The Team

Rick Roberts EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

Horizons is led by White House Point of Light award winner and former ‘Chicagoan of the Year’ Rick Roberts. Roberts, an Emmy winner, has developed and created numerous video and film projects, including The Corner Pub and The Long Way Home, both Emmy-nominated documentaries written and produced for PBS in Chicago. Among his most celebrated projects is the nationally acclaimed and Gracie Award-winning The Hunger Heroes, a look at the insidious problem of hunger in America during once august economic times. Service Above Self, a one-hour documentary on the history and programs of Rotary International, received international distribution.

Throughout dual careers as a former social services agency director/board member and as a filmmaker, Roberts has been instrumental in bringing national attention to complex socio-economic issues. Rick has served on a White House/HUD Sub-Committee on homelessness and social entrepreneurism, and continues to be a highly sought font of knowledge for non-profit professionals. His Art of Pain project was featured on CBS’s Sunday Morning and subsequently nominated for a national Emmy Award, and in his role as a social commentator, he has been frequently featured on CNN, the ABC Evening News and the CBS Evening News. His expertise led to a nationally televised debate on current social policy which was moderated by Paula Zahn for The CBS Morning News, and he has also appeared as a resource guest on Oprah.

Roberts’ play, The BenchMark, has been staged numerous times over the years including at the Silk Road Theater in 2008, Step Up productions at the Athenaeum Theatre in 2013, and most recently by Arts Live Studio in Waukegan, IL. The production of The BenchMark was a key a factor in Roberts winning the American Theater Company’s American Dream Award in 2009.