The Power of Two – The Team

The Team

Production Team
Advisory Board
Japan Tour Planning Team

Production Team

Marc Smolowitz – Director/Producer - Marc Smolowitz is an Academy Award-nominated film, television & new media producer (“The Weather Underground” 2003, “Trembling Before G-d” 2001) and Executive Producer / Consultant to a diverse slate of San Francisco-based media and technology companies. Most recently, he was the Producer at TellyTopia, a Silicon Valley new media company specializing in IP-TV and VOD product functionality for cable companies. Currently, he is on the faculty at the Digital Film Making program at the Art Institute of California, San Francisco, and also serves as Chair of the Technology Impact Circle at Full Circle Fund, an engaged philanthropy group that gives grants to Bay Area nonprofits. His forthcoming films include “The HIV Story Project,” a short film compilation that brings together filmmakers working in creative collaboration with people living with HIV/AIDS. Learn more at http://www.linkedin.com/in/marcsmolowitz. Follow him on twitter – http://twitter.com/marcsmolowitz

Andrew Byrnes – Producer – Andrew Byrnes is a partner at Covington and Burling, a global law firm, practicing intellectual property litigation and election/political law. For over 15 years, Andrew has been a committed volunteer for Cystic Fibrosis education and patient support. He is also active in promoting organ donation and transplantation awareness. Currently, he is Co-Chair of the Finance Committee of the California Democratic Party, a member of the board of Commonweal Institute, a progressive think tank, and a member of Full Circle Fund, an engaged philanthropy organization. Andrew received his B.A. from Stanford University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. Learn more at http://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewbyrnes.

Nickolas Rossi – Director of Photography – Nickolas Rossi was born in Chicago, Illinois. He attended Columbia College Chicago for fine art photography and graduated from Portland State University with a B.Sc in Sociology. Following university he lived and worked in Canada, Britain and the Czech Republic. As a cinematographer he has worked extensively across North America, Asia, Europe and Mexico. As a young adult Nickolas was employed as a counselor for at-risk, runaway and homeless youth. His experiences as a social worker continue to motivate him in regards to the projects he chooses. His documentary film work includes the award winning Incest: A Family Tragedy and Adjust Your Color: The Truth of Petey Greene. He spent this past summer nurturing future filmmakers by teaching documentary filmmaking for Film Action Oregon. Nickolas currently lives in Los Angeles, California, where he continues to shoot features and documentaries. His work can also been viewed at www.nickolasrossi.com.

Nicole Dionne – Nicole Dionne is the founder and Creative Director at PrimalScream Music, Los Angeles. Dionne’s passion is to marry striking audio to picture to move the viewer. “They say a picture is worth a thousand words; well, I feel that music is worth a million”, claims Dionne.” As Chris Morris of Billboard Magazine writes, “Nicole Dionne is someone who keeps her ear close to the ground. On any given night, you can count on running into her in an L.A. club, checking out what’s new, exciting, and up-to- the-minute in music.” Learn more at www.PrimalScreamMusic.com!

Tim Easton – Composer - Tim Easton is a musician/writer from Ohio who resides in the high desert of Joshua Tree, CA. He has made four full length albums of original songs with New West Records and has travelled extensively around the planet as a solo troubadour and with a backing band. “Tim Easton is a storyteller through and through, but he’s also a student of classic pop songcraft willing to interrupt a weighty narrative with an undeniable hook. ” ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE. Learn more at http://www.timeaston.com

Matthew Sultan – Editor - Matthew was born and raised in Los Angeles. He presently lives in San Francisco, CA. Before settling into documentary production, he held jobs as a primate researcher, veterinary technician, seminary school videographer, and dish washer. He spent several years at Current TV as the Supervising Producer / Editor of their user-generated content department. In 2008, his work at Current earned him an Emmy nomination. He is a founding member of Relevant Pictures, a boutique production house in the bay area. Most recently, he traveled to Colombia’s Pacific coast to produce a documentary on narcotrafficking. He is always interested in meaningful projects and doubly interested if the project involves travel. Learn more at http://www.linkedin.com/pub/matthew-sultan/a/414/a52

