Meet the Board

The Imagination Storybooks Board

Meet the extraordinary team behind the magic of Imagination Storybooks. 

They are the people dedicating time, resources and wisdom to making books accessible to all children and enhancing literacy.

Richard Rieman, Founder and CEO Imagination Videobooks

Richard Rieman

Founder and CEO, Imagination Storybooks

Gary Barnes

Gary Barnes

President

Judith Briles

Dr. Judith Briles

Vice President

Chris Snyder, Narrator and Audio Producer

Tris Snyder

Board Member

Ingrid Pyka

Dr Ingrid Pyka

Board Member

Joe Snyder Narrator

Joel Snyder

Board Member

Pamela-Wright

Pamela Wright

Board Member

Jason_Stark_DCMP_CEO

Jason Stark

Board Member

Heather-Rose-Sackrison

Heather Sackrison

Secretary

Leslie-Hart

Leslie Hart

Treasurer

Claudia Zundel

Claudia Zundel

Advisory Board

Dominic Dezzutti

Dominic Dezzutti

Advisory Board

Lisa Ferland

Lisa Ferland

Advisory Board

Jessica Kaye

Advisory Board

Jocqueline Protho

Advisory Board

Kirk Adams

Advisory Board

Imagination Storybooks

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Richard Rieman, Founder and CEO Imagination Videobooks

Richard Rieman

Richard Rieman, “The Audiobook Wizard,” is an acclaimed authority on audio and video self-publishing. He has narrated and produced hundreds of Indie-published audiobooks. He is the author of the Global eBook Awards Gold Medal Winner in Writing/Publishing, “The Author’s Guide to Audiobook Creation.”

Richard is a Gold Medal National Ben Franklin Independent Book Publishers Assn. (IBPA) Award Winner for Audiobook Nonfiction, an Audible Approved Audiobook Producer, and a 5-time winner of the EVVY Award for audiobook narration and production.

Richard is a former guide and racing instructor for visually impaired skiers, a volunteer narrator for Learning Ally; and a member of the Audiobook Narrators of America, the Audio Description Network Alliance, and the Audio Description Project.

Gary Barnes

Gary Barnes

Gary Barnes is “The Breakthrough Business Mastery Coach.” He is a high-performance business and sales coach, popular national and international speaker & Award winning #1 International Amazon best-selling author (9 books). Gary’s clients span over 8 countries and he has been featured on ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, PBS & TEDX. 

He is the founder of Gary Barnes International. As a leading authority, Gary has created several successful companies personally selling over $280 million dollars in products and services. To do this, he developed principles & tools that helped him increase his production by 1800% (actually 3000% plus) over a 4 year period.

Married over 40 years, with adult sons,— He has completed a world class 40-foot firewalk, flown a World War II P-51 fighter, flown on a trapeze, driven in a Destruction Derby (his car was the Purple Passion); completed a 75-foot bungee jump; and climbed 14,000 foot mountains. He’s a drummer and a Police Academy Graduate.

He also understands dealing with adversity-he has fought a life-threatening illness & won. In 1988 Gary was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and was told that he would be in a wheelchair or dead within 10 years. Never owning that diagnosis Gary created a process that has changed many lives around the world. He believes that your worst day is the day you meet the man or woman you could have been. It’s a choice.

 

Judith Briles

Judith Briles

Judith Briles is known as The Book Shepherd and an encourager to authors. She is a Speaker, Author and Publishing expert, Podcast Host, and the Founder and Chief Visionary Officer of Author YOU, the Founder of the Colorado Authors’ Hall of Fame, and Mile High Press.

As the author of 42 books, she has earned over 45 national book awards in the Writing, Publishing and Business categories including Colorado’s Nonfiction Center for the Book Award and Global eBook Awards. Judith has been honored to be awarded the first Dan Poynter Legacy Award in Nonfiction. Based in Colorado, she’s published in 17 countries with more than 1,000,000 copies of her work sold.

Calling Colorado her home base, she marvels at the human spirit in its quest to survive and thrive.

 

Chris Snyder, Narrator and Audio Producer

Tris Snyder

Tris Snyder is a totally blind audio description quality expert, VO artist and award-winning audio engineer. He has produced thousands of hours of audio description for television and film over the past eighteen years. You can hear his voice on such shows and movies as Modern Family, The Middle, Speechless, The Goldbergs, The Expanse, and The Good Doctor. Tris is a strong proponent of the hiring of blind people at all levels of the audio description industry.

Ingrid Pyka

Ingrid Pyka

Two-time TEDx Speaker and multi-award-winning author/indie-publisher, Dr. Ingrid Pyka works alongside corporate and private organizational teams supporting collaborative leadership and strategic planning.

Ingrid’s passion to provide children with positive opportunities has been life-long and further inspired by her own two daughters. After she self-published her mother’s children’s book, Ingrid created a corresponding curriculum encouraging creativity and writing in pre-school and middle childhood. The program was successfully welcomed in elementary schools, Children’s Hospitals, and local book stores.

