Gaylen Ross (Director/Producer) has produced, directed and written award-winning documentary films for over 25 years, premiering in national and international film festivals. Among her films, Killing Kasztner: The Jew Who Dealt With Nazis, was an official selection of the Toronto International Film Festival, broadcast BBC Storyville, shown in 11 countries and has enjoyed an unprecedented theatrical release in the US, Israel and France. It was named by the LA Times as one of the best documentary films of 2010. She produced and wrote the Emmy award-winning Blood Money: Switzerland’s Nazi Gold.a feature-length documentary on the Swiss Banks and the Holocaust accounts. Her documentary on diamond dealers Dealers Among Dealers which aired on PBS’ P.O.V is considered the only inside look into this very cloistered world, was the official selection of the Berlin Film Festival, Haifa International Film Festival, awarded a Gold Plaque from the Chicago Film Festival. And as director, her film Caris' Peace about an actress who lost her memory premiered at the Hamptons International Film Festival, won first place Athens Film Festival, Ohio; and presented as the featured film for the Rubin Museum of Art’s Brainwave series in New York. Most recently she co-directed two documentaries about China, Beijing Spring,and Ximei, also Executive Produced by Ai Weiwei, and in development on a documentary about the iconic Greenwich Village club, the Village Gate.
Robert Cassidy
Robert Cassidy, Jr. (Consultant) has been a sports journalist for more than a quarter century. His career began in 1987 as a reporter in Newsday's sports department. In addition to Newsday, his writing has appeared in the New York Post, Los Angeles Times, Baltimore Sun, ESPN.com and The Ring, long know as the Bible of Boxing. Cassidy has also authored or co-authored four books - two on boxing. Cassidy has covered 124 world title fights, 37 Stanley Cup playoff games, 13 U.S. Opens, eight Belmont Stakes (including American Pharoah's triple crown win) and two Super Bowls. In 1994, he was among the first team of journalists at Newsday to publish the newspaper's content online. Cassidy was a senior sports producer for Newsday's interactive department and now serves as the Deputy Editor of the multimedia department. In addition to Newsday, his work as a videographer has appeared on NBC, ABC, WB11, Fox News and CourtTV. Cassidy has directed and produced feature length and short documentaries that have screened at The Coney Island Film Festival, The Hamptons Take 2 Documentary Film Festival, Doc Lisboa International Film Festival (Portugal), The Moscow Sports Film Festival and The Shadow Box Film Festival.
Bruce Silverglade
Bruce Silverglade (Consultant) President, Gleason’s Gym Over the last thirty-five years, Bruce Silverglade has been busy keeping one of boxing’s grandest traditions alive. He is the driving force behind Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn, a boxing treasure since 1937. One of the last of New York City’s thriving boxing gyms, Gleason’s has been the training headquarters for such legends as Jake LaMotta, Muhammad Ali and Roberto Duran. In all, 133 World Champions have trained inside the gym’s hallowed walls. Currently five active title holders workout at Gleason’s as well as numerous contenders and dozens of Golden Gloves champions. And yes, women train at Gleason’s too. The Silverglade name has been associated with boxing for over 70 years. Bruce’s father Edward, was one of the founders of the National PAL. He also worked for the National Olympic Committee and was the team manager for the US Olympic teams of 1980 and 1984. In 1976, Bruce found himself in the middle of a divorce and sought refuge in boxing. While one marriage ended, another one was just beginning. Silverglade caught the boxing bug and quit his job of 16 years with Sears Roebuck and Company. He began refereeing and judging amateur bouts but because he liked “all” fighters he learned quickly that he could not be an impartial official. That’s when he turned to the administrative side of the sport. From 1980 to 1985, Silverglade held some of the most prominent positions in amateur boxing. He was president of the Metropolitan Amateur Boxing Federation, a chairman of the National Junior Olympic Committee and a member of the National Selection Committee. By the early 1980’s, Silverglade began devoting his efforts full-time to Gleason’s. In 1987, he started running live boxing cards at Gleason’s Arena, which was located one block away from the gym. That lasted until 1990, but Silverglade remained involved in the business side of boxing as a matchmaker and booking agent. He helped to promote the first world title fight in Russia as IBF cruiserweight champion Al Cole defended his title against Glen McCrory. He has also made fights for some of the game’s top attractions: Arturo Gatti, Paulie Malignaggi, Yuri Foreman, Mark Breland and Zab Judah. Silverglade lives in New York City. He graduated Gettysburg College in 1968 with a degree in economics. He also holds a master’s degree in the Sweet Science.
