Advisory Boards

At Brooks Institute, we seek the advice and expertise of our Advisory Board to ensure the education we provide students exceeds the rigorous standards of today’s evolving marketplace. Below, read more about the diverse community of industry professionals who help support our commitment to providing quality education and to developing future leaders in the visual arts field.

BFA Film Advisory Board 2012

Wendy Apple
An award-winning producer/director/editor, Apple's credits include “The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing," a feature-length documentary special for the BBC, NHK, STARZ! and Warner Brothers' Home Video; "Hard Rain" (NBC), starring Bob Dylan; "Appearing Nightly" (HBO), starring Lily Tomlin; "American Families" (FOX); "Trial Watch" (NBC); "The ’90s," a 26-part series (PBS); "Sitcom: The Adventures of Garry Marshall" (KCET); and her feature documentaries "South Central Los Angeles: Inside Voices" (ZDF/ARTE/Showtime) and "Fallen Angels" (Fox Lorber/Winstar). Her early works, as a partner in TVTV for WNET, are in the permanent collections of The Whitney Museum, the Museum of Broadcasting and the International Center of Photography in New York. She has also won an Alfred I. Dupont-Columbia Journalism Award for TV's "Lord of the Universe." Wendy is an adjunct professor at the USC School of Cinematic Arts and has been a faculty member of the California Institute of the Arts. She graduated from NYU Film School.

Brant Barger
Executive Producer Brant Barger founded Rank and File Media in 2007. Rank and File is a commercial and music video production company with a growing list of accomplished directors and national advertising clients. The company produces television commercials and music videos.

Nana Greenwald
Nana Greenwald has been a senior production executive and film producer for over 20 years, executive producing "North Country" for Warner Bros. and co-producing other studio films -including "Seven," the Academy Award-nominated "The Fugitive," "A Perfect Murder" and "Falling Down," among others - totaling over $1 billion in worldwide theatrical sales.

Robert Legato
Robert Legato began working as a visual effects supervisor for "Star Trek: Generations" in the mid-1980s. He moved on to become visual effects supervisor for feature films such as “Hugo” (2012) and "Titanic" (1997), both of which earned him Academy Awards for visual effects. His numerous credits also include "Armageddon" (1998), "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" (2001) and "The Aviator" (2004).

Jeff Merritt
Jeff Merritt is an editor, sound designer and camera operator with extensive credits in television and feature films. Jeff is editor of the TV series “GillzNfinz” and edited the feature film “Bollywood Beats.” Jeff has worked in post-production sound on over 20 feature films.

Larry Parker
Larry Parker is vice president of Mole-Richardson, located in Hollywood, Calif. Mole-Richardson has been the leading supplier of motion picture lighting equipment for over 60 years.

Tom Provost
Tom Provost has enjoyed a varied and successful career in the entertainment industry as a screenwriter, editor, director, producer, actor, and instructor. After graduating from the University of Texas in Austin's prestigious Plan II honors program, with emphases in both English Literature and Film, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career, where he landed several parts in film and TV, including a recurring role on Steven Spielberg's SeaQuest DSV. Tired of also waiting tables, Provost then took up editing, learning the Avid system just as non-linear editing was beginning to explode. After editing shorts and a couple of features, he worked for several years cutting and producing award-winning promos for the WB and Bravo television networks. He also has worked frequently editing reality TV on shows such as “The Celebrity Apprentice” (which earned an Emmy nomination) and “The Bachelor.” During this time, Provost was hired to adapt a script for Academy-Award winner Morgan Freeman's production company, Revelations, and the screenplay eventually was made into the film “Under Suspicion” starring Freeman and Academy Award-winner Gene Hackman. The screenplay was nominated for an Edgar Award. Provost also works as a script doctor, where his ability to shape story has been highly prized. His feature directorial debut is called “The Presence.” He also wrote the film and is one of the producers. The genre-twisting ghost story stars Academy Award-winning actress Mira Sorvino, Shane West, Golden Globe-nominee Justin Kirk (“Weeds”), and Tony Curran. After winning various awards on the festival circuit, including Best Picture and Best Director, Lions Gate picked up the movie for a 2011 release.

Walt Rose
Walt Rose is manager of Student Services at FotoKem. FotoKem is known as one of the largest independently owned film and video post-production houses worldwide. FotoKem's ability to handle post-production for film, video, and digital media under one roof has been its trademark and has earned the company the reputation of superior quality and service for the past four decades.

