President
Helen Chatel, At-Large Member (2024),
Executive Director
Cape Media Center
17 Shad Hole Road
Dennis Port, MA 02639
P: (508) 394-2388
BIO: Passionate Community Leader: Influenced by her high school ecology teacher and local news reporters, Helen Chatel spent $20 to rent a Camcorder and borrowed 2 VCRs to make her first documentary about river erosion in Colrain, MA. The first taste of speaking with strangers and creating a project that combined technology with community traditions lead to a career in community access. Ms. Chatel set her sites on NYC, ending up at the College of New Rochelle in New Rochelle, NY, where she would major in communications and specialize in broadcasting. Interning at CPTV in Hartford, CT and being involved with on air auctions to raise money for local programming, Ms. Chatel again found herself being pulled by her sense of community. While the big city was exciting and she had many relatives active in the Manhattan’s public access channel, rural CT was calling. After a stint in retail and big box management, again Ms. Chatel’s community roots would find her. She began volunteering with the Community Voice Channel (CVC) in Bolton, CT crewing on local shows and working in front of the camera during the town’s 275th anniversary celebration. Finally, in 2002, an opening for assistant Executive Director opened up at CVC and Ms. Chatel found herself emerged in a community serving seven small towns East of the CT river. Ms. Chatel oversaw the transitions from analog editing to digital, as well as from manual playback to automated playback. In 2007, Ms. Chatel was promoted to Executive Director at CVC and built a successful after school program with the media specialist at the local K-8 school. This involved training and mentoring students in grades 5 thru 8. The following summer CVC implemented video production camps with students ages 9 to 15, working on community projects. With all of our youth training, we began working with the local homeschooling network, offering television production classes to further our mission to engage the community. Looking for a new challenge, Ms. Chatel came to Watertown, MA as the Executive Director in 2013. In Watertown, Ms. Chatel has been able to utilize her management and budgeting skills from her retail experience to improve the services and facilities offered at Watertown Cable Access (WCA-TV). From franchise negotiations to project management, Ms. Chatel has positioned WCA-TV to being relevant in the future. For fun, Ms. Chatel likes to spend her time traveling to scenic or historical spots across the East Coast geocaching.
Vice-President
Jim Palmer, At-Large Member (2025)
Production Manager
Peabody TV
81 Main Street, Peabody MA
P: (978) 977-0570
BIO: Jim Palmer has been involved in community media since the late 90’s where he started as a volunteer for then Peabody Cablevision through the high school’s volunteer TV Club program. After receiving a degree in TV/Video Production from Emerson College in Boston, MA he went on to work for Danvers TV for nearly 8 years until accepting a position in his hometown in 2010. He is currently the Production Manager at Peabody Access Telecommunications in Peabody, MA. In his spare time, Jim is an active Amateur Radio operator and emergency communications volunteer, avid weather spotter and coordinator, and enjoys camping, hiking, and other outdoor events.
Treasurer
Barbara Chisholm, At-Large Member (2024)
Executive Director
WACA TV Ashland Cable Access
200 Butterfield Drive B1
Ashland, MA 01721
P. (508) 881-9222
BIO: Barbara Chisholm has been involved in community media for over 25 years. She currently is the Executive Director of WACA TV. She served on the original Board of Directors of WACA TV and held the position of Treasurer. Barbara joined the staff of WACA TV as the Operations Manager, a position held for 10 years. During that time, she has overseen a number of major projects while increasing programming and community involvement and awareness. Barbara is proud to be a member of the ACM because it is a wonderful support system for community media centers across the country large and small assisting stations both educationally and legislatively.
Secretary
Tony Arrien, New York
Community Media Coordinator
Town of Putnam Valley
265 Oscawa Lake Road
Putnam Valley, NY 10579
P: (845) 528-7420
BIO: Anthony Arrien has been on the ACMNE Regional Board since 2008 and has also served as Chairman of ACM New York during that time. He worked as a union IATSE Gaffer since 1982 in the NYC Area film industry for about 25 years. In 1998 he started his own video production company (Brain Trust Productions Inc.) which has done TV commercials, documentaries, music videos, various industrials, and narrative work.
He began working in Community Media in 2001 as a part timer, and since 2007 became a full time civil service employee as the Community Media Coordinator for the Town of Putnam valley New York running a government and an educational channel as a one man band.
He became more heavily involved in public policy efforts in 2008 when his local cable company took PEG off the basic tier and wrote a legal brief as a formal complaint filed with the NY State Public Service Commission. Building on his past efforts advocating for ACM’s CAP Act, he and other ACMNY members have spoke to approximately 50 NY State Legislators to find alternative means to fund Community Media as franchise fees are beginning to wane with the cable ‘cord cutting’ trend. He is still working on getting that bill introduced and also legislation that will provide parity between local PEG channels in terms of signal quality and accessibility. In 2017 he was the recipient of the ACM North East Region’s Chuck Sherwood Leadership Award.
