Bios
ALISON VAN DIGGELEN
Alison van Diggelen is an award winning journalist and commentator who has interviewed hundreds of business leaders in Silicon Valley and recently worked for the production team of NPR’s KQED Forum Show. For many years, she was a columnist and feature writer for The San Jose Mercury News, San Jose Magazine, and the Silicon Valley Business Journal. Alison has been a featured guest on KTVU – Mornings on Two with Ross McGowan; Silicon Valley Business with Pam Cook and several cable TV shows. Her writing has appeared in the Financial Times of London, her commentary on NPR’s KQED Radio; and she has been interviewed on BBC Radio. With her Fresh Dialogues audio interview series, she brings a global perspective to the issues of sustainability and climate change. She has a Master’s from Cambridge University and a B.Sc. from Paisley University.
BEN HESS
As executive producer of Bay Area Pictures, Ben has produced, edited, or directed over 100 short-form marketing and sales videos for online and DVD distribution. He’s also created or produced several independent films. For New York PBS affiliate, Thirteen, and the non-profit, Open Media Network, Ben produced the online video project War Stories, in conjunction with Ken Burns’ documentary, The War. During his sales career, Ben ran a distributor channel for the software subsidiary of Silicon Graphics and was selected to the company’s President’s Club. He also managed multi-national accounts and software implementations at Volvo Cars, ISI-Dentsu, and Boeing, among others. Ben has a B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis and studied at the California Institute of the Arts.
