Vulcan Productions

Paul G. Allen
Founder and Chairman

Investor and philanthropist Paul G. Allen creates and advances world-class projects and high-impact initiatives that change and improve the way people live, learn, work and experience the world through arts, education, entertainment, sports, business and technology. He co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates in 1975, remained the company's chief technologist until he left Microsoft in 1983, and is the founder and chairman of Vulcan Inc. and chairman of Charter Communications.

In addition, Allen's multibillion dollar investment portfolio includes large stakes in DreamWorks Animation SKG, Digeo, Plains All American, real estate holdings and more than 40 other technology, media and content companies. In 2004 Allen funded SpaceShipOne, the first privately-backed effort to successfully put a civilian in suborbital space and winner of the Ansari X-Prize competition. Allen also owns the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League, the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association, and is part of the primary ownership group for the Seattle Sounders FC, Seattle's new Major League Soccer team.

With lifetime giving totaling nearly $1 billion, Allen has been named one of the top philanthropists in America. Allen gives back to the community through the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, whose goal is to transform individual lives and strengthen communities by supporting arts and culture, youth engagement, community development and social change, and scientific and technological innovation throughout the Pacific Northwest. In 2003, Allen contributed $100 million to create the Allen Institute for Brain Science, a research facility dedicated to performing innovative basic research on the brain and distributing its discoveries to researchers around the world. In 2006 the Allen Institute completed its inaugural project, the Allen Brain Atlas, a Web-based, three-dimensional map of gene expression in the mouse brain which is freely accessible online. Detailing more than 21,000 genes at the cellular level, the Atlas continues to help lead scientists to new insights and propel the field of neuroscience forward dramatically.

Allen is also founder of Experience Music Project, Seattle's critically-acclaimed interactive music museum; the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame; the Flying Heritage Collection, an assemblage of rare World War II aircraft restored to flying condition and shared with the public; and Vulcan Productions, the independent film production company behind the award-winning feature HARD CANDY; the Evolution series on PBS; The Blues, executive-produced by Martin Scorsese in conjunction with Allen and Jody Patton; the Emmy-award winning Rx for Survival A Global Health Challenge; and the Peabody award-winning Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial.

Learn more about Allen online at www.paulallen.com.

Jody Allen
President

Jody Allen is president and CEO of Vulcan Inc., the project and investment management firm she co-founded with investor and philanthropist Paul G. Allen in 1986. Since then, she has developed and led a wide range of Mr. Allen's business and charitable endeavors around the world.

Ms. Allen's responsibilities also include serving as president of Vulcan Productions, the film production company behind such acclaimed projects as HARD CANDY; Far From Heaven, the Emmy award-winning PBS series Rx for Survival - A Global Health Challenge; the Evolution series on PBS, The Blues, executive-produced by Martin Scorsese in conjunction with Ms. Allen and Paul Allen; and the Peabody award-winning Judgement Day: Intelligent Design on Trial.

Ms. Allen is executive director of the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, which builds strong communities and supports vulnerable populations around the Pacific Northwest by funding programs in the arts, community development and social change, youth engagement, and innovation in science and technology. In addition, Ms. Allen is executive director of Seattle's Experience Music Project, the critically-acclaimed music museum, and the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame. She serves as vice-chair of First & Goal Inc., and is on the board of Charter Communications.

An active member of the arts and education communities, Ms. Allen currently serves on the board of ArtsFund, Experience Music Project, the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame, the Allen Institute for Brain Science and Seattle Seahawks Charitable Foundation. Ms. Allen previously served on the boards of the Theatre Communications Group, the University of Washington Foundation, the Museum of Glass, the Los Angeles International Film Festival and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Richard Hutton
Vice President, Media Development

Richard Hutton oversees Vulcan Productions and its feature film and documentary units, and also directs all of Vulcan Inc.'s media development projects, including initiatives in the education, museum and entertainment sectors.

Under Hutton's direction, Vulcan Productions has produced or co-produced a wide range of shows for PBS: Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial, a two-hour, Peabody Award-winning program for NOVA chronicling the latest battle in the war over evolution; Strange Days on Planet Earth, a four-part series on the environment; the Emmy Award-winning Rx for Survival, a six-part series on global health; the Peabody and Grammy Award-winning No Direction Home: Bob Dylan; and the Emmy and Grammy Award-winning Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues. Hutton was also the executive producer of the critically acclaimed, Emmy-nominated PBS series, Evolution; the Peabody Award-winning Black Sky: The Race for Space; and the blues concert film Lightning in a Bottle.

