Our Team

Geri Migielicz – Executive Producer and Co-Director

A co-founder of Story4, Geri is the Lorry I. Lokey Visiting Professor at Stanford University, teaching multimedia in the Graduate Program in Journalism. Geri served as Director of Photography at the San Jose Mercury News from 1993 to 2009. Geri was executive producer on an Emmy Award-winning web documentary, “Uprooted, ”and she directed coverage that won a 1990 Pulitzer Prize in general news reporting and a 2003 Pulitzer finalist in Feature Photography. Under Geri’s direction, the Mercury News garnered all the major national awards for photo editing and photo usage, making the paper a destination for the leading talent in the photojournalism industry because of its innovation in web and print storytelling.

Geri has served on the faculty at The Poynter Institute for Media Studies, and has been an editor and leader at the industry’s top photojournalism workshops including the Missouri Photo Workshop, the Stan Kalish Picture Editing Workshop, Society of Newspaper Design, and the National Press Photographers Association.  Geri was a Stanford University Knight Fellow in 2004-05.

Richard Koci Hernandez – Co-Director and Cinematographer (www.richardkocihernandez.com)

Richard is an Emmy award-winning video and multimedia producer and worked as a photographer at the San Jose Mercury News for 15 years. He is an Assistant Professor in New Media at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. In 2012 Richard received an Emmy nomination for Art Direction. Richard’s photojournalism has appeared in Time, Newsweek, The New York Times and international magazines, including Stern. In 2008, Richard was awarded a national Emmy award for the New Approaches to Documentary category for the Mercury News video entitled, Uprooted. His work for the Mercury News has earned him two Pulitzer Prize nominations. Richard created MercuryNewsPhoto.com, whose interactive story telling was judged among the world’s best two years in a row in the Pictures of the Year International contest. He has taught multimedia workshops for Stanford University, National Press Photographers Association, National Association for Hispanic Journalists and National Association for Black Journalists.

Liza Culick, Esq, MPH, Story4 co-founder – Executive Producer

Liza co-founded Story4 to bring the power of visual storytelling to connect viewers and communities to the transformative work and leadership in the nongovernmental sector. At Story4, Liza’s role is focused on story development, production planning, and business management. She has served as producer and business/production manager for all of Story4 projects. In addition to her work with Story4, Liza is Principal of Culick Consulting & Coaching (www.culickconsulting.com). She is an executive coach and leadership development consultant and holds degrees in law and public health. Liza has a musical background and a lifelong commitment to the arts.