LIANA SCHWARZ NAMED SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, CAMPAIGN DEVELOPMENT & OPERATIONS FOR PARTICIPANT MEDIA

Liana Schwarz has been named Senior Vice President, Campaign Development & Operations for Participant Media, it was announced today by John Schreiber, Participant’s Executive Vice President of Social Action and Advocacy.
 
Said Schreiber, “Liana has proven to be an invaluable asset to Participant—both a charismatic, proactive leader and a generous and conscientious team member.  She’s earned a well-deserved reputation for being one of this town’s shining stars at uniquely intersecting entertainment, social action, and advocacy.  This promotion is an acknowledgment of the breadth and quality of her work, as well as the rare creative spirit she brings to it.”
 
Liana Schwarz joined Participant in May 2007 as Vice President, Campaign Development and Operations, where she has overseen the creation and implementation of advocacy campaigns for such films as Jimmy Carter Man from Plains, Chicago 10, Standard Operating Procedure and The Soloist. She is currently overseeing campaigns for the upcoming releases The Cove, Casino Jack: United States of Money and Oceans.
 
Prior to joining Participant, Liana served as Political Director for Laurie and Larry David and as Advisor to the David Family Foundation, where she oversaw the David’s political and charitable activities. Liana served as Executive Director of the Stop Global Warming Virtual March and played a strategic role in all of Laurie David’s global warming projects including the Academy Award®-winning An Inconvenient Truth, Laurie David and Sheryl Crow’s Stop Global Warming college tour, HBO’s Too Hot Not to Handle and two books. She was also Special Advisor to Earth to America, which aired on TBS in 2005.
 
Starting in 2001 Liana also served as Director of Special Initiatives for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and served on the staff advisory committee for the NRDC Advocacy Center in Washington D.C. In 2002 and 2004 Liana was the NRDC Producer of Earth to LA, and in 2003 she executive produced the Rolling Stones' Turn Up the Heat to Fight Global Warming, a free concert in partnership with NRDC..
 
During the 2000 presidential campaign cycle, Liana was the Director of Entertainment Industry Outreach for the California Democratic Coordinated Campaign, and prior to that she was the Director of Special Projects and Special Assistant to the CEO for the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles. Before moving to Los Angeles, Liana was a senior associate with the DC-based political consulting firm, Schrayer and Associates, Inc.
 
 
Participant Media is a Los Angeles-based entertainment company that focuses on socially relevant, commercially viable feature films, documentaries and television, as well as publishing and digital media.  Participant Media is headed by CEO Jim Berk and was founded in 2004 by philanthropist Jeff Skoll, who serves as Chairman. Ricky Strauss is President.
 
Participant exists to tell compelling, entertaining stories that bring to the forefront real issues that shape our lives.  For each of its projects, Participant creates extensive social action and advocacy programs which provide ideas and tools to transform the impact of the media experience into individual and community action.  Participant’s films include The Kite Runner, Charlie Wilson’s War, Darfur Now, An Inconvenient Truth, Good Night and Good Luck., Syriana, Standard Operating Procedure, The Visitor, The Soloist and Food, Inc.