Kenny Dalsheimer
President
Kenny Dalsheimer is an award winning filmmaker, video producer and media educator. He founded The Groove Productions in Durham, North Carolina in 1996. His films, A Weaverly Path (2011), A New Kind of Listening (2009), Bending Space (2007), Shine On (2000), and Go Fast, Turn Left (1998), have screened at US and international film festivals, aired on PBS stations around the southeast, and screened in communities across North Carolina through the NC Humanities Council's Road Scholars Program. Since 2001, Dalsheimer has worked as an arts educator with the Durham Arts Council and taught workshops at alternative schools and juvenile justice programs. He also produces documentary-style videos for non-profits and other organizations. He received his M.A. in Anthropology from Duke University and taught at Carolina Friends School for ten years.
Allegra Jordan
Vice President
Allegra Jordan grew up in Selma, Alabama not far from the Edmund Pettus Bridge. The blood sport of racial politics was softened by the generosity of her public school teachers, several of whom played important roles in the Civil Rights movement. They taught her that while there is the murderous in life, there can also be the marvelous. Allegra's vocation is to live in this tension, where she helps leaders and their teams build "beloved communities." Today she works with senior international leaders in innovation, entrepreneurship and marketing through a non-traditional corporation, Innovation Abbey. Recent projects include producing the TEDxFranklinSt conference; fostering an innovation culture in 10 Asia-Pacific country offices of a large public health and development NGO; and working with the Archbishop of South Sudan to build community health infrastructure. Previously Allegra led marketing efforts at USATODAY.com which grew from 10,000 people a month to 8+million visitors; served in strategic posts at UT-Austin and Duke; and published 12 business cases at Harvard Business School. Allegra was named a top executive under 40 in Austin, Texas and Birmingham, Alabama; a Rising Star by Time Magazine, and is an honors graduate of Harvard Business School.
Eric Boggs
Treasurer
Eric Boggs founded Argyle in 2009 because he saw a huge vacuum in helping marketers drive real results from social media. He spends every day pushing Argyle to achieve this mission. Prior to starting Argyle, Eric was employee #1 and part of the leadership team at Bronto Software, an email marketing automation software provider. At Bronto, Eric lead sales, marketing, and product efforts that laid the foundations for Bronto's growth from 3-person start-up to 100-employee powerhouse. Eric has a BS in Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MBA from UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School, where he was a Dean's Fellow. Fun Fact: Eric spends his free time brainwashing his infant son Thomas to love Carolina basketball and heavy metal music just like his dad.
Bonnie Gordon
Secretary
Bonnie Gordon is a senior program director at MDC and leads the Partners for Postsecondary Success project, a Gates-funded multi-site demonstration to accelerate postsecondary credential completion through sustainable community partnerships. Gordon previously led MDC's knowledge development, communications, and policy liaison work on the Achieving the Dream initiative. Prior to joining MDC, she was the College Prep program officer at the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, where she designed a college-school partnership program to improve academic achievement for underserved students and helped lead the development of the College Ready New England P-16 Alliance, a regional policy and program collaboration in support of college access and success for underserved students. She is a 20-year veteran of higher education administration with extensive experience with state and national education associations. Gordon has provided independent consulting services to both corporate and nonprofit clients for policy analysis and program support in education, management, board development, human resources, marketing, public relations, and fundraising. She has served as a member of the American Council on Education Commission on Adult Learning and Education Credentials, the board of visitors of Air University (United States Air Force), and as a program evaluator for the Pennsylvania Department of Education. In addition, she has served on the national Pathways to College Network Executive Committee and the Fenway High School Board of Directors. Gordon is currently a member of the Executive Service Corps of the Greater Triangle Board of Directors.
John Biewen directs the audio program at the Center for Documentary Studies, where he teaches and produces documentary work for NPR, Public Radio International, and other audiences. His reporting and documentary work has taken him across the United States and to Europe, Japan, and India. He covered the Rocky Mountain West for NPR News, and then he spent eight years as a correspondent with American RadioWorks, the documentary unit of American Public Media. His work has won many honors, including two Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Awards for Outstanding Coverage of the Disadvantaged and the Scripps Howard National Journalism Award. Biewen teaches undergraduates and continuing education students in the Certificate in Documentary Studies programs at CDS.
