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Advisory BoardPeter Samuelson Peter Samuelson is proud to serve on the Advisory Board of Participant Productions, which he says is “the most exciting pro-social development in media in a hundred years”.In 1982, inspired by a little boy battling an inoperable brain tumor, Peter conceived of the Starlight Children’s Foundation—an international charity dedicated to granting wishes for seriously ill children. Starlight has grown to offer eight core psycho-social programs, each restoring some of the laughter, happiness and self-esteem that serious illness takes away from kids and those who love them. As parents and healthcare providers confirmed the positive psychological and often medical impact of Starlight programming, in 1990 Peter brought together leaders including Steven Spielberg and General Norman Schwarzkopf to create the STARBRIGHT Foundation—a charity dedicated to developing media and technology-based programs to educate and empower children to cope with the medical, emotional and social challenges of their illness. In 2004, Starlight and STARBRIGHT completed a formal merger and became the Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation, with offices throughout Australia, Canada, The United Kingdom, Japan and across the United States. Starlight Starbright has a combined operating budget of $35 million and serves over 2.4 million children annually. Peter Samuelson serves as its International Chairman. In 1999, Peter founded First Star, a separate national 501(c)(3) charity headquartered in Washington, D.C. that works to improve the public health, safety, and family life of America’s abused and neglected children. With Peter as President, First Star provides “top-down” systemic leadership to provide quality and compassionate care for children within the child welfare system, basic civil and legal rights for every child and safe, stable and permanent homes for all children. Peter is a graduate of Cambridge University with a Masters in English Literature and the fourth of five family generations employed in the film industry. After serving as production manager on films such as The Return of the Pink Panther, he emigrated from England to Los Angeles and produced Revenge of the Nerds, Tom & Viv, Wilde, Arlington Road and many other films. His current film, Stormbreaker starring Ewan McGregor, Mickey Rourke, Alicia Silverstone, Andy Serkis, Bill Nye, Missi Pyle and Sophie Okonedo is released by MGM and The Weinstein Company.
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