LESLIE MOONVES, CO-CHAIR
Leslie Moonves is President and Chief Executive Officer of CBS Television. He joined the Network as President, CBS Entertainment in 1995 and was promoted to his current position in 1998. In his current position, Mr. Moonves is responsible for the programming, sales, and marketing operations of all CBS broadcast efforts, including CBS Entertainment, CBS News and CBS Sports, as well as its affiliate relations, research and planning, and advertising and promotion functions. Mr. Moonves also oversees CBS enterprises, which includes CBS's domestic syndication and international sales units. Under his aegis, CBS has risen from third to second place in the ratings, and is now challenging NBC's leadership position.
Mr. Moonves has put CBS in its current ratings position by developing successful new series, orchestrating key scheduling moves, and building a prolific television movie franchise. Since joining the network, he has developed the hit comedy "Everybody Loves Raymond," acquired "JAG" (now ranked among television's top dramas), and moved "Touched By An Angel" to Sunday night, where it has skyrocketed into a perennial top-10 series. He has also built the "CBS Sunday Movie" into the number one movie showcase in television.
For the 1998-99 season, Mr. Moonves ushered in a primetime schedule that features the season's top new dramas, "L.A. Doctors" and "Martial Law," and two of the top freshman comedies, "The King of Queens" and "Becker," starring Ted Danson. Mr. Moonves has also played an integral role in the formation of "60 Minutes II," which is scheduled to premiere on the CBS Television Network in January 1999.
In addition, Mr. Moonves has transformed CBS Productions, the Network's in-house production arm, into the number three supplier of network programming. After recruiting some of the industry's top creative executives, CBSP placed 6 new series on the CBS schedule and had a record 12 series on the air at the beginning of the fall season.
Previously, Mr. Moonves was President of Warner Brothers Television, where he oversaw the television division that supplied the greatest number of programs to network television for 9 consecutive years, including "ER" and "Friends." Just prior to leaving Warner Brothers, he made television history by setting an unprecedented 22 series on the networks' fall schedules. From 1989 to 1993, Mr. Moonves was President of Lorimar Television.
Mr. Moonves is also a member of President Clinton's Advisory Committee on the Arts, and serves on the board of directors of the Los Angeles Free Clinic, the Board of Trustees of the Entertainment Industries Council and the Motion Picture Association of America's Executive Committee on Television Violence, and the board of governors of the UCLA Center for Communications Policy. He is also a trustee of the American Film Institute and is a past president of the Hollywood Radio and Television Society.
Mr. Moonves is a graduate of Bucknell.
NORMAN J. ORNSTEIN, CO-CHAIR
Norman J. Ornstein is a Resident Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research and an election analyst for CBS New. In addition, Dr. Ornstein writes regularly for USA Today, as a member of its Board of Contributors, and authors the column "Congress Inside Out" for Roll Call newspaper. Currently, he is leading a coalition of scholars and others in a major effort to reform this Nation's campaign financing system.
Dr. Ornstein has worked with Al Franken as a commentator and pollster for the Comedy Central Television Network's political coverage, and is a senior advisor to the Times Mirror Center (now the Pew Research Center) for the People & the Press. He has a near 20-year history as a consultant, contributor, and/or guest on such television programs as "Nightline," "Today," "Face the Nation," and "The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour," (now "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer"). Dr. Ornstein has also served as co-director of the Renewing Congress Project—a comprehensive examination of Congress that has played a major role in the reforms of the past three Congresses. He writes frequently for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other major newspapers and magazines. His books include: Lessons and Legacies: Farewell Addresses from the U.S. Senate; Debt and Taxes: How American Got Into Its Budget Mess, and How We Can Get Out of It, with John H. Makin; and Intensive Care: How Congress Shapes Health Policy, with Thomas E. Mann.
Dr. Ornstein holds a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan.
CHARLES BENTON
Charles Benton is President and Chairman of the Board of the Benton Foundation—a leading advocate for communications in the public interest—and chairman of Public Media Inc., a film and video publisher and distributor. His career, as a businessman, as a foundation president, and in government service has largely been devoted to the field of public interest communications.
