|
||||
| September 30, 2010 | New York, NY | ||||
For help or to register by phone: 310.855.0033 x0  Museum of Jewish Heritage 36 Battery Place, New York, NY 10280 Directions ¡¡
Sponsors & Media Partners
|
2009 Speakers
 Tom Akel,
Supervising Producer
MTV
An ex-CIA agent and former professional wrestler, at MTV Akel heads digital production of shows and games across mtv.com.
 Jeff Anderson, Founder and CEOQuick Hit As Quick Hit’s Founder and CEO, Jeff Anderson brings a strong background in game design, product management and business development to the company. Prior to starting Quick Hit, Jeff was the president and CEO of Turbine, Inc. where he rebuilt that company into a global publisher of MMORPG’s with hits like Dungeons & Dragons Online and The Lord of the Rings Online. Before Turbine, he served as the vice president and executive in charge of production at Origin/ Electronic Arts, where he managed the Ultima franchise. Prior to Origin, Jeff was the executive director for the consumer products division of Viacom, Inc., managing Paramount Pictures' world-wide interactive licensing. Before Viacom, he was the vice president of operations at Mission Studios Corporation and practiced law at Holleb & Coff. He graduated summa cum laude from the University of Illinois with a bachelor’s degree in economics and received his J.D. from University of Chicago Law School. Jeff is regularly quoted in the mainstream media, including; The Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, Forbes, BusinessWeek, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Reuters, Associated Press, and others.  Joakim 'Jay' Baage, VP, ContentDigital Media Wire As VP of Content, Jay wears many hats. He oversees the content in DMW's publications as well as for conferences and other events. Jay furthermore runs the day-to-day operations for the popular DMW news and community site, where he also serves as a Senior Writer. Last, but not least, he works with marketing, public relations and business development across the board for DMW. Jay got into journalism after high school when he served a year of military service in the Swedish Armed Forces and was selected to join its highly regarded conscript writing staff. He has been hooked on working with media and communication ever since. Jay now has over 10 years of experience in the media industry serving in a wide range of capacities - from a technology writer and editor at several newspapers and magazines (Reuters, Dagens Industri, Aftonbladet etc.) to working in television (ABC Good Morning America, TV4 Ekonominyheterna), both behind and in front of the camera. Jay has a Masters Degree in Media, Entertainment and Technology Management from New York University and a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration from Goteborg University in Sweden. He is a recipient of the Wallenberg Scholarship 2004 and 2006 (Academic Scholarship), The Sweden-America Foundation Fellowship 2005 (Academic Scholarship) as well as awarded a scholarship for being "A Promising New Media Manager" by Swedish Newspaper Publishers' Association 2005 and 2001. Joakim has a keen personal interest in digital media, music and pop-culture. On his desk, you will find a video iPod, the latest issue of US Weekly and a pair of Cutler and Gross shades. He claims to listen to music by Paris Hilton only because he "has to be familiar with mainstream music" while heavily promoting new bands from his native Scandinavia like "Peter, Bjorn & John."  Gordon Bellamy, Sr. Producer, Emerging MediayU+co At yU + co. , Gordon is responsible for producing marketing and interactive content for partners. He also develops strategic business partnerships with Video and PC game publishers and developers and technology partners. As an executive consultant for MTV, Bellamy provided creative guidance on the content, direction and strategic marketing partnerships for the annual Spike TV Video Game Awards show and the highly rated weekly program GameTrailers TV with Geoff Keighley also on Spike TV. Previously, he was Executive Director of the game industry's trade organization, the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences. Bellamy has also played key business and product development roles at Electronic Arts, where he was named the company's Rookie of the Year for his work on the best-selling Madden Football franchise, THQ, and Activision subsidiary, Z-AXIS. Gordon serves on the the Board of the International Game Developers Association and the Digital Coast Roundtable and has served as a judge for the Promax/BDA MI6 Awards, which celebrate the best in marketing, advertising and design within interactive and game entertainment. He earned a BA degree from Harvard College in engineering, where he was also a John Harvard scholar and AT&T/Bell Labs Engineering scholar.  Matthew Bellows, VP, Consumer Strategy
Vivox Matthew Bellows brings significant videogame and media experience to his role at Vivox. He is responsible for extending the reach and capabilities of Vivox voice services into new games, virtual worlds and communities. Prior to joining Vivox, Matthew served as General Manager for Floodgate Entertainment, a top video games developer based in Boston. Before Floodgate, Matthew was the co-founder of WGR Media, the leading publication for mobile entertainment consumers. While leading WGR, he secured distributed relationships with Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, Yahoo! and others. He sold WGR to CNET Networks in 2004, providing investors with a 125% return after 12 months. Matthew received his MBA with high honors from the Olin School of Management at Babson College.  Peter Blacklow,
President, WorldWinner EVP Digital, GSN
Peter Blacklow is the president of WorldWinner and EVP Digital at Game Show Network. In this role, he oversees all digital efforts for GSN as well as the online game businesses of WorldWinner.com and Teagames.com.
