ADVISOR BIOGRAPHIES

TESSA BLAKE
Tessa Blake's debut feature film, Five Wives, Three Secretaries and Me, opened to rave reviews at the Quad Theater in New York the fall of 1999 and has since gone on to play art houses across the country. It was selected by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences for the 2001 Outstanding Contemporary Documentary series, and ran for year on the Showtime cable networks. It will be released on DVD in December 2002. Her latest documentary, Project ALS, won the audience award for best short film at the Nantucket Film Festival and the Media That Matters award at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival. This fall Tessa was the co-producer of the smash hit off-Broadway run of TRUE LOVE, written by Chuck Mee and directed by Daniel Fish. She is currently producing The Pink House, an independent feature comedy, written by celebrated Generation X spokesman, Ian Williams. The film, directed by Ian and Tessa, stars Heather Matarazzo (Welcome to the Dollhouse), Zack Ward (Titus) and the budding Spanish star, Pilar Punzano. Tessa is a graduate of Choate Rosemary Hall and a Morehead Scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She now shares her time between Brooklyn and the Berkshires.

MICHAEL BUSH
(TBA)

KEVIN CHINOY
Kevin Chinoy is currently a producer on the Greg The Bunny Show.(a sitcom on the Fox Network) and is producing a major motion picture about Wilbur and Orville Wright. Mr. Chinoy graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of North Carolina, studied film at Georgetown University, and graduated with honors from the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Chinoy joined Gill Holland as a partner at cineBLAST Productions in 1997. During his tenure at cineBLAST, the company produced a number of films, including Remembering Sex (Toronto Film Festival 1998), Bobby G Can’t Swim (Best Picture & Best Director - 1999 American Film Institute Festival), Spring Forward (Toronto Film Festival 1999, Sundance Festival 2000), and Kill By Inches (Toronto Film Festival 1999). Mr. Chinoy also served for two years as an Executive Producer on the Independent Film Channel television program The Greg The Bunny Show. Since facilitating the sale of cineBLAST in the Fall of 2000, Mr. Chinoy has continued to develop and produce projects independently for both film and television.

Mr. Chinoy is a co-founder and board member of Planet Impact, a not-for-profit founded in the summer of 1999 for the purpose of creating innovative volunteer opportunities for busy people. The founders shared a belief that the majority of people in our generation value community service, but lead very hectic lives. People generally do not have the time to: (a) find a worthy cause, and (b) find ways to contribute to that worthy cause that will fit their schedule. The goal of Planet Impact is to eliminate these obstacles to people contributing to the community. Mr. Chinoy also served for two years as the chairman of the Arlington County Partners in Education steering committee, working with county officials and other volunteers to promote the creation and development of additional business/school partnerships. Mr. Chinoy is also a co-founder and former director of the AMS/Key Elementary School Partnership, and a producer of the 24 Hour Plays Celebrity Benefits.

GEORGIA CROWLEY
Georgia Crowley is an Account Supervisor at Cason Nightingale, a small communications firm in Manhattan. Her primary functions are to plan and oversee the execution of media, creative, and promotional deadlines, to plan marketing strategies (including media placement and promotional events), and to act as client liaison. Georgia joined the agency in September after coaching women’s rowing for three years at Yale and the University of California. Before venturing into collegiate athletics, Georgia taught English at Phillips Exeter Academy for a year, and worked as a project manager at a rapid prototyping company in Berkeley, California.

Georgia graduated from Yale University in 1995 with a BA in History. After graduation, she trained in Chattanooga, TN with the US Women’s National Team. Georgia speaks French fluently. She is an avid reader, traveler, and hiker. She lives in Brooklyn with her dog Henry.

STEVE LAWSON
Steve Lawson is Executive Director of the Williamstown Film Festival and Director of Manhattan Theatre Club's "Writers in Performance" series. A DISTANT COUNTRY CALLED YOUTH - his play based on the early letters of Tennessee Williams - began at MTC and was subsequently produced at Hartford Stage and the Williamstown Theatre Festival. As WTF's first dramaturg he adapted Dickens, Fielding, Conan Doyle and Twain, helped launch the Cabaret and Free Theater, and created a new version of LA RONDE directed by Joanne Woodward. Steve has interviewed Truffaut, Mamet, Hare, and Fugard and written for all major periodicals. He has overseen many benefits for the MacDowell Colony (where he was twice a Resident Fellow), staged the 50th anniversary galas at the Alley Theater and City Center, and served as Artistic Director of CC's Voices! series. His TV writing credits include "The Elephant Man," "Jonathan," "The Room Upstairs" (with Stockard Channing and Sam Waterston), "Edith Wharton: Looking Back," and "Broadway's Dreamers:The Legacy of the Group Theatre" (Emmy Award, documentary). He was a story editor on "St. Elsewhere" for which he and Tom Fontana wrote the first-ever television script on AIDS. Steve has won Christopher and GLAAD Media Awards and was nominated for the Emmy and the Humanitas Prize.

