VIRGINIA BOGERT, President
Virginia Bogert has directed, written, edited and produced award-winning film and video for over 20 years, ranging from feature film, shorts, and commercials, to corporate image, documentaries, and programming for public television. After three years as lead producer of a top media production agency in Seattle, she launched Laughing Dog Pictures, LLC in 1993 (laughingdogpictures.com). Some of Bogert's credits include her documentary: Pike Place Market: Soul of a City, which garnered four Emmys, a Telly, and a Nell; commercials and PSAs which have broadcast nationally and internationally; and her Emmy nominated, Telly award winning documentary Fields of Plenty which also screened at environmental film festivals and on KCTS-9 About Us series. Her narrative short Tootie Pie, was an Official Selection of Seattle International Film Festival 2006 (tootiepiethemovie.com), screened at festivals and appears on the compilation DVD Seattle Women in Film: 0ne city 21 amazing filmmakers. Her Fly Film The Delivery (deliverymovie.com), won an Accolade Award, screened at SIFF 2006 and Port Townsend Film Festival 2008, where it won Best Short Film. Other work includes, corporate work for Microsoft, writing web content for PBS, field production for “The Today Show” and The Food Channel, documentaries for WA State Arts Commission. Virginia holds a BA in English (minoring in Fine Arts and Film Studies), Certification in Educational TV Production from SUNY, and a Masters in Communications/Media Ecology from NYU. She curates the Post Alley Film Festival (postalleyfilmfestival.com) and teaches at University of Washington Extension, Independent Filmmaking Certificate Program.

BARBARA BROWN, Vice-President
For over 20 years Barbara has worked as a script supervisor/continuity professional on feature films, television, regional and national commercials, independent shorts, and corporate web content. Some of her credits include: Valley of Light (Hallmark), The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer (Victor TV), Sherman Alexie's The Business of Fancy Dancing, World's Greatest Dad with Robin Williams, Glee, Rose Red (2nd Unit); the mega-hit, Twilight, John Carpenter's, The Ward, the TV series Northern Explosure, Dangerous Minds, Metropolis, The Fugitive (2nd Unit), Elementary, Providence, Players, and Orleans; and the independent shorts Full Disclosure, Tootie Pie, and Geek Like Me. In addition, she is a writer of a feature length script and is currently at work developing two shorts. Barbara is also on the board for Lake Washington Girls Middle School, helping to develop the next generation of women in film.

RACHEL NUSSBAUM, Secretary
Born and raised in Seoul, South Korea, Rachel came to Vancouver, BC to study in 1997. She has a bachelor's degree in Theology, and also studied Audio Production at the Art Institute of Seattle when she moved to Seattle in 2002. She began her production career on set recording sound for films and worked in postproduction sound with many local directors. Her experience comes from several years at a local post house where she worked with clients such as Starbucks, Seattle Seahawks, Microsoft, Boeing, Dale Chihuly, T-Mobile, Kirkland Performance Center. Rachel then moved into corporate marketing, joining Russell Investments, a global investment company. Rachel enjoys working with corporate executives and coaches CEOs in Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego. As a visual communication professional, she works closely with speakers to support and compliment their message via memorable design aesthetics and tight organization. Rachel demonstrates to her clients how best to communicate information to their audience. In her present career she draws upon her wide range of experience in audio production, post production, event production, and producing broadcast content for national ad agencies representing brand names such as Adidas, Nike, David Yurman, and Trojan. Formerly WIF/S Education and Outreach Chair in 2007, Rachel rejoined the WIF Board as Secretary in 2009.

JOANNE ORT, Treasurer
Joanne Ort is a Certified Public Accountant and manages her own practice in downtown Seattle. Born and raised in the Seattle area, Joanne received her Master's degree in Accounting and Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from the University of Washington. She has over 15 years of experience providing business consulting, accounting, and tax services to closely held businesses and individuals. Joanne is a member of the Washington Society of Certified Public Accountants and is pleased to be on the board of Women in Film/Seattle.

