Video Hall of Fame 2009: EAA Visionary Award honoree Michele Bell
Paramount Home Entertainment, Senior VP of Worldwide Creative Services
By Cindy Spielvogel -- Video Business, 12/7/2009
The Entertainment AIDS Alliance is honoring Michele Bell as the recipient of its annual Visionary Award for her work to help the charity.
Bell
Video Hall of Fame 2009 |
The Visionary Award honors those who have demonstrated their commitment and service to the fight against HIV and AIDS. Established in 1998, the award has been delivered at an annual event bringing together professionals throughout home entertainment and affiliated industries. This year, the event has merged with the Video Business Video Hall of Fame gala for the first time.
Bell became involved with the EAA because she recognized the need to raise funds for HIV and AIDS research, prevention and care.
“I decided to get involved in the EAA because it’s a wonderful cause and AIDS education and prevention is extremely important,” Bell says. “I knew that the economy was making fundraising efforts difficult for the EAA, so I wanted to help raise money for the charity and awareness for the group.”
She outlines the ways people in the industry can contribute to AIDS education and prevention through EAA: “Directly, by joining the group and volunteering, and indirectly, by supporting industry events and fundraisers.”
Bell was promoted to senior VP of worldwide creative services at Paramount Home Entertainment about a year and a half ago, adding international responsibilities to her role in the domestic division. She joined the studio three years earlier. Before Paramount, she served stints as VP of creative services for Universal Studios Home Entertainment and New Line Home Entertainment.
EAA expresses gratitude to Bell. “In a year when charities across the country are scaling back their operations or shutting their doors due to the economic financial crisis, she took on the challenge of helping EAA to ensure that our help to AIDS research and service organizations, which is now so critical, did not need to be reduced,” says David Bowers, EAA president and Showtime Networks VP of marketing for program entertainment distribution. “Her efforts were critical in EAA’s expanding its sponsorship base, and the board of EAA was unanimous in their selection of granting her the Visionary Award.”