 Martyn Brown,
Studio Director
Team17
Martyn co-founded developer/publisher Team17 in 1990, making it one of the worlds longest surviving independent development entities. After four years of prominence with critically acclaimed and commercially successful Commodore Amiga titles 1991-1994, Team17 hit the big time with "Worms" back in 1995 and spent over a decade developing the series through 3rd party publishers before finally returning to independent publishing via opportunities in the growing digital platforms in 2006.
 Nelson Boyce, SVP, Digital Ad Sales
MTV Networks Kids & Family Group Nelson Boyce is the Senior Vice President of MTV Networks, Kids & Family Digital Advertising Sales. In this capacity, Mr. Boyce is responsible for a staff of more than 30 people nationwide and managing the advertising sales efforts for several sites, including: nick.com; nickjr.com; noggin.com; neopets.com; parentsconnect.com; addictinggames.com; the-n.com; and shockwave.com; among others. Boyce generates more than $80 million dollars in advertising revenue for Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids and Family Group’s stable of websites. In his five years at Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids and Family Group, Boyce has secured several new, non-traditional marketing partnerships for the various brands including: Nintendo; General Mills; and Unilever. Previously, Boyce was Vice President of Sales for Nickelodeon’s digital network targeting teens– The N–where he managed its sales staff across the country. Additionally, Boyce was an Account Manager at Nickelodeon in the Strategic Solutions Group within the ad sales department that focused on new business and non-endemic business acquisition for the network. He worked to sell clients into integrated marketing opportunities that sometimes extend themselves beyond the network to include Nickelodeon’s online and magazine properties as well. Boyce was responsible for new business partnerships with Holiday Inn, Reebok and the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism. Prior to Nickelodeon, Boyce was the Associate Publisher of Honey and Heart&Soul magazines, published by Vanguarde Media, Inc. a company he helped to co-found in 1998. He managed a national sales force of 15 professionals and in his five year stint with the company, he increased advertising revenues by more than +300%. Some of his clients included: Absolut; HBO; Ralph Lauren; L’Oreal; Target; and Honda. Boyce also served as Advertising Director at Blaze magazine, an offshoot from the VIBE family which competed against SOURCE and XXL magazines. In its first issue, the magazine had over 125 pages of advertising, making it the number-one magazine launch in 1998 and the largest music magazine launch in history. Boyce began his advertising career as an Account Executive with VIBE magazine and was responsible for breaking several pieces of new business particularly within the consumer electronic and financial service categories. He managed, sold sponsorship for, and emceed the VIBE College Campus tour. Before VIBE, Boyce was Assistant Marketing Manager at Money magazine. Upon graduating from college, he was a Financial Analyst with PaineWebber in their Mergers & Acquisitions Group. Boyce is an active member of NAMIC and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. He mentors and speaks to students through Management Leadership of Tomorrow. In 2006, Nelson was accepted into the NAMIC Executive Leadership Development Program at the Anderson School of Business at UCLA and was awarded a certificate of completion in April 2007. He is currently co-chair of the Viacom African American Affinity Group. In his five years with Viacom, he’s participated as a member of the Nickelodeon Networks Diversity Team (2004) and acted as a mentor in the MTVN Ad Sales Training Program (2006). Mr. Boyce has a B.A. in government from Harvard University and lives with his wife and son in New Rochelle, New York.  Alex Bubb,
Senior Partner Manager, Games and MediaNokia Alex heads up publisher relations for Nokia's games service throughout EMEA. Games is a key part of Nokia's Ovi services strategy. Working with leading publishers and developers looking looking to self-publish on Mobile, Nokia is committed to delivering a world class games solution. User experience and context is a key focus for Nokia and games are available throughout its entire portfolio of devices via its Ovi Store, n-gage, try and buy solutions as well as co-operation with leading operators globally. Prior to joining Nokia, Alex has enjoyed a varied career in the Games industry including product management of the dominating Playstation 2 while at Sony computer Entertainment Europe, managing the games business for t-mobile international, and heading up the marketing team at Jamdat Mobile and subsequently EA Mobile.  Paul Bunch,
Creative Director