LAURA JEAN CRONIN, Membership Committee Chair
Laura Jean Cronin is an award winning filmmaker and an accomplished artist and educator. Her eclectic education includes a BFA in Photography, Painting and Printmaking, a three year sojourn studying art in Florence Italy, an MA in Italian Language, Literature and Cultural Studies, and a Ph.D. ABD in Comparative Literature at the University of Washington. She learned Film Production at 911 Media Arts in Seattle working with John Jacobson. During her Doctoral studies she specialized in Cultural Criticism with an emphasis in representations of minorities in Film, Literature and the Media, Gender Studies, Queer Theory and Film Studies. During her Graduate work Ms. Cronin taught Italian Language for six years and English Composition, History of Film, and Film Analysis for four years. Her artwork has garner awards at the Seattle Urban League's Annual Minority Art Show, The Pound Gallery Competitive Group Shows and has been exhibited in Washington from Bellingham to Olympia. Her short films John Gill, 2000, Block Party, 2001, Leave It, 2002 and Free Parking, 2006 have earned national attention and have screened worldwide. Her feature length screenplay, Princess and Buddha, was a finalist in the Slamdance, Sundance and Washington State Screenplay Competitions. Ms. Cronin has also used her arts, film, and language background teaching in the Bilingual P-3 (Preschool through Third Grade) Teacher Education Program at Pacific Oaks College Northwest. She currently teaches Film, Composition, and Communication courses at the Center for Linguistic and Cultural Democracy and is experienced with the Soy Bilingüe Adult Dual Language instruction model. Laura Jean has directed several shorts including No Parking, an official selection at SIFF and just completed One Night.

DINAH BREIN, Public Relations Chair
Dinah Brein has an eclectic yet impressive set of media credentials, spanning over three decades. In Los Angeles, Dinah was a talent coordinator for the Tom Snyder show, and a writer on the Love Connection before entering the PR arena. Working at several prominent LA Publicity firms, her clients ran the gamut from Ozzy Osborne to Charlton Heston. She served as the Director of PR for the LA Branch of BMI where she conducted seminars dealing with Congressional Legislature affecting songwriters, and worked with the Starlight Foundation, Make A Wish Foundation, and T.J. Martell organizations. While in Los Angeles, Dinah also pursued her other great love as a music writer/producer and enjoyed a No. 1 single with Stephanie Mills, “The Comfort of a Man.” She has been a staff writer with EMI, Famous Music, Motown, and has had her music covered by Christopher Cross, Rita Coolidge, Thelma Houston. Her music has been featured on such TV shows as Melrose Place, Touched by an Angel, and Dawson's Creek; and in such movies as Kickboxer, Jackknife, and Nightmare on Elm Street. She is currently the Director of Entertainment at the Historic Admiral Theater and freelances both in music and PR/Marketing.

SUE CORCORAN, Special Events Committee Chair
Director Sue Corcoran is the owner of Von Piglet Productions www.vonpiglet.com based in Seattle. She started her career by making a 16mm short that told the epic story of a love triangle between two clowns and a mime -- not the break-out hit Sue expected but she continued undaunted. Her debut feature film “Gory Gory Hallelujah” is currently in worldwide video release. Sue was named “One to Watch” by the Seattle Stranger's Genius Awards in Film and has been called a bankable Yankee blond by the London Standard. Her most recent short film won the Nell Shipman award for Best Short and also won the Accolade Award. Sue believes in the art and craft of filmmaking and is dedicated to her vision: human drama told through comedy and fantasy. Sue is in development of her next feature film slated to shoot in 2010.

ILONA ROSSMAN HO, Grant Writing Chair
Prior to entering the film industry Ilona worked as a software engineer and computer architect at Motorola. A lifelong amateur photographer, Ilona loves the blend of technology, artistic vision, story-telling, and the collaboration that filmmaking provides so pursued filmmaking as a career. Ilona graduated from the Seattle Film Institute's 40 Week Full Immersion Filmmaking Program. As a final project she wrote and directed The Big Bogey which screened at the Post Alley Film Festival. She is thrilled to be back in the WIF community after recently returning from a two-year sojourn in England. Ms. Rossman Ho is currently working on a screenplay she plans to shoot in summer 2009.