Beginning with work at Encyclopedia Britannica Films and as President at the Encyclopedia Britannica Education Corporation, Mr. Benton established himself in the field of educational, informational, cultural, and entertainment media. He has experience managing various holdings, including Public Media Inc., Films Incorporated, Home Vision, and Lionheart Television Inc., which distributed the work of BBC, ABC Australia, and several independent producers to public and commercial stations throughout the United States.
In 1978, President Carter appointed Mr. Benton as Chairman of the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science and as Chairman of the First White House Conference on Library and Information Services, held in November 1979. In 1980, he was reappointed for an additional 5-year term, during which time he was elected Chairman Emeritus by unanimous vote of NCLIS commissioners.
Throughout his career, Mr. Benton has been an active board member and advisor for organizations in the arts, education, and communications, including service on the original Illinois Arts Council Board, and current service on the Illinois Humanities Council. He served on the boards of the Eisenhower Exchange Fellowships and the American Assembly for more than 30 years, and was a trustee of the University of Chicago, Hampton Institute, and National College of Education for numerous terms. In film and television, Mr. Benton was a member of the founding board of the American Film Institute, served on the board of Chicago's major public television station (WTTW) for 10 years, and was President of the National Citizen Committee for Broadcasting in the 1970s.
Mr. Benton was President of the William Benton Foundation when it initiated and provided the $200,000 grant that the League of Women Voters used to fund the televised presidential forums during the 1976 primaries. Those forums led to the televised presidential debates sponsored by the League later in 1976—the first such event since the Nixon-Kennedy debates of 1960. In 1981, Mr. Benton established the new Washington, DC-based Benton Foundation, which has since become a leader of communications policies and projects in the public interest.
A graduate of Yale University, Mr. Benton did postgraduate work at Northwestern University and the National College of Education. Early in his career, he taught fifth grade at the Washington Elementary School in Evanston, IL
FRANK M. BLYTHE
Frank M. Blythe is Executive Director and a founding member of Native American Public Telecommunications, Inc. (NAPT). In this position, he promotes Native American programs and educational videos as a national program developer, producer, distributor, and marketer. Mr. Blythe is the NAPT Director for American Indian Radio on Satellite Network, the Co-Director for the American Indian Higher Education Consortium's Distance Education Network, and the Director of Vision Maker Video.
Previously, Mr. Blythe was Project Director for Tribal Information Infrastructure Planning, which included six tribal partners, and was a Co-Executive Producer of the 2-hour series, "Storyteller of the Pacific," which premiered on PBS. He has also produced such television and radio programs as "Native America Calling," "American Indian Artists-II," and "I am Different From My Brother." He began his career as a radio disc jockey, and later became a radio and television operations manager.
Mr. Blythe has served on various national public broadcast boards, task forces, and local community service boards and committees. He earned a bachelor's degree in Radio-Television from Arizona State University, where he also pursued graduate studies. He also studied at the Harvard University Advanced Management Program.
PEGGY CHARREN
Peggy Charren founded Action for Children's Television (ACT), the 10,000-member national child advocacy organization that has encouraged responsible broadcasting since its inception in 1968. She is also a visiting scholar at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education, where she serves on the Technology Council. Her views on television and society have been solicited by virtually every major educational institution in this country and at symposia from Oxford to Tokyo.
Before she founded ACT, Ms. Charren directed the Newton, Massachusetts, Creative Arts Council, developing artistic programs for children in schools. She also once owned and operated Quality Book Fairs, another enterprise focused on children, and was a director of the film department of WPIX-TV in New York City.
Ms. Charren was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1995, a Peabody Award in 1992 and an Emmy in 1988. She also received the Annenberg Public Policy Center Award from the University of Pennsylvania for Lifetime Contribution to Excellence in Children's Television and a "Women that Make a Difference" Award from the International Women's Forum, both in 1996. She has been celebrated for her pioneer work on behalf of the world's children by the American Academy of Pediatrics, Big Sisters, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and the National Conference of Christians and Jews.
