Staff

Paul LeValley has served as the Executive Director of Arlington Independent Media since July 1992.  Under his leadership, the organization increased its assets by more than 500 percent; built new and expanded facilities; instituted a master level production and theory curriculum; and won the Alliance for Community Media’s Overall Excellence in Public Access award five times (1994, 1998, 1999, 2007, 2008).

In addition to his work at AIM, Mr. LeValley teaches in the communication department at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, and taught media production at Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia for several years.  Altogether, he has more than 20 years of experience teaching in higher education. 

Mr. LeValley’s national and community service work includes having served on the national board of directors for the Alliance for Community Media from 1993 to 1996 and the Mid-Atlantic regional board.  He is the Alliance’s current Virginia Legislative Coordinator.  He is also currently president of the Arlington-based Affordable Housing Corporation.  He was a member of the Arlington Committee of 100 board of directors from 1995 to 1996 and of the Arlington Chamber of Commerce communication council from 1994 to 2002.  He is a graduate of the Leadership Arlington class of 2001 and served on its speaker selection committee from 2002 – 2006.

Prior to his joining the staff at AIM, Mr. LeValley was the Director of Carroll Community Television, a public, education, and government media center in Westminster, Md.  He also served as Director of Programming for Heritage Communications in Iowa City, Iowa, and General Manager of Specification Video in Boone, Iowa.  He holds an M.A. degree in communication studies and a B.A. degree in journalism, film and broadcasting from the University of Iowa

A native of Washington, D.C., Jackie has been involved in the area’s film and video community for over 25 years. She has been on staff at Arlington Independent Media (AIM) since 1986 and currently serves as the organization's Director of Community Programs, and as Director of the Rosebud Film and Video Festival. 

During her tenure at AIM, Jackie has taught video production to more than a thousand area residents and has provided countless promotional opportunities to Washington area artists, performers and non-profit organizations. Jackie works closely with the Arlington Public Schools conducting special workshops, after school programs, and by providing job shadow and internship opportunities to high school students.  In addition, she leads the Document Arlington Project, a television production and oral history summer apprenticeship program open to all Arlington high school students.

Jackie’s community service work includes having served on the regional and national board of directors for the Alliance for Community Media. She served on the board of directors for the Arlington Chapter of the American Red Cross. Since 2006 she has served on the board of directors for the DC Film Alliance, and currently serves as the organization's chair.  She is a graduate of Leadership Arlington, class of 2006, and is currently a member of the Leadership Arlington Youth Committee. 

Lauree joined AIM in August, 2004. Her promotion to Operations Manager includes the primary functions of coordinating the scheduling of the facility & staff, overall operations and programming the channel. Lauree graduated from The Richard Stockton College of NJ with a BA in Communications. Previous experiences include: Montgomery Community TV, Sesame Street, Nickelodeon and WLFR, the radio station of Stockton College. Lauree is a member of Women in Film & Video and spends as much time as possible supporting independent music.

Devin Gallagher started working at AIM in November, 2007. Before coming to AIM he was director of video production for the Braddock Youth Project in Pittsburgh, PA, a program to teach underserved high school youth. As staff producer with AIM Devin works on staff programs such as Voicebox, shoots events such as local election coverage, and edits footage from a variety of staff-shot footage. Devin is directly responsible for production of Arlington high school football and basketball, the Arlington Committee of 100, The Other Sports Show, various van productions, and coverage of many community events. Additionally, Devin teaches studio, field, and nonlinear editing classes at AIM. Finally, through hands-on educational classes, and the networking opportunities provided by the AIM community, Devin helps individual producers partner with crew members who are fresh out of AIM classes

Nathan Bynum - Staff Producer/Instructor

Nathan’s interest in video production grew while he was working as a school counselor at a middle school. He found himself repeating some things to students over and over, so he started making videos to broadcast throughout the school. After great success using video in the school, he sought out opportunities to deepen his knowledge of videography. He has taken courses at the Arlington Career Center, at the Gulf Island School of Film and Television, in Brittish Columbia, Canada, and of course, here at AIM.

In 2010, he left his work as a school counselor to pursue videography. He has done several free-lance projects including a project for Crossroads Community Food Network, which teaches people how to use food stamps and WIC checks at farmers markets. It shows in benefits offices throughout Maryland. He’s also created videos for organizations promoting teen entrepreneurship, teen meditation, and adult meditation and mindfulness retreats. During the 2011-2012 school-year, Nathan was the TV production teacher in the Communication Arts Program at Blair High School where he served as a long-term sub.

His work with AIM began in the summer of 2011 as a co-counselor for the summer video camp. He came back in the summer of 2012, and in the fall, he joined AIM as a full-time instructor producer.

Ali Walton - Communication Coordinator

Ali started at Arlington Independent Media in August 2012. She previously worked as an Associate Producer for O’Keefe Communications and currently produces for the local comedic web series Confab. Ali got her start in marketing and communications with Divine Chocolate, the world’s first farmer-owned fair trade chocolate company.  She is a graduate of the theater program at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Her 10-minute play Use Unknown was published in 2010 The Best 10-Minute Plays.  She tweets for AIM @arlington_media.

Elaine Coates- Membership Coordinator

Elaine started working at AIM September 2012. She previously worked as Membership and Programming Coordinator for Women in Film and Video in Washington, DC. Elaine is a recent graduate of American University’s School of Communications’ graduate program “Producing Film and Video.” After graduating from AU in May 2012, Elaine moved to the Arlington, VA area. Elaine joins AIM with a background in arts non-profit membership and administrative work. As Membership Coordinator, Elaine will handle the membership enrollment program, answer member inquiries and seek ways to enhance the AIM experience for the membership community. As a volunteer at a local Arlington animal shelter, Elaine will work to enhance the AIM volunteer program.

Kevin Sampson- Staff Producer/Instructor

Kevin started working at AIM in October of 2012. He received an MFA in Film & Electronic Media  from American University in Washington, D.C in 2011.  Before coming to work at AIM Kevin taught filmmaking and stop motion to elementary and middle school aged students at Fairfax Collegiate, and was a video editor at IREX, a non-profit in D.C.

Outside of AIM, he currently looks forward to filming his first feature film in the near future. He believes that film is one of the most powerful art forms in the world, and he hopes that he can use the craft to inspire others and make a difference in it.