Eric Friedman
Eric Friedman (Producer) is founder, chairman and CEO of Edward Holdings LLC, where he provides early stage funds and advice to socially responsible enterprises. To date the company has held interests in 4Tell, a SaaS platform solutions and infrastructure performance management software company, where he served on the board, Ministry of Supply, a fast growing performance/fashion clothing concern with a strong national presence, where he serves on the advisory board and Hemisphere Development LLC, a prominent Brownfield think tank and redeveloper of contaminated properties, where Friedman is a Senior Managing Director. Edward Holdings LLC also invests in the medical field. Friedman is also founder and principal of E.D. Edwards Consulting, a strategy and operations consulting firm operating largely in the public sector. In 1988 Friedman co-founded Cleveland Real Estate Partners, an international corporate real estate consulting and advisory firm, which he managed for 11 years before selling in 1999 to Deloitte Consulting where he then became a principal in the firm’s public sector practice. Friedman sits on the boards of T4G, a designer of technology solutions that provide analytics, manages services, retail planning, digital marketing and custom applications and Esperanza, Inc, Ohio’s only nonprofit organization dedicated to the promotion and advancement of Hispanic educational achievement and is a supporter of and donor to University Hospitals of Cleveland. Friedman’s fascination with boxing began as a boy when he read Victory Over Myself by Floyd Patterson. Lucky enough to meet Patterson years later at an exhibition in Cleveland, Friedman recalled the story of the strong, humble quiet guy who did all his talking in the ring. Friedman considers himself fortunate to have sat ringside at momentous fights including Ali vs. Wepner, Hagler vs. Hearns and Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Hagler. Friedman frequently travelled to the Catskills to watch various fighters train including Mike Tyson, who trained with the legendary Constantine “Cus” D’Amato. Going to fights in the 1970s and 1980s was a time of glamour and spectacle with crowds from every strata of society including gangsters, prostitutes, politicians, athletes and show business luminaries.
Robert Richman
Robert Richman (Producer/DP)began his film career working with vérité pioneers Albert and David Maysles, quickly transitioning from production assistant to camera assistant then operator. Finally he made the leap to director of photography on the Maysles’ Umbrellas, which chronicled artist Christo’s installation of three thousand umbrellas north of Los Angeles and Tokyo. Today, Richman is an Emmy-nominated and Sundance award-winning cinematographer on almost a hundred documentaries including: Gaylen Ross' DealersAmong Dealers and Killing Kasztner, Davis Guggenheim’s An Inconvenient Truth and Waiting for Superman, Nathaniel Kahn’s My Architect, Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky’s HBO films Paradise Lost 1, 2 & 3and Metallica: Some Kinda Monster, RJ Cutler’s The September Issue, Oprah’s Master Classand Sundance Channel’s Iconoclasts. As a director, his films include Ahead of Time, 7 Days Out and A New Traviata for the Met.
Paul Gibson
Paul Gibson(DP) After fifteen years as one of HBO’s hottest cinematographers, New York-based cameraman, Paul segued into feature film and commercial production. His credits include cinema-verite work such as Paris Is Burning, one of the highest grossing theatrical documentaries of all time; and award-winning excursions into real-life human drama such as the Oklahoma tornado, Iowa floods, Kentucky ice storms, and Hurricane Gustav.