You will learn about different types of videos, scripting, storyboard, production needs, distribution channels and, most importantly, how to figure out what will work to create your success.

Louise Thompson, Executive Director

Louise joined TBCN in May 2003. Through mid-2015, she hosted 230 TBCN outreach programs and managed staff who have trained thousands of individuals and produced thousands of community programs.

As Executive Director, she is responsible for the recruitment and retention of staff and volunteers, revenue generation, contract acquisition and compliance, budget oversight, a 5,000-square-feet facility at the University Mall with TV and podcast studios and edit suites, the maintenance and upgrading of a million-dollar inventory of video production equipment, community outreach efforts, grant-writing and contract compliance with local government. Since July 2002, Thompson has hosted a live, hour-long, call-in TBCN series called “Speak Up Presents,” where she interviews panels of three or more guests who are generally related through their work, charitable activities, community leadership or special interests. They convey information of interest to viewers.

The recipient of many awards, she was chosen “2006 Executive Woman of the Year” by the Network of Executive Women and a finalist for Tampa Bay Business Journal’s 2005 “Business Woman of the Year in Media.” In 2003, the national Alliance for Community Media presented her with its Director’s Choice Award for defense of public access and the First Amendment. Tampa’s Italian Club Auxiliary named her 2002 Italian-American Woman in Business. She was previously named “Woman of the Year” by a chapter of Business & Professional Women, “One of the Bay Area’s 50 Most Influential Women” by Tampa Bay Life Magazine and was listed in Who’s Who in Editors, Writers & Poets. Creative Loafing Newspaper named her “Best of the Bay” four times: in 2000, for her efforts on behalf of public access television; in 1996 for women’s issues; in 1994, for community issues and in 1993, for leadership and ethics.

A former employee of General Foods, IBM, Boise Cascade and CNA Financial corporations, Thompson was CEO of an award-winning advertising, marketing and public relations firm for two decades, a freelance writer, author and speaker. She has served hundreds of start-up and established businesses. Thompson is a USF honors graduate with a B.A. in Mass Communications.