Paul G. Allen
Founder

Investor and philanthropist Paul G. Allen owns and invests in telecommunications, media, sports and entertainment companies that strive to improve the way we live, learn, do business and experience the world.

The primary holdings in his portfolio include Vulcan Inc., Charter Communications, the Portland Trail Blazers NBA team and Seattle Seahawks NFL franchise, and variety of other enterprises and investments in the areas of content, infrastructure, telecommunications, hardware and software. Allen is also the founder of Experience Music Project (Seattle’s one-of-a-kind, interactive music museum) and is a partner and the largest shareholder in the entertainment studio DreamWorks SKG.

A leader in the digital and online revolution, Allen maximizes synergy between his companies to encourage creativity and innovation. For the past 12 years, he has also contributed to communities in the Pacific Northwest and beyond through the six Paul G. Allen Foundations, which support the arts, health and human services, medical research, forest protection, technology education and other community needs.

After co-founding Microsoft Corporation with Bill Gates in 1975, Allen served as the company’s executive vice president of research and new product development, helping to engineer many of the company’s most successful products. He left Microsoft in 1983, moving on to develop other software applications and to launch Vulcan. Allen is a Seattle native, educated at Lakeside High School and Washington State University.

Since helping launch Paul G. Allen’s management company with Allen and William Savoy in 1986, Patton has developed and led a wide variety of Allen’s business, charitable and entertainment endeavors. In addition to serving as a senior advisor to Allen and directing the ongoing strategic and corporate development of the organization and its broad portfolio of projects and investments, Patton’s responsibilities include serving as president of Clear Blue Sky Productions (the independent film production company), vice-chair of First & Goal Inc. (the developer and manager of the Washington State Football & Soccer Stadium), and executive director of Experience Music Project (Seattle’s unique, interactive music museum). In addition, Patton serves as executive director of the six Paul G. Allen Foundations, which support nonprofit organizations throughout the Pacific Northwest in the areas of health and human services, the arts, medical research and forest protection.

Prior to Vulcan, Patton served in various capacities in the business and nonprofit worlds, including development work for the Pacific Northwest Ballet. An active member of the arts and education communities, Patton serves on the board of directors of the University of Washington Foundation, the International Glass Museum, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and the Theatre Communications Group, as well as the advisory boards of Meany Hall and the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival.

Richard Hutton oversees the feature film and documentary teams at Clear Blue Sky Productions and manages a variety of content partnerships, business and distribution deals, and professional relationships in the film, television and Internet worlds. Hutton was formerly the executive producer of the critically acclaimed PBS series "Evolution," co-produced by the WGBH/NOVA Science Unit and CBSP.

Before "Evolution," Hutton was senior vice president of creative development at Walt Disney Imagineering. There, he led the creative team responsible for the design of all Disney three-dimensional storytelling, such as theme parks and retail concepts. Prior to Walt Disney Imagineering, Hutton was vice president and general manager of the Disney Institute, where he directed the transition of the organization from an idea into an operating business. Before Disney, Hutton was senior vice president, television programming and production for WETA Television in Washington, D.C., and earlier, director of public affairs programming for WNET Television in New York. His projects have included the award-winning "The Brain" (1984) and "The Mind" (1988), as well as various books, medical texts and articles for national publications including The New York Times Magazine, Omni and Cosmopolitan.

Hutton holds a bachelors degree in history from the University of California at Berkeley.

Caldwell is responsible for managing all aspects of the independent film company founded by new media investor Paul G. Allen. Caldwell reports to vice president Richard Hutton, advising him and the team on all decisions relating to the development, financing, production and distribution of independent feature films and documentaries, with the goal of producing artistically-driven, commercially viable motion pictures.

Prior to joining Clear Blue Sky, Caldwell served as a production executive with New Line Cinema, where his credits included “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me” and “Love Jones.” Earlier, he served as a production executive with Walt Disney Studios, where his credits included “The Joy Luck Club” and “Miami Rhapsody.”

