Staff, Board and Other Key People

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Lisa Rudman, Executive Director
A grassroots activist and award winning documentary video and radio maker with 20 years experience, Lisa has managerial experience in a number of non-profit, corporate and broadcast settings. Lisa has been with National Radio Project since 1998 in a variety of capacities including Women's Desk Director, Co-Director of Live Wire Independent News, trainer, producer and fundraiser, and became the Executive Director in February of 2003.

Khanh Pham, Associate Director
Khanh has worked as a non-profit fundraiser and community organizer for the past ten years with groups ranging from the Global Fund for Women, the Hesperian Foundation, Refugee Transitions, and the Labor/Community Strategy Center, Eastside Arts Alliance, and VietUnity. Her experiences in the US and abroad inspired her to start the Viet Community Media project in 2006 to translate films and programs about globalization, labor, women's rights, and the environment into Vietnamese and to promote more South-to-South exchange of experiences and analysis.

Tena Rubio, Senior Producer
Tena Rubio is our senior producer and host of Making Contact. A recipient of the Open Society Institute/Soros Foundation 2006 Katrina Media Fellowship, she has spent the past year producing radio documentaries focused on the social, economic and cultural impact of immigration and labor issues in post-Katrina New Orleans.

Previously, Tena was the senior producer for Pacifica Radio's Washington, DC bureau, WPFW. There she produced, reported and acted as fill-in host for "Pacifica Headline News." She also field produced several landmark Washington news events, including the March for Women's Lives, the 9-11 Commission Hearings and the Downing Street Memo Hearings.

With a background in local television news and national news magazine programming, Tena's experience also includes positions as producer, field producer and news writer at NBC, CBS and Fox affiliates in a variety of television markets. She was also a segment producer for the "McLaughlin One-on-One" news commentary show.

Tena holds a B.A. degree from the University of California at Berkeley and received her M.A. in broadcast journalism and public policy at American University in Washington, DC.

Andrew Stelzer, Producer
Andrew Stelzer was previously the senior reporter and anchor at WMNF radio in Tampa, FL. Before that, he was based out of KBOO community radio in Portland, OR, where he also worked as KBOO's youth advocate. Andrew's radio work has been featured on programs including BBC's The World, Free Speech Radio News, Latino USA, Independent Native News, Radio France International's Crossroads, and the Workers Independent News Service. His print articles have appeared in a diversity of publications. Andrew has received awards from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association and the Society of Professional Journalists. He was awarded a scholarship to the Narco News School of Authentic Journalism in Mexico, and has taught radio production around the world from Algeria to Mississippi. Born and bred in NYC, Andrew has managed a homeless shelter, organized for Police Accountability, and has even worked and lived on a train. He holds a bachelors degree from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Puck Lo, Associate Producer
Puck is also a regular contributor to Free Speech Radio News and works as a Assistant Technical Producer for FSRN. Since 1999 she has worked in independent media as a print journalist, magazine editor, radio producer and video documentarian alongside racial, economic and gender justice, counter-globalization and autonomous movements. She has worked as a dishwasher, line cook, sheepherder, packer in a crabmeat plant, temp worker in factories and warehouses near Canada, farmworker, construction worker, bookseller, reproductive health counselor, and youth mentor, among other things.

Pauline Bartolone, Special Correspondent
For over 4 years, Pauline has worked in independent media in several capacities and locations. In addition to Associate Producing at National Radio Project, she's a Technical Producer at Free Speech Radio News and Pacifica station KPFA in Berkeley. In 2002, Pauline worked as program producer and coordinator at shortwave station Radio For Peace International in Costa Rica. She lived in and reported from Argentina in 2003, and has reported for public and independent outlets from four other Latin American countries. Pauline considers herself part of a movement to promote social change through media, and strives to inspire debate about what could be, not just about what already is.

Dan Turner, Super Volunteer
In 1998, a social-justice activist friend of Dan's suggested he contact National Radio Project. After hearing Making Contact and meeting the staff, he was so impressed that he decided to volunteer his time doing administrative work - doing things that free us up to work on the issues. He's been with us ever since! Dan enjoys interacting with staff and other volunteers, helping out in many different ways, and being informed and educated in the variety of critical issues that we explore.