SEE Virtual Worlds Son of the famous director Jack Bunch, Paul grew up in the industry under the tutelage of a well-respected man who touted, over all else, creative freedom. This has had a lasting effect on Paul and has driven him to not only write and direct unique, hard-hitting film projects; but also to assemble a group of industry professionals at Hollywood North Studios, who, together, will support and execute his vision. In January he joined SEE Virtual Worlds, which brings him together with his creative partner at HNS, Martin Biallas, now President at SEE. As Creative Director, Paul will oversee the production of “Virtual Gaming Planets”, and as always, bring them into creation at the highest industry standards, with increasing annual profits, and first and foremost, with creative freedom. Paul has worked in the industry for twenty years. He studied acting under Howard Fine, has written several screenplays and has directed several films. He has worked with well known producers such as, Mark Canton, Ryan Adams and Mike Dimanno. Next summer he will begin work on the comedy feature, “Turf” with producer Julio Caro( The Cell, El Cantante). But first and foremost, Paul is committed to the creative birth of the first planet in a series spawned by SEE Virtual Worlds, Mindarc and Universal Studios.  Michael Cai, Vice President, Video GamesInterpret Michael Cai serves as Vice President of Video Games for Interpret, a leading media and technology research firm. He leads the company’s gaming vertical, providing a wide variety of market research and analysis products to help clients gain a comprehensive understanding of consumer gaming habits and interest and make strategic decisions. Prior to joining Interpret, Cai served as Director of Digital Media and Gaming for Parks Associates. During his tenure with Parks Associates, Cai established and grew its gaming coverage practice and led a research team to provide syndicated and custom research for digital media, gaming and service provider industries. Cai has authored and managed more than 30 industry reports and custom research projects and has presented his findings at such high-profile events as Game Developer’s Conference, E3, Consumer Electronics Show, Digital Hollywood, Virtual Worlds Expo, and The New York Games Conference. Cai was born and raised in China, where he received his Bachelor of Economics in 1997 before earning his Masters from Landegg International University in 2000 and his MBA from Baylor University in 2002.  Gerardo Capiel,
VP, Product
MySpace Open Platform Gerardo Capiel is VP of Product Management for the MySpace Open Platform. Prior to MySpace, Gerardo founded Gydget, a social media marketing application targeted at the entertainment industry. Gydget was an early user of the MySpace Developer Platform and had a reach of over 15 million unique visitors. Gerardo also co-founded Digital Impact in 1997 where he served as CTO. Digital Impact was a pioneer in the online marketing space and was a market leader among the Fortune 1000 with clients such as Comcast, The Gap, BMG, Universal Studios and Yahoo! Gerardo pioneered many of the online marketing technologies and practices still used today and was awarded a key patent related to email marketing performance metrics. Gerardo holds a B.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.  Adam Caplan, President
Super Rewards Adam is a renowned Internet/digital media executive advising companies across the broader online media space. Operational experience in the performance advertising and social media/gaming sectors. Currently President of Vancouver based KITN Media (Super Rewards) leading business development and strategy. Previously Founder & CEO of startup in the social network/gaming space, as well as an investment banker with Morgan Stanley for eleven years, heading the emerging internet/new media corporate finance team in New York. Significant experience advising companies in the sector with public and private financing as well as strategic m&a advice. Strong relationships throughout the online media and VC community.  Michael Chang, CEO & Co-FounderGreystripe
 Jason Citron,
Founder & CEO
OpenFeint
 Cindy Cook,
Former Chief Strategy
Officer and CMO
Vivendi Games
Cindy Cook is an innovative marketer and creator of new businesses in the entertainment space. She is a 20 year veteran of Fortune 100 companies in interactive entertainment, digital media and beverages. Most recently she was Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer at Vivendi Games. There she was responsible for leading the formulation of company strategy and driving the worldwide marketing activities for the company. She conceived, built and was the general manager of two divisions focused on casual online and mobile games.
 Tom Dusenberry,
Founder, Dusenberry Entertainment and Director and Advisor, Robonica
Mr. Dusenberry has been involved in the games industry for the past thirty years. His career began at Parker Brothers Games, where he had accountability in Marketing, Advertising, International Licensing, Sales, Research and Development, Inventor Relations and General Management. During his twenty-two years at Parker Brothers, Tom brought the McDonald’s/Monopoly promotion to market, created the licensed lottery business with Monopoly scratch-off tickets, and was the force behind bringing many successful games to market. Titles include Catch Phrase, Elefun, GoofyGolf and Bop-It.
