FOUNDERS
Brian Riordan
Founder
Brian is a two-time Grammy and four-time Emmy Award winning sound mixer, producer, musician and owner of leading Hollywood post production studio Levels Audio. While continuing to focus on growing his business, Riordan had been seeking a more soul-fulfilling purpose. This came into focus through the combination of daily meditation practice, inspiring conversations with like-minded people, and ultimately, a life-changing trip to India where he spent a week in the company of His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama. There, he saw his purpose with complete clarity – to take his 25 years of industry experience and personal network of Hollywood professionals and combine them with Social Scientists and Contemplative Masters to create a powerful synergy in an effort to make a positive and lasting impact on the world.
This was the genesis of the Hollywood Compassion Coalition.
Natalie Conneely
Founder
Natalie Conneely is an award-winning actress, producer, and director who believes that stories have the power to transform and heal society. She began producing with Turner Commercial Productions for CNN Digital in 2007, and helped launch CNN International's first Middle East Production Hub in Abu Dhabi in 2009. Natalie founded Pachamama Sabia, a social impact production company that leverages the power of storytelling for social good. And is currently Director of Development with Optimist, a social good production company based in Los Angeles.
Natalie worked for His Holiness, The 14th Dalai Lama for seven years, building and sustaining a global network of more than 250 mindful, ethical, and compassionate leaders in over 45 countries around the world. She is thrilled to merge her two passions, the entertainment industry and compassion towards building a better world.
FOUNDING ADVISORY BOARD
Owsley Brown III
Advisor
Owsley Brown is devoted to sustaining healthy communities by enhancing cultural, spiritual, and civic life. He is a documentary filmmaker, a director of foundations and nonprofit boards, a student of theology and the spiritual path, and the leader of exploratory projects in community wellbeing. Owsley is also an active fifth-generation shareholder of Brown-Forman, his family’s international spirits and wine company, founded in 1870.
Owsley’s films focus on the importance of cultural formation, principally through the subject of music. His films include Night Waltz, the story of American writer/composer Paul Bowles, which won the award for Best Documentary at the 15th Independent Spirit Awards; Music Makes a City, the story of the improbable creation and triumph of the Louisville Orchestra in the 1950’s, and Serenade for Haiti, a portrait of the Holy Trinity Music School in Port au Prince, Haiti. His current film, River City Drum Beat, is a timely look at arts and culture via music in West Louisville.
In his native city and beloved hometown of Louisville, Owsley is known as host and producer of the Festival of Faiths, a founding board member of the Kentucky School of Art + Design, and Chair of the Compassionate Schools Project, the most comprehensive study ever undertaken of an integrated health and wellness curriculum in an elementary school setting.
Owsley also serves on the boards of the University of Virginia’s Center for Contemplative Sciences, Mind & Life Institute, Sustainable Food Alliance, Center for Interfaith Relations, Roxie Theater, San Francisco Silent Film Society, and the Tsoknyi Humanitarian Fund. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia.
Founding Supporters
We’re currently meeting with our first group of Founding Supporters who are collaborating to make the HCC’s initial steps a reality. If you would like to participate in this phase of support, please contact us.