Check out what our alumni and friends are up to!

1960's
James Hirsch (BA '69) is a partner, owner, and co-founder of Papazian-Hirsch Entertainment.

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1970's
Stuart Bass ('78) is working as a freelance film editor mostly in television, mostly for the major studios. Credits are available at IMDB. Most recently cutting The Office: An American Workplace that will be broadcast on NBC.

Mike Klein ('78)
Recently returned to madison after a very successful career in publishing for over 20 years. Has a new media company called The Wisconsin Technology Network.

Warren Lada is currently Senior Vice President for Saga Communications, Inc., owner of 79 radio and television stations and three state networks. Saga Communications is a publicly held corporation on the American Stock Exchange. Their stations are located across the United States. Warren holds Chief Operating Officer responsibilities.

Norman E. Lorenz ('76) still loves working in his chosen field. He's spent 32 years in broadcast television...the best 15 years of his life. In television, nothing is easy. The people he's met along the way have shaped and changed his life, but his father was his biggest influence. Three years before his death, Fred Rogers (Mister Roger's Neighborhood) said it best, "What's really important is rarely center stage in life." He tries to remember that as he mentors new people just starting out their careers. He tells them when they are in the middle of something that feels great - a once in a lifetime interview, a spectacular vista they are shooting, the presence of a musician creating a piece of music that lifts their soul, or an edit that is becoming better than the raw parts - "take your eye away from the camera, step back, breathe in the experience, let it fill you for that split second, then go back to work. You'll be glad you did - 30 years later."

1980's

Randy Ballwahn ('88) has been working with Friends of Madison Student Radio and WSUM 91.7FM since January '04 to develop a fundraising program and long-range development plan for student radio at the University of Wisconsin. Their goal is to work with outside businesses, granting agencies and alumni to help reduce or eliminate WSUM's reliance on student fees for certain operations such as program supplies, equipment, student scholarships, advertising, promotions and events. Alumni are invited to visit www.wsumfriends.com and click on "alumni friends" to contribute to the future of Madison Student Radio, WSUM. If you were involved with any incarnation of student radio--WLHA, WSSO, WSRM, WMHA--you can also share your student radio stories at the Friends website.

Lynn J. Bodi (BA '84) has been elected to the Board of Trustees of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys, a national association of attorneys who have distinguished themselves in the area of adoption law. Ms. Bodi is a co-founder of The Law Center for Children & Families, a Madison law firm.

Stephen Burrows (BA '84) just sold his first feature film to Miramax. Entitled "Chump Change," Burrows wrote and directed the film which stars Fred Willard, Jerry Stiller, Abe Vigoda and Traci Lords. We'll post an update when it hits theatres! You can view the trailer or Burrows' many tv and film commercials at backyard.com

Erin Davis ('86) is now Vice President of Corporate Communications for ANC Rental Corporation located in South Florida.

Paul Ewen ('88) is a freelance editor/producer in NYC. His film WHEN THE WORLD RUNS FAST was accepted into the 2004 Wisconsin Film Festival. The film is a remake of a film that I made in 1986 when taking intro Super-8 class with JJ Murphy.
Also, edited/directed an Opening Tribute for Michael Caine, the Film
Society of Lincoln Center. For MTV, working on two different campaigns to
encourage young people to vote in the 2004 election.
Edited/designed the Film Society of Lincoln Center's May 2003 tribute to Susan Sarandon.

Julia Gray ('89) has finished journalism grad school and is now a contributing writer for beachwoodreporter.com and TheStreet.com. She hopes to move to NYC to work on more multimedia/online journalism in the future.

Matthew Payne ( '88) was promoted to the position of Lay Canon for Administration and Youth Ministry in the Episcopal Diocese of Fond du Lac, which covers the north-eastern third of Wisconsin. In this position, he oversees the overall operation of the diocesan office as well as coordinating youth ministry programs. He has been employed by the Diocese since 1999. He lives in Oshkosh, Wi.

Steffan Postaer ('84) has recently published a novel, The Last Generation.

