Bruce Johnson,
President/Chief Executive Officer
Email: bjohnson@porchlight.com
Bruce Johnson is recognized as a prolific creative talent, with numerous producing credits for feature films, television movies, series, specials, and documentaries. A multiple Emmy Award winner, Johnson co-founded PorchLight Entertainment in 1995 with the entire family as its target audience.
From a start-up company in 1995, PorchLight has emerged as one of the world’s leading independent family entertainment companies, distributing a library of more than 1500 episodes of children’s programming and nearly 200 movies. The Company’s divisions include Children’s Programming and Prime Time Entertainment, Worldwide Program Sales, DVD Distribution, Educational Media, Licensing & Merchandising and Digital Media.
Johnson’s recent executive producing credits include Tutenstein, the multiple Emmy-Award winning animated series for Discovery Kids; Secret Saturdays for Cartoon Network; and six best-selling LeapFrog DVDS including A Tad of Christmas Cheer. He also created and executive produced the award winning Adventures from The Book of Virtues. Under Johnson’s leadership, the company has produced nearly 400 episodes of animation and over 40 movies, delivering programming to a wide variety of U.S. networks including PBS, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, ABC Family, Disney Channel, Lifetime, Showtime, HBO, History Channel, Discovery, Animal Planet, Sci Fi Channel and others.
Prior to forming PorchLight, Johnson was Executive Vice President and General Manager of Hanna-Barbera Entertainment Co. He was involved with the development and launch of the Cartoon Networks worldwide for Turner Entertainment, following Turner’s acquisition of Hanna-Barbera in 1991.
Johnson is a graduate of the University of Minnesota, Morris, with a B.A. degree in English. In 2002, he was named a Distinguished Graduate of the university. He also received Master's and Ph.D. degrees from Northwestern University. He’s married, has one child and is an avid weekend tennis player.
Jeffery Engelen,
Vice President, Worldwide Sales
Email: jengelen@porchlight.com
Jeffrey Engelen is Vice President, Worldwide Sales, with responsibility for the following territories: the Middle East, Africa, Turkey, Greece, CIS, Beneleux, Germany, France and the Former Yugoslavia. Engelen joined PorchLight in 2004 as Director of International Licensing. In his position with PorchLight, he developed and managed the international licensing agent’s network to sell and market the company’s merchandising, video, wireless and promotional rights. Later he took the added responsibilities of selling and licensing PorchLight programming in various broadcast and video formats in several territories.
Prior to coming to the United States, Engelen served as Sales and Licensing Director for Telescreen Distribution and Licensing, a leading full-service children’s branding company. Based in Hilversum, Holland, Engelen was responsible for the marketing and sales of several key children’s brands and negotiated licensed products and promotions with numerous national and international licensees targeting key product categories.
Engelen holds a Masters Degree in Business Culture, Organization and Management from VU Amsterdam as well as a BA in International Business, English and French from the Higher Institute from Economy and Management in Utrecht, Holland. He is fluent in several languages including English, Dutch, German and French.
Don Mirisch,
Senior Vice President
Email: dmirisch@PorchLight.com
Don Mirisch brings to PorchLight over twenty-five years of entertainment industry experience. He founded and served as Executive Vice President and General Manager of MGM Animation, producing and distributing theatrical and direct-to-video features and television series including “All Dogs Go to Heaven 2”, “The Pebble and the Penguin”, “The Pink Panther” and “Babes in Toyland”. Previously, he was Senior Vice President of MGM’s Entertainment Business Group, with responsibility for corporate business affairs, including feature and television production, acquisition and distribution, music, merchandising and licensing.
Earlier, Don headed business affairs for such companies as Hanna-Barbera, Embassy Home Entertainment and PolyGram Pictures. His varied career includes stints at Twentieth-Century Fox and Universal. He is a cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Brandeis University, a cum laude graduate of the Harvard Law School, and a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the State Bar of California.
