Geri Migielicz, Executive Editor
Geri@STORY4.org

Geri served most recently  as Director of Photography at the San Jose Mercury News from 1993 to 2009. Under Geri’s direction, the Mercury News garnered all the major national awards for photo editing and photo usage, making the paper a destination for the leading talent in the photojournalism industry because of its innovation in web and print storytelling. Most recently, Geri was executive producer on an Emmy Award-winning web documentary, and she directed coverage that won a 1990 Pulitzer Prize in general news reporting and a 2003 Pulitzer finalist in Feature Photography. Geri was a 2004-5 Knight Fellow at Stanford University, where she studied multimedia narratives. Geri teaches multimedia in Stanford University’s Graduate School of Communications. She has served on the faculty at The Poynter Institute for Media Studies, and has been an editor and leader at the industry’s top photojournalism workshops including the Missouri Photo Workshop, the Stan Kalish Picture Editing Workshop, Society of Newspaper Design, and the National Press Photographers Association, and is a founding board member of Associated Press Photo Managers. Geri has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri School of Journalism and did graduate studies in journalism at Ohio University. A native of Illinois, she lives among the towering redwoods of the Santa Cruz mountains and rides on the front seat of a tandem bicycle with her partner Liza Culick wherever the road tilts upward and the scenery is breathtaking.

Liza Culick, Esq, MPH, Co-founder and Executive Director
Liza@STORY4.org

Liza has a background in law and public health, and more than 20 years of experience in the nonprofit sector. In addition to leading Story4’s development, she consults with foundations and nonprofits, with a focus on capacity building and organizational development, organizational assessment, strategy and planning, and board and executive leadership development. She works with start-ups in the nonprofit and for profit sectors, and designs projects from the ground up. Liza has significant experience in the design and delivery of leadership development programs and management team development. She designs and presents workshops in consulting and facilitation skills. Liza coaches leaders and teams in the nonprofit and for profit sectors, and has completed a professional coach certification course through the Coaches Training Institute. She is a member of the International Coaches Federation. Liza co-authored The Due DiligenceTool: for use in pre-grant assessment (2004) and Tool for Assessing Startup Organizations: a due diligence supplement for grantmakers (2003), both published by Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO). She served as a trainer and researcher for La Piana Associates’ Strategic Solutions Project. Liza led the project’s research focused on the role of board and executive leadership in the implementation of a strategic restructuring, and co-authored The Nonprofit Mergers Workbook, Part II: Unifying the Organization after a Merger (2004). In addition to degrees in law and public health, Liza studied Chinese and political science as an undergraduate at Wellesley College, and has completed language study programs in both mainland China and Taiwan.

Richard Koci Hernandez, Contributor
RichardKociHernandez@gmail.com

Richard is an Emmy award-winning video and multimedia producer who worked as a photographer at the San Jose Mercury News for 15 years. His work has appeared in Time, Newsweek, The New York Times and international magazines, including Stern. In 2008, Richard was awarded a national Emmy award for the New Approaches to Documentary category for his work on the Mercury News video entitled, “Uprooted”. In 2003, Richard was the recipient of the James K. Batten Knight Ridder Excellence Award. His work for the Mercury News has earned him two Pulitzer Prize nominations. His photography and multimedia work has won numerous awards on the national and regional level, including two Emmy nominations. Richard was named Deputy Director of Photography and Multimedia after spearheading the creation of MercuryNewsPhoto.com. He has taught multimedia workshops for Stanford University, National Press Photographers Association, The Southern Short Course, National Association for Hispanic Journalists and National Association for Black Journalists. He has lectured at USC Annenberg School for Communication and Stanford University. Koci-Hernandez is a San Francisco State University journalism graduate, where he has been a guest instructor. Koci Hernandez is currently  a visiting fellow at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism supported by a Ford Foundation grant to produce digital news sites for San Francisco Bay Area communities.