After a decade of leading the organization, Danette Wolpert, the founder and Executive Director, will step away from her current role to assume the position of President of the Board within the organization.

During her tenure as Executive Director, Wolpert has played a pivotal role in nurturing ILLUMINATE’s growth and establishing it as a global force for transformational storytelling. Her passion, dedication, and visionary leadership have been instrumental in shaping the festival’s landmark annual event in Sedona, Arizona, its year-round film programming, and its new worldwide streaming platform.

As Wolpert embraces her new role as President of the Board, she will continue to provide her invaluable guidance and expertise to steer ILLUMINATE Film Festival toward a promising future.

With a passion for creating at the intersection of ecology, spirituality, and social justice, Téana David comes to ILLUMINATE from the Shift Your World Film Festival where she was Co-Director. Prior to this, she served as Director of Deepak HomeBase in New York City, where she designed and curated a year-round event series with hundreds of authors, activists, and teachers including Brené Brown, Byron Katie, Zainab Salbi, Robert Thurman, Mark Nepo, Deepak Chopra, and Thich Nhat Hanh monastics.

Growing up on Vancouver Island, Téana was drawn to protect the natural world from an early age. As a young actor and activist, she co-starred in an environmentally-focused children’s television series and was active in community efforts to preserve local old-growth forests.

Today, Téana is a founding member of Artists for Amazonia, an entertainment industry initiative that addresses critical issues impacting the Amazon Rainforest. Through her production company, Wise Planet Media, she has produced many short films to support this important cause including Weave of Life, narrated by Morgan Freeman, and The Time Is Now with Txai Surui, Ziggy Marley, and Rosario Dawson. Other media projects include serving as the Impact Producer for the Amazon Prime docuseries Changing of the Gods and as an advisor on the Sundance award-winning documentary, The Territory.

Téana is a member of The Evolutionary Leader’s Circle and Vice President of the board of the Tribal Trust Foundation. She holds a B.F.A from The Boston Conservatory and an M.F.A from Naropa University where she was introduced to the practice of Dharma Art – “art that springs from an awakened state of mind” – which continues to inform her personally and professionally.

Kit Thomas is an award-winning producer/director known for his impactful approach to cinematic storytelling. His films have received numerous awards including an Oscar nomination for his documentary, Burning Down Tomorrow, which was commissioned by Sting to raise awareness about the global rainforest crisis.

He co-produced and directed the multiple Emmy-winning TV special, Spaceship Earth: Our Global Environment for the Disney Channel, and developed, co-produced, and co-directed the award-winning Earth Communications Office PSA campaign which has been seen by over 2 billion people worldwide. After producing a live stage show at Disneyland for the launch of Space Mountain, he moved to Disney Studios where he created 25 titles for their Educational Media Division.

He has produced music videos for artists including Diana Ross, John Denver, Fishbone, and The Judds. As a music producer, he has recorded over 60 albums and created music for numerous film and television projects including Awake: The Life of Yogananda. He served on the Grammy Awards board of directors for 12 years, and as chairman of the New Age Music category for the Grammys for 25 years.

Kit brings to ILLUMINATE his recent experience as Co-Director of the Shift Your World Film Festival. In addition to his work at ILLUMINATE, he serves as Executive Director of Circle of Wisdom, a non-profit initiative that provides grants to young media creators to interview wisdom-keepers from different cultures.

Hilary Carr is an award-winning producer, marketing strategist, singer-songwriter, and human rights activist. She has spent over twenty years producing television and live events with many of the most important thought-leaders of our time.

Hilary is passionate about spreading enlightened ideas and, as a dedicated human rights advocate, has spent over a decade supporting the fight against modern-day slavery as well as bringing schools, education, and food to people in areas around the planet suffering from extreme poverty.

She is respected as one of the best festival producers in the business and her commitment to elevating human consciousness and inspiring lasting transformation makes her the perfect quarterback for the ILLUMINATE Festival Team.

Morgan Richmond became a valued member of ILLUMINATE’s executive team in November 2015. With a versatile skill set, Morgan has taken on multiple roles over the years, serving as a key player in leading the festival team. Throughout her tenure at ILLUMINATE, Morgan has successfully handled various responsibilities in administration, human resources, contracts, IT, web editing, Eventive set-up and ticketing, operations, marketing, membership and policy development. Morgan’s ability to think strategically and implement effective tactics has been instrumental in achieving organizational goals.