Thomas Eugene Green – Editor - Thomas Eugene Green began his career at an early age in Louisville, Kentucky and has since found himself at the center of the growing new media and film industry. The unlikely link between Baryshnikov, Al Gore, Wu-Tang, and the Barbie Doll, Thomas’s work as a Producer, Editor and Cinematographer shares a distinctively intimate and intuitive style. In 2006 Thomas animated the award-winning short film The Tribe that was selected at Sundance and Tribecca film festivals. As a Producer and Editor of Original Programming at Current TV, Thomas earned an Emmy-nomination for his documentation of the Burning Man arts festival and won a Hugo for his coverage of The J.A.M. Awards featuring Snoop Dogg, Dead Prez, and L.L. Cool J. In 2009 Thomas was a field producer for MTV’s True Life and then went on to shoot and produce the first season of TLC’s Addicted. Thomas currently finds himself a happy and busy founding member of Relevant Pictures, a design and production company based in San Francisco.

Timothy Palmer – Art Director - Timothy Palmer is an independent designer, animator, and art director specializing in graphic design and animation for film, broadcast and the web. Timothy currently produces work for a wide variety of clients including The History Channel, Twitter, The Gap, and IFC in addition to working with advertising agencies such as DixonBaxi, RazorFish, and EVB. Prior to embarking on his own, Timothy spent three years working as the Senior Designer at Al Gore’s Current Television where he helped lead a team of 9 designers to yield the network numerous PromaxBDA awards and critical acclaim throughout the blogosphere. Tim currently resides in San Francisco, California where he, in addition to serving his own clientele, serves as a founder and the Creative Director of Relevant Pictures.

Matthew Rome – Production Manager - Matthew Rome is a digital film and video major at the Art institute of California – San Francisco. A pacific northwest native, Matt has lived and worked in the Bay Area and San Francisco since March of 2008. He has professional experience gaffing and gripping on feature films, short media, corporate videos, and video for the web. He is a co-founder of Kwality Media, a collective of artists and video makers that produce videos for local businesses and artists, and has been working with the good people at Photon Creative, a San Francisco based production company, for the last year. Matt was also on the screening committee for the 29th annual San Francisco Jewish Film Festival.

Naomi Takeuchi – Associate Producer – Naomi Takeuchi was born in Los Angeles, California, where she spent her first ten years of her life, and then moved back to Tokyo, Japan for the next decade. In her professional life, for the past 8 years, she has been the sole PR representative at the Silicon Valley office for her company in Japan. Using her bilingual and bicultural skills, she served as Japan Tour Manager for The Power of Two’s October 2009 10-city tour of Japan, and serves as the liaison between the Power of Two team in America and supporters and partners in Japan. Learn more at http://www.linkedin.com/pub/naomi-takeuchi/3/24b/473.

Jennifer Schmidt – Associate Producer – Born and raised in Los Angeles, Jennifer grew up next door to the Stenzel twins and spent countless hours of childhood playing at each others’ houses. With extensive experience in the film business, her first job was at art-house distributor Strand Releasing, which was followed by several years in film and commercial production as a production coordinator, production assistant, and second assistant director on indie features such as Chuck and Buck. Following up on an undergraduate degree in environmental studies from UC Santa Cruz, Jennifer returned to graduate school at UCLA for a masters in urban planning where she also ran a prominent film series, which parlayed into programming positions with the California Film Institute. Now a resident of San Francisco, Jennifer has also worked at Active Voice and Katahdin productions on outreach and social action campaigns.

