Announcement
Boston, MA —
On Saturday, June 1, Emerson College honored alumni with its Distinguished Alumni Award and Young Alumni Achievement Award at the school’s Alumni Weekend celebration. The award presentation took place at Emerson’s Paramount Theatre. The Distinguished Alumni Award recipients included Ange Giannetti ’89, Executive Vice President of Production for Sony Pictures Entertainment’s motion picture group with over 25 years of film production experience; Scott Ratzan ’86, Senior Strategic Advisor and Board member for Anheuser Busch InBev Foundation and global health advocate; Young Alumni Award Recipient Alexander Freeman ’14, an award-winning filmmaker and public speaker with cerebral palsy who specializes in people of color-focused, human interest films; and Alma J. Powell Hon. ’96, Chair of the Board of Directors for America’s Promise Alliance and one of the nation’s most long standing advocates for children and youth. Alma received the award at an earlier date. Each year, Emerson College honors alumni with the Distinguished Alumni Award and Young Achievement Award—celebrating those who have excelled in their fields and also share a commitment to students, programs, and initiatives. The award honorees return to the campus, located in the heart of Boston’s Theatre District, to accept their individual awards among fellow Emerson alumni.
Biographical Information
Andrea “Ange” Giannetti ’89 Ange Giannetti is an Executive Vice President of Production for Columbia Pictures at Sony Pictures Entertainment, a title she has held since 2003. Throughout her career, she has overseen production on 60+ titles that have contributed over $8.6 billion in worldwide box office and garnered 13 Academy Award nominations and 21 Golden Globe nominations. These include some of SPE’s most successful films and franchises such as Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Equalizer, Zero Dark Thirty, the Da Vinci Code series, This Is the End, Sausage Party, Julie and Julia, and more.
Alma Powell Hon. ’96 Alma J. Powell is one of the nation’s most long standing advocates for children and youth. A successful author and speaker, Alma has helped advance the cause for young people in need for more than four decades. As chair of the Board of Directors for America’s Promise Alliance, Alma has helped lead over 350 partner networks’ in improving the lives of young people by connecting them to the resources essential for success. She also helps guide the Alliance’s GradNation Campaign, an initiative to raise the nation’s high school graduation rate to 90% by 2020. Alma also served as a member of President Barack Obama’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities from 2010 to 2012.
Scott Ratzan ’86 Scott Ratzan, M.D., M.P.A., has a long history of improving global health and well-being initiatives through means of strategic diplomacy and communication. Most recently, he served as the Founding President of the Anheuser Busch InBev Foundation before transitioning to Senior Strategic Advisor and Board member. Currently, Dr. Ratzan is a Senior Fellow at Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at Harvard Kennedy School. He also continues his 24th year as Editor-in-Chief of the peer-reviewed Journal of Health Communication: International Perspectives.
Alexander Freeman ’14 | Young Alumni Award Recipient Alexander Freeman is an award-winning filmmaker and public speaker with cerebral palsy. With a background in short narratives and feature-length documentary filmmaking, Alexander specializes in people of color-focused, human interest films. As Founder, CEO, President, and Owner of OUTCAST PRODUCTIONS, Alexander and his team are devoted to producing and distributing thought-provoking films on disability, sexuality, identity, race, abuse, poverty, and women's rights.
About the College
Based in Boston, Massachusetts, opposite the historic Boston Common and in the heart of the city’s Theatre District, Emerson College educates individuals who will solve problems and change the world through engaged leadership in communication and the arts, a mission informed by liberal learning. The College has 3,780 undergraduates and 670 graduate students from across the United States and 50 countries. Supported by state-of-the-art facilities and a renowned faculty, students participate in more than 90 student organizations and performance groups. Emerson is known for its experiential learning programs in Los Angeles, Washington, DC, the Netherlands, London, China, and the Czech Republic as well as its new Global Portals, with the first opening last fall in Paris. The College has an active network of 51,000 alumni who hold leadership positions in communication and the arts. For more information, visit Emerson.edu.