Brian Sawyer
Brian Sawyer is a comedy screenwriter with projects in both film and television. His first feature sale was the comedy screenplay "Diesel Debutante" to New Line Cinema, followed soon after by the sale of the comedy screenplay "Guida" to Revolution Studios. Brian is also the creator of "Model Family," a short film starring Jamie Kennedy and Cheryl Ladd, which was picked up by 20th Century Fox as the basis for a TV series. Brian served as consulting producer on ABC's "Pixar's 20th Anniversary Special" and has also optioned a dance-themed comedy to Tapestry Entertainment. In 2011, he sold two projects to the Hallmark Channel, both of which went into production in 2012. He also sold a Christmas movie to Showtime that was co-produced by Reel One and will premiere in Christmas 2012. Brian is now developing a comedy series for Nickelodeon. He has also taught screenwriting workshops for the government of Singapore, the Big Island Film Festival and the Bermuda Film Festival.

John Vasey
As the Vice President of Original Programming for Showtime, John supervised high-profile movies such as "Varian's War" (starring William Hurt, Julia Ormand, and Lynn Redgrave) and "Down in the Delta" (directed by Maya Angelou and starring Alfre Woodard and Wesley Snipes). In the series area, John supervised the launch of Showtime's "Dead Like Me" and also guided feature filmmaking talent crossing over to series programming: "Fallen Angels" (executive produced by Sydney Pollack) and "The Hunger" (executive produced by Tony and Ridley Scott). He also supervised the Oscar-winning "Directed By" series (which included the directing debuts of actors such as Laura Dern, Richard Dreyfuss, Christine Lahti, and Christian Slater). As an independent producer, John created Skyill Productions in 2005, developing and supervising projects for theatrical, television, reality, and documentary. He has also taught part-time at Brooks Institute and is currently an adjunct professor teaching graduate film students at Chapman University and USC.

BS Visual Journalism Advisory Board 2012

Scott Anger
Scott Anger is the founder and creative director of Pandau, a Los Angeles-based interactive production company that specializes in narrative storytelling. For more than 25 years, Scott has worked as an independent journalist and award-winning documentary filmmaker. Most recently, he was the director of video at the Los Angeles Times. He has also worked for British Broadcasting Corporation, National Public Radio, Voice of America and PBS’ FRONTLINE. Two of Scott’s PBS films have won the Alfred I. DuPont Award for Excellence in Journalism, television’s highest journalism award. www.scottanger.com

Kenny Irby
Kenny Irby founded the photojournalism program at the prestigious Poynter Institute and is its visual journalism group leader and director of diversity. Kenny contributed as a photo editor to three Pulitzer Prize-winning projects while at Newsday. He is a recipient of numerous National Press Photographer Association awards, including the 2007 Sprague Award (the organization's highest honor), 2002 President's Award, 1999 Joseph Costa Award and others. He has been a juror for the American Society of Newspaper Editor's Community Service Photojournalism Awards, the Society for News Design, Annual Pictures of the Year Competition, White House News Photographers' Competition, and the Scripps Howard National Journalism Awards. http://www.poynter.org/author/irbyman/

Kent Kobersteen
Kent Kobersteen was director of photography and senior editor at National Geographic magazine from February 1998 until January 2005. During his tenure, the magazine won the prestigious National Magazine Award for photography five times and was a finalist an additional eight years. Before joining National Geographic, Kent spent 18 years at the Minneapolis (Minnesota) Tribune, which took him throughout the United States and Canada as well as to over 25 foreign countries, primarily in the Middle East and Africa. Kent currently conducts photographic workshops and lectures internationally on the philosophy, ethics, and business of photojournalism. He also serves as a consultant to publications on photographic contracts and rights issues. http://www.istanbulphotoworkshops.com/index.php

Corey Rich
Corey Rich, renowned for outdoor adventure and lifestyle photography, is vice president/principal at Aurora Photos and author of “My Favorite Place: Great Athletes In The Great Outdoors.” He has photographed rock climbing in India, surfing in South Africa, freight-train hopping in the American West, ultra-marathon racing in the Sahara Desert of Morocco, and snowboarding in Papua New Guinea. He has traveled the world on assignment for National Geographic Adventure, Outside, Sports Illustrated and The New York Times Magazine. Corporate/commercial clients include Anheuser-Busch, Apple, Nike and The North Face. Today, much of his time goes into capturing both still images and video for the creation of multimedia projects for commercial and editorial clients. www.coreyrich.com

