Mitchell Block, Board of Advisors
Mitchell Block is a documentary film producer. His works have won an Academy Award (Big Mama, 2001), been nominated (Poster Girl, 2006) and short-listed (The Testimony, 2006) for Oscars, as well. Carrier, his ten-hour landmark PBS series with its companion feature, Another Day in Paradise, won an Emmy and is one of the most-watched series in the history of PBS. It was the first and only time the US Navy allowed multiple film crews to embed on a warship for an entire six-month deployment. Block has made numerous acclaimed films including his short film No Lies which was selected to be part of the Library of Congress' National Register of Historical Films for preservation for all time. Each year only twenty-five films are added to the list from all American films produced since 1895. The other film's from Block's year include works by Martin Scorsese, George Lucas, Frances Ford Coppola, William Friedkin and Terrance Mallick. Block worked for seven years for Sheila Nevins, president of HBO Documentaries and Children's Programming as an acquisitions consultant finding emerging talent worldwide for HBO.
Cindy Chang is currently the Publishing Specialist at Netflix. She has had a long career in the entertainment industry, including with the Consumer Products Group, Partnerships & Licensing at NBCUniversal, overseeing the licensing of Universal films and NBC TV properties, and most recently leading their Global Publishing team. She launched the consumer products program for Illumination Entertainment and built the global Minions/Despicable Me consumer products franchise into a multi-billion dollar program at retail around the world.
Jeff Chao is a seasoned media professional and Executive Producer who has dedicated his career to social impact entertainment, including during his tenure as Senior Director, Finance at Participant Media. While there, he managed film investments for a $250 million film fund between Participant Media and Image Nation Abu Dhabi, producing hits such as Lincoln, The Help, Hundred Foot Journey, Best Exotic Marigold Hotel I & II, Contagion and Snitch.
Rev. Jeff Grant, JD, M Div is an Executive, Motivational Speaker, Author, Minister, Advocate, Social Ethicist, Elizabeth Bush Award, Nantucket Project Fellow, JustLeadershipUSA Fifteen National Leaders in Criminal Justice.