Ms. Charren is author, or co-author, of The TV-Smart Book for Kids; Television, Children and the Constitutional Bicentennial; and Changing Channels: Living (Sensibly) with Television.
She has served as a director and advisor to the Library of Congress, the Children's Museum, the 20th Century Fund Task Force on the Future of Public Broadcasting, the Center for Psychological Studies, The American Repertory Theater, the Carnegie Commission on the Future of Public Broadcasting, the National Science Foundation, the National Women's Political Caucus, the New England Foundation on the Arts, the Massachusetts Civil Liberties Union, and National Video Resources.
Ms. Charren holds academic degrees with honors from Radcliffe College and Connecticut College and honorary degrees from eight colleges and universities.
HAROLD C. CRUMP
Harold C. Crump is Vice President of Corporate Affairs for Hubbard Broadcasting, Inc., a position he has held since 1997. Previously, Mr. Crump was President and General Manager of KSTP-TV in Saint Paul, Minnesota. In his 43 years in broadcasting, Mr. Crump has also been President and Chief Executive Officer of Crump Communications, Inc.; owner and operator of WCSC-TV in Charleston, South Carolina; President of the Broadcast Group of H&C Communications, Inc. in Houston; Executive Vice President and General Manager of VTVF in Nashville; and General Manager of 21 st Century Productions.
Since 1985, Mr. Crump has served on the Board of Directors of Broadcast Music, Inc. He has been a member of Boards of Directors of the NBC Affiliates, the Television Bureau of Advertising, and the Minnesota Broadcasters Association. He is past President of the Tennessee Association of Broadcasters and the Nashville Advertising Federation, and is active in national and local charitable organizations.
Mr. Crump earned a BBA in advertising from the University of Mississippi.
FRANK H. CRUZ
Frank Cruz was re-elected Vice Chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) Board of Directors in 1998. He was appointed to the CPB Board of Directors by President Clinton in 1994, and has chaired the Board's Audit and Finance Committee since 1996. His CPB board term expires in January 2000. Mr. Cruz is President of Cruz & Associates, a financial consulting firm. He is also the former Chairman of Gulf Atlantic Life Insurance in California, the first Hispanic-owned life insurance company in the United States.
A veteran businessman and broadcaster, Mr. Cruz was a founder of Telemundo, the Nation's second Spanish language network, and KVEA-TV in Los Angeles, where he served as Vice President and later General Manager. As General Manager, he increased network revenues by 40 percent and was responsible for programming Telemundo's Western region. Mr. Cruz is also a former news reporter for KABC-TV and KNBC-TV in Los Angeles. His awards include the Emmy and the Golden Mike for coverage of Latin American issues and U.S.-Hispanic community events. Previously, he was an Associate Professor of History at California State University-Long Beach and Sonoma State University.
Mr. Cruz currently serves on the board of directors of Health Net. He has also held leadership positions on the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, Rebuild Los Angeles, The Latino Museum, the University of Southern California School of Public Administration, and Partnership 2000, and is Chairman Emeritus of the California Institute for Federal Policy Research.
In December 1992, Mr. Cruz participated in President Clinton's Economic Summit in Little Rock, Arkansas. A frequent lecturer and public speaker, he has written several books on U.S. and Latin American history. Mr. Cruz holds a BA and an MA from the University of Southern California.
ROBERT W. DECHERD
Robert Decherd is Chairman of the Board, President, and Chief Executive Officer of A.H. Belo Corporation, positions he has held since 1987. He has worked for Belo or its principal newspaper subsidy, The Dallas Morning News, since 1973. During the 1980s, Mr. Decherd led Belo's effort to become publicly held and devised its initial corporate management structure. Prior to 1987, he served as Vice President, Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, and President of the company.
Belo owns 17 network-affiliated television stations—3 of which are located in top-15 markets and 7 of which are in the top-30 markets; 4 local or regional cable news channels; and 6 daily newspapers, including The Dallas Morning News and The Providence Journal.
Mr. Decherd was elected to the Belo Board of Directors in 1976. He also serves as a director of Kimberly-Clark Corporation. He received the James Madison Award from the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas, Inc. in 1989, and the Henry Cohn Humanitarian Award from the Anti-Defamation League in 1991, and the Freedom of Speech Award from the Media Institute in 1998. In 1994, he became the youngest inductee to the Texas Business Hall of Fame.
