Executive Producer Dr. Steven Channing offers a distinguished career as historian and filmmaker whose teachings and writings have focused on the American South to help provide a fresh lens on stories of N.C. history.
He produced the Emmy Award-winning historical drama Alamance for PBS, as well as the nationally broadcast Civil Rights classic February One, the story of the Greensboro Sit-Ins. He is well known for the popular regional documentaries Durham: A Self-Portrait and Down Home, a story about the state’s Jewish community. All are filmed for broadcast on UNC-TV with companion teaching guides distributed to schools statewide. In recent years, Video Dialog also produced Change Comes Knocking: the Story of the North Carolina Fund, as well as Crossing the Centuries, Committed to Care, an illustrated book and video on the 75th anniversary of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina.
Steve received his Ph.D. from UNC-Chapel Hill and taught at the University of Kentucky, Stanford, Duke and Genoa, Italy, and as a research fellow at Johns Hopkins. For the past 25 years he’s been a documentary filmmaker with extensive broadcast and educational film credits, including And Still I Rise: Maya Angelou, America's 400th Anniversary, narrated by Andy Griffith, This Other Eden, hosted by Patricia Neal, and Upon This Rock: The Black Religious Experience.
Producer Scott Misner is an experienced communicator, author and educator. A Raleigh resident for 16 years, Misner lives in historic Oakwood and has an office in historic City Market. He’s heavily committed to social causes and advocates for animal welfare and social justice and anti-poverty initiatives. His firm Misner & Associates Public Relations has managed various high-profile public developments, including the launch of the Durham Performing Arts Center and early efforts to preserve history at Raleigh’s Blount Street Commons.
Scott is a graduate of Purdue University and received his master’s degree from UNC-Chapel Hill. For 12 years he has taught as an adjunct instructor in the UNC Journalism School’s top-ranked public relations department. His courses have included partnerships with the City of Raleigh, City of Durham, Carolinas Farm Stewardship Assoc., and the N.C. Center for Voter Education, among many others. Misner is a contributing author of the Encyclopedia of Sport in American Culture. He serves on the boards of the Raleigh Public Record, St. Augustine’s Community Development Corporation and Self-Help Credit Union.
Co-Producer Betsy Conti is president of The Conti Group LLC, a consultancy that provides business development, public policy and strategic communications services to a wide range of public and private sector clients. Her areas of expertise include leadership development, public finance, public-private partnerships, infrastructure finance, and project development and finance.
Previously, Betsy served as chief of staff to N.C. Lieut. Gov. Beverly Perdue. Betsy coordinated Perdue’s legislative and executive policy initiatives, managed statewide constituent services, communications, and represented the Lieut. Gov. on boards and commissions and at public events across the state. Betsy also served as vice president for government relations at the Welfare to Work Partnership, a national non-profit organization, based in Washington D.C., organizing the business community to place and retain welfare recipients in private sector jobs.
In the mid 1990s, Betsy was Maryland’s Deputy Secretary of Labor, responsible for policy, program and regulatory oversight for statewide employment and training, occupational safety and health, financial regulation, and occupational and professional licensing. A proud and involved citizen, Betsy and her husband, Gene, reside in Raleigh’s historic Oakwood neighborhood.
Strategic Partner Marc Allen Newman is an experienced executive and proven leader with a successful record of grant writing, fund raising, fiscal management, special events planning and staff supervision. He serves as a director for the United Negro College Fund across the Southeastern U.S. Previously, Marc served as vice president of institutional advancement and development for Saint Augustine’s University.
Marc is a graduate of Chicago State University who has completed educational enrichment programs at the Harvard University Institute for Educational Management, Institute for Institutional Advancement Vice Presidents at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College and Kellogg School of Nonprofit Management. His affiliations include the Association of Fundraising Professionals, 100 Black Men of America, Blacks in Development and Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc. In 2006, he completed Leadership North Carolina and was selected to participate in the United State Senate’s annual leadership summit.
Marc serves as board member of the Alexander YMCA, Alliance Medical Ministry, and the Town of Rolesville long-term strategic planning initiative. He enjoys coaching youth sports and owns an indoor baseball/softball facility in Rolesville. He and his wife Marjorie have three children: Talia, Marc, and Miles.