Deproduction has reserved two new spots on our board of directors for producer members and youth to ensure that our board meetings include a voice from the community.
We encourage anyone who is interested in having regular input on all levels of operation within Deproduction and Denver Open Media to get involved with our board of directors. We are currently accepting applications for two positions, one a member who produces shows on the public access television station, and one that represents youth, ages 12-20 upon parental approval. If you are interested in this position, please send an email to: tony [at] deproduction [dot] org
Karla Haas Moskowitz
On a personal level, I live in Northwest Denver in a modest historic home with my partner of thirteen years; I have two grown children who live on their and two grown dogs that still live at home. Professionally speaking, I have dedicated nearly 30 years of my life to education by teaching in preschool through university settings. Regarding my educational background, I hold undergraduate degrees in counseling, special education, and social services from Loretto Heights College as well as master degrees in political science and curriculum and instruction with a cognate in international studies from the University of Colorado at Denver and University of Denver, respectively. I hold both a Colorado Teacher’s license in secondary English and a K-12 principal’s license. My interdisciplinary doctorate is in political science and education, and it is from the Union Institute and University located in Cincinnati, Ohio. My doctoral and post doctoral work focuses on defining and establishing education as liberatory practice for the purpose of maintaining equity and social justice.
Throughout my work in transformational education, I have directed and participated in national and global travel projects that have integrated media with middle school through university-aged students. In addition to serving as a classroom teacher, I have served as a program director, executive director, university professor, and school principal. In addition, I have been an organizational consultant serving governmental and non-governmental agencies. Most recently, my work has focused on teacher training where I work with cohorts of teachers who are earning their graduate degrees, and in some cases, their teaching licenses locally and at sites throughout the country. Much of my work is connected to alternative teacher licensure. I also teach political science courses at Metropolitan State College and graduate education courses at the University of Colorado at Denver and Lesley University. My courses include topics that relate to community-based action research, organizational change, multiculturalism and diversity, as well as United States government, political theory, and political systems and ideas.
Henry Ansbacher
Justin Pless
Justin joined Faegre & Benson’s Boulder office in 2007. Justin’s practice focuses on commercial real estate, including leasing, purchase and sale transactions, lending, development and common interest communities.
Justin graduated Order of the Coif from the University of Colorado Law School. While in law school, Justin served as a teaching fellow in the area of real property law and as a note and comment editor on the Journal on Telecommunications and High Technology Law. He also interned with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and with The Hon. Marcia S. Krieger at the U.S. District Court, District of Colorado. Prior to attending law school, Justin was employed by Capital Area Preservation, Inc., a non-profit historic preservation organization in North Carolina. There he worked on historic landmark designations at the local government level and historic preservation easements and rehabilitation agreements with private property owners. Justin also served four years as a paratrooper in the United States Army’s 82nd Airborne Division.
Jason Stoval
J. Wheeler Weber
J. Wheeler Weber is president and founder of Engaged Minds, Inc., a Denver, Colorado-based business consulting practice for emerging companies, founded in 1996. He has years’ experience in strategic planning, change management, and business performance improvement. He specializes in positioning emerging companies for long-term revenue growth, profitability and competitive advantage, often as an interim C-level executive. Mr. Weber is also a founder of Oster Jewelers (www.osterjewlers.com), a top-rated national importer and retailer of fine Swiss watches and jewelry based in Denver, Colorado. Prior to the formation of Engaged Minds, Wheeler was with Leagre and Barnes, a 50-member law firm specializing in corporate transactions and counseling emerging businesses. He dealt with a wide variety of startup, acquisition, IPO, growth, funding and turnaround issues facing companies. Wheeler also was tapped to be programs director of the Indiana Development Finance Authority and served as Indiana’s primary contact with private lenders and borrowers on economic development issues and managed IDFA credit enhancement and direct lending programs for the State of Indiana. Wheeler began his career as a commercial loan officer with LaSalle Bank, based in Chicago, Illinois, where he negotiated bank loans and cash management services to middle-market companies. Wheeler holds a J. D. from Indiana University School of Law and a B.S. in Finance from the University of Illinois.