Vandana Dake was born in Delhi, India. She attended high school at St Mary's School in Pune going on to earn a degree in architecture BKPS College of Architecture from Pune University in 1985. After graduating she practiced architecture in Dubai from 1985-2000 with the Al Ghandi Group of Companies. In 1999 she relocated to the United States starting work with Alliance Architecture. Today she is a principal with the firm providing architectural services on a national basis with an expertise in work place design. With her initiative Alliance Architecture opened offices in New Delhi. In 2010 she headed a team that won a prestigious international competition to design the International Convention Center in Moshi, India. Her involvement in the Durham community is well known. She and her partner John Warasila are deeply involved in downtown Durham development and revitalization, having bought and refurbished numerous commercial buildings. Vandana serves on the Boards of the Durham Arts Council and is a Charter Member of the TIE (The Indus Entrepreneurs).Since 2010 she has been on the Board of Advisors for the Nicholas School at Duke University. Within the entrepreneurial community she has been actively involved in the funding and production of a documentary film, Remarkable Journey on the Indian Community in North Carolina. She is also a founder and investor in Organic Transit, a Durham based transportation start-up. Vandana is an active Rotarian and incoming President Elect of The Downtown Durham Rotary.
Micah Gilmer is an expert in applied research and program design. He received his Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology from Duke University in 2009. He serves as Senior Partner with Frontline Solutions, a social change organization that provides consulting services primarily to government, philanthropic and non-profit organizations. His current and recent projects include work for Open Society Foundations, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, UNC Chapel Hill, the Boston Foundation, and the Admiral Center. Gilmer's recent publications include "Momentum: Sustaining Efforts to Improve the Life Outcomes Among African-American Males" (Ford Foundation), "Family Matters" (ABFE), "Why We Can't Wait: A Case for Philanthropic Action" (Ford Foundation) and "Rebel Song: Soweto's Black Sunday Movement" (Transforming Anthropology). Gilmer is a former Morehead Scholar, and earned his undergraduate degree in African American and Religious Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, graduating with honors in 2003. He coaches football at Riverside High School in Durham, NC.
Alan Jacobs was a film student at the School of the Arts in the mid '60s but left early to take work as a documentary director, editor, and producer. He eventually received the MFA in 2004 in order to teach film at the university level. In the interim Jacobs was co-owner of Odeon Films, a New York independent production and distribution film company, co-directing, co-producing, and editing documentaries for 15 years. During these years he was actively involved in the civil rights movement (Alabama March), the anti-Vietnam War protests (Only the Beginning and Sir, My Men Refuse to Go), the feminist movement (Open for Children), and the national emerging wave of independent film and video. Jacobs was the executive director of the Association of Independent Video; Filmmakers (AIVF); a founding trustee of the Sundance Film Institute; and a board member of the American Film Institute and the Independent Feature Project.
Part II, the sequel, began in Los Angeles, where Jacobs developed and produced narrative films with a first-look deal at Sydney Pollack's company, Mirage Enterprises (Running Out, Walter Matthau and Ellen Burstyn). Once again an independent, the next production was a Hallmark Hall of Fame film (An American Story, Kathleen Quinlan, Brad Johnson and Tom Sizemore). This was followed by a 10-year run of TV features, including A Call to Remember (Blythe Danner and Joe Mantegna). At the dawn of reality TV, Jacobs accepted a full-time position at Hallmark Entertainment, running the company's Los Angeles office and overseeing sales, development, and production. For a 5 year run, before leaving Los Angeles for Chapel Hill, Jacobs worked as an Assistant Professor at Cal State University, teaching documentary and narrative film production, screenwriting, and the history of European Cinema.