 Joost van Dreunen,
Managing Director
SuperData Research
Joost van Dreunen is currently a Managing Director at SuperData Research, which specializes in due diligence research on entertainment media and consumer technologies. Joost has over a decade of commercial research experience on the video game industry and new media projects, and previously worked as analyst for Nielsen Buzzmetrics and DFC Intelligence. He specializes in emergent forms of game play, including casual gaming, free-to-play gaming, micro-transactions, MMOs, mobile gaming, and digital distribution. Most recently he wrote a primer on the business model for iPhone App developers and a white paper on the trading card game industry.
 Jonathan Epstein,
President & CEO
Double Fusion
Epstein brings more than 20 years of high-technology media and marketing experience to Double Fusion, and a track record of launching and building the most successful media properties that reach the gaming audience, on a worldwide basis. As CEO of Double Fusion, Epstein is responsible for providing the strategic vision and direction for the company, and for ensuring the execution of the company against its core business plan.
 Jay Eum,
Co-Founder &
Managing Director
TransLink Capital
Jay H. Eum is a co-founder and Managing Director of TransLink Capital. Jay is responsible for investments in mobile and digital media as well as supporting TransLink’s portfolio companies with their customers and partners primarily in Korea.
 Ben Feder,
CEO
Take-Two Interactive Software
Ben Feder, a partner of ZelnickMedia since 2001, became Chief Executive Officer and Director of Take-Two in March 2007. Mr. Feder oversees ZelnickMedia's interest in Columbia Music Entertainment (CME) of Japan. He serves on the board of CME, traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
 Hill Ferguson,
VP Product Management
& Marketing
Zong Hill is responsible for product strategy and marketing at Zong. A payments veteran, Hill spent the last decade developing and managing new payment services in Silicon Valley. As General Manager for Yodlee's Personal Finance Products, Hill led the development and distribution efforts for several new and innovative payments products currently being used by top banks and web portals. At Yahoo! Hill produced and managed several consumer products, including a consumer bill payment product and a peer-to-peer payment service. In his spare time he manages LoanBack, a "friends and family" loan management service he co-founded in 2005. Hill earned a BS and an MBA, both from Vanderbilt University.  David Freeman,
CEO
The Freeman Group Perhaps more than any other writer, David Freeman bridges the world of Hollywood and video games. His specialty is bringing emotion into games, which includes, but goes far beyond, superb writing. David heads The Freeman Group, the most active game writing/design consultancy in the business. All the members of The Freeman Group are ild of America), and all have sold scripts to studios or TV series.The Freeman Group specializes in making games more emotionally immersive, which means not just executing great stories, characters and writing, but also using a vast array of tools to build emotion right into the gameplay. He is currently working, or has worked, as a designer and/or writer on games for Sony, Activision, Ubisoft, Atari, Microsoft, Vivendi Universsal Games, Midway, 3D Realms, and others. Among the games they've worked on: “Marc Ecko's ‘Getting Up – Contents Under Pressure,'” “Prey,” “Enter the Matrix,” “Van Helsing,” “Shark Tale,” “Terminator: Redemption,” and many others. David is the author of the influential book, “Creating Emotion in Games,” with a foreword by Will Wright (creator of “The Sims”).  Eric Goldberg,
Managing Director
Crossover Technologies
Eric is a 30-year veteran of the game, consumer online, and wireless data industries, serving in capacities ranging from game designer to executive.
 Rob Goldberg,
Founder and CEO
GMG Entertainment
As a leading publisher of digital currency cards for the digital gaming and online entertainment industries, GMG connects content partners with the strongest performing retailers worldwide. Founded by CEO Rob Goldberg in 2002, GMG Entertainment creates and implements entertainment-based ideas for consumers and digital brands through traditional retail and consumer marketing. With partners on sale or launching at nearly 30,000 point-of-sale activated destinations including Best Buy, Target, Staples and Wal-Mart, GMG works directly with leading digital content creators and globally renown retailers to develop the nation’s most powerful digital-physical partnerships.  James Green,
CEO
Giant Realm
James Green is a serial entrepreneur and CEO of Giant Realm. Mr. Green began his career in the entertainment industry and spent eight years with The Walt Disney Company (Buena Vista International) culminating in his appointment as the General Manager of the Japanese market. From Disney, Mr. Green moved to Pixar Animation Studios where he worked for Steve Jobs as the Vice President of Marketing and New Business Development.
 Sebastien de Halleux
Co-Founder & COO
Playfish
Sebastien de Halleux is chief operating officer and co-founder of Playfish, one of the largest and fastest growing social games companies. Sebastien is based in Playfish’s San Francisco office where he drives distribution, monetization and business development, as well as partnerships with Facebook, Google, Apple and MySpace. Prior to Playfish, Sebastien was part of the team that incubated Nokia Ad Service, a business unit aimed at monetizing mobile traffic across Nokia’s 850 million mobile devices worldwide.