Yasufumi Higuchi – Second Camera & Web Content Editor – Yasufumi Higuchi (Yasu) grew up in Fukuoka, Japan. While earning his BA in Literature from Kumamoto University in Kumamoto, Japan, he traveled to Australia, a trip that inspired him to become a filmmaker. After attaining an AA from Santa Monica College in Los Angeles, he transfered to San Francisco State University where he graduated Magna Cum Laude, Spring 2009 with a BA in Cinema. While at SFSU he was very active in the pursuit of practical training which includes an Internship at San Francisco Government TV where he was an AC and Assistant Editor. He also has worked on commercials, TV programs, and several independent films including, “Waiting For A Train,” a documentary about Japanese bluegrass musician, Toshio Hirano. He has recently enjoyed working on the web serial “Adventures with Seth,” as well as “Road To Nowhere,” an upcoming music video for the group, Green Day.

Dan Roth – Associate Producer – Dan Roth is a native of Akron, Ohio, currently residing in San Francisco. An attorney, he currently serves as the Federal Litigation Fellow for the Volunteer Legal Services Program of the Bar Association of San Francisco. Dan’s career in public interest law began in Washington, D.C., with Alliance for Justice and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), and continued in Columbus, Ohio, where he advised and represented statewide officeholders as an Assistant Attorney General. Dan is a founder and former president of the Columbus Lawyer Chapter of the American Constitution Society. He holds a BA in History, English, and Political Science from The Ohio State University, where he was a John Glenn Fellow, and a JD from Boston College Law School. Learn more at: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dan-roth/5/629/635

Ashley Ryan Arnwine – Assistant to the Producer & Social Media Associate (Japan Production) – Ashley Ryan Arnwine is a creative Japanese translator and Project Manager focused on media, tech, and audio, devoted to growing real-life local communities and international relationships. A Texas native, he worked in southern Japan for 5 years, and now resides in San Francisco. Among his current projects, Ashley serves as an Internationalization and Social Media consultant for Stitcher Radio, an on-demand radio app for smart phones. He has done voiceover and mobile recording work for projects in both the US and Japan. Ashley is a musician, student of the martial arts, and gadget-lover. Learn more at http://www.linkedin.com/in/ashryan and http://www.internationalwordandsound.com/, and follow him at http://twitter.com/ashdayo/.

Chika Konishi – Production Intern (Tokyo) – Chika Konishi grew up in Tokyo, Japan. After she graduated from Kyoritsu Junior College majoring in English Literature, she moved to the U.S to continue her study in English. After she earned A.A at College of Marin, she transferred to San Francisco University to pursue her study in broadcasting. She earned B.A in TV and Radio with an emphasis on Audio and Radio production. Chika later returned to school at City College of San Francisco where she studied film and video, and was actively involved with student films and independent films as an editor, assistant director and production assistant. She also produced her first mini-documentary “Perspectives on America” which was selected for the annual film festival at CCSF. She loves spending time with her family and friends, traveling, running, reading and cooking.

Justin Mahon – Website Developer – Justin Mahon is currently pursuing a Bachelors degree in Web Design and Interactive Media while founding his own small freelance interactive media production business, Mahon Media. Justin’s passion lie in friends, outdoor adventures, disc golf, and travel. – http://www.mahonmedia.com – http://Twitter.com/justinmahon – http://www.linkedin.com/in/justinmahon

Kirsten Incorvaia – Social Media Coordinator – Kirsten Incorvaia is a San Francisco based writer and social media consultant. Since moving to the Bay Area in 2008, she has contributed to several print and online publications including Juxtapoz Art and Culture Magazine, M.I.S.S. Omni Media, the White Walls and Shooting Gallery blogs, and The Citrus Report. Kirsten specializes in observing and engaging with niche online communities for optimized web presence of individuals and small businesses through social media. She grew up in San Diego, CA and earned her BA from University of California Santa Barbara in 2008. Apart from writing, Kirsten enjoys drawing, riding her Cannondale, traveling, and getting lost in fiction novels. She fills up on inspiration through music, art, film, and Golden Gate Park just outside her front door. Learn more at http://kirsteninc.com and follow her on twitter @kirsteninc.