Beyond her work at ILLUMINATE, Morgan is an accomplished entrepreneur and business owner. She has gained valuable experience as a business and technical consultant, including her time as an executive on Steve Jobs’ NeXT Computers staff. Morgan’s career also includes serving as a VP/COO for a data communication software development company, where she significantly boosted sales from $15M to $90M within a three-year period. She played a pivotal role in developing an onsite service program for SBC Global and organizing an intranet development and network architecture team for Hewlett Packard.

Morgan has also worked with the State of California Public Health Department, overseeing and coordinating 23 strategic projects focused on automation, business re-design, and sustainable funding. Her expertise extends to her role as a contract/program auditor for the State of California Prostate Cancer Treatment Program, where she authored a Legislative Report submitted to the Governor, Joint Legislative Budget Committee, and the Legislature’s fiscal and policy committees.

During her semi-retirement in the scenic red rock country of Sedona, Arizona, Morgan finds joy in hiking with her two dogs, tending to her organic garden, and exploring the intersection of science and spirituality. Additionally, she is a certified massage therapist, graphologist, and Reiki practitioner.

Mahil was born in London, England, grew up in Toronto, Canada and moved to Santa Barbara in December of 1999.  Mahil has been actively engaged in a variety film and community endeavors.

Mahil has reviewed films for the Santa Barbara, Los Angeles and AFI film festivals and moderated Q&As and panels.  He most recently served as Media and Stakeholder Relations Director for the Ceylon International Film Festival which launched in Santa Barbara in 2022.  Mahil has also written coverage of film festivals for local media outlets EdHat and The Voice and served on the jury of the Reel Loud film festival at UCSB.

His current community involvement includes sitting on the Board of the Fund for Santa Barbara, which funds progressive social and environmental change, and the Family Service Agency (FSA) Program Advisory Committee.  FSA addresses some of the most pressing social needs in our community. 

Mahil has a day job.  He is a consultant working on nationally recognized initiatives to improve the equity, quality and access to health care.  Mahil’s recent study on COVID’s devastating impact on  California nursing homes contributed to the passing of state-wide legislation.  He is also working in youth mental health.

Mahil has had a life-long interest in the nature of human consciousness, growing up in the Vedantic tradition (which focuses on Hindu philosophical/psychological thought) and attends the Vedanta Temple in Montecito.    

Mahil got so excited about the mission of ILLUMINATE, and the positive energy that it will bring to Santa Barbara (and beyond), that he is volunteering in his position this year.

Jenny Hayden got her start in film working with the documentary team at a WCCO-TV, a CBS Network owned-and-operated television, these films garnered dozens of awards including Edward R. Murrow Awards, Peabody Awards, the Television Academy’s National Emmy Awards and others.

Later, Jenny became the Managing Director at Planet Pictures, a factual production and distribution company which won commissions to produce original series from national cable and international TV networks. From there, she was recruited to work as an acquisitions executive for ShortsTV, a 24/7 linear Pay TV channel and FAST channel with carriage in the US, Europe, Latin America, Asia and available on iTunes and Roku.

Jenny is also a sales agent on behalf of content creators. From ideation to completed films, she helps filmmakers determine the best way to monetize their film and find the best platforms to license their content.

She is proudest of her documentary work at TBS where she was a key member of the team producing an original weekly series broadcast Sundays in prime-time following National Geographic titled NETWORK EARTH.  The series that profiled environmental heroes and featured uplifting and inspirational stories about people and communities creating solutions to environmental issues facing our planet.  It was on-air for five years in this timeslot.  She is equally proud of her one-hour documentary commissioned by PBS called ASSIGNMENT: EARTH which looks at scientists innovating cutting edge solutions to environmental issues.

Andrew Stoneham is a film programmer and arts administrator based in New York City. He is a lover of independent and foreign films. Andrew has programmed for the Philadelphia Film Festival.

In addition to his programming experience, he previously served as the Festival Director of the Bermuda International Film Festival.

2024 marks his third season as ILLUMINATE’s Senior Programmer.