Bios

• RUSSELL BEST Executive Producer/Creator • TAMMY LEECH Co-Executive Producer • LT. PETER SAPIENZA Technical Advisor	RUSSELL BEST BIO Executive Producer/Creator Russell Best, Senior Vice President/General Manager, National Video Center, has gained a wealth of creative and production experience over the past two decades. His years spent at CBS as a Production Supervisor gave him exposure to literally almost every type of television program that exists, from news, to sports, to variety, to daytime, to talk; from “Captain Kangaroo” to Lorne Michael’s comedy projects and everything in between. Working for Procter & Gamble, he ultimately became in charge of creating a production standard which would allow P&G to produce their programs more efficiently. This gave Russell an opportunity to work with large budgets, massive workforces, and a wealth of writers, producers and creative executives. From P&G, Russell moved on to become an executive at 20th Television where he began to have an impact on the creation, development and launching of shows. Aside from producing several pilots, Russell helped develop and produce, “Forgive or Forget” and “13 Bourbon Street.” He was able to work with some of the most well respected, creative talent and senior level executives in the television industry. Today, Russell is the proverbial “triple threat.” As a creator, producer and executive, Russell can do it all. He is responsible for running National Video Center; employing over 250 people, while at the same time he is developing and selling a wide variety of programming to the broadcast and cable communities. Russell also serves as Executive Producer on all National Entertainment projects from launch and start up through the completion of the production process.
	TAMMY LEECH BIO Co-Executive Producer Tammy Leech is a writer, producer and director, specializing in reality, talk/variety and documentary TV with vast experience in scheduling, budgeting and assembling productions. As Executive Director, Programming & Development for National Entertainment, Tammy is responsible for developing diverse properties of all forms, content creation and executive producing or overseeing all National Entertainment productions. Her past experience includes work for ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX, as well as production companies such as Grosso Jacobson Communications Corporation Inc., Pearson TV, Telepictures, Columbia/Tristar, Eyemark Entertainment, and Multimedia. Ms. Leech was an Emmy Nominated Producer for the first season of Michael Moore’s “The Awful Truth.” During her tenure with Mr. Moore, she executed seven days of live “town hall” taping in front of a 900-person audience at the University of Illinois. She has also worked with a wide range of talent including Phil Donahue, Conan O'Brien, Michael Moore, Joan Lunden, Nancy Glass, and Jennifer Lopez.
	LT. PETER SAPIENZA Technical Advisor At the age of 26, Queens native Peter Sapienza, followed in the footsteps of his older brother Joseph to join the front lines of “New York’s Bravest,” the New York City Fire Department (NYFD). After 18 years of close calls, bruises and burns, Peter continues to save lives and risk his own as a lieutenant at Engine 28 in New York City’s historic Lower East Side. Peter decided to take on the role of Technical Advisor for THE BRAVEST to insure the accuracy and realism of this groundbreaking program. “Most firemen do not watch shows like ‘Third Watch,’ because they are not technically correct and there is a lot of fluff,” Peter said. “Since THE BRAVEST writers are not firefighters, I advise them on various assignments, equipment and different types of fires,” he added. Peter began his career as a probational firefighter at Engine 233 in the Bedford Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn where he served for nine years, followed by a move to Ladder 176 in the same neighborhood. He began his career with a bang, falling through a burning floor while fighting his first fire. Luckily, he was saved by fellow firefighter, Bob Galione of Brooklyn’s Rescue 2, who can be seen on THE BRAVEST. Following his promotion to lieutenant in 1997, Peter was transferred to his current location, just a few blocks from his brother’s company, Ladder 9, in Greenwich Village. “Joe and I have had to fight fires together. It brings new meaning to looking out for your brother,” Peter noted. Peter has served on two of the NYFD’s more decorated and aggressive companies, and while modest about his individual achievements, his company has received numerous unit citations for going above and beyond the call of duty. Most recently, they received a citation for extinguishing a raging three-floor airshaft fire in a Lower East Side five-story tenement building. As an officer, Peter leads two hours of daily impromptu classes and drills to prepare the firefighters for any job-related situation, ranging from general safety procedures to building collapse procedures to how to properly handle chemical fires in pharmaceutical locations. Once all is safe and the last flame has been extinguished, he retires to his tidings in Manhattan’s Upper East Side.