Feature films produced or co-produced under Hutton's direction include the forthcoming Humanitas Prize winner Where God Left His Shoes, starring John Leguizamo; the critically-acclaimed Hard Candy, starring Ellen Page; Bickford Shmeckler's Cool Ideas; and Independent Spirit Award winner for Best Picture, Far From Heaven.

Prior to Vulcan, Hutton was senior vice president of creative development at Walt Disney Imagineering. Previous to that, Hutton served as vice president and general manager of the Disney Institute, where he directed the transition of the organization from concept into an operating business.

Prior to Disney, Hutton was senior vice president, television programming and production, for WETA Television in Washington, D.C., and, earlier, Director of Public Affairs Programming for WNET Television in New York. There, his projects included the award-winning The Brain and The Mind. Hutton has authored or co-authored nine books and medical texts, as well as articles for national publications, including The New York Times Magazine, Omni and Cosmopolitan.

Hutton holds a B.A. degree in history from the University of California at Berkeley.

Bonnie Benjamin-Phariss
Director, Documentary Productions

Bonnie Benjamin-Phariss came to Vulcan Productions in 2000 and oversees its film and television documentary projects. Under her management, Vulcan Productions won a 2007 Peabody Award for Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial (a co-production with WGBH/NOVA Science Unit), a Grammy Award for No Direction Home: Bob Dylan, Emmy and Grammy Awards for the seven-part series Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues, an Emmy for the six-part series about global health, Rx for Survival (a co-production with WGBH), a Peabody Award for Black Sky: The Race for Space (a co-production with the Discovery Channel), and a Wildscreen Panda Award for the four-part environmental series Strange Days On Planet Earth (a co-production with National Geographic). Additional productions include Black Sky: Winning The X Prize (a co-production with the Discovery Channel), the concert film Lightning in a Bottle, and the series Evolution (a co-production with WGBH).

Benjamin-Phariss was previously manager of program business administration and instruction at the Disney Institute, where she led the team that delivered a variety of executive, personal enrichment, youth and training programs designed to offer a transformative learning experience. Benjamin-Phariss was also part of the entrepreneurial opening team who developed and opened the Disney Institute.

Before her seven years with Disney, Benjamin-Phariss worked as an independent on productions in San Francisco and New York. She also served as director of research and development for public affairs programming for WNET in New York, working on productions including Mandela: Free at Last, Intifada: The Palestinians and Israel, and public affairs local programming. Benjamin-Phariss was also a science reporter for the nine-part series The Mind, and a science researcher for the eight-part PBS series The Brain.

She holds a B.A. degree in psychology from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

Hilary Sparrow
Documentary Productions

Prior to joining Vulcan Productions documentary team in 2008, Hilary was Director of Production for a Washington, D.C. based independent film company where she oversaw projects for clients such as National Geographic Channel, Discovery Channel, Travel Channel, Ultra HD, Gallery HD and The Smithsonian Channel.

Previously, she worked at National Geographic Television & Film where she managed productions in nearly every corner of the globe including stints in Cuba, Mexico, Costa Rica and Nicaragua where she put both of her majors (Journalism & Spanish) to use. Other highlights include managing films that documented first ascents with some of the world's top climbers, filming rare archeological finds in Egypt, and sending Sebastian Junger and photographer Reza to Afghanistan to travel with resistance leader Ahmed Shah Massoud just months before his assassination.

Hilary also served as Associate Producer for "The Urban Elephant" for WNET/Nature with Producer/Director, Allison Argo. The film garnered two News & Documentary Emmys for Outstanding Cultural & Informational Documentary and Best Director.

A native Tar Heel, Hilary holds a BA in Journalism and Spanish from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She still misses sweet tea.

Erik Davidson
Manager, Creative Services

Erik Davidson joined the Vulcan Productions team in 2002 and oversees graphic design and brand development for the company. He has developed identities and managed creative design for a number of projects including: Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial, a two-hour, Peabody Award-winning program for NOVA chronicling the latest battle in the war over evolution; the Humanitas Prize winner Where God Left His Shoes, starring John Leguizamo; the critically-acclaimed Hard Candy, starring Ellen Page; Strange Days on Planet Earth, a four-part series on the environment; the Emmy Award-winning Rx for Survival, a six-part series on global health; and the Emmy and Grammy Award-winning Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues; currently, Davidson both develops and oversees creative design for This Emotional Life, a three-part series and multi-platform project that explores our human nature and the pursuit of personal happiness.

Prior to joining Vulcan Productions, Davidson worked as a graphic designer for clients such as: Nordstrom, Callaway Golf, Jones Soda and K2 Sports. His work has been published in a number of trade publications including: Print Magazine, Communications Arts and Graphis Books.

He holds a B.F.A. degree in graphic design and illustration from Alma College in Alma, Michigan.