Mr. Decherd graduated, cum laude, from Harvard College, where he was President of the Harvard Crimson, recipient of an Honorary Freshman Scholarship, winner of the David McCord Award for Literary Contributions, and Class Orator for the Class of 1973.
BARRY DILLER
Barry Diller is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of USA Networks, Inc., a diversified media and electronic commerce company that was formed in 1998 after HSN, Inc., acquired the majority of Universal's television assets. USA's assets include the USA Network; the Sci-Fi Channel; USA Broadcasting; Studios USA, which includes first-run production and distribution, television movies and mini series, and network production and development; and Home Shopping Network, Ticketmaster and Internet Shopping Network, whose primary service is First Auction. The company also owns a controlling interest in Ticketmaster Online-CitySearch, Inc., a leading provider of local content and live event ticketing on the World Wide Web.
From December 1996 to February 1998, Mr. Diller was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of HSN, Inc., which was formed in December 1996 through the merger of Silver King Communications, Inc., Home Shopping Network, Inc., and Savoy Pictures Entertain- ment, Inc. Mr. Diller joined Silver King Communications as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and Home Shopping Network as a member of the Board of Directors in August 1995. He was elected Chairman of the Board of Directors of Home Shopping Network, Inc., in November of that year.
From December 1992 to December 1994, Mr. Diller was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of QVC, Inc. Just prior to that position, he served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Fox, Inc. In that capacity, he guided Fox through the purchase of seven television stations in major U.S. markets, the formation of Fox Television Stations, Inc., and the creation of Fox Broadcasting Company—a satellite-delivered national television program service.
Mr. Diller was Chairman of the Board of Directors of Paramount Pictures Corporation for the 10 years prior to joining Fox. In March 1983, in addition to running Paramount, he became President of the conglomerate's newly formed Entertainment and Communications Group, which included Simon & Schuster, Inc., Madison Square Garden Corporation, and SEGA Enterprises. Prior to joining Paramount, as ABC Entertainment's Vice President, Prime Time Television, Mr. Diller pioneered the made-for-television "Movie of the Week," and "novels for television," now known as miniseries.
Mr. Diller serves on the boards of the Seagram Company Ltd., the New York Public Library, the Museum of Television and Radio, and AIDS Project Los Angeles. He is also a member of the Board of Councilors for the School of Cinema-Television at the University of Southern California and the Executive Board for the Medical Sciences at UCLA.
WILLIAM F. DUHAMEL
Dr. William Duhamel is President of Duhamel Broadcasting Enterprises, a corporation that owns KOTA Radio and KOTA-TV, Rapid City, South Dakota; KDUH-TV, Scottsbluff, Nebraska; KSGW-TV, Sheridan, Wyoming; KHSD-TV, Lead-Deadwood, South Dakota; and KDDX-FM, Spearfish-Rapid City, South Dakota; and operates KZZI-FM, Belle Fourche under an LMA.
Dr. Duhamel began his career in broadcasting in 1955 as a late night disc jockey for KOTA Radio in Rapid City, South Dakota. During the mid-1960s, he was an Assistant Professor of Quantitative Methods and Managerial Economics at the Northwestern University School of Business and an Econometrician at Whirlpool Corporation. In 1967, Dr. Duhamel returned to Rapid City as KOTA-TV Station Manager, then General Manager, and finally President.
Dr. Duhamel has been a member of the South Dakota Health and Educational Facilities Authority since its inception in 1972, a position he has been reappointed to five times by four Governors. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Children's Care Hospital and Schools in Souix Falls, and a member of their Advisory Board in Rapid City.
Dr. Duhamel is a member of the Executive Committee of the Television Music License Committee; a member of the Board of Affiliate Enterprises, Inc.; past Chairman of the NAB Hundred Plus TV Market Committee; President and Secretary of The 97 Television Stations; past member of the NAB Television Board of Directors, the ABC Television Affiliates Board of Governors, and the CBS Radio Affiliates Board; past board member of the Rocky Mountain Broadcasters Association; and past President and board member of the South Dakota Broadcasters Association.
