Meet Mastermedia’s leadership team. Our executives bring a wealth of knowledge to our organization, with over 100 years combined experience in leadership roles within the Christian community.
LEADERSHIP
Larry W. Poland, Ph.D., Chairman and Founder
Larry Poland has had an illustrious career in higher education, international volunteer service, and in consulting to decision-makers in the entertainment industry. He has been a college president, written seven books, placed volunteers in 35 nations, traveled to 100 countries, and founded two schools and a radio station.
Dr. David Christian Andersen, President, East Coast
David has served as a Presbyterian Minister in West Orange, New Jersey, Essex Fells, New Jersey, and the Boston area. He holds a Master of Divinity degree and a doctoral degree from Trinity Seminary. Prior to his ministry, he co-founded a successful design and engineering company in Chicago, Illinois.
Jacqueline A. Granger, Senior Vice President
A magna cum laude graduate of Syracuse University with professional accomplishments in architectural design, marketing, management, and financial services, Jacqueline has brought invaluable expertise to her leadership role since 1997, specializing in consulting to executive women in media.
Christine M. Metzler, Vice President
A summa cum laude graduate of the University of Florida in business marketing and communications, Christine has experience in commercial real estate and co-founded a talent agency in Los Angeles. She joined Mastermedia in 2007 and is currently specializing in consulting to executive women in media.
Ric Alessio, Regional Vice President
With a graduate degree in bio-medical engineering from Arizona State University, Ric worked for 13 years in the medical industry before becoming National Vice President with Bally’s Health Clubs. Later, he became COO of Visual Entertainment, a worldwide distributor of The Visual Bible. Ric and his wife, Aly, wrote, produced, and filmed a music video used around the world by domestic violence prevention organizations. Ric represents Mastermedia to its financial partners in Texas, Oklahoma, and Tennessee.
Scott Tirrell, Chief Financial Officer
With Mastermedia since 1999, Scott brings to the CFO position his experience as the controller of an educational institution and more than two decades serving with the Campus Crusade for Christ organization, including eleven years with the military ministry and fifteen years in financial administration.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Bobby Adkins, Junior
Born into a Texas oil company family, Bobby followed suit starting Adobe Oil & Gas to manage mineral interests and RHB Exploration & Production for oil exploration. His other business interests are in accountant placement, computer software, credit card processing, and GodTube.com.
Jack Dabner
As a producer, director, and technical director, Jack has produced more than 185 motion pictures, videos, and visual presentations over fifty years. He is also President of Illustra Media, a company which produces documentaries with worldwide distribution.
Bill Ewing
Bill served as Senior VP of Production Administration for Columbia Pictures, culminating a fifteen-year career with the studio. After leaving Sony/Columbia in 2002, he was President of Every Tribe Entertainment, creating feature films and documentaries through 2008. He is currently CEO of a new independent feature film company.
Larry Frenzel
A producer, screenwriter and entertainment lawyer with extensive legal, business, and creative experience in film development, production, and distribution. He is the principal of Birchwood Pictures, LLC, which develops, produces, and distributes independent feature films and documentaries. He is also the co-founder and CEO of Carmel Entertainment Group, LLC, which procured distribution of a number of successful independent feature films and documentaries. Larry maintains a limited law practice through Frenzel Law Corporation, and serves as Board Chairman of Illustra Media/La Mirada Films.
Cathy Heiliger
Cathy Heiliger is a certified professional life coach with clients in the entertainment industry, corporations and churches. She is a speaker, the author of a course used in churches on emotional healing, and has written a short-story devotional book, Encounters of the Heart: There’s More to the Story Than Meets the Eye.
James Hettrick
W. James Hettrick, a global expert on community networks, develops strategic information systems management solutions for municipalities and the private sector. He founded ISMS, Inc. (Information Systems Management Solutions), after an extensive career in local government, and, as Chief Information Officer in the city of Loma Linda, California, was acclaimed for his work in rolling out FTTh broadband for the city. James is an economist, author, technologist and evangelist for connected communities.
Craig Holland
Craig is the founder and CEO of HowSimple, a software development company with a new technology that is being hailed by senior industry analysts as capable of completely changing how we interact with our computers. A serial entrepreneur and early pioneer of the Semantic Web, Parsing Technology (synaptic analysis), Natural Language Navigation and Internet Localization, Craig entered the technology field after many years working in Hollywood as a director, producer and writer. He resides with his wife and twin daughters in Southern California.
Scott Pallais
Scott graduated from the University of Southern California with degrees in biology and human communications. He worked in the pharmaceutical industry with Marion Laboratories until he started a medical education company, Armand Scott, Inc., which he sold in 2000. He now heads Sentinel Hydrosolutions, LLC, a leading water security company.
Mark Sterns
A graduate of Oral Roberts University, Mark is President of Higher Power Aviation, which he co-founded 15 years ago. Mark and his partner dedicated their company to the Lord, wanting the company to be not only a business, but also a ministry. Mark has funneled more than 2,000 pilots to Southwest Airlines and trained astronauts and actors to take flight through Higher Power Aviation. His school has gained the reputation within the aviation industry as the premier flight school.
Jim Williams
Jim is the founder of Media Strategies and Solutions–a media distribution and security consultancy. He is the former Senior Vice President & Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), where he served from 2002 to 2010. Prior to joining the MPAA, Jim served nearly twenty years with Hughes/DIRECTV, where he led the startup of DIRECTV Japan and the first HDTV service in the United States.