Local TV producer, activist turns hope into action

For the past five and a half years, Denny Swenson has lived, quite literally, with one foot in Canton and the other just beyond its reaches.

Denny Swenson

As it turns out, the town’s border with Milton cuts right through her house diagonally, meaning that she and her husband, Win, are residents and taxpayers of both communities. Their mailing address says Milton; however, they vote in Canton and their daughter, Reilly Sheehan, attends the Canton Public Schools.

It is a careful balancing act, and yet it is one that seems perfectly suited for someone like Swenson — an award-winning television and film producer who juggles her full-time duties as a wife and mother with her newfound roles as environmental activist/community organizer.

Swenson herself may not use the latter two descriptors, but they are certainly both appropriate in light of her recent efforts to promote Lyme disease awareness and curb the local deer tick population.

A former Lyme disease sufferer like many of her neighbors, Swenson has spent countless hours over the past two years researching the issue — including conducting her own surveys and field studies — as well as organizing meetings, communicating with various local and state officials, and collaborating with groups such as the Friends of the Blue Hills on a local public awareness campaign.

She has also authored a two-part special report on Lyme disease that appeared in the Canton Citizen last spring, and this past fall, she helped organize a neighborhood deer culling program modeled after similar programs in Dover and Medfield.

“We work with a small team of screened hunters and a small number of property owners in the neighborhood to try to be as efficient as we can,” explained Swenson, who reported an initial harvest of 12 deer. “We focus on safety first and we are trying to find ways for the hunters to focus on the female deer so we can bring the population down to a healthy level sooner.”

Because of her involvement in these and other initiatives, Swenson has come to be viewed as a leader on the issue of Lyme disease awareness, although hers is not the only voice trumpeting this cause, nor does she want it to be.

“I have sort of spearheaded this neighborhood harvesting effort and this Lyme disease awareness campaign, but more and more neighbors, politicians, and stakeholders in the community are stepping up and seeing the importance of this issue,” said Swenson, adding that many of the politicians she has contacted, especially in Milton, “have responded by saying, ‘How can we help?’”

At the same time, Swenson would never have gotten involved if she didn’t believe she could actually make a difference. And the same can be said of her work as an independent filmmaker, with most of her current projects focusing on corporate ethics issues.

A former producer of programs for WGBH-Boston, Swenson founded Light On Productions in the mid 2000s, and the company has already produced a hit with In Search of the Good Corporate Citizen, an hour-long documentary that aired nationally on PBS stations in 2009 and 2010.

Denny and Win Swenson behind the scenes during the making of 'In Search of the Good Corporate Citizen.'

The program “took viewers beyond the headlines to show why some business people take the ethical low-road, and how the best business leaders steer their companies through ethics challenges.” It featured expert panel discussions, personal accounts from white-collar criminals and whistleblowers, and ‘person-on-the-street’ perspectives from the financial centers of New York and London.

The documentary has garnered several major media awards, including the 2010 CINE Golden Eagle, Telly, Chris, and World-Fest Houston. The program has also been screened at a number of prominent business schools and business ethics conferences, and it has been licensed by over a dozen companies for use in employee training programs.

As executive producer, Swenson researched and wrote proposals and scripts, secured the funding for the program, did the hiring and coordination of talent, and oversaw the set design, studio shoot, and post-production.

She also leaned heavily on her husband, a managing partner at Compliance Systems Legal Group and a widely regarded expert in the field of corporate ethics. A former deputy general counsel for the U.S. Sentencing Commission, he headed the unit that developed the federal sentencing guidelines for organizations, and he previously served as counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The couple met, coincidentally, during the filming of a video on business ethics. Denny was the producer, and Win, a former aide to Ted Kennedy, was the interview subject.

In his current role with CSLG, Win conducts compliance/ethics training programs for several major corporations around the globe. He has also taken on the job of managing editor for Denny’s latest project, a documentary entitled The View from Within, which features profiles of people on the inside of companies and exposes the “ingredients that encourage or allow missteps to occur within companies.”

The program, which is currently in the development stages, will also highlight positive stories of large companies that “manage to keep their personnel on the right path and see financial rewards along the way.”

As Swenson readily admits, much of the inspiration for her two most recent projects has come from her husband’s personal experience as a corporate compliance attorney. But that is not the only reason that she has gravitated toward this particular issue.

“Corporate ethics is full of great, fascinating stories that matter to most people,” she said. “This may sound a little ‘pie in the sky,’ but my daughter was really little at the time and I wondered if there was a way that the workplace could be more stable and, well, ethical.”

Swenson’s ultimate aim with these projects is to “increase awareness and inspire dialogue among the general public” and to “chart a better future in which corporate integrity has a more secure place.”

And while the topic may be different, her efforts with Lyme disease awareness and prevention are rooted in a similar ideal — which, at its core, is about making life safer and healthier for future generations.

As for her short-term goals, Swenson intends to continue with a second season of the deer-culling program, and she is also hoping to educate schoolchildren and their parents on the importance of checking for ticks and other prevention strategies.

These are just a few of the many ideas she plans to pursue in the months and years ahead, in between all those hours in the studio, or out on the road in search of the next big story.

And yet even an unabashed optimist like Swenson does not expect to eradicate Lyme disease — or eliminate corporate greed — at least not all by herself.

“It is one of those situations where I myself can’t solve the problem alone for my family,” she said of the Lyme disease issue, a few days after pulling half a dozen ticks off her pets. “My neighborhood can’t even solve the problem for our neighborhood alone. The community needs to band together and think strategically and work with public officials here and in surrounding communities.”

For more information on Swenson’s independent production company, Light On Productions, go to www.lightonpro.com.

Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=11988

Posted by Jay Turner on Feb 29 2012. Filed under Features. Both comments and pings are currently closed.