As an “out” transgender man he also does public policy work on the NY state level for various LGBT issues including GENDA (The Gender Expression Non Discrimination Act), which was just passed into law and became effective on February 23, 2019. He does presentations on Transgender and Non Binary Identities for various LGBT conferences, mental health associations, libraries and nonprofit organizations, and participates on panel discussions as an educational service. Since 2015 years he has facilitated the Transgender Peer Support Group at The LOFT LGBT Center in White Plains, NY twice per month. His main hobbies are plane air landscape oil painting, roller and ice skating.
At-Large
Rob Chapman, At-Large Member (2025)
Executive Director
Beverly Community Access Television (BevCam)
100 Sohier Road
Beverly, MA 01915
P: (978) 927-5544
BIO: Rob became Executive Director of BevCam in May 2022 after having spent most of his more than three decades working in community media in Burlington. Rob grew up in Stowe, VT, and attended The University of Vermont, where he received his B.A. in Theatre. He discovered public access when he and some friends from Garage Theatre started their own live comedy/variety show on the Burlington public access station in the early nineties. Rob jumped at the opportunity to take a job at the station and has been working in the field ever since.
Timothy T. Egan, At-Large Member (2024)
Northern Vermont University – iWOW Co-Director
NH House of Representatives – Grafton #2
NH Canadian Trade Council – Industry Rep.
New England Canada Business Council – Vice President
P: (617) 201-6462
BIO: Tim is a specialist in broadcast and web based video content services in marketing and media affairs practicing in New England & Canada. Via offices in Sugar Hill, NH, & Boston, MA he researches; build relationships with; creatively implements; and analyzes the power of – the media industry for business, education and government clients.
He is a Board Member & Media Advisor for Catalyst Story Institute/Content Festival in Duluth, MN guiding the development of digital video content. As well, a Consulting Executive Producer of broadcast television programming at Moody Street TV in Waltham, MA. He has two New England Emmy Awards as Writer/Director/Producer, among his 28 Emmy Nominations during his 25 plus year career in New England.
He is Part-Time Faculty at sister schools in the Vermont Sate College System: since January 2014 teaching in the Visual Arts, English/Philosophy/Film and Business Departments at NVU-Lyndon; since Spring of 2016 teaching in the Business Department at NVU-Johnson. In 2016 named Co-Director of NVU’s incubator Without Walls, that supports small business development with experienced student labor. In 2020 he was elected NVU-Lyndon Delegate for Part/Time Faculty Union Chapter VT-AFT Local 7810.
With a nod to media industry development, in 2012 he was named the inaugural Marketing Chair for the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences until 2018 when it was incorporated into his current role: Chair of Strategic Planning. He served as National Trustee in 2010-2012, after two terms as President of the New England Chapter and Founding Co-Chair of Presidents Council for NATAS, from 2006 to 2010.
Upon moving to NH, in 2011 Tim was appointed as Business Representative/Media Advisor to The NH/Canada Trade Council. In 2017 he was elected a VP for the New England Canada Business Council and named VP-Programs Chair in 2020; in 2018 appointed Treasurer of Catamount Arts in St. Johnsbury, VT. In 2018 he was elected to the NH House of Representatives for Grafton District #2. In 2020 he was re-elected and formed the House Dems Communications Team supporting sitting legislators.
He is a principle in Sugar Hill Associates, a forward thinking media training firm teaching the power of media exposure and helping clients to maximize it. Along with communication content clients, he is a media/PR advisor to 11:11 Studios, A2C Consul4ng, Arcserve, The BIA of NH, The Canadian Consul-General of New England, The Cannabis Certification Council, NBC Boston, NECN, MIT’s Technology Review & Passumpsic Bank. He was a media services consultant to: Presidential Campaigns of Sen. Joe Biden (DE.) in 2008 & 2020, Gov. Jerry Brown (CA.) in 1992, Lt. Gov. Tim Murray (MA) in 2010, Sen. President Therese Murray (MA) in 2011 & Jim King for US Senate in 2012 (MA) and the NH House – Environmental Caucus from 2014-16.
In his spare time he received an M.S. in Marketing (’15) magna cum laude at SNHU.edu and lives in/enjoys the White Mountains of NH with his wife Betty & daughter Maggie.