VANESSA ENG, Workshop and Seminars Chair
Vanessa got her start in documentary filmmaking and is a production coordinator with experience working on commercials, television, and corporate. Her credits include commercials for Columbia Sportswear, Snoqualmie Casino, MTV's The Phone, SciFi Channel's The Making of Halo 3, and more videos for Microsoft than she can count. She is also an avid knitter, a yoga enthusiast, and spends most weekends volunteering on an organic farm which has inspired within her a farming fascination the implementation of which threatens to take over her tiny backyard

STACI BERNSTEIN, Professional Members Grants Chair
Staci is an accomplished movie-maker with a commitment to the feminine voice and the Northwest's Independent Film community. She expresses themes with levity and warmth, but challenges assumptions that drive our culture. Staci has been serving hundreds clients, producing and directing since 1992. In 2000 she founded a program called ArtSpots to bring media art to the masses, and broadcast a flight of spots reaching close to 3 million viewers. Her business, Hero Labs, produces independent narrative movies and commercial work.

RACHAEL ELLISON-TAYLOR, Communications Chair
Rachael, a producer and account manager, started her career in agency public relations, working for notable agencies Ogilvy & Mather and The Rockey Company. She moved into production in the ‘90s, winning a Telly award on her first corporate project. Over the years, she's worked as production manager, senior producer, marketing manager, division manager and content producer for companies in Seattle and in the UK. Her work has taken her into the realm of international production: in 1998, she moved to England, where she spent six years creating a department and producing corporate projects. Since her return to Seattle, she's worked as a producer for Eyeplay, Piranha Productions, Wong Doody, The Production Network and more. Her clients have included international blue chip companies such as GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca, and Halifax Bank of Scotland, as well as top local companies such as Boeing, Safeco Insurance, Alaska Airlines, and PopCap Games. While the majority of her work is corporate, Rachael worked on WBGH-Boston's national television series “Rx for Survival,” and produced a cooking show pilot filmed in France. She's also worked on short films locally, including Wes Kim's “Cookies for Sale,” and SIFF's 2009 fundraising film directed by Rick Stevenson. Rachael holds a BA in Speech and Broadcast from Western Washington University.

ANNIE GROSSHANS, Movie Salon & Discourse Chair
Currently working in the NW production community as a script supervisor, Annie Grosshans is a writer with a background in visual art. After graduating from the University of Washington with a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies “Contemporary Aesthetics and the Creative Process,” Annie became director of documentary publications at and/or gallery, Seattle's alternative art venue of the era. She wrote criticism for local and costal publications and wrote and produced text-based performance art works. In Seattle's Belltown, she co-founded Art In Form, a bookstore of artists’ books, catalogues, and critical thought, and participated in seminars focused on Feminist film theory. After scripting and shooting a number of locally screened video poems and art documentaries, Annie went back to school to get a certificate from UW Extension in Film and Video production, working initially as a production coordinator for a series of educational videos for non profits, and a PBS broadcast documentary. Like many others, Annie started working in commercial production as a production assistant, eventually finding her role 'round the camera as a script supervisor. Annie has one feature screenplay optioned, one screen short, Acts of Witness, in pre-production, and three other screen scripts in various stages of rewriting. All the while she keeps at least one eye trained on the vast, evolving language of story playing out on our cultural landscape.

THERESA MAJERES, Mentoring and Education
After receiving her degree in Video Production from the University of Oregon, Theresa moved to Seattle to start her film career. She spent two years working as a chef in a French restaurant before breaking into the grip & electric department and she never looked back. For the past five years she has been working as a grip and electrician for many independent, commercial, and corporate productions. Her feature film credits include: We Go Way Back, The Dark Horse, World's Greatest Dad, Something Wicked, and The Ward.