The deNovo Initiative is a private foundation, established in December of 2021, dedicated to supporting storytellers who challenge our values, opinions, and beliefs.
We believe personal, compelling storytelling can boost the respect people bestow on others, and overcome political polarization, racism, anti-immigrant anger, ageism, ablism, and cultural divisions. Thought-provoking stories educate, engage, and empower audiences to move from an “us and them” to a “you and I” mindset.
Our grants and investments will help storytellers create content to illuminate new perspectives as well as ensure those perspectives are widely seen and heard, giving these stories the opportunity to catalyze more understanding and acceptance for our shared humanity.
Dawn H. Bonder, JD
President and Chief Executive Officer
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Dawn founded The deNovo Initiative to support storytellers who challenge our conceptions, opinions, and beliefs; propelling their stories as catalysts for building empathy and changing hearts and minds. She endeavors to identify storytellers focused on exposing systemic stupidity and identifying solutions focused on better outcomes for all.
Dawn has embraced storytelling as a powerful tool for developing and implementing change throughout her career. Recent credits include I Didn’t See You There (2022), Bad Axe (2022), Body Parts (2022), Pay or Die (2023), The Eternal Memory (2023), Beyond Utopia (2023), Food and Country (2023), Richland (2023), Songs from the Hole (2024), Love Machina (2024), Agent of Happiness (2024) and The Debutantes.
Dawn received a BSBA from Boston University Questrom School of Business, summa cum laude, and a J.D. from New York University School of Law. A lover of people who make her laugh or think, Dawn has called Portland, Oregon home for 27 years.
Susan P. Potter
Head of Business Affairs and General Counsel
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Susan Potter serves as Head of Business Affairs and General Counsel for The deNovo Initiative, responsible for all legal, contractual, operational, compliance, and human resources matters within the company. Susan has over 25 years of legal experience in both the for-profit and non-profit realms. Most recently, she has served as in-house counsel to two health care nonprofits in Oregon, gaining invaluable experience in the areas of operations, compliance, and risk management. Her experience in board governance matters is augmented by her volunteer service on several nonprofit boards of directors.
Susan earned her undergraduate degree at Wellesley College and her law degree from New York University School of Law. After practicing law and raising her family in Washington, D.C., Susan relocated to Portland, Oregon in 2013. She enjoys exploring the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest and taking advantage of the theater, film, music, and other cultural opportunities available in Portland and Seattle.
Janice L. Finely
Chief Financial Officer
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Janice Finley serves as Chief Financial Officer for The deNovo Initiative. Her years of experience on the finance side of the health insurance industry enables Janice to see beyond the numbers. She has seen how understanding the lived experiences, backgrounds, and needs of others can be the first step to removing barriers. She is excited to be working in an organization focused on supporting storytellers in sharing their perspective to support change.
Most recently Janice has worked as a contractor managing accounting services for several businesses in various industries. Prior to that, she served as CFO for Southwest Washington Accountable Community of Health, a non-profit organization working to bring together partners to address whole-person wellness in an equitable, sustainable way. Janice worked in the health insurance industry prior to that. This included such organizations as Health Republic Insurance Company (a nonprofit insurance company in Oregon), Columbia United Providers (focused on Medicaid coverage in Vancouver, WA), ATRIO Health Plans (a Medicare Advantage carrier in Oregon) Health Net Health Plans of Oregon (a commercial and Medicare carrier in Oregon) and PACC Health Plans (a commercial carrier in Oregon and Southwest Washington that was acquired by HealthNet).
Janice is a native to the Northwest having grown up in Portland, Oregon before moving to Vancouver, WA. She attended Oregon State University, receiving a B.S. in Business Administration, Accounting.
Marci Wiseman
Chief Creative Officer
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Marci Wiseman is a seasoned entertainment and media executive who spent a significant majority of her career building and growing independent content play television companies both at studios and networks, with involvement in all facets of the business, including creative, production, distribution, and deal making. Marci is known for seeing around corners and building businesses that lean into new and ever-changing marketplace realities.
From 2016-2020, Marci was Co-President of Blumhouse Television, where she is currently a strategic advisor. Marci, along with her co-president Jeremy Gold, expanded Blumhouse into TV as an independent studio. Since that time, Blumhouse Television has produced over 20 series, including scripted and unscripted series, streaming movies, anthologies, and documentaries, generating in excess of $100 million in annual production revenue, and garnering numerous awards and nominations across Emmy, Golden Globes, Peabody, Critics Choice, PGA, WGA, WGA, DGA, SAG, Gotham, Imagen, Sundance, duPont and Tribeca. Notable projects include: Sharp Objects for HBO (based on Gillian Flynn’s novel starring Amy Adams); The Loudest Voice for Showtime (based on Gabriel Sherman’s reporting and book and starring Russell Crowe); The Good Lord Bird for Showtime (based on James McBride’s award winning novel and starring Ethan Hawke); Sacred Lies for Facebook Watch (from Raelle Tucker and Scott Winant); The Purge for USA/Syfy based on the successful Purge film franchise; the upcoming The Thing About Pam (starring Renee Zelwegger) for NBC/Peacock; and projects in the pipeline at NatGeo and Amazon.
Beyond scripted series, under Marci’s leadership the company built a growing docu-series business, with projects at f/x, Sundance, Oxygen, Netflix, Discovery+, HBO, HBOMax, and CNN; and a significant feature-length documentary division, with projects that include: A Secret Love and Pray Away (both in partnership with Ryan Murphy and Netflix); This Is Home (EPIX); Kill Chain: The Cyber War on America’s Elections (HBO); and Bathtubs Over Broadway (Netflix).
Starting 2021, Marci has been working with early and mid-stage entertainment and media companies, as a board member, advisor, and strategic consultant. Wiseman sits on the board of XYZ Films (an independent film distribution, production and sales company); Realm (one of the preeminent fiction audio companies in the fast-growing fiction podcast space); ORBIT Media (a non-fiction podcast content studio formed with acclaimed journalists and documentary filmmakers); and Wavelength Productions (the fast-growing documentary film company started by Jen Westphal).
Prior to Blumhouse, Marci had a notable career including as s long-time executive at AMC (2010-2015) and Executive Vice President, Global Production and Business Affairs at eOne Television (2015-2016).
Marci received her law degree from New York University and began her career at O’Melveny & Myers and earned her bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University. She is involved with, and has been honored by, JDRF – LA and South LA’s A Place Called Home and was named to The Hollywood Reporter’s Power 100 List of top female entertainment executives (2018), Variety’s TV Producer’s Impact Report (2019) and Women’s Impact Report (2013).