D-PAN: Deaf Professional Arts Network is operated and staffed by a group of committed professionals with experience across a broad range of industries and training in a variety of disciplines. Regardless of their individual experience or background, D-PAN's team members share a commitment to providing the deaf and hard of hearing community with a full range of valuable program offerings and services, and to facilitating the educational and professional growth of aspiring deaf and hard of hearing entertainers, artists, and media professionals.

Ronald Dans
Ronald Dans, Special Advisor to D-PAN, is the Department Chair for the Interpreter Training Program at Baker College in Auburn Hills, Michigan with over 15 years of experience directing deaf community affairs. Dans, deaf since birth, has also been American Sign Language (ASL) professor at St. Clair College in Windsor, Ontario Canada. Ron has received accolades from the Canadian Hearing Society, and the Minister of Citizenship-Government of Ontario, Canada. Furthermore, he has maintained a connection with the community serving as Public/Media Relation and committee member of Ontarians with Disabilities Act, Windsor Advisory Committee for disability issues in the City of Windsor, Ontario, and the Provincial Board Director for the Canadian Hearing Society. As an ASL Consultant for Deaf Community Network Michigan, Ron helped implement the Interpreter Training Program for Oakland Community College where he has worked as an American Sign Language Adjunct Teacher for the past eight years. He received evaluation and training through The Canadian Cultural Society of the Deaf and also received his Bachelor of Science: Business Administration from Gallaudet University, Washington D.C.

Sean Forbes
Sean Forbes is the co-founder of D-PAN and an internationally recognized artist in his own right for his song-writing and ground-breaking performances in music videos. The child of two musical parents, Sean suffered permanent hearing loss at one year of age, but nonetheless pursued a lifelong aspiration towards a career in the music business. Recognizing both the lack of opportunity within the industry and the extensive need for accessibility to music and music culture for the deaf community, he conceived the idea of ASL-enhanced music videos. He currently serves as D-PAN’s creative liaison to the deaf and hard of hearing community. A graduate of Lahser High School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, Sean attended Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York and graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Multidisciplinary Studies.

Scott Guy
Scott Guy is a music industry veteran with over 15 years of marketing and project development experience, working at major recording labels such as Island Records, Def Jam, A&M, and Universal Music. In addition to his role at D-PAN, Scott is currently the General Manager and Artist & Repertoire for the Detroit-based production studio 54 Sound and recording label Web Entertainment, the first company to sign Grammy and Academy Award winning rap artist Eminem. Scott began his career at Baldwin-Wallace College in Cleveland, Ohio, serving as music director and an on-air disc jockey at the radio station WBWC while also working as a student intern for A&M Records, ultimately earning his degree in Marketing and Communications.

Mark Levin
Mark Levin never let his hearing loss stand in the way of his passion- Music.
Mark started experiencing hearing loss at age 3, and for the next 9 years his hearing slowly declined for reasons unknown. At the age of 12 his mother gave him his first guitar and from there his passion was found. Mark’s experience working with numerous music festivals across the country, within television, and playing in bands has benefitted D-PAN greatly in his role as the organization’s tour, merchandise and Online Marketing manager. Mark is a graduate of Columbia College, Chicago, with a B.A. in Arts, Entertainment & Media Management with a focus in Music Business.

David B. Livingstone
David B. Livingstone is a seasoned communications professional with a twenty-five year professional history spanning a wide variety of industries and disciplines, including journalism, public relations, advertising, publishing, and communications consulting. Prior to joining D-PAN, Livingstone served as Consulting Director of Communications for Invisent, a gaming development company, and as Executive Vice President of Naviciti, a pioneering digital mapping firm. Prior experience has included tenure as Senior Proposal Consultant for Deloitte & Touche and as Director of Communications for financial services dot-com Lucid Financial. He has contributed articles, columns, and reviews to a variety of publications including The Detroit Free Press, The Chicago Sun Times, The Kalamazoo Gazette, and City Pages.

Adrean Mangiardi
Adrean brings an extraordinary background in film to D-PAN and D-PAN Productions. In 2003, he was first recognized for his film, Paper Airplane, which was an experimental/documentary of his life as a deaf individual and the impact he had on his family. In 2005, Larry Hott of Hott Productions viewed Paper Airplane and offered him an opportunity to produce another short film for Hott's PBS - affiliated production company. That film, Equilibrium - based on his experience with bilateral cochlear implants – also garnered accolades. In 2006, he won the School of Film and Animation Department Chair's Award at RIT for his senior thesis film, The Calabrian’s Feast, where he originally shot in the village in Southern Italy. Adrean’s experimental film, Deprivation/Stimulation, won the Best Experimental in the Toronto International Deaf Film & Arts Festival and also has been nominated as Best Experimental at the Deaffest (UK) 2009. Adrean graduated from the Film and Animation program at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY. and received his MFA in Film/Video/New Media at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.