 Dan Jansen,
CEO and Co-Founder
Virtual Greats
Dan Jansen is the CEO of Virtual Greats, a company that distributes and sells branded virtual goods in partnership with the leading social networks and virtual worlds. Prior to founding Virtual Greats Jansen was an active investor and entrepreneur in the new media space. He also led the Global Media & Entertainment practice for the Boston Consulting Group.
 Min Kim,
Director
Nexon America Min Kim is the Director of Nexon America Inc. He is responsible for business development initiatives and game operations of Nexon published titles in the US. His current professional and personal goal is the successful introduction and adoption of the Item Selling business model in the US. Prior to joining Nexon, Min operated the successful launch of the Global Edition of MapleStory as Vice President of Global Business Development at Wizet Corp. Today, MapleStory remains one of world's top .  Michael Klotz, Games Business Senior ManagerThe NPD Group, Inc. Michael Klotz is a Games Business Senior Manager for The NPD Group, a leading global provider of critical consumer behavior and point-of-sale (POS) information. The NPD Group offers industry expertise across more industries than any other market research company. Mr. Klotz joined NPD in 1999, where he has since managed key account services and sales across the Consumer Electronics, Information Technology, and Video Games industries. He has spoken at numerous industry events on emerging trends and the state of the Games industry, including MEFCON and Gamefest. Married and the proud father of two children, Mr. Klotz holds a bachelor's degree in Business Management from The College at Old Westbury.  Kyu Lee,
President
Gamevil Kyu Lee is President of GAMEVIL USA, Inc, US office of GAMEVIL Inc. GAMEVIL(www.gamevil.com) is one of the premier mobile game publishers in the world with offices in LA and Seoul, currently having 140 employees. GAMEVIL is well known for revolutionizing the sector with its original and innovative mobile games, backed by unparalleled expertise in advanced mobile and network technology. As a world class leader in mobile game publishing, GAMEVIL continues to lead the sector with a commitment to establish mobile as the definitive mass market entertainment platform for the world. Kyu, who has been in GAMEVIL since the beginning at 2000, has constantly played a key role in the evolution of Korean mobile gaming and has continuously introduced the innovation to the world. Kyu has graduated Seoul National University with a B.S. in Physics.  Robert Levitan,
CEO and Co-founderPando Networks Robert Levitan is the CEO and co-founder of Pando Networks. Pando works with leading game companies such as Nexon, Turbine, Outspark, LevelUp and many others. Pando’s content delivery cloud is proven to accelerate download speeds, improve download completion rates, and significantly reduce delivery costs. Robert has been an Internet entrepreneur since 1995 when he co-founded iVillage, an early leader in building online communities. He also co-founded Flooz.com, an early innovator in the online payment space. Robert serves on the board of New York Cares, a service organization that coordinates volunteers who work with children, the homeless, and the elderly.  Matt Liszt,
VP, Global Product
Marketing
Glu Mobile Matt Liszt, VP of global product marketing at Glu Mobile has been working on carrier, product and consumer mobile game strategies at Glu for the last six years. He will address the growth in smartphone use, and in turn, the uptick in application storefronts; as well as how today, the challenge is not only about getting new users but also in gaining loyalty and building community. As publisher working across a variety of platforms and App Stores, he can speak to how one goes about product planning, promotion, pricing, paid versus free upsells and in-game merchandising. Further, he can speak to how publisher evaluate App Stores as he manages our investment strategy across Nokia Ovi, Google Android, RIM App World, Microsoft Marketplace, Palm Pre WebOS, Samsung and SonyEricsson. He can discuss how one specifies criteria for success and the consumer confusion issues to navigate competing app stores on individual devices, potentially different pricing and billing options for the same game.  Mitch Liu, Co-founder and VPOfferpal Media Mitch is the Co-founder and Vice President of Offerpal Media, the leader in virtual currency monetization for online games, virtual worlds and social networks. The company’s turnkey payment platform gives consumers the opportunity to earn or buy virtual currency by completing targeted advertising offers or by purchasing it through direct, global payment options. Since its launch in 2007, Offerpal has issued more than 30 billion virtual points to over 115 million consumers across 1,200+ publishers and 190 countries. Mitch Liu has helped drive the success of multiple consumer and online advertising startups through technology and marketing. Most recently, he was Senior Director at Adteractive, a leader in the pay-for-performance CPA lead generation market. Mitch led the platform product management team responsible for four major vertical businesses and over $150M in online advertising revenues. Prior to Adteractive, Mitch was Director of Product Management at salesforce.com, where he spearheaded the initial market research and launch of a new on-demand software-as-a-service application. While completing his MBA at Stanford, he served as the interim head of marketing for www.xfire.com, a DFJ and NEA backed startup developing an online consumer IM gaming community, acquired by MTV Networks for $102 million. Mitch has a BS in Computer Science Engineering from MIT, and a MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.  Masaaki Maeda,
President & CEO
NTT DOCOMO USA
Masaaki Maeda is president and CEO of NTT DoCoMo USA, a wholly owned subsidiary of NTT DoCoMo, Japan’s leading mobile-telecommunications company. Mr. Maeda began his career in the Japanese telecommunications industry in the technical-development department of NTT (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone). In 1994, he moved to NTT DoCoMo, and in 2004 he launched NTT DoCoMo USA’s “Namikiteru” service in North America; the software application allows users to read and write Japanese and displays simplified and traditional Chinese, Hangul (Korean), and Japanese characters on BlackBerry handheld devices. This innovation has contributed tremendously to the global mobility of bilingual businesspeople.