Walter P. Sheppard (PhD '64) received his Ph.D. in 1964 from the (old) Department of Speech. "Even though I already had BS and MS degrees, I have always felt that my real education came from my years at Wisconsin," he reports. His major field was broadcasting, and has spent most of his career in management positions in public radio and television. He is now a Program Officer in the National Telecommunications and Information Administration in the US Department of Commerce. He works in administering a competitive grants program that assists public radio and television stations purchase equipment. WHA radio and television and other public stations around the state have had many grants from the program.

Bill Siegal (BA '86) was co-director of The Weather Underground, a film about the radical '60s group who blew up police stations, courthouses, and portions of the Capitol building, in order to lodge protests against the Vietnam War and racism.

Lev L. Spiro ('84) "This year I've directed multiple episodes of NBC's "My Name Is Earl", UPN's "Everybody Hates Chris", Fox's "Arrested Development", and Showtime's "Weeds". I have a pilot holding deal at the Fox network, and am slated to direct the indie comedy feature "Queen Lara" in 2006."

Butch Vig (BA '80) and Steve Marker ('89) were once Communication Arts students but are now better known as members of the band Garbage.

Jeff Zabin ('87) is Director of Marketing in the Global Marketing Solutions group at Fair Isaac Corporation (NYSE:FIC), the leading provider of customer analytics and decision technology. A widely recognized business thinker, he is the coauthor of two books: The Seven Steps to Nirvana: Strategic Insights Into eBusiness Transformation (McGraw-Hill, 2001) and Precision Marketing: The New Rules for Capturing, Retaining and Leveraging Profitable Customers ( John Wiley & Sons , 2004). He has written for several trade magazines, and his research has been published in leading academic journals, including the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. He is also a frequent keynote speaker for business forums in the U.S. and Europe. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin, and a returned Peace Corps volunteer, Jeff lives with his wife and two children in Evanston, Illinois, where he advises several startup companies and is often included in lists of Chicago's most influential IT professionals. His latest book is called Precision Marketing, available on Amazon.com.

1990's
Cori Abraham (Finkelstein) ('94) , after working in Television Development at Comedy Central. VH1, and FX, is now the Director of development and programming at Bravo in LA.

Ben Anton ('99) is a Local Account Manager with Madison's Progressive Radio 105.5 Triple M.

Joe Beres ('99) is now the projectionist at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, MN.

Leah Cunningham ('97) has been working in the field of Communications for the NYC Mayor's Office to Combat Domestic Violence since 2002, preparing speeches about domestic violence for both the Commissioner of the office and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. She also leads a community outreach strategy that brings a message of prevention to immigrant and independent media, youth, and business and faith leaders in diverse languages. she says, "Special thanks to Domestic Abuse Intervention Services in Madison and Prof. Steve Lucas for helping to prepare me for this great job!"

Dora Mak ('96) has been working for The Associated Press as a Producer at AP GraphicsBank since 1997.

Erik Farmer (BA ’93) is the senior account executive of Logan Productions, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The animation director of the Spider-Man movies worked at Logan Productions in 2004 on post-production for his forthcoming independent movie, Lonesome Matador.

Joey Garfield ('92) is the director of Breath Control: The History of the Human Beatbox. His film has been shown at festivals around the world including The Los Angeles Film Festival, the Wisconsin Film Festival, the CineVegas Film Festival, and many others.

Jason Gewirtz ('93) is a producer for CNBC. He is in charge of "Closing Bell" with Maria Bartiromo and Tyler Mathisen.

Julia Gray is currently teaching Assistant Editor classes at Columbia College and has taught Editing the Narrative there as well. Plans on going back to school to study new media journalism.

Robert A. Kraig (Ph.D. '99)
I am currently Wisconsin State Political Director for Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

Kate Sawall ('98) is the Director of Content Management at MTVN International.

Trinity Sullivan ('98) has been working as a freelance photographer specializing in travel.
http://www.trinitysullivan.com

Carly (Winer) Ubersox ('96) After nearly 10 years working in entertainment public/media relations, including several years working for Harpo Productions and Oprah Winfrey, I have launched into a new realm - working for myself as an independent communications specialist (consulting, PR, brand imaging, events). Check out my website, www.uberconsultant.com, for more info on my professional history since graduating from UW-Madison.