Gulllermo S. Hamlin, At-Large Member (2024)
Fmr. President
Somerville Media Center
BIO: Guillermo is a Multimedia Support Specialist at Tufts Technology Services. He regularly blends hyperlocal activism & mixed media to organize for a better Massachusetts. Guillermo began his A/V journey as a student in the Somerset Hill School District in Bernardsville, New Jersey learning how to shoot video & edit with Final Cut Pro & Sony Vegas Pro. He loves community media and its origins in cable access television. He currently serves as the representative Town Meeting Member for Precinct 14 in Arlington, MA. As a TMM, Guillermo attends Annual Town Meetings in order to conduct the Town’s business, its fiduciary responsibility to residents, as well as voting on a series of approved articles by the Town, its Manager, & Select Board. He has previously worked at Malden Access Television [now Urban Media Arts] as their Government Access Coordinator. He has served on different boards, most notably as the former President of the Somerville Media Center. Guillermo’s mission is to empower residents in the Northeast region and to secure necessary funding to amplify every school district & local government to be able to communicate with their community at-large. Guillermo has a Bachelors from Harvard University concentrating in Philosophy & Ethics. He is a degree candidate for a Masters of Science in Engineering Management at Tufts University.
Debra Rogers, At-Large Member (2025)
Executive Director/CEO
Falmouth Community Television
310 Dillingham Ave
Falmouth, MA 02540
P: (508) 457-0800
BIO: Debra Rogers has worked in Community Media since 1982. She is the Executive Director/CEO of Falmouth Community Television, a position she has held since 1996.
Through her ongoing involvement with the Alliance for Community Media (ACM), Debra works to advance the cause, and garner support for community media on the state, region and national level. She currently serves on the ACM Northeast Region Board and served on the national board of directors for twelve years, serving as national chair from 2009 – 2012. Debra also serves on the Board of Directors of the Alliance for Communications Democracy, currently as secretary of the Board.
On a local level, Debra is a former board member and a founding member of ArtsFalmouth and JazzFest Falmouth, has served on the board of the Falmouth Cultural Council and is an active member of the Falmouth Chamber of Commerce, Falmouth Local Emergency Planning Committee, Falmouth Jewish Congregation and is an elected town meeting member.
Debra holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Communications from Fitchburg State University. She lives in North Falmouth on beautiful Cape Cod with her husband David and super cute cocker spaniel Dusty, She is also the very proud mom of Amanda who works in Fund Development for a major hospital in Boston.
Glenn Williams, At-Large Member (2025)
General Manager
Boston Neighborhood Network Media
3025 Washington Street
Roxbury, MA 02119
P: (617) 708-3201
BIO: Glenn Williams, a life long resident of Roslindale is a musician and artist who has dedicated his life to being involved in the arts. Glenn, along with his wife Janice are the founders of BNN-TV “It’s All About Arts”. As host he has interviewed over 1500 artists from all media since 1997. According to Glenn, “I love being able to meet and showcase artists. Art is something that brings different cultures, different communities and different lifestyles to an even plane. Art is the only true international language”. He also hosted for 3 years the radio show “Beyond The Palette” on Boston’s WBCA 102.9 FM, a weekly-hour-long radio show and podcast featuring artists, educators, and musicians discussing art education and expanding on philosophies of education.
Glenn served on the Board of Directors of Boston Neighborhood Network from 2004 – 2012, three of which he held the seat of president and from 2014 – 2017 he was on the Community Advisory Board of WGBH, PBS the last of which he served as chair.
As General Manager of BNN Media, Glenn’s mission is to continue and strengthen every community’s abilities and access to share their voice with one another. “There is nothing without the freedom to communicate honestly, uninterrupted, and without fear.”
https://www.linkedin.com/in/glennroslindale/
State Representatives
Pua Ford, Connecticut
Secretary, Connecticut ACM
8 Valley Road
Bethany, CT 06524
P: (203) 305-4068
BIO: Pua Ford started recording her hometown’s Town Meetings for public access in 1996. She joined the League of Women Voters in 1997 and, in 2006, attended the national LWV Convention in Minneapolis. The Connecticut delegation that year met Mike Wassenaar, who spoke at their caucus to support an effort to adopt national positions supporting community access TV. When that effort failed, Pua worked in a committee leading to the 2008 adoption of the state League positions supporting Net Neutrality, universal broadband access, and community access media. In 2009, Jennifer Evans (West Hartford Interactive) and Pua restarted the CT affiliate of ACM. At the 2022 LWV Convention (in Denver and on Zoom), she worked with the LWV Rural Area Caucus to persuade delegates to concur with the LWVCT positions on broadband and community media, allowing League members to address those issues when speaking to their federal representatives. Pua was the coordinator for Woodbridge Govt. Access TV until retiring after 20 years in 2023, is still the media issues specialist for LWVCT, and still secretary for Connecticut ACM.
