Liz Nealon
Executive Vice President/Creative Director, Sesame Workshop
Liz Nealon serves as Executive Vice President/Creative Director of nonprofit educational organization Sesame Workshop. She is responsible for the Workshop's creative direction across all content that is needs-based, educational, innovative, and engaging.
Nealon utilizes her years of award-winning production experience to provide creative leadership for the organization's work across all content areas including television, home video, broadband, interactive, print, educational products, outreach, and live shows. Nealon brings this interdisciplinary approach to the production of Sesame Street, domestically and globally, as well as Dragon Tales for PBS, Pinky Dinky Doo, and The Upside Down Show for Noggin, and all new development projects.
Nealon has had a long affiliation with the Workshop, where she launched two franchise properties that were both significant international co-productions. Her first tour of duty was as Executive Producer of the highly acclaimed Ghostwriter series (PBS/BBC), which utilized a mystery format to address critical literacy issues for school-age children. She returned to the Workshop in 2002 as Executive Producer of the award-winning tween drama Out There (The N/BBC/ABC Australia).
Nealon was previously the Executive Producer and co-founder of JP Kids, a company dedicated to the development and production of quality multimedia products for kids and families. She was co-creator of The Famous Jett Jackson (which became the top-rated series on Disney Channel U.S. and is included in the permanent collection of the Museum of Television and Radio), and Harambee!, the award-winning made for television movie starring the late actor Howard Rollins in a Kwanzaa story that has become a holiday perennial on PBS and BET.
Nealon began her television career at MTV, where she was a member of the original launch team. She rose through the ranks to Sr. Vice President of International Programming, designing and launching MTV Europe, and acting as Executive in Charge of Production on MTV Brazil, MTV Australia and MTV Japan.
Carol-Lynn Parente
Executive Producer, Sesame Street
As Executive Producer at Sesame Street, Carol-Lynn Parente is responsible for overseeing production for Sesame Workshop's landmark television program and serving as a creative guide to keep the program fresh and exciting. She is currently leading Sesame Street into its 37th season as the first executive producer to grow up watching the show.
Parente has been with the Workshop for 18 years, steadily rising from Post Production Assistant to Senior Producer. Over the last eight seasons Parente has managed the animation and post production processes of "Elmo's World" segments as well as two home videos, Elmo's World: Happy Holidays and Kids Favorite Songs 2 both of which were Telly Award winners. Parente also worked closely with independent film makers to develop short films for Sesame Street and played an integral role in the successful re-formatting of the show in 2002. Most recently Parente won her 7th Emmy for Sesame Street in the Outstanding Pre-School Children's Series category, helping the program top the Guinness World Record for Most Emmys by a Television Series with 109 wins.
Prior to her work at Sesame Street, Parente studied Marketing and Economics at Rutgers University. She also worked with NBC Radio Production as well as Showtime's Marketing Department. Parente currently resides in Union City, New Jersey.
Melissa Dino
Producer, Sesame Street
Melissa Dino has been with Sesame Workshop for over 13 years and has won seven Emmy Awards for her contributions as Producer of Sesame Street. She has also been a Producer for numerous "Elmo's World" and Sesame Street home video titles including Kid's Favorite Songs 2, which was the winner of a Telly Award. Melissa is integrally involved in both pre-production and studio production, supervising script production and writing assignments, show scheduling and the child talent department. As the producer assigned to the Global Grover segment, she chooses and commissions films internationally for the format that highlight the everyday lives of children all over the world.
Tim Carter
Producer, Sesame Street
Tim Carter has worked on the Sesame Street team for over 18 years. He currently supervises the post-production department and manages the overall show layout. In addition, he oversees various Sesame Street audio mixes, handles the editing of special Sesame Street projects, has written and produced several animated films for the show and was credited as Associate Director for Elmo's World: Happy Holidays, Kids' Favorite Songs, and several other Sesame Street home videos. Having won two Emmys for his producing work on the show, Tim has a background in education and previously taught in a school for children with special needs in Queens. Also, Tim just became a father to twin baby boys, soon to be Sesame viewers.
April Chadderdon
Line Producer, Sesame Street
April Chadderdon is responsible for overseeing the finance, legal and business affairs, facilities, and daily production operations that pertain to Sesame Street and Sesame Workshop's home videos.
April began her television production career in 1995 at Lifetime Television as an Associate Producer and then Segment Producer of Our Home. In 1997 Chadderdon left Lifetime and went on to produce many projects from Comedy Central's Comics Come Home to The Kennedy Center's Mark Twain Prize to The Daily Show with Jon Stewart before finding her home in children's television.
April has worked on Between the Lions, Oobi, Out of the Box and was Sesame Street's Production Manager from 2001 through 2003. She is very excited to be a part of Sesame Workshop again and to be making quality educational entertainment for kids!
April resides in New York City with her Scotty, Lottie.
Crystal Whaley
Producer, Sesame Street
Crystal Whaley commissions all animation, mixed media and live action films for Sesame Street. She's also responsible for commissioning films for our international co-productions and various home video titles.
