he has long battled the Powers that Be on behalf of the Powers that Ought to Be: working families, consumers, the environment, small businesses, and plain folks. Hightower currently writes a syndicated column carried by 75 independent weeklies and also writes a monthly newsletter The Hightower Lowdown, notable for in-depth investigative reporting and an unapologetically partisan tone in criticizing George W. Bush's administration, which he rails against, as beholden to corporations and extremist conservative political ideology.
DANIEL GREGOIRE – ADVISOR, MEDIA PRODUCTION
Dan started out as a production artist on TitanAE and previsualization artist on "Moulin Rouge" and "Behind Enemy Lines." While at Lucasfilm Ltd. /JAK Films, Dan supervised “previz” on "Star Wars: Episode II" and "Star Wars: Episode III" and co-directed final effects shots for "THX 1138: The George Lucas Director's Cut." After four years at LucasFilm, Dan set out on his own and founded Halon Entertainment. Wholly owned and operated by Dan, Halon Entertainment is comprised of young, innovative, and experienced artists, animators and creators of digital content. Halon's first client was Steven Spielberg on "War of the Worlds." More recently, Halon worked on "Ghost Riders," "X-Men III," and "Evan Almighty”.
LOUIS FOX – ADVISOR, MEDIA PRODUCTION
Louis is a creator of some of the most widely distributed short format programming on the Internet. Louis’ brilliant use of “viral marketing” has motivated tens of millions of web users to take actions that better the world. His movies, notably Store Wars and The Meatrix, have also earned him top honors at film festivals around the globe, including South By Southwest, Media That Matters, Woodstock Film Festival, Sundance, Rezfest and the Holland Festival. By marrying time-honored storytelling with exciting new technologies, Louis continually resets the standard for online advocacy and viral marketing. Louis is widely considered a leader in the movement to spread progressive political and social messages through the use of the web.
JONAH SACHS – ADVISOR, MEDIA PRODUCTION
Jonah’s pioneering communications work has helped hundreds of progressive organizations break through the media din with strategic, inspiring messages. Jonah’s visionary use of viral marketing has been featured in top TV networks (CNN) radio outlets (NPR) and newspapers (New York Times). In 2001, Jonah was named one of “The Thirty People Cleaning up the Earth” by Shift magazine. Food and Wine magazine featured him as a “2004 Tastemaker” for creating the most successful Flash advocacy movie in the history of the web, The Meatrix. Along with Fox, Jonah is widely considered a leader in the movement to spread progressive political and social messages through the use of the web.
KIM MCARTHUR – ADVISOR, MEDIA PRODUCTION
Kim McArthur has managed Free Range Studios organizational growth from a small, two-person design studio to a highly prestigious, twenty-five person strategic communications firm with offices in Berkeley, California and Washington D.C. McArthur leads Free Range Studios client-relations team while her business acumen, non-profit experience and communications background combine to make her one of the most sought-after experts in the non-profit communications field. Driven by her passion for real world change McArthur continues to push Free Range Studios' level of service and commitment to quality.