Advisory Board (in formation)

Charles Baker – Media & Technology Executive – Charles Baker is an experienced digital media professional; specializing in video content licensing, audience development, online advertising, branded entertainment, and social media. He has worked on digital content initiatives with hundreds of companies and organizations; including PBS, the BBC, UNICEF and many others. Find him on LinkedIn.com/in/charlesbaker.

Wanda Bershen – WB Arts Consulting; Faculty, Baruch College – Wanda Bershen has worked for over 20 years with many arts, educational & cultural organizations, setting up media arts funding programs for the Pennsylvania Arts & Humanities Councils and working with cultural organizations across New York and nationally. She was a founding Director of the National Alliance of Media Arts Centers, and Program Director of CUNY-TV. As a department head at the Jewish Museum she founded the New York Jewish Film Festival with the Film Society of Lincoln Center. She has been a consultant for the NY State Arts Council, NJ State Arts Council on media, visual arts, and interdisciplinary arts. Ms. Bershen also consults on Fundraising, Marketing, Strategic Planning and Program Development. Now teaching Arts Management on the CUNY Baruch graduate faculty, she has taught at NYU, Rutgers University, Temple University, Philadelphia College of Art and her writing has appeared in Art In America, Artforum, The Boston Review, Afterimage and The Independent.

Jason Christie, M.D. - Assistant Professor of Medicine & Assistant Professor of Epidemiology, University of Pennsylvania – Dr. Christie is the Section Chief of Medical Critical Care, Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Department of Pulmonary/Critical Care Medicine, and Assistant Professor of Epidemiology in the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a Senior Scholar in the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and the Director of Clinical Research in the Pulmonary Division. His career is focused on translational research studies of the risks, pathogenesis, treatment, and outcomes of acute lung injury (ALI) in the transplant and non-transplant human populations.

Adam Dornbusch, Business Development, Current Media - Current TV is one of the fastest growing cable networks in history, distributed in over 70 million homes in the US, UK, Ireland and Italy with a fully integrated online platform. Adam drives new business opportunities for Current through spearheading new media distribution partnerships, negotiating content acquisition licensing deals and establishing brand integrated sponsorship opportunities for original productions. Adam has a long proven track record in the traditional and new media content distribution and acquisition world. Recently at Tribeca Enterprises, Adam was brought in to establish a new multi-platform distribution business for the film festival and was primarily responsible for all film acquisitions and marketing. Prior to Tribeca, he headed the content acquisitions team at Jaman.com where he acquired the EST/DTO, VOD and ad-supported online rights to more than 5,000 titles. Adam has also served as Vice President of Business Development for Access 360 Media, one of the largest domestic out-of-home media networks, where he developed strategic relationships with partners such as CBS, Maxim and Heavy.com. Adam has also led the digital programming efforts for Starz Entertainment including their digital movie download service Vongo (now named Starz Play), as well as the Business Development efforts at Ripe Digital Entertainment. Adam serves on the New Media Council of the Producers Guild of America and acts as a member of the Board of Governors, Television Executives for the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Elliott Greenberger – Communications Manager, See3 – Elliot Greenberger is Communications Manager at See3, where he helps nonprofits use the web—with a focus on multimedia—for education, fundraising, and advocacy. Some of his projects include online campaigns for Refugees International, Sierra Club, NARAL Pro-Choice America, Catholic Medical Mission Board, and the Center for Global Development. He has spoken about social media and online video at Northwestern University’s “Global Engagement Summit” as well as Art Institute of California San Francisco. He is a graduate of Yale with a degree in English Literature. Visit his website, goodworkpeople.com, where he writes about the world of socially responsible business.

