Lesley C. Coffin

Lesley Coffin was born and raised in the Chicagoland area of Northbrook before starting her journey at Ball State University. There she completed her undergraduate degree in Media Studies and Public History, interning at the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research as an archival assistant (including archiving and cataloguing the Loretta Young collection). After a brief return to Chicago to work at WTTW on the digitization project (and volunteering with the Chicago Film Archives) she moved to New York City to work at HBO on their rights and clearances team for over 10 years. During this time, she also completed a master’s degree from the New York University Gallatin School of individualized Studies (in biographical theory and star studies) and was a freelance writer of film reviews, interviews, and published two books. In 2020, she moved onto Warner Bros as an intellectual property manager of their catalogue, working on the successful launch of multiple HBOMax platforms. During a time of dramatic industry change and desire to return to the Chicagoland area, she changed career focus to advertising and is currently the production business manager for Cramer-Krasselt. In 2023 she also completed certification in digital asset management from Rutgers University and was overjoyed to join the Chicago Film Archives Board of Directors.