about us
People at Open Channel
Staff
- Jennie Hughes Executive Director
- Scottie Connolly Consultant
- Lucinda Gamble Professional Development Manager
- Daniel Schultheis Vocational Education and Training Manager
- Nim Harrison Shed 4 Manager / Membership Officer
- Souha Husseini Equipment and Facilities / Reception
- Elise Cooney Training Assistant
Board
- Ms Leslie Wood (Chair)
- Mr Lyndsay Neilson (Treasurer)
- Mr Chris Ryan (Secretary)
- Ms Julie Belle
- Dr Lisa Dethridge
- Mr John Hipwell
- Mr Daniel Marks
- Mr Daniel Shewan
To contact the Board, please email info@openchannel.org.au
Staff
Jennie Hughes, Executive Director
Jennie holds the senior post at Open Channel. She has worked in the Australian screen and music industry for over 20 years in senior positions spanning acquisitions, marketing and sales at Virgin, Sony, Warner, EMI, Southern Star Group and Macquarie Bank where she held the position of Executive Vice-President of the film and TV division. She is the Executive Producer of a number of Australian feature films including AFI Award-winning Gettin' Square, which saw her co-partner with the UK's Working Title, Dirty Deeds and Mick Molloy's Crackerjack which she co-financed with Village Roadshow. Jennie has also served as CEO of the Australian Film Institute.
Daniel Schultheis, Vocational Education and Training Manager
Daniel manages VET programs including CUF30107 Certifificate III in Media and CUF60107 Advanced Diploma in Screen and Media. Alongside 20 years experience in film and television production, he has developed, and lectured in, screen curriculum for TAFE in Queensland, and co- ordinated VET for Open Channel since 2007. In 2007/2008 he managed research into screen industry skills needs through Reframing the Future funded programs.
Contact: training@openchannel.org.au
Lucinda Gamble, Professional Development Manager
Lucinda manages Open Channel's Short Courses and Customised Training. A graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts – documentary degree, she has worked on a broad range of film and video productions in documentary and drama for ABC TV in Melbourne, ABC Media in The Kimberley, North West Australia and through her own production company, Frontier Documentaries.
Contact: shortcourses@openchannel.org.au
Nim Harrison, Shed 4 Manager / Membership Officer
Nim is the direct link to Open Channel members, students and clients. She has worked as a Legal Secretary, Airline Cabin Crew member, and managed two separate business ventures: one in marketing fulfillment and the other a cake business in provincial France.
Contact: info@openchannel.org.au
Souha Husseini, Equipment and Facilities Manager
Souha is a recent Media Studies graduate of La Trobe University. She manages Open Channel's Equipment and Facilities department and has a keen interest for post-production filmmaking.
Contact: shusseini@openchannel.org.au
Elise Cooney – Training Assistant
Elise is the assistant to the Training and Professional Development Managers, and organises student enrolments for Open Channel short courses. She is a recent graduate of a Bachelor of Creative Arts and a Graduate Certificate in Media Studies at La Trobe University, and has been involved in the production of numerous student short films and documentaries.
Contact: ecooney@openchannel.org.au
Board
Ms Leslie Wood (Chair)
Leslie Wood, a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and has a Bachelor of Arts and a Graduate Diploma in Social Science. She is a Community Development Consultant and Lecturer at the Centre for eBusiness and Communication at Swinburne University. Leslie is also a former councillor and Deputy Major for the Shire of Yarra Ranges.
Leslie currently serves on the Adult, Community & Further Education Board. Leslie has served on the Open Channel Board since February 2004, having previously been involved with Open Channel as a consultant and project advisor.
Mr Lyndsay Neilson (Treasurer)
Lyndsay Neilson is a consultant in public policy and management. He has been Secretary of the Victorian Department of Infrastructure and the Department of Sustainability and Environment, and has many years experience with the Commonwealth Government. He is Adjunct Professor of Urban Planning and Policy at the University of Canberra, and has also worked as a consultant and adviser on management in Australia and overseas. He joined the Open Channel Board in 2009 and is Treasurer.
Mr Chris Ryan (Secretary)
Chris Ryan is a 30-year veteran of the communications industry. He served 10 years in television at Channel 7 in Sales and Commercial Production overseeing the segment and commercial coordination of the unique experience that was World Of Sport! A further 20 years followed in film as Advertising and Publicity Manager at Greater Union. This involved the gamut of tasks in the running of cinemas combined with the choreography of star tours and the design and management of advertising and marketing campaigns. His activity with Open Channel began in 2004 as a volunteer and he assumed a Board position in 2006. He is currently Secretary to the Board.
Ms Julie Belle
Julie Belle has worked in the film and television design business since 1976. Her work covered a wide variety of productions, though her expertise is concentrated in the drama production area. She has worked both in Australia as well as overseas as a designer and art director. She trained and worked as a designer in Sydney, where she was Head of Design at the ABC. In 1995, Julie resumed her work as a senior production designer, and moved to Melbourne for a six month long production. After leaving the ABC in late 1996, she freelanced in Melbourne as a production designer and designed a children’s drama series and many television commercials both for local and overseas production companies. Since 2001, Julie has been teaching interior design and screen design in Melbourne.
Dr. Lisa Dethridge
Dr. Lisa Dethridge researches Virtual Worlds, social networking and other new media forms. She writes for film, television, theatre, radio, print and the internet in Australia and the United States. She has worked for major and independent studios and networks including Fox, Warner, Working Title, MTV, CBS, NBC, CNN, Granada, Dempa Japan, SBS, the Australian Film Commission, 3RRR radio; ABC Australia, TV New Zealand and Chapel-off-Chapel Theatre. She has exhibited art in Melbourne and New York and written for several magazines including a regular column for Vogue Australia. She has researched communications for the United Nations, NASA, Telstra and Telecom Australia and taught at New York University, the American Film Institute, UCLA, the Australian Film, TV and Radio School, RMIT and University of Melbourne. She has a PhD, in Media Ecology from New York University and is the author of Writing Your Screenplay, published by Allen and Unwin.
Mr John Hipwell
John Hipwell is acknowledged by the film and TV industry as one of Australia’s leading film producers. Trained at the VCA (Swinburne Campus) in film/TV production, his rites of passage were founded on the early iconic films such as Alvin Purple, Snap Shot and Mad Max. As an executive producer, producer and writer/director/writer John has completed literally hundreds of film and TV productions including recently produced Sci Fi thriller, Cryptopticon. John has extensive producer credits on Australian and international documentaries, feature films and international co-productions. He has received various film and TV awards for his documentary and feature film productions and his New Media work is collected by public institutions. John has just completed producing the Australian/Canadian co-production Sci Fi feature film Arctic Blast and the documentary KoHoNas which screened on SBS in November.
Mr Daniel Shewan
More information soon.