David Evan Harris – Executive Director, Global Lives Project - David Evan Harris is Executive Director of the Global Lives Project and Research Affiliate at the Institute for the Future. David lived in Brazil from 2004-2007 as a Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholar, receiving a master’s degree in Sociology from the University of São Paulo. His master’s thesis was a comparative study of the relationships between domestic workers and their employers in Brazil and the US. David received his B.A. in 2003 from UC Berkeley, where he created his own major in “political economy of development and environment.” In college David took part in the International Honors Program, where he spent eight months traveling and studying in Tanzania, India, the Philippines, Mexico, and the UK. In 2000, he held an internship at the White House Council on Environmental Quality and has since worked as a consultant to numerous non-profit and educational organizations in theUS and Brazil. In Brazil, David wrote and directed newscasts for CurrentTV. His writings and photographs have been published in six languages in print and online with the BBC, Adbusters, the Sarai Reader, Glimpse Magazine, Next American City, Focus on the Global South, Alternet and Grist. David’s written work has been translated into French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch and Chinese.

Mike Honda, Congressman; Chair, Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus - Congressman Mike Honda represents the 15th Congressional District of California in the House of Representatives. Congressman Honda has been a public servant for decades during which he has been lauded for his work on education, transportation, civil rights, and the environment. In 2000, Congressman Honda was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. He serves on the Appropriations Committee and he is the Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. Congressman Honda has been selected by his Democratic colleagues to serve as the Regional Whip for Northern California, Hawaii, American Samoa, and Guam. As Regional Whip, he works with the Democratic Leadership by communicating legislative priorities and strategies to members within his region. In February, 2005 he was elected Vice Chair for the National Democratic Party. He continues to be a strong voice for the cause of social justice, cultural tolerance and civil rights.

Tomoaki Kato, M.D. – Assistant Professor of Surgery, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons – Dr. Tomoaki Kato is Surgical Director of Adult and Pediatric Liver and Intestinal Transplantation at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center and is a faculty member in the department of surgery at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Dr. Kato is known for unique and innovative surgeries for adults and children, including a six-organ transplant; a procedure called APOLT (auxiliary partial orthotopic liver transplantation) that resuscitates a failing liver by attaching a partial donor liver, making immunosuppressant drugs unnecessary; and the first successful human partial bladder transplantation. Recently, he led the first reported removal and re-implantation, or auto-transplantation, of six organs to excise a hard-to-reach abdominal tumor. Previously the director of pediatric liver and gastrointestinal transplant and professor of clinical surgery at the University of Miami School of Medicine, Dr. Kato received his medical degree from the Osaka University Medical School and received his residency training in surgery at Osaka University Hospital and Itami City Hospital in Hyogo, Japan.

Marcia Katz, M.D. – Associate Professor of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine – Dr. Marcia Katz, the Brown Foundation Professor of Adult Cystic Fibrosis, and Associate Professor of Medicine, is the Director of the Adult Cystic Fibrosis Center at The Baylor College of Medicine. She received her medical degree from Boston University School of Medicine in 1984. She completed her residency in Internal Medicine at Boston City Hospital and her fellowship in Pulmonary in Critical Care Medicine at the Pulmonary Center of Boston University School of Medicine in 1991. Not long after joining the Baylor College of Medicine faculty in 2001, she was named the Adult CF Director. During her tenure at the center, the population has grown from 80 to 165 patients. As Adult CF Director, she has been involved in all aspects of CF care, including clinical research. Through the CF Foundation, she has participated in Learning and Leadership Collaborative V. She has been a member of the CF Therapeutics Development Network since 2005 and a member of its Steering Committee since 2007. Her area of interest is male and female sex hormones in adult patients with Cystic Fibrosis.

