Emjed Hammas, President & CEO

Emjed serves as the CEO, bringing his high-level sales and management background from one of the world’s largest business information and event management companies, Marcus Evans/ICM Group. He provides vision and strategic direction for the company and oversees its growth initiatives. Emjed has experience in market development, sales teams recruitment and management. He served as a Sr. staffing consultant for CareerBuilder.com, a Tribune company prior to founding 20/20 in 2004. Emjed was born in Istanbul, Turkey and received his early education in Europe before moving to the United States in 1995. He holds a B.A. degree in Economics from Boston University, and an MBA degree with a specialization in Marketing from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Jeff Dillard, VP Production & Legal Counsel

In addition to his duties as Vice President of Production for 20/20, Jeff Dillard is a partner in the law firm Dillard & Noel where he specializes in entertainment law. From sports to music to motion pictures, Jeff has made an impact in the entertainment world. In sports, he has represented clients such as the NBA's Shawn Kemp, and has served as general council for the Chicago Twisters Women's Basketball Team. His music experience has led him to negotiate on behalf of several recording artists with major record companies such as Sony/Columbia, Jive and TVT. Jeff also managed the career of two-time Grammy nominated gospel artist, Vanessa Bell Armstrong. In addition to producing videos and public service announcements, Jeff also executive produced the feature-length film Lana's Rain which received 3 stars from film critic Roger Ebert. Jeff always strives to give “wise” counsel.

Sandeep Sharma, VP Strategy & Development

Sandeep has been in the entertainment industry for nine years, spanning film, television and advertising in the U.S. and India. As Vice President, Sandeep provides 20/20 with cutting edge research and counsel on the dos and don’ts of the film industry. Sandeep began his film career in New York City as a production assistant on Fox's New York Undercover and the HBO series The Sopranos. He also worked on the feature films A Perfect Murder, starring Michael Douglas and Gwenyth Paltrow and Substance of Fire with Sarah Jessica Parker and Timothy Hutton. After New York, Sandeep moved to Los Angeles where he worked in production on the films Phoenix with Ray Liotta and Deep Impact with Morgan Freeman and Elijah Wood. He then spent a year in India working on the controversial films Kama Sutra directed by Mira Nair and Fire directed by Deepak Metha. Shortly thereafter, Sandeep moved back to the U.S. where he worked in advertising as an Associate Producer for DDB Chicago on the Budweiser account. Additionally, he is an adjunct faculty member at Columbia College in the Film and Video department. Most recently, he joined City Arts Foundation as an artist-in-residence working with hospitalized children to create short films, which recently won the Coming Up Taller Award given by the President's Committee on the Art and Humanities.

Malik Yusef “The WordSmyth”, VP Artistic Development

Malik is 20/20’s “in house” artist, and he is our source for artistic vision and content development. Born and raised on the south side of Chicago, Malik Yusef (professionally known as "The WordSmyth") is one of the country’s premier spoken word artists. This Chicagoan has been honing his craft for nearly a decade, taking poetry to unimaginable heights. No stranger to the small screen either, Malik Yusef has appeared on the super station WGN’s Morning News Show, ABC Worldwide News, BET’s Rap City and the CBS game show Know Your Heritage. To top off his Television credits Malik Yusef performed "I Spit" that aired on HBO’s Russell Simmons presents Def Poetry. His poetry has also been featured on promotional compilations for ASCAP, Sprite, Coca-Cola, Nike and multiple underground mix tapes across the country. All these accomplishments have set the stage for his highly anticipated debut album Malik Yusef presents The Great Chicago Fire: A Cold Day In Hell (Zoawe/Universal) released around the globe in January 2003. Yusef is glad that urban poetry is coming back to the spotlight. "Spoken word is a treasured art-form that mirrors ourselves, " says Malik, "people need to express themselves to see themselves." And that’s what The Wordsmyth Malik Yusef has done for all to see.