Currently, Dr. Duhamel is a Director of Rushmore Bank and Trust, a 4th Degree K of C, and a Rotarian. He is a eucharistic minister and lay lector at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help and Chairman-elect of the Rapid City Chamber of Commerce, and has served on the Boards of Rapid City Regional Hospital, Downtown Rapid City Development Corporation, St. Martin's Academy, Mount Marty College, and the Central States Fair.
Dr. Duhamel received bachelors and master's degrees in economic accounting from St. Louis University and his Ph.D. in management from Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
ROBERT D. GLASER
Robert D. Glaser is founder and Chief Executive Officer of RealNetworks, an Internet software company that develops and markets software products and services that enable users of personal computers and other consumer electronic devices to send and receive audio, video, and other multimedia services over the Internet. Since its inception in 1994, RealNetworks has had a tremendous impact on the industry through the delivery of streaming real-time multimedia.
Previously, Mr. Glaser was Vice President for Multimedia and Consumer Systems at Microsoft Corporation. During his 11 years at Microsoft, he was responsible for formulating the company's entry into multimedia technology and the consumer digital appliance market. Mr. Glaser developed and brought to market successful pioneering products in the areas of multimedia, computer networking, and desktop applications.
Mr. Glaser is a part owner of the Seattle Mariners baseball team, founding Chairman of the U.S. Library of Congress Atrium Group, and a board member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Washington Public Affairs Network, the Foundation for National Progress, the Target Margin Theater Company of New York, and Dwight Hall, the umbrella organization for Yale University student community service.
Mr. Glaser received his BA and MA in economics and a BS in computer science from Yale University in 1983.
JAMES FLETCHER GOODMON
James F. Goodmon became President and Chief Executive Officer of Capitol Broadcasting Company, Inc. (CBC) in 1979, after serving the company in various other capacities for the previous 11 years. CBC consists of two television stations, WRAL-TV in Raleigh and WJZY- TV in Charlotte; a radio station, WRAL-FM in Raleigh; numerous radio sports networks; a satellite distribution company; and other communication-related companies. In June 1996, CBC obtained the first HDTV (high definition television) license through WRAL-TV; The station broadcast the first digital television signal on July 23, 1996.
Mr. Goodmon also serves on the Board of Directors for the 1999 Special Olympics World Summer Games and the Board of Trustees for the North Carolina Center for Public Television, and on the boards of many other local and national organizations. He was the first President of the North Carolina Partnership for Children.
Mr. Goodmon is a recent inductee into the Journalism Hall of Fame at UNC-Chapel Hill. He holds an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Pfeiffer College.
PAUL A. LA CAMERA
Paul A. La Camera became President of WCVB-TV in Boston in 1997 after a 25-year career at the station. He was with WCVB when it first went on the air in March 1972, and served as Station Manager from 1988 to 1994, when he was appointed Vice President and General Manager of the Boston ABC network affiliate. WCVB is owned by Hearst-Argyle Television. The station has received nearly every award possible in its industry, and is widely considered to be one of America's best commercial television stations.
Mr. La Camera's career in television began in community relations and local program production. The station's primetime nightly television newsmagazine, "Chronicle," is an example of the type of quality, local programming that Mr. La Camera has helped bring to television.
When it was first aired on January 25, 1982, it represented a first in local programming—it remains so today. Mr. La Camera has also overseen a myriad of other precedent-setting local/national productions, including the "Pop Goes the Fourth" and "Holiday at Pops"—Boston Pops concerts that air annually on the national A&E Network.
A Boston native, Mr. La Camera is a trustee of Boston's Catholic Charities organization; serves on the Board of Directors of the United Way of Massachusetts Bay, the University of Massachusetts Medical Center Foundation, Boston's Italian Home for Children, and the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce; and chairs the Government Relations Committee of the New England Broadcasting Association. He is a past President of both the Massachusetts Broadcasters Association and the National Broadcast Association for Community Affairs.