Interns
Joaquin Palomino, Samson Reiny, Ron Rucker and Elena Botkin-Levy. Find out more about Production Internships. Find out more about Organizational Internships

Our Other Wonderful Volunteers, who help us with...
Research, database work, outreach and distribution, publicity, administrative, development/fundraising transcribing, recording events, translation, english language voice-overs, special events. and more! Get more information about being a volunteer.

Over 90 freelancers who file segments for Making Contact from around the country and across the globe. See our Submission Guidelines if you are interested in joining our network of freelancers.

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Founders

Peggy Law, Founding Director and Development Advisor
Activist, organizer, visionary. Peggy is a journalist with broad experience in non-profit management. She is an organizational consultant and a Board Member of the Institute for Public Accuracy and IF (a social change organization). Peggy is an Executive Committee member for the MediaWorks Initiative, and has also had a career as a mental health professional.

Norman Solomon
Nationally syndicated author and columnist on media and politics; Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) associate; Founder and Executive Director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. A collection of Norman's columns won the 1999 George Orwell Award for Distinguished Contribution to Honesty and Clarity in Public Language. He has authored ten books, including "The Habits of Highly Deceptive Media and The Power of Babble," "Target Iraq: What the News Media Didn't Tell You" (co-authored with foreign correspondent Reese Erlich), and his latest book, "War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death."

David Barsamian
Author, lecturer, founder and director of Alternative Radio. David's interviews and articles appear in The Progressive, The Nation, Z and other journals and magazines. David is author of numerous books with Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Eqbal Ahmad, and Edward Said. His series of books with Chomsky, America's leading dissident, have sold in the hundreds of thousands and have been translated into many languages. David's latest books are "Propaganda & the Public Mind: Conversations with Noam Chomsky" and "The Decline & Fall of Public Broadcasting."

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Board

Current Board Members:

Simon Avakian
Simon is a former aerospace engineer who has worked a family farm. He has been a long-term IMP board member. Simon has been a salesman and currently manages logistics at SMA America, a solar photovoltaic inverter manufacturer and is a volunteer technical consultant to several non-profit media organizations. He has worked in photographic sales and technical support and the solar energy field.

Elaine Beale
Elaine is an independent fundraising consultant. Her services include funding research, program planning, proposal writing, organizational development planning, and training. She specializes in working with human services and social justice organizations and has worked in the nonprofit field since 1989. Formerly, she was Development Director at the National Housing Law Project; Director of Development, San Francisco Women Against Rape; and Director of Volunteer Programs at Community United Against Violence. In addition to her work with nonprofits, Elaine is also a writer. Her first novel, Murder in the Castro, was published in 1997 and she was selected as the winner of the 2007 Poets & Writers California Writers Exchange Contest in fiction. She designed and taught a writing program for survivors of sexual assault that was funded by the San Francisco Arts Commission, and currently volunteers to teach creative writing to youth. Elaine immigrated to the United States in 1989 and lives and works in Oakland, CA.

Vidya Chander
Vidya is a Business Development Analyst with Cisco Systems, Inc. She also spends time volunteering for groups such as the Bayfund Website Project at Taproot Foundation, and performs in South Indian Classical Dance groups.

Christine Comella
Christine has worked for nonprofit human services organizations in the Bay Area since 1995. She brings several years of fundraising, event planning and communications experience to the National Radio Project Board. She currently works as the Director of Development and Marketing for the Unity Council. Christine holds an MBA from San Francisco State University. She was formerly the Director of Development & Communications, St. Vincent de Paul of Alameda County; Fund Development Manager, Community Housing Partnership; Fund Development Coordinator, Spanish Speaking Citizens’ Foundation, Oakland, CA.

Jeff Jacoby
Jeff is an award winning sound, radio, and video producer, recently relocated to San Francisco. He owns & operates Living Sound Productions, serves on the faculty of San Francisco State University (audio & radio), produces and hosts The Traveling Radio Show, and is currently engaged with sound, radio, and political art. He also serves on the board of The Freedom Fries Art Collective. Jeff has operated Living Sound Productions since 1980, and was previously on the faculty of Quinnipiac University in Hamden, CT and the Digital Audio Project at Real Art Ways in Hartford, CT, served on the boards of The Media Arts Center and The Elm City Folk Festival in NewHaven, CT, and performed as a commissioned artist for The International Festival of Arts and Ideas. Jacoby has been awarded an Emmy, two Emmy nominations, two Ciné Golden Eagles, two Benjamin Franklin’s, and two Crystal Radio awards, among other honors. Learn more about Jeff at www.jeffjacoby.net.