Terri Wright, Maine
Director
Berwick Community TV (BCTV) 11 Sullivan St
Berwick, ME 03901
P: (207) 698-1101 ext. 153
BIO: Terri is the Director of Berwick Community TV (BCTV). She started as a volunteer in 2012 and wrote the first BCTV Operational Plan in 2014. In 2017 she was hired as a part-time Coordinator and in 2018, she became the full-time Director.
Terri’s background is in education and organizational development. To that end, she has worked hard to insure that BCTV provides residents with information that educates, informs, and entertains. In 2018, she assisted in successfully negotiating a new contract that provided grant money to upgrade their station, expand broadband to the two remaining roads in town, and build a new control room/studio that can fit more than one person. She has taken the station from one that produced mostly government meetings to one that produces and streams school events and meetings, local non-profit events, public service announcements, and so much more. Currently, Terri is working on a Town Warrant Article that would help replace disappearing franchise fees.
Terri would like to see the Community Television Association of Maine become one of the premier outlets for information and resources to those working in the field of public access, producing, or broadcasting. As broadband expansion becomes a reality for Maine, Terri wants the Community Television Association of Maine to partner with our municipalities, establishing new public access stations, that will fill the information void left by local newspapers. Lastly, she wants to open communications with non-profits and organizations who produce their own videos. This creates a win-win situation. Producers get their information out to a wider audience and access stations get new material for their viewers.
David Gauthier, Massachusetts
Executive Director
Winchester Community Access & Media
32 Swanton Street
Winchester, MA 01890
P: (781) 721-2050
BIO: David Gauthier has worn many hats in community media for over twenty years. A lifelong resident of Salem, MA, he plied the trade at other Massachusetts centers before joining the team at WinCAM in 2011. David is responsible for WinCAM’s daily operation as well as planning for its future. He is a coach and a mentor, fond of the challenge of working with young people
Meghan O’Rourke, Vermont
Channel Director
Town Meeting TV / CCTV
294 North Winooski Ave.
Burlington, VT 05401
P: (802) 862-3966 Ext. 16
BIO: Meghan O’Rourke has worked in community media for the last 20 years. She is especially interested in helping new media makers understand how and why it is important to be part of creating their own stories. She believes the role of community media is to facilitate participation in democracy, community and everyday life rather than as a replacement for that participation. Media is not a spectator sport but a means for becoming more fully engaged civic participants. Meghan O’Rourke is currently the director of Town Meeting TV whose mission is to open the doors to local democracy and community participation through media.
Appointed Members
Eric Dresser, Appointed Member (2024)
Executive Director
Whitman Hanson Community Access (WHCA)
115 South Ave
Whitman, MA. 02382
P: (781) 447-4175
BIO: A lifelong member of Boston’s South Shore, a self proclaimed geek, and “tech guru” to many; Eric has worked in community media since around the year 2000. Prior to entering community media after college, Eric also taught and continues teaching snowsports at a handful of ski resorts throughout New England. For this reason teaching has been a major influence for Eric for many years, but so too is involvement in community and civic engagement which started even earlier thanks to participation in scouting where Eric untimely attained the rank of Eagle Scout. Being a long time teacher, having an interest in technology, and civic involvement; work in the community media field has been a wonderful and very natural fit. Over the course of Eric’s experience in community media, he has taken great pride in organizing and systemizing operations at several media centers, as well as managing building projects both in the physical and organizational sense.
Eric enjoys and has been very involved with several trade and advocacy organizations such as the Alliance for Community Media over the years due to the many natural ties to the technology, teaching, and community/civic engagement which Eric considers to be very formative in his road to this point.
Bernardo Moronta, Appointed Member (2024)
Director of Programming
Bronxnet
250 Bedford Park Blvd. W.
Carman Hall Room C-4
Bronx, NY. 10468
P: (718) 715-1103
BIO: Bernardo currently serves as Director of Programming at BronxNet in New York City, overseeing content acquisitions, strategy, scheduling, quality control and master control for six HD channels serving 1.4 million residents. Bernardo has helped provide opportunities for countless producers and students seeking distribution and professional development. He considers it an honor and a privilege to inspire, educate and inform Bronxites on a daily basis through compelling and award-winning content. Bernardo is excited to have joined the ACM Northeast Board of Directors and relishes the opportunity to help advance the great work being achieved in community media.
Bernardo is a triple media threat with 25+ years of experience in TV, radio and streaming. Which is only appropriate because not only does he have an amazing wife and awesome son, but he has three wonderful daughters who were born at the same time. Yes, triplets. During his spare time, Bernardo enjoys watching random Instagram Reels, going down pop culture Wikipedia rabbit holes, and running his critically-acclaimed online radio station, “AmazingLiteMusic.com”.