Michael Rosenblum
Michael Rosenblum is a pioneer of the digital video journalist revolution. He has designed, built and implemented VJ-driven news channels around the world, including Time/Warner’s New York 1. He partnered with Discovery Communications to set up the Travel Channel Academy, a national visual journalism training facility. Michael has led a drive for video literacy and the complete rethinking of how television is made and controlled. He engineered the construction of NYT Television, a New York Times Company and the largest producer of non-fiction television in the U.S. He was also president and founder of Video News International, a global VJ-driven newsgathering company with more than 100 journalists around the world. As a producer, his shows have included “TRAUMA: LIFE IN THE ER,” “Paramedics,” ‘Police Force,” “Labor and Delivery,” and “Science Times.” These series have aired on TLC, Showtime and National Geographic. He has also produced for ABC, CBS, Oxygen and the BBC. He has conducted his unique VJ training classes and boot camps all over the world, from Thailand to Marrakech, and has lectured extensively both overseas and in the U.S. http://www.rosenblumtv.com/

Grover Sanschagrin
Grover Sanschagrin is vice president of marketing & sales for PhotoShelter, an online archive and sales vehicle and Web resource for professional photographers. Grover is a former photojournalist who has turned his attention to various Internet projects, including SportsShooter.com. He was executive producer of altpick.com, manager of interactive product development for chicagotribune.com, and the former director of product development for Quokka Sports. http://grover.net/about/

Brian Storm
Brian Storm is president of MediaStorm, a multimedia production studio whose principal aim is to usher in the next generation of multimedia storytellers by publishing social documentary projects that employ photojournalism and audio reporting across multiple media platforms. Brian spent two years as vice president of News, Multimedia and Assignment Services for Corbis, where he developed a global strategy for production, packaging and distribution. From 1995 to 2002 he was director of multimedia at MSNBC.com, a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC News, where he was responsible for the audio, photography and video elements of the site. http://mediastorm.com/contributor/brian-storm/8

Dai Sugano
Dai Sugano is an Emmy Award-winning photojournalist and senior multimedia editor at the San Jose Mercury News. He co-created MercuryNewsPhoto.com, whose interactive storytelling has been judged among the world's best two years in a row in the Pictures of the Year International contest. Dai has covered a wide range of assignments, including poverty in India, Hmong refugees' immigration to the United States, the California Recall, former Japanese Internment camp survivors, and number of stories in politics. In 2008, his work "Uprooted," which looks at displacement of a group of mobile home residents, won an Emmy Award. His other work has been nominated for the Emmy Award and a Pulitzer Prize in photography, among other international and national accolades. www.daisugano.com

BFA Graphic Design Advisory Board 2012

Mike Szanger
Mike Szanger is one of the employee/owners of V3 (formerly Ventura Printing). He currently oversees the sales department, marketing efforts and much of the product development at the company. Over the past 15 years with V3, he has helped the company grow from a small local printing company to a much larger regional company serving markets from Los Angeles to the Bay Area with an emphasis on direct marketing. In 2008 V3 was named to one of Fortune's lists of fastest-growing companies in America, and it plans to continue expanding its list of services and geographic reach. Michael has served as a guest speaker at numerous colleges and universities including Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, UCSB, Ventura Community College, Pierce College, and Santa Monica Community College. In addition to serving on Brooks Institute’s Graphic Design Advisory Board, Michael also serves on a national board for the Printing Industries of America. http://www.v3corporation.com

Mark Oliver
Mark Oliver is president and creative director of MOI (Mark Oliver, Inc.), a full-service brand consultancy. The firm specializes in food and beverage marketing, branding, and packaging design, and strategic identity and branding programs for firms nationwide. The firm was a pioneer in the use of emotion-generating visual cues in packaging design and has been a recipient of more than 450 awards from major design organizations and publications. Examples of the firm’s work are included in the permanent collection of the Library of Congress. http://www.markoliverinc.com

Jim Palam
Jim Palam earned a BFA from Parsons School of Design in New York. He is the owner and founder of Jim Palam & Partners, an award-winning, full-service advertising and creative services agency located in Solvang, Calif. Established in 1994, the agency – under the creative direction of Jim Palam – creates advertising and brand-builder programs for clients in the financial, healthcare, retail, service, travel & tourism, and technology industries. Jim began teaching at Brooks Institute as an adjunct faculty member in 2012. www.jimpalam.com

Brett Piatt
Brett Piatt holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. He has worked as both an engineer and a UNIX system administrator. His degree from Cal Poly and both career fields supplied an indispensable technical foundation, providing analytical thinking and creative problem solving. In 2004 he switched gears completely to get back to his passion: art. He quit his technical job and began freelancing as a graphic designer. He is now managing the production art department at Patagonia Inc. in Ventura, Calif.

