Rolfe Tessem, President
Rolfe Tessem's career has spanned more than thirty years in local, network, cable and public television. Tessem combines his journalistic background with his high production sensibility as executive in charge of all projects at Lucky Duck Productions.
During his eleven years at ABC News, Tessem was a producer/director for the news magazine, 20/20, as well as for the critically-acclaimed primetime history series, Our World. Tessem was also one of the producers of ABC's notable three-hour biography of Franklin Roosevelt, FDR, which aired in 1982, and won nearly every major documentary television award that year.
In 1981, while at 20/20, Tessem's story on the twentieth anniversary of the Berlin Wall won him an Emmy.
Tessem took time out from ABC in 1984 to produce and direct two award-winning documentaries for PBS's Smithsonian World series: Heroes and the Test of Time, and On the Shoulders of Giants, both notable for their lush photography — a hallmark of Tessem's work and a reflection of his earlier years as a cinematographer.
In 1987, Tessem joined Linda Ellerbee in forming Lucky Duck Productions, which now operates as a full-service television production company, and where the two continue to team-up to executive produce all of Lucky Duck’s programming.
Tessem spends his personal time in New York City and Massachusetts with Linda, his partner in work and life, and their dogs, Dolly and Daisy.