Ron Blatman is executive producer, producer, and creator of Saving the Bay. He is also planning a television series about why cities are important and how to help make downtowns and surrounding neighborhoods better places. He previously worked in real estate development and finance in his native San Francisco and on Wall Street in New York, as well as serving as Director of Business Development in the San Francisco mayor’s office in the early 1990s. He earned an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School and a concurrent Master of City Planning from the University of Pennsylvania. He holds a BA in Architecture from UC Berkeley.
Miles Saunders, producer and writer, has produced six documentaries for public and commercial television in California including the nationally distributed Forgotten Journey: The Stephens-Townsend-Murphy Saga (KTEH, 2001) and The Art of the Gold Rush (KVIE, Oakland Museum of California, 1998). Miles graduated from John Brown University and worked for ten years in television news winning two Bay Area regional Emmy awards.
Blair Gershkow has been editing documentaries, magazine pieces and corporate videos for over 25 years. Among his most recent projects are Thanh’s War (PBS), The People vs. Dan White (PBS), In Search of Law and Order (PBS), Fox 2/5 (ABC Nightline documentary that won a National Emmy), Keeping Score with Michael Tilson Thomas: The entire 9 part SF Symphony series (PBS), and the feature film The Judge and the General.
Kit Tyler is a producer, director, cinematographer and editor with over twenty years of film and broadcast experience. He has held positions as Director, Evening News Producer, and Chief Photographer for large market television stations in California and worked for every major television network including NBC, CNN, and The Discovery Channel. Kit has won three Bay Area Emmys in addition to a host of other regional and national honors. He is a graduate of Wesleyan University.
Richard Tsai, art director, is the founder of Field of Vision (www.3dfov.com), a computer graphics company producing visual simulations, animations and multimedia. From 2001-04, he was founder and director of the Design Visualization group at EDAW Inc., an international design and environmental planning firm. He holds a Masters in Architecture and attended Washington University in St. Louis and Rice University.
Mitchell Covington is the creator of the Saving the Bay score and an award-winning Bay Area musician (www.mitchellcovington.com). A composer, producer, arranger, music director and conductor, his works span orchestra, chorus, stage and film. Mitchell has advanced degrees in classical composition and conducting, plus many years experience performing in various rock bands.
Rob Weiss coordinating producer, has production credits on all the major TV networks as well as WGBH-Boston, Oprah, CNN, and The Discovery Channel. He was a long-time editor/producer for ABC’s Good Morning America. Rob is the coordinating producer of The Judge and the General, an Emmy-nominated feature documentary released in 2008. He is also a founder and the Chief Financial Officer of West Wind Productions, a non-profit 501(c)(3) film production company and a proud graduate of the University of Florida.
Rolling Orange is a full service interactive agency dedicated to creating custom websites, online applications, and interactive presentations that deliver compelling content and functionality over the Internet. Clients include the San Francisco Symphony, Stanford University, Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, The New York Philharmonic and National Geographic. Visit www.rollingorange.com.
Sue Ellen McCann, executive producer for KQED, is also the station’s executive producer for QUEST and Truly CA, a documentary series of eclectic stories about California. Sue Ellen previously operated Studio Miramar with her husband and also produced programs for PBS at the Center for Investigative Reporting. Many of the projects she has worked on have been honored with a variety of awards including an Academy Award nomination and local and national Emmys.
Tom Fanella was executive vice president – television broadcasting for Northern California Public Broadcasting (ncpb.com) and was formerly President and CEO of the combined KTEH and KCAH public TV stations in San Jose and the Monterey/Salinas area. Tom had been KTEH’s Executive Producer for Saving the Bay since the project’s inception and continued his involvement once KTEH and KCAH joined together with KQED. Tom regretfully passed away in May 2007.