Mark Manning is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and director of internationally-acclaimed films, including The Road to Fallujah. Mark began his career as a deep-sea commercial diver and plied his trade in the world’s oceans for 20 years. Immediately following the tragedy of 9/11, he put down his hard hat, picked up a camera and became an immersive filmmaker, traveling over 10,000 miles across America to make the feature documentary American Voices, an in-depth look at the American culture and psyche following the crisis. Mark then traveled to Iraq soon after the Iraq war began. He became the only Westerner to live with the people of Fallujah after the city was destroyed, and produced two award-winning documentaries: Caught in the Crossfire and The Road to Fallujah. Mark was the co-founder and director of an international humanitarian relief organization specializing in delivering medical aid to combat zones in Iraq during the war. The agency ran twenty successful missions during the height of the conflict.
Mark’s decades of experience as a commercial “deep-sea” oil field diver grant him unique insight into this project: He worked for the very company tasked with diving operations on the BP well blowout. His experience in the offshore oil industry running large offshore operations, including oil spill responses and capping leaking sub-sea wellheads, enables him to understand and address the complicated and mysterious nature of the offshore oil and marine industries. As an industry insider, he understands the critical aspects of offshore drilling and major spill response operations and plans.
Aaronson is a documentary filmmaker who has traveled the world to shoot and direct award-winning films about the human experience for National Geographic, Discovery, HBO, PBS, and many others. His work has been consistently recognized for its beauty and sensitivity, and has received awards ranging from Academy Awards to Emmys. His film Amazon Gold, narrated by Academy Award winners Sissy Spacek and Herbie Hancock, is the disturbing account of a clandestine journey that bears witness to the apocalyptic destruction of the rainforest in the pursuit of illegally-mined gold.
Sagansky has served as the president of CBS Entertainment, co-president of Sony Pictures Entertainment and CEO of Paxson Communications. Currently, he is chairman of Winchester Capital Management, president of Global Eagle Acquisition Corp., and partner in Hemisphere Media Capital.
Davis is a successful feature film director and producer of sixteen theatrical films. He is best known for a series of action films, including The Fugitive for which he received nominations for Golden Globe and DGA awards for Best Director.
Monroe is an award-winning documentary filmmaker whose theatrical credits include: Writer, The Cove (‘Best Documentary Feature’ 2010 Academy Awards & winner ‘Best Documentary Script’, W.G.A. 2010); writer, Last Play at Shea; writer, the critically-acclaimed film, The Pat Tillman Story; writer, Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos, (W.G.A. nomination Best Documentary Script, 2007); writer Amazing Journey: The Story of The Who, and writer/director, Morning Light, Disney Pictures 2008. In addition, Monroe has produced over fifty hours of biography-style television including: Fearless (Outdoor Life Network); Beyond the Glory (Fox Sports Net); Behind the Music (Vh1); Intimate Portrait: Oksana Baiul (Lifetime); Project Greenlight (HBO/Miramax); Titanic: Secrets Revealed, LA Medical, The Greatest: Muhammad Ali (nominated for NAACP Award); Commander in Chief: Richard Nixon, George Bush & Bill Clinton (Discovery/TLC); Extra (Warner Brothers TV); and Feed Your Mind (TBS).
Boehme is a film editor who primarily works in documentary and independent film. He is known for his pacing and sensitivity to tone, as well as his unique artistic perspectives and experimental style. Boehme works with world-renowned photographers, musicians, journalists and artists to create powerful stories and unique short films, such as Ancient Marks, Sacred: Angkor Wat, and Interviews 50¢ with Alex Chadwick, which have screened at numerous film festivals worldwide. Recently, Boehme co-created and edited The Making of Stony Island: Music Makes Us One with director Andy Davis. Clients include Google, Samsung, EMI, A&E, The Annenburg Foundation, and PBS.
Haugse is a documentary editor acknowledged for his excellent work on independent films and films for television. Oscar-nominated for Hoop Dreams–which is widely considered to be one of the best documentary films of all time–and Emmy-nominated for Assassinated on TBS, he has edited approximately one hundred films, including over thirty hours for television network broadcast (including PBS). Other notable films include Sunset Story (ITVS), Stevie (Lionsgate), Cattle Annie and Little Britches (Universal), No Impact Man (PBS), and Adjust Your Color: The Truth of Petey Green (ITVS).
His current project is an eight-episode series for Netflix about a sensational murder case in Wisconsin.
Chris Ragland is a University of California, Santa Barbara Environmental Science alumni with years of experience working with the largest environmentally progressive companies in the U.S. including Solar City and Ecology.com.
Raised in small town San Pedro, CA - one the largest ports in the world - Chris has lived through the controversy of underprivileged people being subjected to environmental injustices. His voice speaks from experience, dedication, and a raw attitude towards equality of life.
Marcela has a BA in Communication and Spanish from Santa Clara University. She has over five years of experience in project management, customer service, and production. Throughout her career she has taken on projects that have further developed her skillset in effective communication, budgeting and scheduling, writing, multitasking, as well as organizational and project coordination. She ambitiously sees a project or task through from beginning to end at world class standards no matter what the assignment. She is detail orientated and quick to find solutions while maintaining calm and professional under pressure. Her driven personality and strong work ethic are highly valued in any type of workspace.
Nadine is THE RISING’s social media and campaign manager, media writer and partner liaison. She holds a B.S. in Aquatic Biology from University of California at Santa Barbara. With over 14 years of sales and marketing experience in technology software and insurance and the founding of an employee benefits firm, she brings an interesting combination of skills to our team. Nadine is excited to utilize her communication and management skills to support projects that make the world a better place.
Kawika is the Co-Founder of KuKreationz, a creative firm that specializes in Wordpress development and UX design. He’s also the Lead Design & Development Consultant at Mobile1st, a company that provides Enterprise level web-to-mobile page testing and optimization tools. He has a B.S., majoring in both Design and Development and 11 years managing development teams for Staging and Production environments.
When he's not inhaling large amounts of coffee and geeking out on code he enjoys reading, going to the beach, and spending quality time with his family.
Cris studied film and audiovisual communication and has an MA in Documentaries in Santiago, Chile. He worked in Chile for nine years on multiple reality shows, documentaries, directed 15 music video clips and action sport videos. One day, he decided to spread his wings and grow even more, so he got on a plane to Los Angeles. He finally ended up in Santa Barbara, CA starting as a full time video editor, then became a camera operator and Director of Photography. Cris says this is where he found his real creativity and it’s more fun than being in front of a computer screen.