Prior to joining WCVB, Mr. La Camera was the Director of Communications for the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and worked as a reporter for the Boston Record American and Sunday Advertiser.
A graduate of Holy Cross, Mr. La Camera has also earned Master's degrees in journalism and in urban studies from Boston University, and in business administration from Boston College. He was honored with the Medal of Hope of the Boston-based Organization for a New Equality (O.N.E.) and has received community service awards from the Anti-Defamation League, the National Conference of Christians and Jews, the Boston Boy Scout Council, and the Salvation Army.
RICHARD MASUR
Richard Masur is an actor and in his second term as President of the Screen Actors Guild who is known to audiences for his roles on film and in television. Mr. Masur recently starred in the Fox television series "Significant Others," and co-starred in Forget Paris, directed by Billy Crystal, and Multiplicity, starring Michael Keaton and directed by Harold Ramis—two feature films release in the past few years.
Over his 25-year performing career, Mr. Masur has starred in more than 35 feature films, including Risky Business, My Girl, Heaven's Gate, and Under Fire. He has also appeared in 35 made-for-television movies, three of which—Adam, Fallen Angel, and When the Bough Breaks— are among the top-10 rated television movies of all times. Mr. Masur received an Emmy nomination for his performance opposite Farrah Fawcett in the television film The Burning Bed.
Some of Mr. Masur's recent television credits include roles in HBO's much-heralded production And the Band Played On, Hiroshima, and Undue Influence with Brian Dennehy. He has also starred in numerous popular television series such as," "Picket Fences," "Rhoda," and "One Day At A Time," and guest starred in countless major network comedies and dramatic series.
While continuing to act in films and television productions, Mr. Masur has also directed a number of projects. He first effort, Love Struck, a 23-minute film that he wrote and directed, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film, and his second, Torn Between Two Fathers—an Afterschool Special—earned him a nomination for the Directors Guild of America Award. He has also directed episodes of "The Wonder Years" and "Picket Fences."
Mr. Masur is also Treasure of the Motion Picture & Television Fund Corporation, President of the Screen Actors Guild-Producers Industry Advancement & Cooperative Fund, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Artists Rights Foundation. In addition, he serves on the Advisory Council to the California Senate Select Committee on the Entertainment Industry.
NEWTON N. MINOW
Newton N. Minow is Counsel to the law firm of Sidley & Austin. He was appointed as the first Annenberg University Professor of Communications Policy and Law at Northwestern University in 1987, and also served as Director of The Annenberg Washington Program in Communications Policy Studies from 1987 to 1996.
Mr. Minow is a former Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission and a former Chairman of the Public Broadcasting Service. He has co-authored and contributed to several books on the public interest and broadcasting, including Abandoned in the Wasteland: Children, Television and the First Amendment; How Vast the Wasteland Now; For Great Debates; and Presidential Television. He also served as Chairman of the Carnegie Foundation and of the RAND Corporation.
Mr. Minow is a graduate of Northwestern University, and has been awarded honorary degrees by Brandeis University, the University of Wisconsin, Northwestern University, Columbia College, Governors State University, DePaul University, the University of Notre Dame, Santa Clara University, Barat College, The Rand Graduate School, and Roosevelt University.
JOSE LUIS RUIZ
Jose Luis Ruiz was formerly the Executive Director of the National Latino Communications Center (NLCC) in Los Angeles, California. NLCC is a nonprofit media arts resource center that serves as an institutional force and advocate for developing and presenting high-quality films and television programs about the Latino experience.
Mr. Ruiz has been a producer and director in the film and television industry since 1970. He was a staff producer/director for KABC, KNBC, and KCET from 1970 to 1976. His film and television programs cover music, arts, and drama as well as social, political, and economic issues. Mr. Ruiz has been most recognized for his documentary films and his articulation of a vision for institutionalizing a Latino presence in film and television.
Television programs produced and directed by Mr. Ruiz have received numerous awards, including: 11 Emmy nominations and 4 Emmy award; and the 1997 Nosotros Golden Eagle Award for Outstanding Documentary for his documentary, Chicano! History of the Mexican- American Civil Rights Movement.
