Gretchen Dykstra,
a consultant to US and international
NGOs, is the former President of the World Trade Center
Memorial Foundation, founding President of the Times
Square Business Improvement District, and Consumer Affairs
Commissioner of New York City. She also served as Director
of Communications for the New York City Charter Revision
Commission.
Larry Grossman, co-founder and co-Chairman of the
Digital Promise Project, is the former President
of NBC News (1984-1988) and served as President and
CEO of PBS from 1976-1984. Mr. Grossman is the author
of The Electronic Republic: Reshaping Democracy in
the Information Age among many other books, and has
written a column on Television News for the Columbia
Journalism Review.
Polly Howells is a Brooklyn, NY-based psychotherapist
and author. A Russian speaker who has worked extensively
with the émigré community, Ms. Howells
has served on several boards including the Barbara
Myerhoff Foundation, and on the Advisory Board of
the Esalen Institute Soviet American Exchange Program.
Al McFarlane is the publisher of Insight News, a
Minneapolis weekly, co-sponsor of the Minnesota Public
Policy Forum, an officer of the American Association
of Black Publishers, and a pioneer in interactive
media. He travels, speaks, and writes extensively
about issues including the applicability of tribal
justice to US criminal justice, and reparations for
slavery.
Evelyn Messinger, President and Executive Director
of InterAct, is a co-founder of Internews Network
and has worked as a news and documentary producer/editor
for PBS and CBS News, and as a program developer
and producer for the BBC, French television and others.
She worked in the emerging democracies of Eastern
Europe as the first Electronic Media Director for
the Soros Foundation, and with Internews, supported
independent media in Bosnia, Russia and the former
Soviet Union.
Fran Peavey is Co-Director and Founder of the Friends
of the Ganges River Foundation, and Executive Director
of the Crabgrass Network of social activists. Ms.
Peavey is the author of four books on social issues,
including the forthcoming To Clean A Holy River,
and has recently completed a Bunting Peace Fellowship
at Radcliffe/Harvard University.