Elisabeth Haviland James is a producer, director and editor based in Durham, North Carolina, where her company, Thornapple Films, is headquartered. James was the Producer and Editor of The Loving Story (airs on HBO in early 2012), and was a consulting producer to the narrative feature Oka! Amerikee. Other recent credits include Producer of The Good Fight and Co-Producer of The Lord God Bird – both directed by George Butler. She served as Director of Photography and Editor on Brothers in Arms, featuring Senator John Kerry, during the 2004 election. She is a graduate of the M.A. Program in Documentary Film and Video at Stanford University, where she produced and directed four award-winning short documentaries, including Precipice, a national finalist for the 2002 Academy Award in the Student Documentary category. Her thesis film, Net Loss, was awarded the Nicholas Roosevelt Award for Environmental Journalism. James' media clients include Augusta Films, White Mountain Films, Roland Films, National Geographic, PBS and MTV.
Titus Brooks Heagins is a documentary and fine art photographer. His work explores the lives of people often as the "Other." His projects have taken him to Africa, Asia, South America, Europe, and throughout the Caribbean, where he has worked extensively in Cuba and Haiti. His photography is included in the collections of several museums, including the Smithsonian Anacostia Museum and the North Carolina Museum of Art. Heagins holds an AB from Duke University and an MFA from the University of Michigan.
Chloë Seymore is an art advisor and independent curator based in Durham NC. Previously, Seymore was the owner and director of Branch Gallery, an art space that focused on the work of contemporary emerging artists. The gallery featured exhibitions of work by artists including Taiyo Kimura, Shinique Smith, Lucas Blalock, Casey Cook, Joshua Abelow and William Cordova. Branch participated in art fairs both nationally and internationally, including the NADA Art Fairs in Miami, FL, New Contemporaries at Art Cologne in Germany, and NEXT in Chicago, IL. The gallery's innovative exhibition program also gained national attention via publications such as Art in America, Art on Paper, and The New York Times. Seymore holds a BFA in Film and Video from the Rhode Island School of Design. Prior to relocating to the Southeast in 2004, Seymore was an independent filmmaker in New York City who in addition to her own projects worked in production and editing for companies such as The Shooting Gallery, Clinica Estetico, and Progressive Image Group.
Alan B. Teasley retired in 2006 after working for 31 years in the Durham Public Schools in a variety of roles--as a high school English and drama teacher and as central office coordinator of secondary English, Social Studies, and Foreign Languages. He currently holds an adjunct faculty appointment in Duke University's Master of Arts in Teaching Program and Secondary Teacher Preparation Program, where he teaches courses in effective teaching strategies, methods of teaching English, and world literature. He holds BA, MAT, and PhD degrees from UNC-Chapel Hill. Since 2003, Alan has volunteered as a member of the selection committee of the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, where he estimates he has seen well over a thousand documentaries. He also serves on the boards of the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke and the Friends of the Durham County Library. His articles on using film in the classroom have appeared in English Journal, The Iowa English Bulletin, Media and Methods, Telemedium, and The ALAN Revie.*. With Ann Wilder, he is the co-author of Reel Conversations: Reading Films with Young Adults (Heinemann Boynton/Cook, 1997), a book for middle and high school English teachers. With various colleagues, he has presented over twenty workshops on using media in the classroom at conferences hosted by such organizations as the National Council of Teachers of English, the North Carolina English Teachers Association, and the Annenberg School for Communication.
Co-Founders
Dr. Steven Channing brings a wide range of experiences as an historian, author, and Emmy Award winning filmmaker. Over the past two decades his documentaries have explored many American stories, from The Lost Colony to February One, The Story of the Greensboro Four. His Durham: A Self-Portrait was broadcast on Fox50, while Change Comes Knocking: The Story of the North Carolina Fund, and Down Home: Jewish Life in North Carolina have recently been broadcast on PBS in North Carolina.
Cynthia Hill is a North Carolina-based filmmaker whose works include the feature-length documentaries, Tobacco Money Feeds My Family and The Guestworker, as well as various films documenting southern life and culture. In 2011, Hill completed an 18 part multi-media project on domestic violence called Survivor to Survivor, and continued post production work on the feature-length documentary Private Violence. A native of Pink Hill, NC, Hill began her production career as an editor at GLC Productions, a New York City post-production facility whose clients included MTV, PBS, Lifetime, Nickelodeon, and many others.