Jocelyn Clare R. Hermoso
Joyce is a professor at San Francisco State University. She is a social work academic and international development consultant with sixteen years of experience in research, education, policy analysis, and program development on international development issues. Joyce holds an MSW from Boston College and a PhD from the Catholic University of America. When not busy with academia, Joyce does some travel-writing.

Heather Masaki
Heather was born and raised on the island of O'ahu. She graduated with highest honors with a BA in Women's Studies and a minor in Religious Studies. While at university, she led an active feminist organization on campus and traveled to India and Turkey as part of a study group focused on the international women's movement and women-led NGOs. She currently works on the Development team at the Global Fund for Women, and she has also interned at NARAL Pro-Choice California. Heather is passionate about women's rights and social, economic and environmental justice.

Past Board Members, during the previous 5 years:

David Clark, Treasurer
David is currently utilizing his background in industrial engineering and MBA in Sustainable Management to support entrepreneurial ventures in the Bay Area. He has developed strategies and operations plans for micro-enterprise businesses including a homepower company, yoga studios, and non-profit organizations in North Carolina. In Tennessee he worked in manufacturing for large corporations. He enjoys playing the saxophone, and has performed and recorded with various pop, and reggae groups, and continues to study jazz.

Marla Cornelius
Marla is a Projects Director at CompassPoint Nonprofit Services, a nonprofit consulting, research, and training organization providing nonprofits with management tools, strategies, and resources to lead change in their communities. She has served on several community based organizations' boards and is a graduate student at the University of San Francisco pursuing her masters in Nonprofit Administration.

Candice Francis
Candice Francis is with Third World Newsreel and was the Communications and Development Director for the Family Independence Initiative (FII), an Oakland based community and economic development non-profit. Her experience spans a number of related disciplines including: radio and television production; teaching and life/skills coaching; manuscript and copy writing and editing; marketing, promotions, public relations and advertising. She recently served as a writing coach, editor, and consultant on a personal memoir project. In addition to FII, Candice has worked for: KQED-TV, KQED-FM, KRON/BAY-TV, The University of California at Berkeley, Martin & Glantz LLC and Kaiser Permanente. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brown University and a Master of Arts in Mass Communications from Ohio University where she was a recipient of a national fellowship awarded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Gary Heider
Gary is a labor activist who recently retired from Stage Hands Union and has run several successful businesses.

Adrienne Hirt
Social justice advocate and philanthropist with expertise in organizational development, conflict management and public speaking; former welfare mother. Other community connections: former Board member of San Francisco CASA; Resourceful Women; Families with a Future.

Reid Hoffman
Silicon Valley Entrepreneur and founder of a number of start-up companies including Paypal. Founder and President of LinkedIn.

S. Ravi Rajan
Asst. Prof. of Environ. Studies, University of Calif. Santa Cruz. Extensive radio experience in India. Other Boards: Pesticides Action Network; Bhopal Group for Information and Action, 1986. Other Affiliations: Edit. and Board Committees for several professional and environmental journals.

Michael Rosenthal
Michael Rosenthal is an Emmy Award winning television producer. Since 1993, he's been on the staff of KRON-TV in San Francisco, working on the northern California travel show "Bay Area Backroads." He is also one of the essayists in MoveOn.org's book, "50 Ways to Love Your Country."

Simran Sethi
Simran is the host/ writer of Ethical Markets, the first national program reporting on sustainable business practices and corporate social responsibility, created by futurist Hazel Henderson and airing on PBS. Simran is an award-winning journalist who produced and anchored the news for MTV Asia, co-created the MTV India news division, and developed programming for the BBC and Doordarshan through her independent production company SHE TV. She also holds an MBA in sustainable management, integrating ethical, social and environmental values with practical business knowledge.

Rita Takahashi
Rita is a Professor of Social Work & Community Organizing at San Francisco State University, School of Social Work. She is on the National Advisory Committee for Wartime Incarceration and the Life Course of Nisei Families, and is an Advisory Board member (and former Board President) of the Japanese American National Library.

Laarni Von Ruden
CPA and small business owner who has specialized in non-profit accounting since 1991. Other community connections: Board member of AIDS Community Research Consortium; Nonprofit Chair of Peninsula chapter of the California Society of Certified Public Accountants.