Chris Kelley – Division President of the National Kidney Foundation (serving Northern California, Northern Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Alaska) - Chris Kelley has been an executive with this highly regarded national healthcare organization for close to 7 years. Included in his 23 years of non-profit work, Mr. Kelley has held senior management positions with healthcare, international development, conservation and social service NGO’s based in San Francisco, New York, Indianapolis, IN and overseas. Mr. Kelley received his Bachelor degree from Purdue University.

yul-kwon Yul Kwon – Yul Kwon has had a diverse career spanning government, business, law, and media. He currently serves as Deputy Chief of the FCC’s Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau and as an adjunct instructor at the FBI Academy, where he helps teach a course on human and organizational dynamics. Yul’s prior government experiences include serving as an aide in the U.S Senate and clerking on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. In the private sector, Yul has held positions at Google, McKinsey & Company, Venture Law Group, and Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis. In 2006, he became the first Asian American to win the CBS reality show, Survivor. On his way to winning the show’s controversial, racially-segregated season, Yul applied the leadership skills he developed over his career to create a multi-ethnic alliance and break stereotypes about Asian Americans in the media. His post-Survivor media experiences include working as a special correspondent for CNN, co-hosting a show on the Discovery Channel, and speaking to corporations and universities on the topic of diversity and leadership. Yul is active in a wide range of charitable causes, particularly those seeking to increase the number of minority bone marrow donors – an issue he began championing when his best friend died from leukemia in college. He has been profiled in VIBE Magazine’s annual “Juice” issue of people with power, as well as People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive issue. Yul received his J.D. from Yale Law School and his B.S. degree in Symbolic Systems from Stanford University.

Susanna McColley, M.D. – Head, Pulmonary Medicine & Director, Cystic Fibrosis Center, Children’s Memorial Hospital (Chicago); Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine – Susanna A. McColley, MD, is a pediatrician certified in pediatric pulmonology. She is Head of the Division of Pulmonary Medicine and the Director of the Cystic Fibrosis Center at Children’s Memorial Hospital and Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, both in Chicago, Illinois. She serves as the medical advisor to the Board of Directors of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Greater Illinois Chapter, and was a member of the Center Committee of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF) from 1997-2005. She serves as an ad hoc reviewer for numerous medical journals. She is also actively involved in research relating to CF and has authored more than 50 articles. Dr. McColley is a member of the American Thoracic Society, from which she has received 2 presidential commendations, is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians.

Jillian Misrack – Director, Community Impact, Full Circle Fund - At Full Circle Fund Jillian Misrack is responsible for corporate and foundation development, Circle effectiveness, grantee relations, and grantmaking best practices. Prior to joining Full Circle Fund, Jillian managed AOL’s West Coast philanthropic and volunteer initiatives for more than five years. Jillian has directed partnerships with a diverse group of education based community organizations. In addition to her work with AOL Community Investment, Jillian founded her own consulting business, wesource, in 2003. She has also been involved in the National Philanthropy Day Steering Committee, Co-chair of Northern California Grantmakers Corporate Contributions Roundtable, The Northern California Summer Youth Program Steering Committee, the Bay Area Corporate Volunteer Council and the Silicon Valley Corporate Community Relations Consortium. A life long volunteer, Jillian serves as Board President and Chair of the Board Development Committee of The Volunteer Center of San Francisco and San Mateo Counties. She holds a B.A. in History from San Francisco State University. Jillian, an organ donor, is also actively involved in the California Transplant Donor Network, dedicated to educating the public and saving lives through organ and tissue donation.

Thomas Mone – Chief Executive Officer & Executive Vice President, OneLegacy – Tom Mone is the CEO of OneLegacy, the US’s largest organ recovery agency, serving 19 million people, 200+ hospitals and 13 transplant centers. OneLegacy, annually recovers 400 organ donors and 1300 organs for transplant, a 60% increase in the past 6 years, and 1800 tissue donors. Tom has led the development of the first industry standard of web-based organ placement, prospective NAT/PCR testing of all donors since 2004 and Chagas testing since 2007, as well as paid media advertising and a 100% multilingual family care staff to increase ethnic community donation from 45% to 75%, and has overseen the founding of the Donate Life Rose Parade Float that has 60+ national and international partners that has inspired documented 15-20% seasonal increases in donation rates by communicating the value and need for donation to over 300 million people. Tom is Immediate Past President of the Association of Organ Procurement Organizations (AOPO) and a founding member of AOPO’s Multicultural Council; he is also an AOPO Accreditation Surveyor and Committee member. Tom is currently a Director on the UNOS Board of Directors.

