Victoria Riskin

Victoria Riskin "is former president of the Writers Guild, West.

"She holds a doctorate in psychology and spent 15 years in private practice before establishing a career in entertainment. In 1989 she began writing and producing for television, serving as an executive producer on The Last Best Year, a television movie based on her experiences as a therapist. She has produced award-winning television movies, including A Town Torn Apart (1992), World War II: When Lions Roared (1994), and The Member of the Wedding (1996). She won a World Media Silver Medal Award for Screenwriting for her adaptation of Willa Cather's classic, My Antonia." 

"Victoria Riskin has spent her life taking on the big issues. As a psychologist, she treated troubled individuals. As a television producer, her first project was a highly praised film based on her work with a dying patient. As the first woman to lead the powerful Writers Guild of America, she lobbied Washington to protect copyrights and tackled the creeping monopolization of media. Now, as a human rights activist, the world is her arena, from Darfur to Nepal, Abu Ghraib and beyond." 

She is a member of the Human Rights Watch, and is a member of the Pacific Council.