Rich and Leslie Frank reflect on media, news and winemaking

Rich Frank earned his Bachelor’s degree in marketing from the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign. In 1985, he became the president of Disney Studios, which on his watch created iconic sitcoms such as The Golden Girls and Home Improvement and films like Pretty Woman, Dead Poets Society and The Lion King. Leslie Frank was a television reporter in her native Canada, before crossing the border to the US. She was a main anchor at the Fox station in Seattle and a longtime reporter and anchor at the ABC station in Los Angeles. Both now, operate vineyards in Napa Valley, California. In 2020, Rich and Leslie Frank presented a $7.5 million-dollar gift that created the Richard and Leslie Frank Center for Leadership and Innovation in Media at the U of I’s College of Media. Part of the Center’s mission includes an annual speaker series featuring journalists.

Guests:

Rich Frank

Former President of Disney Studios

Leslie (Miller) Frank

Former TV reporter in Canada, Seattle and Los Angeles