Spring 11 MASTER.indd - Thunderbird Magazine

class notes
DARYL JAMES
Thunder Radio host Richard Kim ’12 interviews Jim McNamara ’77, on Nov. 4, 2010, during a campus visit.
Pantelion fills Hollywood gap
with movie studio for Latinos
A
classic Jane Austen
story received a
modern Latino
makeover with the
first release from Pantelion
Films, a new Hollywood
studio launched by Jim
McNamara ’77 and two bigname
partners.
Pantelion Films premiered
“From Prada to Nada” at
theaters across the United
States on Jan. 28, 2011.
Additional movies will
follow each month, creating
momentum for a brand
that McNamara envisions
as the new face of Hispanic
entertainment in the United
States.
“The objective is to create
the first Hollywood studio
focused specifically on the
U.S. Hispanic audience,”
McNamara said during
a campus interview with
Thunder Radio on Nov. 4,
2010. “The idea is to create a
flow of product so that the
audience knows there is a
new movie every month.”
Pantelion Films is a joint
venture that draws its name
from its three partners:
Panamax Films, Televisa and
Lionsgate Entertainment. As
founder and chairman of
Panamax Films, McNamara
has worked since 2005 to
tap into the growing U.S.
Hispanic movie audience.
Prior to that venture,
he worked in executive
positions with Telemundo
Communications, Universal
Television Enterprises
and New World Entertainment.
McNamara started his
career as a sports agent with
International Management
Group after graduating from
Thunderbird.
He was born and raised
as a U.S. citizen in Panama,
where he learned Spanish
and flirted with a career as a
professional golfer.
“From Prada to Nada”
updates Jane Austen’s “Sense
and Sensibility,” a tale of two
wealthy women who suddenly
find themselves poor.
The movie was filmed in
English with Spanish terms
sprinkled in.
“All the movie companies
know that the largest
segment of the moviegoing
population is the Hispanic
audience from ages 15 to
30,” McNamara said. “These
people go to the movies
almost every weekend.”
He said people in this audience
are trained to watch
movies in English, so they
are not looking for Spanishlanguage
films. “But what we
discovered in our research,”
McNamara said, “is they
would like to see themselves
reflected more on screen —
not with a sledgehammer,
but with a subtle nod to
their culture. We think this
film accomplishes all those
objectives.”
and chief executive offi cer of
the Phoenix Symphony. He is a
classically trained musician and
a seasoned corporate executive
with years of leadership and
management experience. Ward
also is a venture partner in
venture capital fi rm Alsop Louie
Partners, focused on early stage
evernet/cloud computing startups.
… Deborah Weymouth
’84 has been chosen as senior
vice president of operations and
executive director of New Milford
Hospital in Connecticut. … Melinda
Guravich’84 was named
2010 Communicator of the Year
by the Dallas, Texas, chapter
of the International Association
of Business Communicators.
… Randi Yoder ’85 has been
named senior vice president for
development at Minnesota Public
Radio. … Randel Waites ’85
has joined Cushman & Wakefi eld
as managing director of client
solutions for the Midwest region.
Previously, Waites was chief
operating offi cer of John Buck
International, where he helped
establish a property management
division in Abu Dhabi,
United Arab Emirates. … Susan
Dean Hammock ’86 has a
consulting business called the
College Application Coach. She
lives in Orlando, Florida, with her
husband, Kevin, and their three
children. … Nancy King ’86
was featured in the Chillicothe
Gazette for being the fi rst woman
and youngest person on the Chillicothe
(Ohio) City Council in 1972.
… Marc Gallin ’86 has joined
Chevalier Machinery in Santa Fe
Springs, California, as director of
marketing. … John Bauer ’87
was appointed chief architect
at the Library of Congress the
same week his son, Jack, was
born. … Stephen Hargreaves
’87 recently joined Conservation
International as senior manager,
fi nancial reporting systems. …
Curt Howell ’87 recently joined
Stant Corp. as CEO. Stant Corp. is
a manufacturer of engineered va-
64 spring 2011