Michikita Ohkubo – Director, Japan Transplant Recipients Organization – While working as a freelance commercial photographer, Michikita Ohkubo, a transplant recipient himself, is active in spreading awareness of organ transplantation throughout Japan. To help transplant recipients achieve a better standing in society, he works with related organizations and promotes the needs of transplant recipients and those who hope to receive transplants. He is the Executive Director of the Japan Organ Transplant Network, Director of the Japan Transplant Recipients Organization, and Director of the Japan Transplant Recipients Sports Games, and serves on the Organ Transplant Committee of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare’s Council of Health Sciences Disease Control Division.

Cathy Olmo – Acting Supervisor, Community Affairs, California Transplant Donor Network – Cathy Olmo has worked for the California Transplant Donor Network for the past 7 years and was a volunteer for 13 years before that! Cathy’s daughter, Kelly (22) is a liver transplant recipient of 20 years which makes the cause of donation and transplantation not only her profession, but her passion. Cathy is part of the Community Affairs department and has responsibility for the department staff and volunteer program. Collectively, they work to inspire community members to sign up to become organ and tissue donors in an effort to save more lives.

Bruce Reitz, M.D. – Norman E. Shumway Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine – Bruce Reitz is a Board Certified Cardiothoracic Surgeon. Reitz obtained an undergraduate degree at Stanford University, a medical degree at Yale Medical School, and completed an internship at Johns Hopkins Hospital and residencies and fellowships at Stanford University Hospital and the National Institutes of Health. He joined the surgical faculty at Stanford University in 1978, served as Chief of Cardiac Surgery at Johns Hopkins University from 1982-92, and chaired the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Stanford from 1992-2005. In 1981 Reitz and his team performed the first successful heart-lung transplant, which also was the first time a lung had ever been transplanted. In 1995 he conducted another pioneering operation: he performed the first Heartport procedure, using a device that allows minimally invasive coronary bypass and valve operations.

J.T. Rhodes – President, Board of Directors, Transplant Recipients International Organization – J T Rhodes is a Certified Public Accountant who opened up his own CPA firm in order to work after his kidney transplant in 1992. JT also received a bone tissue graft in his left hip in 1994 at the same time that his right hip was totally replaced. J T was the founding president of TRIO Northeast Florida chapter and has served several terms as chapter president. He was on the National board of TRIO from 1998 to 2000 and was chair of the chapter development committee which completed the ABC’s of chartering a chapter and the Chapter Operations manual. In 2006 J T was elected President of TRIO board of directors and currently is still serving as president. J T has also competed in all world and US transplant games starting in 1995 at the World Games in Manchester England.

Tenaya Wallace – Campaign Director, Donate Life Hollywood – Tenaya Wallace designed the Donate Life Hollywood campaign in response to a series of research papers outlining the serious consequences of inaccurate information about organ and tissue donation on television. Donate Life Hollywood is part of a national Donate Life movement harnessing the efforts of the organ and tissue donation and transplant community including transplant centers, organ procurement organizations, tissue and eye banks, and transplant groups. As a former manager of communications at OneLegacy, the organ procurement organization servicing Southern California, Tenaya gained intimate knowledge about the donation and transplant system. She designed the organization’s successful volunteer program and continues to train volunteers to tell their personal stories of hope, love and transformation. With Donate Life Hollywood she now helps writers and documentary producers tell these real-life stories as a way to inspire others to donate life.