Her background includes executive producing, producing, and commissioning documentaries, commercials and music videos. She's former Director of Video Production for award-winning Arista/BMG Records. She's produced nationally syndicated Peabody-nominated documentaries for PBS and The Learning Channel.
Crystal brings 10 years of production experience with consistently increasing responsibilities in project conceptualization, implementation and staff management. She's also a product of Sesame Street, having grown up with the show, Crystal brings a creatively fresh approach and a genuine love to the ‘Street.'
Resemarie T. Truglio, Ph.D.
Vice President Education and Research, Sesame Workshop
Rosemarie Truglio is responsible for the development of the interdisciplinary curriculum on which Sesame Street is based, and for the formative research conducted to inform production on how to enhance both the entertaining and educational components of the program. Dr. Truglio also develops and reviews the content across all Sesame Street products and programs (e.g. publishing, interactive, home videos, and outreach).
Before joining Sesame Workshop, she was an Assistant Professor of Communication and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. Through her research, she has investigated the effects of television on the cognitive and social development of children and adolescents. She has written numerous articles appearing in child and developmental psychology journals; presented her work at national and international conferences; conducted media literacy workshops, and has appeared on both broadcast and cable network programs. Dr. Truglio is co-editor of G is for growing: Thirty years of research on children and Sesame Street (2001) published by Lawrence Earlbaum Associates.
Dr. Truglio currently serves on several Advisory Boards: Children's Digital Media Center, Alliance for a Media Literate America, Girls Inc. Media Literacy, and PBS Kids Next Generation Media Advisory Board.
Dr. Truglio received her Ph.D. in Developmental and Child Psychology from the University of Kansas, and her B.A in Psychology from Douglass College, Rutgers University.
Anna E. Housley Juster
Director of Content, Sesame Workshop
Anna E. Housley Juster has been a part of the Education and Research team at Sesame Workshop for six years. She currently serves as the Director of Content where she oversees content for the Sesame Street brand. Ms. Housley Juster works closely with Sesame Street producers and writers to ensure that curriculum objectives are effectively incorporated into all storylines, scripts, and commissioned films for the Sesame Street series. Ms. Housley Juster also works with the Publishing team as she reviews scripts across a variety of book lines and provides input to the product team on design and educational content of new toys. She writes outreach materials to enhance caregivers' awareness of children's developmental needs. She has created numerous tips to offer caregivers suggestions for ways to extend the learning of various toys, books, and other products.
Ms. Housley Juster recently worked with colleagues at Sesame Workshop and with partner Thinkwell Design to create "Sesame Presents . . . the Body," a traveling museum exhibit for 2 - 8-year-olds, which uses interactive platforms to help children learn about how their bodies work and how to keep them healthy and strong. She is also the Director of Content for a new television series, The Upside Down Show, which focuses on learning through pretend play. Ms. Housley Juster holds a Masters degree in Developmental Psychology from Teachers College at Columbia University where she conducted extensive research into young children's everyday understanding of math concepts and collaborated on the development of a math curriculum for pre-K and Kindergarten children. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Tufts University in Child Development and English and she is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Early Childhood Education at the Steinhardt School of Education at New York University.
Lou Berger
Head Writer, Sesame Street
Lou Berger is celebrating his 17th year with Sesame Street and his ninth year as Head Writer. An alumnus of New York's High School for the Performing Arts, he wrote, directed and performed in his senior class show in 1968, then went on to write and star in Show on the Road for PBS. Berger was head writer for Pinwheel, Nickelodeon's first show for children, and was one of two writers that helped launch Reading Rainbow in the early 1980s. He also was playwright in residence at Williamstown for the premiere of Hawthorne Country, his drama starring Richard Thomas. A nine-time Emmy Award winner, Berger wrote Sesame Street Stays Up Late, Sesame Workshop's primetime New Year's special, and was supervising producer and writer for Nickelodeon's The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss. His musical, Wild Boy, for which he wrote the book, had its world premiere at The Carlsen Center in Kansas. Lou co-wrote, with Judy Freudberg, the primetime special, Sesame Street Presents: The Street We Live On, which was nominated for an Emmy as Outstanding Children's Program. He wrote the lyrics for the special's song, "The Street I Live On," which was also nominated for a Primetime Emmy.
Judy Freudberg
Head Writer, Sesame Street
Judy Freudberg has been writing for Sesame Street since 1975. One of the creators and developers of "Elmo's World," she now serves as head writer for that popular segment. Freudberg collaborated with Tony Geiss on Sesame Street's first feature film, Sesame Street Presents: Follow that Bird as well as The Land Before Time and An American Tail, two feature animation films for Stephen Spielberg. She and Molly Boylan were nominated for a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Children's Special for the home video Elmo's World: Wild Wild West. For Sesame Street season 35, Judy co-wrote, with Lou Berger, the primetime special, Sesame Street Presents: The Street We Live On, which was nominated for an Emmy as Outstanding Children's Program. Most recently Judy worked with Belinda Ward on the forthcoming Upside Down Show and wrote two episodes for its first season.
