Michael Swanson
President and CEO, Faith Filmworks
About Speaker
Emmy Award winner Michael Swanson is a film and theatre producer. He is also a visionary entrepreneur and president and CEO of the Los Angeles based entertainment company, Faith Filmworks. Throughout his distinguished career in entertainment, Michael has produced films to critical and audience acclaim including All About You starring Renée Elise Goldsberry, Terron Brooks and Debbie Allen; All About Us starring Boris Kodjoe, Ryan Michelle Bathé and Ruby Dee; For the Love of Ruth starring Denise Boutte and Loretta Devine; To Hell and Back starring Ernie Hudson and Vanessa Bell Calloway; The Wayman Tisdale Story starring Wayman Tisdale and Michael Jordan and Fannie starring Aunjanue Ellis. On Broadway, Michael is involved with the Tony Award winning hit musical, Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations, the upcoming Hippest Trip - The Soul Train Musical and the first Broadway revival of Ntozake Shange’s groundbreaking choreopoem, for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf. This celebrated work garnered 7 Tony Award nominations, including Best Revival of a Play. Michael is currently developing and producing the Broadway and West End bound musical, I’ll Be There, about Motown’s Four Tops. After attending Princeton Theological Seminary, Michael joined NBC's "Must See TV" national primetime sales team in New York City that sold commercial space for top-rated NBC shows including Seinfeld, ER, Friends, Frasier and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. This sales team became the first in broadcast television to book over $2.2 billion in upfront advertising revenue. Earning his Bachelor of Arts degree in Film, Television and Theatre from the University of Notre Dame; Michael was chosen by the Notre Dame Alumni Association as The Rev. Arthur S. Harvey Award recipient, acknowledging his achievements in the arts. Michael serves on the board of directors for Wedgwood Circle, Notre Dame’s Performing Arts Advisory Council, Success Through Education Program, FEAST and is a member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. A South Side of Chicago native, Michael resides in Los Angeles with his wife of 29 years, filmmaker and screenwriter Christine Swanson, and their four children.