Beth Iams Wellman – Fellow, Committee on International Relations; Co-Producer, “In the Family” – Beth Iams Wellman is a Fellow with the Committee on International Relations for 2009-2010 while pursuing a masters degree in International Relations at the University of Chicago. From 2005-2008, she served as Director of Project Research at Kartemquin Films where she Co-Produced “In the Family,” an Emmy-Award nominated documentary feature exploring the impact of genetic testing for the hereditary breast and ovarian cancer gene. The film was broadcast nationally on the series “P.O.V.” on PBS in Fall 2008. Beth also coordinated the outreach and education campaign around the film. With Kartemquin, she contributed to proposals for projects on public education and immigrant health, organizational development grants, and oversaw multimedia projects. Previously, Beth worked as the Senior Researcher and Associate Producer for Peabody Award-winning York Zimmerman Inc. on international political documentaries including “Orange Revolution,” called “the most convincing film to date” about the 2004 civic uprising in Ukraine, and “Confronting the Truth,” a film exploring truth commissions and the challenges of transitional justice in Peru, East Timor, South Africa, and Morocco. Beth graduated with honors from Duke University with degrees in Public Policy and Psychology, and has lived and worked in South Africa, Thailand, and Barbados.

Jeffrey Wine, Ph.D. - Professor of Psychology, Human Biology, Neurosciences and Pediatrics, and Director, Cystic Fibrosis Research Laboratory, Stanford University

Kyoko Yoshida – Executive Director, U.S./Japan Cultural Trade Network, Inc. - Kyoko Yoshida is the founder and director of the U.S./Japan Cultural Trade Network (CTN), which was started as an international project of Arts Midwest in 2001. The organization provides leadership, vision, information and technical support to enhance cultural trade between the two countries. After its successful and productive operation of five years in Midwest, CTN relocated to San Francisco in 2006 to become an independent nonprofit organization. Prior to CTN, Yoshida was program manager at the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center in Los Angeles, where she worked for five years presenting Japanese performing artists at the Center’s 880-seat theater. Yoshida holds an MFA in performing arts management from Brooklyn College, City University of New York. Prior to her arrival to the United States, Yoshida had extensive experience in presenting international artists at Spiral in Tokyo where she worked for 6 years. She has served the field as a presenter, producer, and consultant for 25 years. Yoshida also translates theatrical scripts between Japanese and English.

Japan Tour Planning Team

Hiroyuki Aihara - Hiroyuki Aihara works as a Strategic Market planner at Office Equipment Company in Japan. In July 2008, Hiroyuki’s six year old daughter, Midori, received a heart transplant at Arkansas Children’s Hospital. To pay the expensive medical fees, including the three-month stay in the ICU, he has been fundraising in Japan (link). While he is busy working and taking care of her daughter and family, he helps organize events in Japan for The Power of Two. Hiroyuki lives in Mitaka, Tokyo, with his wife and two children.

Rumiko Aoyama – Rumiko Aoyama’s second daughter was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis when she was three-years old, and after a long battle with the disease, she passed away at 17. In April 2001, Rumiko and three other families that met online established the Japan Cystic Fibrosis Network. Through the group’s mailing list, “Cystic-L,” she got to know Isa and Ana, and is happy to be involved in “The Power Of Two.”

Taka Maeda – Taka Maeda was born in western part of Japan and grew up in Tokyo. She works for Canon, in its marketing division helping to launch new photocopier and multifunction imaging products. Taka’s mother died of serious kidney disease and could receive a transplant in Japan. Taka loves to travel overseas, particularly attending live concerts and sporting events. She stopped by the 2008 U.S. Transplant Games while visiting a friend in Pittsburgh, and became a supporter and volunteer of Team Northern California. At the Transplant Games, she also befriended Isa and Ana and dedicated herself to working with them to help save patients in Japan in need of organ transplants. Taka believes that those in favor of organ donation and transplantation need to raise their voices, and that Isa and Ana’s positive, cheerful, miraculous spirit and message can change the world.