BFA Professional Photography Advisory Board

Dan (Dano) Steinhardt
Recognized as a photographic imaging industry leader, Dan (Dano) Steinhardt has over three decades of business experience in photography. He was first recognized for his photography when Scholastic Magazine awarded him the Grand Prize as the best high school photographer in North America. As marketing manager at Epson America of Long Beach, Calif., Steinhardt’s responsibilities help position Epson as a key player in the photographic industry to high-end professional and advanced amateur photo markets. Before joining Epson, Steinhardt was a marketing director in the Professional Division at Eastman Kodak Company of Rochester, N.Y., and held a variety of positions at Eastman Kodak, including strategic marketing director, market segment manager and professional imaging specialist. He also operated his own commercial photography studio in Chicago from 1980 to 1988 specializing in advertising photography. Steinhardt has a bachelor's degree with honors from Brooks Institute. He has completed additional studies in the business schools of Harvard University, the University of Virginia, and the University of Michigan. http://www.dansteinhardt.com

Jeffrey Burke
Jeffrey Burke (chair) is an artist, former advertising photographer and commercial director. He previously served as the CEO of PictureArts Corp, president of the Picture Archive Council of America and was the co-founder and chair of the PLUS Coalition. http://burketriolo.blogspot.com/

Terry Thibeau
In 1987 Terry earned a B.A. from Brooks Institute with a major in Illustration/advertising photography. He went on to become an associate photographer with Collins and Associates/Dean Collins. Dean's Finelight Video #9 features his tabletop product photography, and he was also the featured photographer on the announcement to Brooks' premier publication, Profiles in Photography. In 1990, he opened Thibeau Studios in San Diego. A year later, he moved to New Orleans to open his studio there. After 20 years in New Orleans, he’s still operating, serving such clients as Beau Rivage Casino and Resort, Neal Auction Company, New Orleans Magazine, New Orleans Saints and Pellerin Milnor. http://www.terryt.com

Tobin E. Threadgill
Tobin graduated from Brooks Institute in 1980. He opened his first photo studio in 1982 in Dallas. His interests included studio special effects, liquid splash, automotive and aviation photography. He quickly became an award-winning photographer, compiling an international clientele that included Audi, BMW, Jaguar, Honda, Bell Helicopter, Aerospatiale, Pepsi, Coca-Cola and Schwepps. In 2004, after operating studios in Dallas, Los Angeles and Denver, he relocated Threadgill Productions to Evergreen, Colo., with a focus on digital video editing and production. Today he still operates Threadgill Productions in Colorado and also functions as the director of marketing for Willowtree Advisors, an information technology consulting firm.

Gail Mooney
Gail Mooney is co-partner of Kelly/Mooney Productions, a visual communications company based in the New York City metropolitan area. Gail has over 30 years of experience shooting for international magazines, major corporations, and institutions. Her clients have included National Geographic, Smithsonian, Travel & Leisure, AT&T, American Express, and KPMG. A lifelong storyteller, Gail began her visual storytelling as a photographer. In 1999 she began producing and shooting video projects. Since then, her company has become fully integrated with motion. She has produced three short documentaries: “Freedom’s Ride,” a story about two diverse groups of high school students retracing the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s; “The Delta Blues Musicians”; and “Through the Hearts and Hands of Children,” a piece about the NJ Youth Symphony. Gail’s true passion is to use her craft, be it via still imagery or motion, to create awareness and effect change. Her first feature-length documentary, “Opening Our Eyes,” was a joint project with her daughter Erin Kelly. They circled the globe seeking ordinary people who are making our world a better place one person at a time. Gail is 1st VP on the National Board of ASMP and chairs the Motion/Video Committee. Gail also serves on the board of the YPA (Young Photographers Alliance) as well as on the Photography Advisory Board of Brooks Institute, her alma mater. http://www.kellymooney.com