 Niranjan Nagar, Chief Game Operations Officer
Outspark
Niranjan Nagar is the Chief Game Operations Officer at Outspark Inc. Outspark is a leading North American publisher and service operator of multiplayer online games that are micro-transaction based.
 Jason Oberfest, SVP of Business DevelopmentMySpace As Senior Vice President of Business Development for MySpace, Jason is responsible for structuring and negotiating deals to drive revenue and support the launch of innovative new products. Jason also serves as General Manager of the MySpace Open Platform. Prior to MySpace Jason served as Managing Director of Business Development and Product Management for Los Angeles Times Interactive where he structured deals with leading startups including Netvibes, Aggregate Knowledge, Eventful and Mixx.com. From 1999-2005 Jason served as Vice President of Strategic Planning at Blast Radius, an interactive agency. In this role Jason founded the strategic planning division of the company and led the design and development of media and commerce websites for Sony, Nintendo, Viacom, Warner Music Group, A&E Television Networks and others. Jason worked with AOL from 2002-2005 developing AOL Shopping, AOL Search, AOL.com, and other products. Blast Radius was acquired by the WPP Group in 2007.  Fernando Paiz,
Executive ProducerTurbine Fernando Paiz is an Executive Producer at Turbine overseeing Dungeons & Dragons Online™. Fernando is a long-time veteran of the MMOG space, having led engineering and development efforts for virtual worlds since 1999. Fernando originally joined Turbine in 2004 as Director of Game Technology, where he played a pivotal role as the technology owner for the performance and stability initiatives leading up to product launches for Dungeons and Dragons Online and The Lord of the Rings Online™. Under his direction, these products had two of the most stable and technologically advanced launches in the industry. Prior to joining Turbine, Fernando was the engineering manager, technical lead and producer for There.com, a ground-breaking social world service that featured mini-games, kinetic activities and user-created content frameworks. Fernando holds an MEng and BS in computer science and a BS in theater arts from MIT.  Nicholas Perrett, CEO and Co-founder
4mm Games Nicholas Perrett, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of 4mm Games, has worked in investment, business development, marketing and leadership positions in the fields of venture capital, video games, film, interactive television and mobile telephony as both an executive and a consultant. As CEO, he is responsible for the company’s leadership, strategy, financing, and execution, bringing his experience in developing relationships, securing financing, and growing an entrepreneurial company to bear on 4mm’s innovative business model. Prior to co-founding 4mm in 2008, Mr. Perrett was part of the founding management team of Image Metrics, the leading provider of facial animation solutions to the entertainment industry. Initially, as Marketing Director, he guided the company’s market entry and development strategy, raising capital and establishing a market presence in seven markets before refining the company’s focus to its three most successful markets, including video games, and acting as executive producer on delivery of 15 titles for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 2. Mr. Perrett quickly rose through the executive ranks to assume the role of VP Business Development for Image Metrics in 2004, and subsequently General Manager, Sales & Marketing in 2007, personally securing a CAGR in sales of over 80% for the period, growing the customer base to include 15 or the 20 top interactive entertainment publishers worldwide, including Electronic Arts, Sony Computer Entertainment, and Rockstar Games. He worked closely with Rockstar for four years on all their titles through GTA IV, and closed the largest technology deal in the video games industry in 2005. He secured the company’s first relationship with a major film studio, Warner Bros., and built a relationship with ATI, the world’s second-largest graphics card manufacturer. Image Metrics is now both a Red Herring 100 Global company and one of the Media Momentum 50 fastest-growing media companies. Prior to Image Metrics, he was a founding Investment Manager at venture fund Axiomlab in London and a strategy consultant with Arthur Andersen in London, where he focused on Interactive Television and Mobile. His primary clients included Virgin Mobile, for which he was a consultant at launch, and BSkyB for which he consulted on the start-up of their Interactive TV channel. Mr. Perrett was awarded first class honors in Economics and Spanish at The University of Bristol, UK and is also a graduate of Harvard Business School.  Billy Pidgeon,