Kris Warren ('97) started in the mailroom at the Writers and Artists Agency a few weeks after moving from Madison to Los Angeles and quickly moved up the ladder, working in talent representation for 3 years. Kris then decided to move into television development and worked for Joel Silver at Silver Pictures (The Matrix, Die Hards, and Lethal Weapons to name a few films) for 2 years before moving to the Fox network. Kris now develops television shows at the director, McG's Wonderland Sound and Vision which has produced the two Charlie's Angels films, The O.C., The Mountain, and Fastlane, and have new shows in development at ABC, FOX, and The WB.

Wendi Weger (BA '98) is a programmer for the New York Underground Film Festival.

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2000+
Danielle Andrae ('04) is working as a Production Assistant at Arden Entertainment, a small reality television production company based in North Hollywood.

Anne Buresh ('00) now works as the Deputy Communications Director for the House Republican Conference in Washington, D.C.

Andrew Calof has been working for writer/director Todd Phillips (ROAD TRIP, OLD SCHOOL, and now STARSKY & HUTCH) for the past eight months in development.
Recently named Gentlemen Pictures, they have a first look deal with Dimension Films, and have added 10 projects to their ever growing slate of films to either direct or produce as a company.
"The past eight months have been a dream. Most people talk about following their dreams, but I am truly living it. Very thankful to be working with such a talented and growing group of filmmakers."

Abby Ex ('02) is now in development and production at Focus Features in LA after moving to NYC after college to work for the publicity agency PMK/HBH.

Lesley Feinstein ('03) is currently working as a Below the Line Department Coordinator for The Broder Webb Chervin Silbermann Agency. This company's focus is on representing writers, directors, producers, editors, costume designers, production designers, directors of photography and line producers for TV and Feature Films. We also recently developed a reality department that focuses its representation on Writers and Producers.

Clients of BWCS include the creators/writers of Cheers, JAG, NCIS, Medical Investigation and Grey's Anatomy. Movies include Hostage, Princess Diaries (1 and 2), Cellular, What Women Want, Something About Mary, and 13 Going on 30.
Communication Arts undergraduates are welcome to contact Lesley with their questions: lafeinstein@uwalumni.com

Erik J Figi ('02) is working in entertainment industry with a company that does military technical advising for television and film. www.gunmetalgroup.com

Mindy Hirsch ('01) is now the student life/Tzedek Hillel coordinator at the University of Maryland.
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Jude Javier ('01) and Joshua Moise ('01) produced and directed a short film "Supermax Wisconsin" that was accepted into the Slamdance Film Festival. Jude was a Communiation Arts major and Josh doubled in African-American Studies and Communication Arts. Slamdance screened "Supermax" in January 2003 in Park City, Utah.

Erica Lenard ('01) "I am a coordinator in Integrated Marketing for mtvU - MTV's 24 hour college dedicated channel... and looking for help to get the channel on UW!!!"

Eleanor Nett ('02) is the co-Producer of "Every Little Step" which has been selected as a World Premiere Special Presentation for the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival. Every Little Step is a theatrical documentary on the making of Broadway's greatest hit and current revival of "A Chorus Line." The film culls behind-the-scenes footage of the auditions, rehearsals and performances of the 1975 original and the 2006 Broadway revival - revealing how life imitates art as performers from both productions undergo intense experiences similar to the roles in the show itself.

Mayrav Newman ('01) is the Executive Director of the Jewish Broadcasting Network in Chicago (with plans to expand).

Mary Rohlich ('03) interned at MGM studios the summer between her junior and senior year at UW-Madison. After graduating in May '03, she returned to MGM to work for the Director of Development. Currently, Mary is the Assistant to the Vice President of Production at Columbia Pictures and President of the Hollywood Badgers, an alumni group organized to help current and former Com Arts students.

Jill Wade ('01) is now the office manager for U.S. Representative James Sensenbrenner's Washington D.C. office.

Franklin Zitter ('02) After graduating from UW (com-arts / theater) Zitter moved to New York City in May, 2003 to pursue a career in television production. Since moving to New York he has worked on a number of TV productions including The Howard Stern Show (E!), The Apprentice (NBC), Celebrity Poker Showdown (Bravo) and is currently the associate producer for FlickerLab, an animation and motion graphics studio producing projects for TV and Film.