BIOGRAPHY

As CEO and Creative Director of Via WorldWide, John Ridgway's
state-of-the-art international television branding and design work
has been viewed daily on six continents, roughly three-quarters of
the world’s population.

In recent years, he has provided creative direction for the graphical
looks of numerous high-profile television programs and some of the
most-watched channels, including “Entertainment Tonight,” “Cosmos,”
“Monday Night Football,” CNBC, MSNBC, Discovery Channel and such
events of the decade as World Cup Soccer, The Academy Awards and
The 1996 Summer Olympics. Specializing in the creation of show,
channel and network brand identity packages has brought Ridgway a
wide client base, as is evidenced by his design efforts on behalf of
Paramount Domestic Television, Discovery Communications, NBC News,
CBS News, ABC Sports, ESPN Sports, RTL Television in Germany, Television
Corporation of Singapore, Hong Kong Cable, STAR Asia and the United
Kingdom’s British Sky Broadcasting. More recently, in 2001, Via WorldWide
launched the first high-definition branding package in the world for
bsFuji Television in Japan.

In 1983, Ridgway launched GRFX (later known as Novocom) on the
strength of his ongoing association with Paramount Domestic
Television’s popular program “Entertainment Tonight,” a show for which
he is credited with the creating and designing all the graphical looks for
nineteen years since its launch in the 1980's.

Prior to his joining “Paramount Television” and the founding of
Novocom, Ridgway served as Design Director at KCET/Los Angeles,
the second largest PBS station in the United States. Ridgway’s work there
included the total re-design of KCET’s on-air and corporate identity, as
well as the creation of promotional graphics for several national productions,
which include “Cosmos” and “Michener’s World.”

Before his tenure at PBS, Ridgway resided in Arizona. He received a
B.F.A. degree in Photographic Art from Arizona State University, where
he started the University’s first campus-based design group while also
working as Art Director of the alternative weekly newspaper, New Times.
His photographic work has appeared in numerous publications, including
the Washington Post and Newsday. Upon graduation, Ridgway became
an Art Director for a national political consulting firm, designing
presentations for various senatorial and gubernatorial campaigns, as
well as the Democratic National Committee. In 1993 and 1995, he
co-created the first television political spots in Russia for the country’s
then President Boris Yeltsin.

After graduation from A.S.U., Ridgway served as Executive Director of the
Arizona Students' Association, a statewide organization that represented
all three University student associations interests before the Arizona
State Legislature and the Governor’s Office. In 1996, he received the
Arizona State University Outstanding Alumni Achievement Award and
in 1998, was awarded the Spirit of Enterprise Award from the ASU College
of Business. Ridgway’s educational background also includes postgraduate
studies at Otis College of Art & Design in Los Angeles.

He has taken his turn on the other side of the lectern, as well, teaching
On-Air Graphics and Motion Design for film and television at UCLA
Extension since 1985 and serving as a senior lecturer at Otis College
of Art and Design. In addition, he serves on boards at Arizona State
University’s College of Fine Arts, Santa Monica College, and is past
President of the Dashew International Center at UCLA. He has lectured
at The Poynter Institute in Florida, The Filmakademie in Stuttgart
and The International Film Academy also in Germany. Ridgway conceptualized
and produced the first distant learning graphical package for Arizona State
University in 1999. In 2001, he designed and branded the first K through
12 English distant learning packages for China.

A travel aficionado, Ridgway has circled the globe more than 25 times
and visited over 70 countries on all seven continents. Beyond travel,
Ridgway’s other favorite hobby is collecting classic cars of the 1960s.
Ridgway has earned more than 150 national awards for print and
television design. Among the many honors he has received are over a
dozen Emmy Awards (including three for NBC News and two for
“The CBS Evening News”), in addition to numerous Broadcast Designers
Association, Cable Ace, Monitor and Telly Awards.

September 2003