Cheryl Halpern, is a co-founder and partner of HQ Creative LLC, an Emmy Award winning production company and branding agency serving clients throughout the world.
Mrs. Halpern has a long record of public service in broadcasting, education and international affairs.
Mrs. Halpern was nominated to serve on the boards of America’s international and domestic broadcasting organizations by Presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. She served on the Board for International Broadcasting as a director of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Mrs. Halpern also became a member of the newly formed U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors overseeing Voice of America, Radio and TV Marti, Worldnet, RFE/RL, Radio Free Asia, and Radio Free Iraq. She was also confirmed to serve as a director of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and was elected by the board to serve two terms as the chairman.
In addition to her service in public broadcasting, Cheryl Halpern served as a Public Delegate of the United States, with the rank of Ambassador, to the 63rd Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations.
In her capacity as a Presidentially appointed US delegate to the Organization for Security Cooperation in Europe’s Conference on Anti-Semitism, Mrs. Halpern addressed the plenary on children’s programming and textbook development. During the Obama Administration she was confirmed as a member of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council.
Mrs. Halpern has also chaired several NGO’s including the character education program of the Words Can Heal organization; a national campaign to curb gossip, fight verbal violence and promote the healing powers of ethical speech. As the current chairman of the Queen of Sheba Foundation she has partnered in the development of “Midako”, an illustrated children’s book publishing initiative to promote literacy in Ethiopia. Together with her “Midako” colleagues in Ethiopia, Mrs. Halpern is in the process of creating an animated children’s series for Ethiopian television. Expanding beyond Ethiopia, Mrs. Halpern is providing educational support for children from the Batwa tribe in northern Uganda.
As a documentarian, Mrs. Halpern has produced several commissioned as well as independently produced films. Most notably, the government of Ethiopia commissioned Mrs. Halpern and her HQ Creative LLC team to produce a memorial documentary to the late Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi. A special tribute to Prime Minister Zenawi was also produced for screening at the 50th Anniversary of the African Union.
Mrs. Halpern’s independently produced documentaries have provided compelling historical and cultural information to her audiences. Her films embody the spirit of achievement and provide positive visual images and messages for all; regardless of age, gender or ethnicity. Her documentaries have been screened around the world by film festivals and educational institutions. They have also been included in Museum exhibits and library collections.
In 2016, the World Tolerance Awards committee presented Mrs. Halpern with the Tolerance Woman of the Year Award. She also received the A.F.I. World Peace Initiative’s Cinema and Humanitarian Award. In 2017, Mrs. Halpern was awarded the NYC International Film Festival’s Humanitarian Award. She also received the Highest Honor of Peace Prize from the International Film Festival for Peace, Inspiration and Equality. Cheryl Halpern was presented in 2017 with the Royal Highness Nobility Title from the Kingdom of Tallo, on the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia
She lives in New Jersey with her husband and executive producer, Fred.