EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP

Joel Ficks, Chief Executive Officer, has been with Link since 2000 and was appointed CEO in July 2009. Prior to Link Media, Joel was a Principal at Bodega Partners, a Silicon Valley consulting firm working with technology start-ups and established companies like Microsoft and Citibank. Joel began his career at Deloitte & Touche and has worked with technology, service and consumer product companies for twenty years. He holds an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University and a B.S. from the University of California at Berkeley. Joel has taught entrepreneurship at U.C. Berkeley, lectured on business models for socially responsible media at Harvard Business School, served as the president and chairperson of several non-profit boards, and acted as an advisor for several non-profit business ventures funded by George Roberts’ Enterprise Development Fund.

 
Kim Spencer, President, is an award-winning producer of over 50 documentaries and television specials. His 1983 documentary The First 50 Years, on the history of U.S.- Soviet relations, won a DuPont-Columbia Award. A pioneer in using satellite links to foster global dialogue, Kim produced a series of fifteen international “spacebridges” including The Moscow Link, a live TV exchange that changed USSR attitudes on nuclear war, the Five Continent Spacebridge, and Capitol to Capitol, a series of live debates on ABC between the U.S. Congress and the USSR Supreme Soviet (winning two Emmy Awards in 1989). Subsequently Kim became coordinating producer of ABC News’ Prime Time Live. In the 1990s he produced the innovative Vis à Vis documentary series on PBS: transcontinental video dialogues linking people from their homes and workplaces. He was a founder and executive director of Internews Network, an international non-profit organization that fosters independent media in 40 developing countries. Spencer is also executive producer of Link TV’s original productions, including Global Pulse, Bridge to Iran and Mosaic.

Jennifer Kirby, Chief Operating Officer, is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of Link and managing the execution of the organizational strategy. Jennifer has 20 years of combined experience in the areas of for-profit and non-profit marketing, fundraising and media production. Jennifer has directly generated tens of millions of dollars in donations, most recently as the director of marketing and fundraising for Helen Keller International. Jennifer holds an executive M.B.A. from Rutgers Business School where she was class president, graduated a beta gamma sigma scholar and won awards for leadership and marketing excellence. She also holds a B.F.A. in Film, Television & Radio from New York University Tisch School of the Arts, Kanbar Institute of Film and Television. Jennifer has been involved in several non-profit boards, most recently as sponsorship chair of Women in Development New York.

MANAGEMENT TEAM
 

Carola Barton, Director, Global Expansion, joined Link Media in 2009 after living in Hong Kong for three years where she served as Director of Commitments for the Clinton Global Initiative – Asia, a project of the Clinton Foundation. While in Asia she also was the Executive Director of Global Institute for Tomorrow, a Hong Kong non-profit promoting the voice of Asia in the world community. Carola previously served as Vice-President of Affiliate Relationships at Saga Foundation, a global philanthropic enterprise working to support organizations of former heads of state and government. She was First Vice President at Morgan Stanley until 2003, where she provided advisory and asset management services to individuals and institutions. Carola’s 16-year career in finance was preceded by her experience in non-profit management, consultation, and training. She has served on the boards of numerous domestic and international public and private service organizations.

Jamal Dajani, Senior Director, Middle Eastern Programming, has produced more than 1,900 episodes of the Peabody Award-winning news show, Mosaic: World News from the Middle East. He is the host of the Mosaic Intelligence Report and has worked as producer and in an editorial capacity on several Link TV productions including Who Speaks for Islam? and Occupied Minds. Jamal is a frequent commentator on national and international television and radio networks. He hosts his own radio talk-show on KPOO and blogs regularly on the Huffington Post. Jamal is on the board of directors of New America Media, serves on the Human Rights Commission of the City and County of San Francisco, and was the former Chair of San Francisco's Immigrant Rights Commission. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Columbia University.

Hannah Eaves, Director, New Media, oversees Link TV’s Internet operations, managing design, engineering and new technology development. Prior to Link TV, Hannah worked for 10 years as an interactive multimedia producer, video producer and video editor for clients including Tower Records, Kaiser Permanente and Blockbuster. Her Web management experience has brought her onto projects for Sam Goody, hp and Altera, as well as into long term positions with several Bay Area VOD start-ups. As a journalist she has covered the convergence of film, TV and the tech world for publications including SOMA Magazine, the Santa Cruz Sentinel, Imagining Reality: The Faber Book of Documentary Film, Alternet, GreenCine, PopMatters, and most recently as an expert tech columnist for SF360.

Robert Eisert, Director, Viewer Relations & Services, was one of Link TV’s first employees and currently manages its customer service department, oversees all online and phone donation processing, and manages the procurement of pledge premiums and fulfillment. He also works with the pledge team to strategize and organize Link TV pledge drives and provides reporting and analysis of on-air and online fundraising efforts. Robert holds a B.S. in Radio, Television and Film from the University of Texas at Austin and a J.D. from Golden Gate University School of Law in San Francisco.