Caldwell holds a bachelor of arts degree in business and accounting from the University of Washington, Seattle, and a Masters of Fine Arts degree in Cinema/Television Production from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

Bonnie Benjamin-Phariss came to CBSP in 2001 and oversees its film and television documentary projects. Benjamin-Phariss was previously manager of program business administration and instruction at the Disney Institute, where she managed a variety of executive, personal enrichment, youth and training programs designed to offer a transformative learning experience. She led a staff of more than 240 people. Benjamin-Phariss was also part of the entrepreneurial opening team who developed and opened the Disney Institute.

Before her seven years with Disney, Benjamin-Phariss worked on productions in San Francisco and New York for projects including The Frugal Gourmet’s Italian Kitchen Journal, and Secrets of Alcatraz. She also served as director of research and development for public affairs programming for WNET in New York, working on productions including Mandela: Free at Last and Intifada: The Palestinians and Israel. Benjamn-Phariss was also a science reporter for the nine-part series The Mind, and a science researcher for the eight-part PBS series The Brain. She holds a B.A. degree in psychology from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

David R. O’Dell guides Clear Blue Sky’s documentary projects throughout concept development, pre-production, production and delivery. Prior to joining CBSP, O’Dell wrote and produced documentaries for more than 20 years, including nine years with the National Geographic Specials where he managed the production of over 35 programs that earned numerous Emmy awards and the George Foster Peabody Award for broadcast journalism.

Beginning in 1989, David served for seven years as a senior vice president of ABC Television and co-executive producer of over 30 prime-time documentaries under the banner of "ABC’s World of Discovery" for ABC/Kane Productions. In addition to his writing and producing achievements at ABC, he produced a series of 26 programs for the Discovery Channel, served as executive producer of Discovery’s award winning "The Free Willy Story: Keiko’s Journey Home," and executive-produced many prime-time reality pilots for ABC. Following ABC, David developed and produced programming for PBS and for Showtime Networks, Inc., before coming to Clear Blue Sky Productions.

O’Dell received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Fine Arts from California State University at Fullerton, and attended graduate school at the University of Southern California's department of Cinema/TV.

Hunke joined Clear Blue Sky Productions upon its founding in 1997 to spearhead the communications and marketing team. He is responsible for developing and implementing publicity, advertising, graphic design and marketing programs as well as special events for the company and all of its films, working in tandem with our business partners. Hunke brings more than a decade of corporate, high-technology and entertainment industry publicity and communications experience to Clear Blue Sky Productions.

In addition to his role at Clear Blue Sky Productions, Hunke is the director of marketing and public relations for Vulcan Inc., where he oversees strategic media relations, promotions, events, advertising, publishing and graphic design. Prior to joining the team, he was an account executive at Waggener Edstrom, where he managed public relations programs for a variety of clients including Starwave and Microsoft’s consumer division. Hunke’s entertainment experience includes regional publicity work on several Paramount Pictures films, including Godfather III, He Said, She Said, and Flight of the Intruder; managing national publicity for rap groups Kriss Kross and Arrested Development; work in theater, radio and TV, and event management in the U.S. and Europe. Hunke received his bachelor of science degree in international business from the University of Colorado at Denver.

Pamela Rosenstein joined CBSP’s documentary unit as researcher in 1999. She brings seven years of production and development experience with national and local PBS stations in New York City in public affairs, arts and culture programming. At WNYC-TV, she worked as assistant director on current affairs shows, including the first to use desktop interactive video. AT WNET, she worked as associate producer on America on Wheels, a three-hour series on the social history of the automobile, broadcast nationally in 1996. Most recently, she was an associate producer at American Masters, the pre-eminent national PBS series of arts and culture biographies, where she was associate producer for a 90-minute documentary on illustrator Norman Rockwell. Rosenstein studied at NYU’s Cinema Studies masters program after receiving a B.A. in English with high honors from Oberlin College in Ohio.