Mr. Ruiz is President of the Mexican-American Solidarity Foundation Alumni and is a founding member of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture. He has served as a member of the Ad Hoc Latino Media Advisory Committee of the Smithsonian Institution, the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Committee, and panels of the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment of the Arts.
Mr. Ruiz attended East Los Angeles College and graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles, where he majored in film studies.
SHELBY SCOTT
Shelby Scott is a general assignment reporter for WBZ-TV in Boston, Massachusetts, and President of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), a position she was elected to in 1993. Previously, Ms. Scott served as National First Vice President of the 77,000 member-performer union.
Before her election as President of AFTRA, Ms. Scott was President of the Boston Local of AFTRA and Chair of AFTRA's Women's Committee and the Broadcast Steering Committee. Her major awards include the United Press International's Tom Phillips Citation for Excellence in Reporting and the William F. Homer Jr. Award from Suffolk University for Excellence in Journalism.
Ms. Scott earned a BA from the University of Washington's School of Communication. She has also received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Notre Dame College in New Hampshire.
GIGI B. SOHN
Gigi B. Sohn is Executive Director of Media Access Project (MAP), an organization that she joined in 1988 as a staff attorney. She served as Deputy Director from 1990 through 1996. Previously, Ms. Sohn practiced administrative law for a private firm.
MAP is a nonprofit public interest law firm that represents listeners and viewers before the FCC, the courts, and Congress on such issues as: broadcast, cable, and satellite and telecom- munications regulation; minority and female ownership and employment in the mass media; and public access to new technologies.
The American Lawyer recently selected Ms. Sohn as one of the country's top 45 "Public Sector" lawyers under the age of 45. In making that selection, the magazine stated that Ms. Sohn "has emerged as the strongest—and on some issues the only—voice for the public interest amid the mass media communications turmoil." For the past 4 years, Ms. Sohn has represented scores of nonprofit organizations and their members before the FCC and Congress on the issue of digital television. In addition, she has discussed digital television in dozens of media appearances and in other public fora.
Ms. Sohn has also been an active participant in the District of Columbia Bar. She was elected to a 3-year term on the Bar's Board of Governors in June 1997. From 1994 to 1997, she served as Co-President of the Gay and Lesbian Attorneys of Washington.
Ms. Sohn earned her degree in broadcasting and film, summa cum laude, from the Boston University College of Communication. She received her law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
KAREN PELTZ STRAUSS
Karen Peltz Strauss is an attorney who works with consumer and professional organizations at the local, State, and Federal levels to secure advances in telecommunications and television access. As Legal Counsel for Telecommunications Policy for the National Association of the Deaf, she is a leading advocate for individuals who are deaf and hard-of-hearing and co-author of several pieces of Federal legislation, including: Section 713 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which mandates closed captioning of television programming; the Television Decoder Circuitry Act, which requires all television sets under 13 inches to have built-in closed captioning decoders; and Title IV of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which mandates nationwide telephone relay services.
A highly published author, Ms. Peltz has testified several times before Congress as an expert witness. She has been the recipient of several awards for her outstanding efforts to expand telecommunications access for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals, including the Mayor of the District of Columbia's Andrew Wood Advocacy Award in 1997, and the H. Latham Breuning Humanitarian Award in 1993.
Ms. Peltz Strauss earned her BA, summa cum laude, from Boston University. She also holds a JD from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and an LLM from the Georgetown University Law Center.
CASS R. SUNSTEIN
Cass R. Sunstein is the Karl N. Llewellyn Distinguished Service Professor of Jurisprudence at the University of Chicago Law School and a member of the Department of Political Science at the university. Mr. Sunstein began his legal career as a clerk for Justice Benjamin Kaplan of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and Justice Thurgood Marshall of the U.S. Supreme Court. He later became an Attorney-Advisor in the Office of the Legal Counsel of the U.S. Department of Justice. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Mr. Sustein has authored more than 100 academic articles and a number of books, including Democracy and the Problem of Free Speech (1993)—winner of the Goldsmith Book Award from Harvard University; Free Markets and Social Justice (1997); Legal Reasoning and Political Conflict
(1996)—selected as an outstanding academic book of the year by Choice; The Partial Constitution (1993); One Case At A Time (forthcoming in early 1999); The Cost of Rights (forthcoming in early 1999, with Stephen Holmes); and Administrative Law and Regulatory Policy (1998, with Justice Stephen Breyer, Richard Stewart, and Matthew Spitzer). Mr. Sunstein has also taught at Harvard and Columbia, has testified before Congress on numerous occasions, has helped draft legislation in many areas, and has been involved in law reform and constitution-making efforts in South Africa, China, Poland, Ukraine, and Russia, among others.