PATRICIA LITOW
(TBA)

TALYA NEVO-HACOHEN
Talya Nevo-Hacohen is a Vice President at Goldman, Sachs & Co. and currently serves as the finance officer for a major real estate development project currently under construction in Jersey City, New Jersey. She oversees all financial aspects of the project as well as acting as the primary liaison between the development team and Goldman Sachs' Finance Division. She joined the firm's Investment Banking Division as an associate in 1993 and became a Vice President in 1997. As an investment banker, Ms Nevo-Hacohen covered real estate companies and was responsible for structuring and executing numerous financing transactions and mergers and acquisitions. From 1984-1992, Ms. Nevo Hacohen worked as an architect at several New York architectural firms.

Ms. Nevo-Hacohen graduated from Yale University in 1981 with a BA in Architecture and received her professional degree, an M.Arch, from Columbia's School of Architecture in 1984. She received her MBA from Columbia Business School in 1993. She competes in local road races as a member of the Greater New York Racing Team where she has twice been awarded MVP for her age-group.

MATTHEW RINGEL
Matthew Ringel brings extensive experience in the television and digital services industries to his role as Executive Vice President of YaYa where he will spearhead business and strategy. YaYa creates online marketing solutions for companies including Ford Motor Company, American Honda Motor Company, and Burger King. Previously, Ringel was Vice President of Strategy and Business Development at KPE. While there, Ringel provided strategic services to KPE's base of media and entertainment clients, leading strategic partnerships, and evaluating new business opportunities. He has also initiated a series of periodical thought-leading research reports and white papers for KPE called "FastForward" which analyzes digital media trends and industry developments.

Prior to , Ringel co-founded and served as President of CAMI Spectrum, the Television and Events Production subsidiary of Columbia Artists. He most recently served as Executive Producer on the television film Chuck Jones: Extremes and In-Betweens, a portrait of the life and work of the legendary animator. Prior to CAMI Spectrum, Ringel served as a strategy consultant for Monitor Company. While there, he worked with a variety of Fortune 500 corporations in media, telecommunications and brand management. Ringel is a recognized authority on digital media issues and has been featured in many publications including Adweek, Business 2.0, Internet World, Revolution, Newsday and Digitrends, among others.

Ringel earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University and a Ph.D. from the University of London focusing on Strategy and Management in the Music Industry.

IAN CHARLES STEWART
Ian Charles Stewart is Chairman of SevenPeaks Ltd, a venture capital firm that focuses on the media sector. He was formerly a Managing Director within Continuation Ventures Limited, a venture capital company within the NM Rothschild group. He is a leading UK authority on technology driven media businesses and was a co-founder of the US media business Wired Ventures, which included the seminal US publication WiReD Magazine and its offshoot Wired Digital (which produced the search engine Hotbot.com, and the news site WiredNews.com).

From 1988-1992 he was fund manager of Pearson plc's venture capital Media Development Fund based at Lazard Ventures. Through his Aztec Internet consultancy he has been advisor to the Financial Times, GUS plc, Vodafone plc, the BBC, and a number of leading financial institutions including Fortis Bank. Stewart was also responsible for helping the BBC develop, fund and create "beeb", the BBC's commercially-funded online service, and then supported the subsequent creation of BBC News Online.

Before spending the last twelve years investing in digital media businesses, Stewart spent ten years working in traditional media. He is also the author and photographer of award winning books on South-East Asia. More recently Stewart has also been an active private investor in new media companies in the UK, including Douglas Adams' multiple media entertainment company The Digital Village (h2g2.com), the UK's local community information business UpMyStreet, and EmptySpace, a provider of television and Internet based comedy programming. Stewart speaks English, French and Indonesian, holds an MBA (with distinction) from IMD in Switzerland and was a member of the New Zealand Olympic Volleyball Team.

FRANCESCA SYLVESTRI
(TBA)

PAULA WEINER
As a Managing Director at DS Wolf & Associates, Ms. Weiner is an accomplished executive search professional with twelve years of industry experience. She possesses a significant track record in successfully placing senior executives in a broad range of functional areas. Her client base includes leading consumer service firms, premium consumer packaged food and beverage companies, health and beauty manufacturers, Internet and e-commerce firms, cable networks, start-up entrepreneurial ventures and information companies.

Prior to entering the executive search field, Ms. Weiner was a consultant for the Marketing Corporation of America, where she conducted strategic analyses and prepared presentations for Fortune 500 clients’ senior management. At Chemical Bank, she provided strategic direction for marketing programs. At Eli Lilly & Company, she prepared and presented marketing plans and forecasts for new cardiovascular drugs and served on the Prozac launch team. Ms. Weiner and a partner also built a market research company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Clients included Polaroid, Gillette and Colgate-Palmolive.

Ms. Weiner received her M.B.A. from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University and her undergraduate degree from the University of Massachusetts.