Although Michigan has been hit hard by the global economic recession, poverty in the U.S. and other industrialized countries is nothing like the hunger experienced by poor people throughout much of the rest of the world.

That’s one of the messages a Suttons Bay man is bringing to public television audiences nationwide through a PBS documentary he helped produce. Tom Skinner of Suttons Bay was executive producer of The Power of the Poor with Hernando de Soto, a one-hour documentary that premiered last month on a PBS television station in Chicago. (It has not yet been scheduled for broadcast in northern Michigan.)
Tom Skinner
Skinner is much better known throughout Leelanau County as managing director of the Inland Seas Education Association based in Suttons Bay. He’s been the chief fundraiser for the non-profit “schoolship” organization for nearly a decade.

Lesser known locally is Skinner’s long career as an award winning television and film executive producer, most notably of the National Geographic Specials. His awards include two Peabody Awards and four national Emmy Awards. He holds a Ph.D. in Communications and Theater from the University of Michigan, taught radio and television at San Diego State University, worked as a TV station manager, and as chief operating officer of QED Communications in Pennsylvania.

Skinner has continued his career in television part-time as a senior executive producer with the Pennsylvania-based Free to Choose Network, an organization dedicated to advancing the ideas of free market economist Milton Friedman.

“My commitment to Inland Seas is really my primary focus right now,” Skinner explained. “But I’ve been very fortunate to have the flexibility to go off and work on various television projects. So much of my work is done via email and the Internet, it almost doesn’t matter where you are physically much of the time.”

Skinner’s responsibilities as an executive producer include hiring writers, producers and directors, and supervising their work.

His latest documentary is hosted by renowned Peruvian economist, author and property rights activist Hernando de Soto. The documentary notes that two-thirds of humanity are locked in poverty; trapped in the shantytowns of the world and not legally recognized. De Soto’s ideas about economics are credited with helping Peru defeat Maoist “Shining Path” guerillas by legally recognizing and empowering poor Peruvian landholders and entrepreneurs.

Not all of the documentaries Skinner has produced were about topics so far from home, however. The Free to Choose Network also has an educational arm known as “Izzit,” which produces shorter educational documentaries about the free enterprise system for use by teachers in classrooms.
A PROMOTIONAL graphic for The Power of the Poor with Hernando de Soto, a PBS documentary in which Tom Skinner of Suttons Bay is the executive producer.
One of Skinner’s more recent Izzit documentaries is titled From Poop to Profits. It tells the story of a Michigan dairy farmer who manages to overcome adversity and stay in business by developing a new product line made from cow manure.

“Documentary film making is really all about telling stories,” Skinner said. “Particularly with economics, the ideas are not always easy to grasp unless you are able tell a story about them – and that’s true for the programs we produce for kids in classrooms to the programs that air on public television.”

Skinner, 75, said he has no plan to slow down anytime soon. Widowed when he lost his wife Beth in 2006, Skinner is the father of three grown children and has six grandchildren. He has since married Marlis Mann of Leland Township.

Anyone seeking more information about the Inland Seas Education Association can check out its website at www.schoolship.org. More information on some of Skinner’s work in documentary television is available at www.freetochose.net online.