Ingrid has served and still holds active board positions for multiple private-sector and not-for-profit organizations. She was President of the Colorado Independent Publishers Association in 2014-2015. Her innovative techniques in building revenue/profits, engaged staffing and positive cultures have led to recognition by international corporations, local organizations, and non-profits alike.

Receiving her degree in veterinary medicine in Colorado State University, she still sees patients as a relief small animal doctor. Not missing a chance to inspire, Ingrid is always delighted when she can pop a stethoscope into a youngster’s ears to hear their pet’s heartbeat or have them help her with a hands-on “tip-of-the-nose to tip-of-the-tail” exam of their furry friend.

After growing up in California, she has called Colorado her home for nearly thirty years. Ingrid dedicates her “spare” time to piano, her two funny cats (Harvey and Bert) and her own remote writer’s haven in Wyoming.

Dr. Pyka is honored to serve Imagination Storybooks doing what she can to bring new opportunities to children that otherwise might not experience the wonders our beautiful world can offer.

 

Joe Snyder Narrator

Joel Snyder

One of the first audio describers, Joel Snyder, PhD is a true pioneer in the audio description field. He began describing theater events and media in 1981. Joel is the founder of the American Council of the Blind’s Audio Description Project (ADP) designed to boost awareness of description in all formats throughout the United States.

Pamela-Wright

Pamela Wright

Pamela Wright’s work over the past 25 years has centered around language—teaching ASL and English, working in professional theater, translating, training deaf interpreters, and publishing. Pamela is a faculty member at Gallaudet University’s Linguistics Department. Gallaudet is the world’s only university in which all programs and services are specifically designed to accommodate deaf and hard of hearing students. Pamela is a consultant with the Described and Captioned Media Program on adding American Sign Language (ASL) and signed audio description to Imagination Storybooks’ videos.

Jason_Stark_DCMP_CEO

Jason Stark

Jason Stark has been with the Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP) since 1991 and current serves as the Chief Executive Officer. Through funded provided by the US Department of Education, DCMP provides accessible educational content to students with disabilities through a unique fully-accessible streaming platform. In addition, DCMP provides training and resources to teachers, families, and other paraprofessionals on topics relating to media accessibility and the use of accessible educational media to improve student outcomes. Funding for DCMP is provided by the US Department of Education.

Over the past decade, under his guidance as CEO, DCMP has seen an increase in usage and higher numbers of new members. New technology developments occurred including the iOS app, AppleTV app, Roku channel, interactive transcripts, and embeddable player integration with Learning Management Systems. New project initiatives were begun, such as direct service to students enabling them to take more control over their own learning both in the classroom and “on the go.”

In addition to his work with the DCMP, he has performed outside consulting for individuals and businesses in areas of general business consulting, technology training, accessibility and media production.

 

Leslie-Hart

Leslie Hart

Leslie has been a bookkeeper for over 22 years. After taking on side jobs beginning in 2010 during the market crash, she built up a business taking care of the bookkeeping needs of small businesses. Her business has grown so much over the years that in 2022 she converted her business to an LLC – Virtual Hart LLC. Leslie’s client list includes professional engineering firms, realtors, property managers, retailers, handyman services, consultants, authors, and non-profit organizations (including Imagination Storybooks). She is also a Colorado licensed insurance producer providing small businesses with a variety of supplemental employee benefit programs since 2010.

Leslie a hard-working single mom of two humans and three fur babies. Her son recently graduated from Arapahoe Community College and will be going to CSU in the Fall for his last two years of college (seeking an Electronic/Digital Art degree). Her daughter is a junior in high school and her dream is to own a farm and get certified in equine and canine massage therapy.

Claudia Zundel

Claudia A. Zundel

Claudia A. Zundel, MSW recently retired from the Colorado Department of Human Services after a 35-year career. Her roles included Director of Child, Adolescent and Family Services. Director of Community Prevention and Early Intervention and the Director of Early Childhood Mental Health. In her early childhood role, Ms. Zundel interacted with childcare, preschool and HeadStart programs including Early Intervention Colorado. Early Intervention is Colorado’s program to address young children with developmental delays or disabilities and their families from birth until the child’s third birthday.Claudia also helped us organize our “Winnie the Pooh Premiere” at Brewability and will help us with our grant proposals.

Dominic Dezzutti

Dominic Dezzutti

Dominic joins us after many years at PBS. He is a Media Solutions expert, Former Host and Producer of the Emmy Award winning series, Colorado Inside Out, and also comes with a vast knowledge of strategy for communication systems. Dominic is very excited about Imagination Videobooks Storybooks, having people close to him with both hearing and vision impairment.   

Lisa Ferland

Lisa Ferland

Lisa Ferland has helped over 100 authors raise over $700K for their books on Kickstarter, IndieGoGo, GoFundMe, and other crowdfunding platforms. She teaches authors how to think beyond their books to offer unique and engaging rewards that their readers will love. She helped us raise over $16k with our Accessible Winnie the Pooh campaign. Lisa will serve on our Marketing/Fundraising Committee for at least 6 months.