Principal Game Changer Research Billy Pidgeon is Principal Analyst and Founder of Game Changer Research, a market research company for the gaming industry. For the past ten years, Billy has tracked analyzed traditional and emerging hardware, software, business models and revenue streams in the game industry across all platforms and forecasted growth and market share for hardware and software in videogame consoles and handheld game devices. For his reports, he examined gamer behavior, intention, and purchasing patterns, in-game advertising and microtransactions, covering sales, use and development of online and offline games, single and multiplayer games, and games designed for enthusiast and mass-market players. Previous to forming his new company, Billy was a program manager with IDC's Consumer Markets: Gaming program. Billy is a twenty year veteran of the interactive entertainment industry with extensive experience in management, research, technical and product development.  Chris Petrovic, General ManagerGameStop Chris Petrovic is the General Manager of GameStop Digital Ventures, the newly created strategy & investment arm of the world’s largest video game and entertainment software retailer. As a member of the company's senior management team, Petrovic serves as the principal leader of GameStop's digital strategy. He is responsible for building on the company's ongoing efforts to integrate digital media into the company's multi-channel strategy, as well as overseeing the development and execution of a digital acquisition strategy. This includes leveraging the company's unique and distinctive relationship with customers in-store, online and around the globe to drive driving digital sales through more than 6,200 domestic and international stores and on its Web sites: gamestop.com and gameinformer.com. Prior to GameStop, Petrovic serves as VP, Digital Media for Playboy Enterprises. In this role, he was responsible for developing and managing digital-focused strategic and business development initiatives for all divisions the company, including online, mobile, TV, radio and publishing. Petrovic was also responsible for finding the next generation products and services and developing launch strategies for their successful global execution. This position places him at the leading-edge of new and future ideas and technologies as well as and new-media business models. Before joining Playboy, Petrovic served as VP, Business Development for AG Interactive, a division of American Greetings. Petrovic oversaw all business development efforts across of the division’s digital business units. Petrovic joined AG Interactive from theglobe.com, where he served as VP, Strategy and Business Development and was responsible for developing and growing the company’s digital and print media businesses. Petrovic is a graduate of Columbia University in New York and holds a J.D. from Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles. He began his new media career as the CEO of Internet start-up BannerGreetings.com in 1998, and from there went on to become COO of Buzztone, a leading viral marketing agency, before joining the venture capital firm Prime Ventures as their VP of Business Development and Legal Affairs, managing the business development and legal operations of its portfolio companies, including most notably drkoop.com. Petrovic is based in Los Angeles.  Nanea Reeves,
Senior Vice President
EA Online Group
As Senior Vice President of the EA Online Group Nanea Reeves oversees the delivery of centralised consumer destinations and online technologies for Electronic Arts, including shared lobby services, community engines, commerce interfaces, and digital content distribution channels.
