Senior Executive Producer

Dr. Tom Skinner is senior executive producer at Free To Choose Media.

Tom is an award-winning television and film executive producer, with over 50 years and 150 documentaries to his credit, most notably as executive producer of the Emmy Award-winning National Geographic specials and Planet Earth on PBS. He is an experienced innovator and administrator with a solid academic background. His experience includes national and international production credentials in both public and commercial television.

From 1970 through 1993, Tom Skinner served as vice-president, executive vice-president, and chief operating officer of QED Communications, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1993, he left to pursue opportunities in independent production for A&E, Discovery and Turner Broadcasting. From 1994 through 1999, he was vice- president for programming at Resolution Productions of Burlington, Vermont.

Prior to his tenure at QED Communications, Tom was assistant manager at WITF-TV in Hershey, Pennsylvania and Associate Professor of Radio and Television and executive producer at San Diego State University. He is the recipient of numerous honors and awards including: four national Emmy Awards, three George Foster Peabody Awards, and a Columbia/DuPont Award. He was director of the Academy Award-winning documentary film Journey Into Self.

Tom holds a BA degree in Speech and Education from the State University of New York, Fredonia; an MA in Communications and a Ph.D. in Communications and Theatre from the University of Michigan.

Tom is married to Marlis Mann of Leland, Michigan; he has 3 children and 7 grandchildren.