Courtney Colman,
Chief Financial Officer
Email: ccolman@porchlight.com
As Chief Financial Officer, Courtney Colman oversees Finance and Accounting for all aspects of PorchLight’s operations including production and distribution, acquisitions. In addition, she is responsible for managing PorchLight’s Human Resources and IT departments.
Prior to joining PorchLight, Courtney was the Executive Vice President of Finance at First Look Studios, overseeing the finance, accounting and participation departments. First Look Studios handles the distribution for Nu Image/Millenium Films, First Look’s parent company, as well as independently acquired feature films.
Prior to First Look Studios, Courtney held the position of Chief Financial Officer of Lieberman Research Worldwide, a market research company specializing in the entertainment sector. Her experience also includes financial oversight in several sectors of the entertainment industry including film, music and performing arts. Courtney was Vice President of Participations at Sony Pictures Entertainment, Vice President at Universal Music’s Interscope label, Vice President of Film Finance at PolyGram Filmed Entertainment and Senior Vice President at Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group. Courtney’s experience at PolyGram Filmed Entertainment extended over 6 years in three countries (Canada, the UK and the USA).
Courtney received her Bachelor of Commerce at the University of Toronto, and she is a Chartered Accountant (CA) in Canada and the UK.
Fred Schaefer,
Senior Vice President, Animation
Email: fschaefer@porchlight.com
Fred Schaefer is responsible for the development, production and international co-production of animated series, specials, and home video features. He was supervising producer on the Emmy Award-winning animated series, Tutenstein for DiscoveryKids and developed and supervised Secret Saturdays for Cartoon Network. He also produced The Night Before Christmas: A Mouse Tale; The Haunted Pumpkin of Sleepy Hollow; and The Christmas Dinosaur, all of which have appeared on Cartoon Network and are available on DVD. He also served as an executive producer of Four Eyes, a 52-episode series for France 3 and others.
Prior to joining PorchLight, Schaefer was a Creative Executive at Walt Disney Television Animation, where he developed animated series (Gargoyles, Aladdin), network and syndicated specials (Winnie the Pooh and Christmas Too, The Little Mermaid - Whale of a Tale, A Goof Troop Christmas, Boo To You, Too, Winnie the Pooh) and the theatrical feature, A Goofy Movie. He was also involved in the development of Disney's first-ever direct-to-video movie, Aladdin II - The Return of Jafar, and others including Aladdin and the King of Thieves, The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, Pocohantas II: Journey to a New World, and Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin).
Shea Fontana,
Vice President Children’s Programming
Email: sfontana@porchlight.com
Shea Fontana manages the development, production, and acquisitions of PorchLight’s Children’s Programming department. Ms. Fontana joined PorchLight in 2006 and has been deeply involved in the production of PorchLight’s animated programming slate including THE SECRET SATURDAYS (Cartoon Network), TUTENTSTEIN (Discovery Kids) and LeapFrog’s A TAD OF CHRISTMAS CHEER. Ms. Fontana’s industry experience apart from PorchLight includes producing a short film adaptation of the DEAD@17 comic book, writing for SUSHI PACK (CBS), and production work for The Jim Henson Company, where she worked with the innovative Henson digital puppetry animation system.
Herb Dorfman,
General Manager, Home Entertainment
Email: hdorfman@porchlight.com
Herb Dorfman joined PorchLight with a career of twenty years in the home entertainment business. He was President of Passport home video where he developed their sales and marketing strategies for licensed and proprietary content including shows like the iconic “Abbott and Costello Television Show,” and Shemp Howard: A Toast to the Original Stooge.
He founded and was President and CEO of Steeplechase Entertainment Corporation, providing consulting services to domestic and international producers and distributors including companies such as Image Entertainment, Overseas Film Group and others.
Herb joined Orion Home Video at the inception of their company as a Regional Manager. Thereafter he was promoted to Divisional Manager, Senior Vice President culminating as President of Orion Home Video and Executive Vice President of Orion Home Entertainment. During his senior management tenure he oversaw the very successful home video release of the Oscar winning“ Dances With Wolves”, “Silence Of The Lambs”, “Blue Sky” and many others. Herb is a graduate of Brooklyn College of the City University of New York.
