People

**Blythe Robertson** most recently executive produced \_Love Is Strange\_, Ira Sach’s highly acclaimed film starring John Lithgow, Alfred Molina and Marisa Tomei, which premiered at Sundance 2014, was distributed by Sony Pictures Classics and nominated for four Independent Spirit Awards. She also co- produced the revival of Broadway’s \_Side Show\_ directed by Bill Condon. Previously, Robertson produced \_About Sunny\_, starring Lauren Ambrose, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, garnered an Independent Spirit Award nomination and was awarded the Grand Jury Prize at Boston IFF 2012. Blythe was line producer on the PBS series, \_God In America\_, an American Experience/FRONTLINE co-production. Other projects include \_The People v. Leo Frank\_, winner of the Special Jury Award at History Makers 2010 and The History Channel’s Emmy-nominated, \_Desperate Crossing: The Untold Story of the Mayflower\_. Robertson is currently developing writer/director Emily Abt’s next feature \_Audrey’s Run\_ starring Paula Patton and Mike Epps which will shoot in Boston in 2016. Blythe is a member of the Producer’s Guild of America and the Massachusetts Production Coalition.

Robert J. Allison, a professor of history at Suffolk University, also teaches in the Harvard Extension School. He has written a series of short books about the American Revolution, on the histories of Boston and of Cape Cod, as well as longer works on the Barbary Wars and Naval hero Stephen Decatur. He edited an edition of The Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African.

Bob and Denise love to cook and eat great food. Denise, the former Education Director at WGBH, is an educational consultant. Bob is an award-winning jazz author and journalist and a former columnist for the Boston Globe and the Boston Phoenix. Wherever they go, whether in their hometown of Newton, Massachusetts or on their travels in the US or abroad, they are always on the prowl for the perfect meal.

Bob Blumenthal began his career as a jazz critic in 1969 for *Boston After Dark*, later known as *The Boston Phoeni*x, while in college, and continued to contribute to that paper through 1989. After serving as guest critic for *The Boston Globe* during its jazz festival for a decade, he became a regular Globe contributor in 1990 and a weekly columnist in 1993, and continued in both roles until 2002. Throughout these years, during which he worked as an attorney, primarily for the Massachusetts Department of Education, Blumenthal was also contributing to such publications as *The Atlantic Monthly*, *Rolling Stone*, *The Village Voice*, *Down Beat* and *JazzTimes*, and writing numerous album notes. He also provided radio and television commentary and served as a panelist for the National Jazz Service Organization, the New England Foundation for the Arts, and the Jazz Composers Alliance. He also received Grammy awards for best album notes in 1999 for *Coltrane: The Classic Quartet/Complete Impulse!*.

Bob Crawford is the bassist for the Grammy-nominated band the Avett Brothers, and creator of the iHeart Curiosity podcast series, Founding Son: John Quincy’s America and The SiriusXM Volume Channel Docuseries Concerts of Change: The Soundtrack of Human Rights. He’s also co-host of the Road to Now history podcast. However, Bob does not just play a historian—in 2020 he earned a master’s degree in history from Arizona State University. More important than his passion for music and history is his dedication to raising awareness about pediatric cancer. Bob and his wife, Melanie, are co-managing partners for The Press On Fund, an organization that seeks to find less toxic treatments for childhood cancer. Bob is periodically a speaker on behalf of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, TN. It’s a personal cause, as Bob’s daughter Hallie is a three-time cancer survivor.

Golf courses designed by Bob Cupp, more than 140 all around the world, have hosted US Opens, US Amateurs, many other USGA and NCAA championships, and numerous events on the PGA, Champions, and European tours. They have also been featured many times on "best new" and "top 100" listings in *Golf Digest* and *Golf Magazine*.

In 1996 Bob’s 10-year old son Jeffrey Curley was lured by predatory pedophiles and murdered. The story of Bob’s journey from leading the campaign to reinstate the death penalty in Massachusetts to opponent of capital punishment is chronicled in the book “The Ride”. Bob works tirelessly to prevent sexual violence against children.

Bob Davis is a senior editor at The Wall Street Journal who covers economic issues out of the Washington D.C. bureau, especially those that will play out in the presidential campaign. He was part of a team of Journal reporters that won the Pulitzer Prize for international reporting for coverage of the Asian and Russian financial crisis.

Bob Dylan was born on May 24, 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota. Bob Dylan is a towering figure of late 20th century pop music, known for such songs as "All Along The Watchtower", "Like a Rolling Stone," "Tangled Up in Blue," "The Times They Are A-Changin'" and "Lay Lady Lay." Dylan has been recording and performing since 1962, mixing folk, country, blues and rock; he sometimes startles his fans but almost always pleases the critics. During the '80s he toured extensively, and in the '90s his songs found a new audience and more acclaim from the music industry. In 1991 he was given a Lifetime Achievement Grammy; his 1997 album *Time Out of Mind* won three Grammys; and in 2001 Dylan won an Oscar for "Things Have Changed," from the movie *Wonder Boys* (2000). In 2006 he released his first album in five years, *Modern Times*.

Bob Garfield is the cohost of public radio’s weekly Peabody Award–winning On the Media. Garfield has been a columnist and contributing editor for The Washington Post Magazine, The Guardian, and USA Today. He has also written for The New York Times, Playboy, The Atlantic, Sports Illustrated, and Wired. He lives in the Washington, D.C., area.

Robert P. Gittens is an attorney who serves as Vice President for Public Affairs at Northeastern University. His extensive public sector experience includes service as Cabinet Secretary for the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, Commissioner for the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services, First Assistant District Attorney for Suffolk County, Chairman of the Massachusetts Parole Board, and Deputy Chief Legal Counsel to the Office of the Governors Legal Counsel. Mr. Gittens is a member of the Court Management Advisory Board.

Bob Herbert joined The New York Times as an op-ed columnist in 1993. His twice a week column comments on politics, urban affairs and social trends. Prior to joining *The Times*, Mr. Herbert was a national correspondent for NBC from 1991 to 1993, reporting regularly on *The Today Show* and *NBC Nightly News*. He had worked as a reporter and editor at *The Daily News* from 1976 until 1985, when he became a columnist and member of its editorial board. In 1990, Mr. Herbert was a founding panelist of *Sunday Edition*, a weekly discussion program on WCBS-TV in New York, and the host of *Hotline*, a weekly issues program on New York public television. He began his career as a reporter with The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J., in 1970. He became its night city editor in 1973. Mr. Herbert has won numerous awards, including the Meyer Berger Award for coverage of New York City and the American Society of Newspaper Editors award for distinguished newspaper writing. He was chairman of the Pulitzer Prize jury for spot news reporting in 1993.