He is a 1975 graduate of Harvard College and received his law degree from Harvard Law School, magna cum laude, in 1978.
LOIS JEAN WHITE
Lois Jean White is President of the National PTA—the 6.5-million member parent-teacher association. She has also: served on the National PTA's Education Commission, Individual & Organizational Development Commission; been past-President of the Tennessee State PTA; served as the State PTA's first Vice-President, Second Vice-President and Cultural Arts Chairman; and served as the first Vice-President, third Vice-President and parliamentarian for the Knoxville Council PTA. In addition to her work with the PTA, Ms. White is a member of the Alpha Unit of the Tennessee Association of Parliamentarians and was a board member of the Knoxville Museum of Art. She is a retired flutist of the Oak Ridge (Tennessee) Symphony and is a private flute instructor in Oak Ridge and Knoxville.
Ms. White received a bachelor's degree in music from Fisk University and has done extensive graduate work in music at Indiana University.
JAMES YEE
James Yee is Executive Director of Independent Television Service (ITVS)—a position he has held since 1993. ITVS is a national nonprofit corporation authorized by Congressional legislation to operate in the public interest to enhance the diversity and innovativeness of the programming available to public broadcasting. ITVS's mission is to bring point-of-view programming that involves creative risk and addresses the needs of underserved or unserved audiences, particularly minorities and children, to television audiences. Mr. Yee administers an annual budget of $8 million for production, distribution, promotion, and administrative support services.
Previously, Mr. Yee was Executive Director of the National Asian American Telecommunications Association (NAATA), a media arts organization that funds, packages, and presents Asian/Pacific American programming on public television, public radio, film festivals, and in educational settings. As NAATA's first Executive Director, Mr. Yee helped to develop the organization into a nationally recognized outlet for multicultural program on PBS, for its film festival in the Bay Area, and CrossCurrent, NAATA's distribution service.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Yee worked in the public television station system at WGBH Television in Boston. He was Associate Producer on the national teen television series, "REBOP," and was responsible for story research and development and onsite production, and assisted the series producer in all aspects of production and post-production. He has also advised on numerous independent films and video productions.
Mr. Yee received a national Emmy Award for Best Cultural Documentary for "a.k.a. Don Bonus," and numerous other awards for programs that were funded during his tenure at ITVS and NAATA, including: the coveted duPont Award for Excellence in Journalism for When Billy Broke His Head...and Other Tales of Wonder, and A Healthy Baby Girl; Academy Award nominations for Nobody's Business and Girls Like Us; An Academy Award for Breathing Lessons; several awards for filmmaking excellence at the Sundance Film Festival; and national Emmys for Nobody's Business and Girls Like Us. Earlier in his career, Mr. Yee taught middle school students in New England.
Mr. Yee sits on a number of boards, including the PBS Satellite Interconnection Committee, Center for Investigative Journalism, San Francisco Film Commission, Pacifica Radio Foundation, Western Public Radio, KPFA Radio, Film Arts Foundation, UCLA AmerAsian Journal, California Association of Non-profits, and the Community Training Assistance Center (CTAC). He has been a panelist, lecturer, and presenter in many venues, including University of California/Berkeley, University of Hawaii, San Francisco State University, Aspen Institute, National Endowment for the Arts, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, John d. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, California Arts Council, and the Sundance Film Festival.
Mr. Yee earned a Bachelor in liberal arts from Fairleigh Dickinson University and a master's in teaching from Antioch College. He was also an Urban Studies Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.