Ben Fuller, Vice President, Business Development, was co-founder and president of eBizApps.com, an e-business solutions consulting company acquired by Framfab of Sweden. Ben previously worked at DaimlerChrysler and Global Business Network. Fluent in six languages, Ben holds a master’s degree from Stanford University and completed a Fulbright Scholarship. In addition to overseeing development of new Web products, Ben is responsible for Link’s PEG and alternative cable distribution. Ben manages Link’s operations in Los Angeles.

Fassil Gebretsadik, Director, Accounting & Administration, oversees the accounting, financial reporting and human resources for Link Media; he also provides administration support for the network. Prior to moving to the U.S. in 2006, and joining Link in May of the same year, Fassil held controller positions in hotel businesses in Africa and Commonwealth of Independent States countries. He was also head of the internal audit for a diversified group of businesses in the Middle East. Fassil, who hails from Ethiopia, is a fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (UK) and an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (UK).

Wendy Hanamura, Vice President, Station Manager, oversees the network’s on-air operations, post-production and pledge drives. Hanamura also serves as host of many pledge specials, and originated Mosaic Special Reports, Link TV’s Middle Eastern news analysis program. Wearing several hats, Hanamura also executive produces series for Link TV, including the One Nation, Many Voices Online Film Contest, and she is part of the development team for the Global Pulse News Service. Hanamura has been an award-winning documentarian and television journalist for more than 23 years. Her programs have been seen internationally on PBS, CBS, the Discovery Channel, and NHK-TV in Japan. Her documentaries often focus on the personal story as it exemplifies larger issues in our society and collectively they have been awarded an Emmy, a Cine Golden Eagle and a Chris Award for Best Social Issues Documentary. Hanamura began her career at Time magazine; she has been a nightly news reporter for KPIX-TV in San Francisco, as well as a Tokyo-based television and radio correspondent for World Monitor on the Discovery Channel, an anchor for NHK, The Japanese Broadcasting Company, and a series producer for PBS station, KQED.

Lorraine Hess, Vice President, Program Acquisitions & Scheduling, has been a key member of the programming and acquisitions department since the channel’s inception in 1999. Prior to working at Link TV, Lorraine worked for over 13 years in international production and documentary film. Her roles ranged from series and executive producer to field producer and post-production producer. Lorraine’s work, both in the television and production realms, and in her prior work as a teacher, has taken her all over the world. It has also solidified her passion for world cultures and people, as well as her compassion for the underdog and for people whose voices can reach a wider audience through television and film. Lorraine has a degree in French Language and Literature from the University of Sheffield in the UK.

Steven Lawrence, Vice President, Music & Cultural Programming, brings 25 years of experience as a producer-director of documentaries and live/interactive TV programs. Steven was part of the MTV launch team, and as senior producer-director of long-form programs, introduced viewers to world and hip-hop music. After leaving MTV in 1987 he produced three documentaries for director Michael Apted, and co-produced and directed the Vis à Vis series for PBS, based on digital video dialogues between people in different countries. For Link, Steven has created its world music programming and the world cinema series, Cinemondo. He has also co-produced Festival In The Desert: The Tent Sessions, and co-directed Ethics And The World Crisis: A Dialogue With The Dalai Lama.

David Michaelis, Senior Editor, Current Affairs, was formerly editor and producer of news and current affairs for the German TV channels ZDF and ARD in London, Washington and Germany. Prior to moving to San Francisco to help launch Link TV, David worked for the Israel Broadcasting Authority as producer of Popolitika, the most popular news program on Israeli TV. He was co-producer of the documentary Occupied Minds and winner of the George Foster Peabody Award as co-producer of Mosaic: World News from the Middle East. David is also on the board of directors of the Internews Network.

Stephen Olsson, Senior Director, Original Programming, brings to Link TV over 20 years of experience producing and directing documentary films, television series and feature news reports throughout the world for U.S. and international broadcasters such as the BBC, CNN, National Geographic Explorer, PBS (Frontline, Nova, POV), NBC, CBS, Arte, Canal+, NHK and TV Asahi. His work has won numerous national and international awards, including the National Emmy Award for Outstanding Director, the Du-Pont Columbia Award and the George Foster Peabody Award. Stephen has developed, created and/or produced a number of programs and series for Link TV including Spotlight, The Active Opposition, Mosaic, Latin Pulse, Bridge to Iran, Outside the Box with Peter Coyote and Global Spirit. He holds a master’s degree in Communications and Anthropology.

Neil Sieling, Acquisitions, New Media, and Special Projects, helped launch Link TV in 1999 on behalf of The Independent Television Service (ITVS), an organization he helped create in 1989. He was the executive producer of Alive From Off Center, the experimental arts/television showcase on PBS from 1985-1996. He is a New Media fellow at The Center for Social Media and has written extensively on subjects related to independent media and new media culture. Past consultancies include work for the Rockefeller and Ford Foundations, the Open Society Institute, POV, and a DVD study for National Video Resources (now the Tribeca Film Institute). He has also worked on connecting the buying power of consumers with their values and this work has been with The Interra Project, Mass Roots, and the Link Tank.