Tim Mantoani
Tim Mantoani is a San Diego-based photographer. His credits include Sports Illustrated, Newsweek and ESPN The Magazine, as well as ad campaigns for Coca-Cola, EA Sports and Coors Brewing. Today, when Tim’s not shooting on assignment, he’s documenting venerable lens men who have collectively captured decades of culture and celebrity with their own cameras. Each image features a photographer holding their most iconic or favorite image. Legendary rock photographers Jim Marshall and Ethan Russell have sat for 20- x 24-inch Polaroid portraits, as have Walter Iooss, Steve McCurry, Mary Ellen Mark, Elliott Erwitt and Roberto Salas. www.mantoani.com

Eugene Mopsik
Eugene Mopsik has a long and distinguished record with the American Society of Media Photographers and has led the organization as its executive director since 2003. Prior to serving as executive director, Gene was an active member on ASMP’s board in a number of capacities, including a term as president in 2000-2001. A prominent advocate for the rights of photographers and other visual artists, the ASMP is a leader in current issues such as copyright registration of images, social media terms of service, Orphan Works and the exploration of new business models. Gene currently serves on the boards of the Brooks Institute, the Eddie Adams Workshop and the PLUS (Picture Licensing Universal System) Coalition, and on the Advisory Board of the Young Photographers Alliance (YPA). Prior to his position at ASMP, his career was as a successful Philadelphia corporate/industrial photographer. He graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. www.mopsikphoto.com

MFA Advisory Board Members 2012

Dan Burkholder
Dan Burkholder was one of the first photographic artists to embrace digital technology in the early 1990s. True to his love of the traditional photograph, Dan uses digital technology to build images that still look and feel like real photographs, and his platinum prints are now included in many museum and private collections. Dan has taught classes and workshops at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the international Center of Photography in New York, the University of Texas at San Antonio, the Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego and others. Dan authored the award-winning book, “Making Digital Negatives for Contact Printing,” which is regarded as the most authoritative work in the field. His new book is “iPhone artistry,” examining uses of the iPhone as a creative photographic tool. Dan attended Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa., and Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara, Calif., where he received his BA and Master’s degrees in Photography.

Larry McNeil
Larry McNeil is both an artist and scholar, having taught art and photography since 1992, starting at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe. He is currently a full professor in the art department at Boise State University in Idaho, where he also has graduate faculty status. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Brooks Institute and his Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of New Mexico, where he also earned the Van Deren Coke Fellowship for demonstrating artistic excellence. He has exhibited his art extensively at national museums and galleries and earned the prestigious Eiteljorg Fellowship for Native American Art, the National Geographic All Roads Photography Award, and the En Foco New Works award for Photography.

Karen Sinsheimer
In Karen Sinsheimer’s tenure of nearly 20 years as Curator of Photography at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, she has organized 14 traveling exhibitions that have appeared in both national and international venues, each of which was accompanied by a major publication. In addition, she curated nearly 50 exhibitions as well as overseeing 12 exhibitions from other institutions. Karen has participated in numerous portfolio reviews and juried exhibitions and has written for several publications. In collaboration with Anne Tucker and Gus Lyndall Wortham, curator at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, she co-curated “Chaotic Harmony: Contemporary Korean Photography,” which is accompanied by a Yale University Press publication. She is a member of the Board of JGS, Inc., a non-profit organization that has funded more than 60 single-artist books of contemporary photography.

Joyce Tenneson
Joyce Tenneson is among the most respected photographers of our time and has been described critically as "one of America's most interesting portrayers of the human character." Her work is a combination of portraiture and mythology; she is interested in discovering the archetypes of our being. Joyce’s work has been shown in over 150 exhibitions worldwide and is part of numerous private and museum collections. Her photographs have appeared on countless covers for magazines such as Time, Life, Entertainment Weekly, Newsweek, Premiere, Esquire and The New York Times Magazine. She is also a much sought-after portrait photographer with clients in Europe, Japan, and the United States. Joyce is also the author of 15 books. Her latest, entitled “Shells: Nature's Exquisite Creations,” was published by Down East in Fall 2011. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the International Center of Photography's Infinity Award, for best applied photography. In addition, she has been named "Photographer of the Year" by the international organization Women in Photography. A recent poll conducted by American Photo Magazine voted Tenneson among the 10 most influential women photographers in the history of photography. Joyce lives and works in New York City.