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Our people are our greatest asset.
Ron LaRussa, Director
As Director, Ron oversees the development and production of all WGBH Interactive projects. He manages the department's ongoing production of Web sites, CD-ROMs, and DVDs related to WGBH-produced national television programs and curriculum-based educational initiatives. He is also responsible for the creation of new content initiatives specifically for interactive media, and research and development in new technologies and interactive content formats such as broadband and interactive TV. In addition, he is charged with creating and executing the group's overall strategic vision, business development, budgets, and financial management and operations. Under Ron's direction, WGBH Interactive remains one of the most influential and decorated Interactive media production houses in America.
Before heading up the Interactive group, Ron served as WGBH's Director of Strategic Planning and Special Projects, where he directed WGBH's strategy for expansion into new distribution platforms. Prior to joining WGBH, he was Director of Programming Business Affairs for Continental Cablevision, then the nation's third largest cable operator (eventually acquired by AT&T Broadband) where he handled carriage negotiations with broadcast and cable networks and helped manage Continental's ownership stakes in networks such as E!, The Food Network, Speedvision and the Golf Channel. Ron began his career in radio, practiced law in New York and Boston, and produced for television before entering the cable industry.
Howard Cutler, Executive Producer
Howard Cutler specializes in projects associated with WGBH national and international television programming and with broadband content initiatives. He led the development of Commanding Heights Online, which won the BAFTA for Interactive Entertainment/Online Education from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
Previously, Howard served as executive producer for the debut season of Masterpiece Theatre Online, which won acclaim from the American Institute of Graphic Arts for its interface, features, and visual design. He also executive produced the PBS Millennium 2000 Web site, which accompanied the 24-hour worldwide telecast co-produced by WGBH and the BBC; the PBS Global Connections Web site Liberia: America's Stepchild; and the companion site to Robert Redford's Skinwalkers, produced for PBS's American Mystery! and based on the best selling novel by Tony Hillerman.
From 1996 until the spring of 2000, Howard served as director of WGBH Interactive, overseeing the growth of the department from 12 to more than 60 people and playing a key role in the design of WGBH's overall Internet programming strategy. During his tenure, he also served as a member of the PBS Online Advisory Council.
Howard's experience with interactive media design and development spans more than 15 years and encompasses education, games, training simulations, museum and visitor center installations, and themed entertainment environments.
Bill Shribman, Executive Producer of Kids' Projects
Bill oversees all WGBH kids' projects, including those in development, for both the Web and interactive television. He devised and produced the internationally recognized Zoom and Between the Lions Web sites and is a content producer and games designer for the Arthur site. He also devised and produced the new site at FFFBI.com -- the Fin, Fur and Feather Bureau of Investigation.
His team's work has been featured at a number of international conferences, including the World Kids' Summit. It has also received numerous accolades, including New Media INVISION awards (gold and silver); MIMC gold; the Flagstaff, Arizona, Worldfest silver award; the Eddie Award; and the first Prix Jeunesse awarded to a Web site. The Zoom site was a silver-prize winner in the first Japan Prize to be awarded to a Web site.
Prior to joining WGBH, Bill created interactive kids' content for Disney Blast, Addison Wesley Longman, RealNetworks, Mattel, Big Blue Dot, and Headbone Interactive, where he wrote and produced Headbone.com.
Ted Sicker, Executive Producer for Educational Projects
Since 1986, Ted has taken part in concept development, curriculum design, and editorial and production oversight on interactive multimedia productions; since 1996, these have been primarily on the Web. He has produced or executive produced Misunderstood Minds, Evolution, A Science Odyssey, Building Big, Africans in America, Sister Wendy's American Collection, Culture Shock, and The Irish in America on PBS.org and A Biography of America, Discovering Psychology, Teaching Reading K-2, Primary Sources, and Learning Math on Annenberg/CPB's Learner.org. Ted is also senior producer of Teachers' Domain, WGBH's multimedia digital library for K-12 schools. His prior productions include Nuevos Destinos, video and CD-ROM for Spanish language study, and science and history videodiscs, including the Interactive Nova series.
Ted served on the Massachusetts Department of Education Curriculum Frameworks Advisory Committee when state standards were being developed. Before working at WGBH, he was a high school teacher for 10 years; for most of those, he taught social studies and other subjects to special-needs students in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He received a bachelor's from Cornell University and, from the University of Pennsylvania, an M.S. in education and a master's in city planning.
Toby Bottorf, Director of Interactive Design
Toby Bottorf is currently the director of Interactive Design at WGBH in Boston, where he oversees a staff of a dozen designers producing award-winning Web sites for a number of PBS television series, including NOVA, American Experience, Masterpiece Theatre, ZOOM, Arthur, and Between the Lions. From 1995 to 2004, Toby was the founder and principal of Firehaus Design, a studio that specialized in applying user-centered design methods to projects in informal learning.
Toby received a B.A. in Graphic Design from Yale University in 1988, and a Master of Design from the Institute of Design, at Illinois Institute of Technology in 1994. Toby taught graduate-level interaction design at the Institute of Design and has spoken on design and informal learning at conferences for organizations such as the Society for Environmental Graphic Design and the Institute of Design.
Jon Alper, Director of Technology, Research and Development
Jon's role encompasses systems management, R&D into emerging technologies, technical management, and architectural consulting during the development of various Web, CD-ROM, and DTV projects within the Interactive group. He also does VR shooting and authoring, and video encoding for various projects, including Teachers' Domain, Evolution, QuickTime TV, and IMAX movie trailers.
Prior to joining WGBH, Jon operated a systems and IT consultancy for companies and research labs including labs at Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health. His move to the technology industry followed more than a decade working as a lighting and production designer for concerts, special events, and television.
Peter Pinch, Director of Technology for Interactive Content
With Jon Alper, Peter leads a team of 18 developers who produce educational web sites, DVDs and Interactive Television. Peter's recent work includes the Evolution Web site, a finalist for a Pirelli INTERNETional award, and Zoot Suit Culture, a Macromedia Site of the Day. His latest projects include Chicago: City of the Century, an enhanced DVD set for the American Experience, and Enhanced Arthur, an interactive television project for the AFI eTV workshop.
Having taught Flash labs at Yale University and Harvard University, Peter also teaches educational Web design at The Persons School of Marlboro College in Brattleboro, Vermont. He has presented at FlashForward New York and contributed to the book Flash Usability Guide.
Prior to joining WGBH, Peter was a programmer on Encyclopedia Africana, which has since been published by Microsoft and Harvard University as Encarta Africana. He also programmed AdVantage, a classroom-based media literacy product. Peter received a bachelor's in the History of Science and a master's in Technology in Education, both from Harvard.