Eric Galatas
After working for corporate media outlets like Belo's Dallas Morning News, Viacom’s KNDD “The End”, and MCA/Universal's Northern Exposure, Galatas founded the Seattle Independent Media Coalition (SIMC), an alliance of 25 community print, video, audio and internet groups. Galatas also participated in the founding of the New York Free Media Alliance and the Bay Area Alternative Media Network. In November of 1999, Galatas helped mobilize the Seattle Independent Media Center (IMC), which brought together over 400 media activists to produce breaking video, audio, print and photo coverage of events during the shut down of the World Trade Organization’s ministerial meetings. He also spearheaded coordination of the second IMC for the 2000 IMF/World Bank protests in Washington D.C., and was project director for 35 hours of live Free Speech TV/IMC television coverage of the 2000 Presidential Convention protests in Philadelphia and Los Angeles. In April of 2001, Galatas co-created the IMC’s first ongoing national TV series dedicated to grassroots activism in the U.S., Indymedia Newsreal, which received a Paul Robeson Fund for Independent Media award in 2002. Newsreal is currently screened monthly across the US, and broadcast via Free Speech TV on satellite television and on community cable stations. A sister project, European Newsreel, was launched in June of 2002 featuring multiple language translation teams and international distribution and video trainings. Following the September 11th attacks, Galatas created Free Speech TV’s first original prime time series, World in Crisis. Recent projects include Café Nuba, a monthly televised spoken word performance series from Denver’s Pan African Arts Society, Radiovision, a collaboration between Free Speech TV and David Barsamian’s Alternative Radio, and WoRd, a youth debate program. Galatas has also produced narrative work, including Fluffy, an award-winning short film that imagines a world beyond wages and point of purchase human transactions, and Drunk by Noon.
Marla Rodriguez
Marla Rodriguez is the manager of public relations and marketing at one of Denver’s oldest educational institutions, the Emily Griffith Opportunity School. Rodriguez manages the Opportunity School’s marketing communications, advertising, public relations and community relations. In this role, she also oversees brand management, market research and evaluation. Prior to entering the educational arena, Rodriguez directed sports public relations, most recently at the University of Denver. At Denver, Rodriguez directed the 17-sport NCAA Division I sports public relations department that won back-to-back Hockey National Championships and advanced 10 teams to NCAA postseason play. Rodriguez was named to the NCAA Men’s Final Four Media Coordination Committee and worked at numerous national and regional events. Rodriguez also served as the Associate Director of Sports Information at Rutgers University (1995-2000) and Temple University (1992-95) after holding similar positions at Marshall University (1990-91) and the University of Florida (1989-90). The winner of numerous CoSIDA publications awards, Rodriguez' 1999-00 women's basketball media guide cover was judged best in the nation. An active community member, Rodriguez sits on the board of directors for three non-profit organizations: Colorado Youth at Risk, a drop-out prevention program, Denver Open Media, Denver’s public-access television station, and the Metro Denver Sports Commission Charities Board. Rodriguez also participates on the diversity committee for the Rocky Mountain Youth Clinics. Born in Colorado Springs, Colo., Rodriguez is a 1988 graduate of Iowa State University with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. She also holds a master’s degree in sports administration from St. Thomas University (Miami, Fla.). A former collegiate swimmer, Rodriguez participates in triathlons and ran her first marathon (Portland) last year.
Sheila Keller
Sheila Keller is currently a graduate student in the fields of International Studies and Social Work at the University of Denver. She began experimenting with documentary video a year ago in an attempt to bridge her love of the arts and her dedication to social justice. After a few classes at the University of Denver, and continued access to the tools at Denver Open Media, she has been able to begin and continue work on her first documentary. Still untitled, it is a look at the issue of immigration through following two Latino janitors (who were part of the union Keller worked for) throughout their daily lives. This documentary is an attempt to contradict negative impressions of immigrants portrayed in popular media, and it is a collaborative effort with a number of parters who themselves are embedded in the immigrant experience.
Sheila was born and raised in Cleveland, OH, where the values of diversity, social justice, and the power of the arts were strongly embedded in her from her family and community. She attended Earlham College for undergrad, and graduated from there with a degree in anthropology and sociology. Sheila's life has been dedicated for more than ten years to the fight for immigrant and civil rights. She has worked as a community organizer, a Spanish teacher, an Outward Bound instructor, and a union organizer. She hopes that her role on the board of Denver Open Media will bring a critical eye to the idea of community in community media, and help further DOM's goal of bringing democracy to the people through exposure and access to the tools and power of the media.