 David Reitman, VP, Content & Entertainment PracticeSwitch and Data David Reitman has over 18 years experience supporting clients within the Emerging Services marketplace. Mr. Reitman is the Vice President leading Switch and Data's Practice focused on Content/Entertainment marketplace. Within the Practice, David's Team advises Content, Media and Gaming companies on Data Center Infrastructures by designing, developing, deploying and managing these environments. The Content & Entertainment Practice currently supports Microsoft, Amazon, Yahoo, Time Warner, AOL, Google, CBS, Facebook, DirecTV, Echostar, Fox Interactive Media, and Virgin to name a few. Mr. Reitman is a Subject Matter Expert (SME) on how to build large scale Online Infrastructures, Digital Distribution of Media (i.e. Music, Film & Software), Streaming Services, Target Content Distribution, International Data Center facilities, and IP Backbone Infrastructures. David has been actively involved in the Online Gaming space since 1998 and is a SME on how to design, deploy & expand Online Gaming Platforms. David has been involved with the following MMOG platforms: World of WarCraft, EverQuest, EQ II, StarWars Galaxies, & Asheron's Call; as well as; supporting the following Console Online Platforms: PS3 & XBox 360. Mr. Reitman comes to Switch and Data from AT&T, where David was the Practice Director responsible for AT&T's Digital Media & Online Game Services efforts. Clients within the Digital Media & Online Gaming Practice include: Sony Online Entertainment, Blizzard Entertainment, Vivendi Universal Games, Napster, Google, Disney/ABC, CBS, Turbine Games, MLB, Fox, Codemasters, Konami, & Microsoft Game Studios. David was a committee team member on Project Nigel, which focus on digital distribution of digital content, the platforms and digital rights management technology that needs to be employed in order to protect rights owner's interests. This Project's members included AT&T, BMG & Universal Music and the result created some of the distribution foundations behind iTunes, Napster, Rhapsody, three of the more successful music distribution infrastructures on the Internet today. Prior to joining AT&T, David led CERFnet & EarthLink's Sales Teams focused on the Entertainment vertical and before joining the Internet industry, David was an Executive within the Music Business. He led an artist management firm for over 8 years managing artists on Warner Brothers, Elektra and Sony.  Kenny Rosenblatt,
CEO and Co-Founder
Arkadium
Kenny Rosenblatt is the CEO and Co-Founder of Arkadium. Since the Company’s inception in 2001 Kenny has helped to develop hundreds of games for clients such as CBS, Harrah’s, Reebok, Mattel, Hearst, and AARP. Along with his wife and business partner Jessica, Kenny is responsible for driving the long term strategic direction of Arkadium and serves as the Company’s chief technologist. His extensive experience in the games arena, along with his entrepreneurial spirit has helped him always stay at the cutting edge of the games industry.  Sanjay Sarathy, SVP, Marketing Vindicia Before joining Vindicia, Sanjay was CEO at Above All Software, which offered products for developing composite applications. He started his marketing career at NetDyamics, an application-server pioneer. After Sun Microsystems acquired NetDynamics in 1998, Sanjay joined Sun, where for over six years he held various marketing leadership positions, the latest of which as the head of Sun Developer Network, Sun's developer program. Earlier at Sun, he led the product marketing efforts for its application server, integration server, and Web server. Sanjay holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Quantitative Economics from Stanford University and an Master of Business Administration degree from the University of California at Berkeley.  Andrew Sheppard,
Executive Producer,
Interactive Media
hi5 Networks Andrew is the Executive Producer for Interactive Media at hi5 Networks, Inc. Prior to hi5, Andrew was VP of Product at Outspark, a leading publisher of free-to-play multiplayer online games, and responsible for the virtual currency, publishing and social network businesses. In a prior role at Electronic Arts, Andrew was head of global strategy and business development on Spore, the latest game from legendary game designer Will Wright. He also was responsible for strategy and business development at CBSi, where he covered GameSpot, GameFAQs, MP3.com and Metacritic. Andrew has a Masters of Business Administration from the Haas School of Business at U.C. Berkeley and a Bachelor of Arts from Pomona College.  Ned Sherman, CEO & PublisherDigital Media Wire As CEO, Publisher and Executive Editor of Digital Media Wire, Inc., Ned Sherman works at the center of the rapidly growing digital media industry, where he brokers relationships and keeps a tab on the most important developments shaping the industry. According to the Wall Street Journal, “Publisher Ned Sherman is more than the average pundit: He is an attorney and has an inside grasp of what is happening.” Ned has established Digital Media Wire as a leading online media company that provides daily news, information and community to tens of thousands of executives and professionals at entertainment, media and technology companies throughout the world and owns and produces nine annual conferences. The advertising, sponsorship, client, partner and subscriber relationships that Ned has brokered make Digital Media Wire one of the best known media and entertainment industry brands to emerge in the digital age. Ned is a frequent speaker at industry events in
the U.S. and overseas and has been quoted in
publications including American Lawyer, The Los
Angeles Times, The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard and
Crain's Mermigas on Media, interviewed and featured
on C-SPAN, National Public Radio (NPR), NY1 Evening
News and nationally syndicated radio shows, Inside
Digital Media and WebTalk, and recognized in the
Wall Street Journal. Ned is active in alumni affairs for Brown University and is currently Los Angeles Chair for Brown University's Alumni Interview Program. He has traveled extensively from Europe to Asia to South America to Northern Africa. Ned is married and lives with his wife, son and daughter in Los Angeles, California.  Anu Shukla, Founder and CEOOfferpal Media Anu is the Founder and CEO of Offerpal Media, the leading virtual currency monetization platform for social applications, online games, virtual worlds, social networks, mobile apps and other social publishers. Offerpal was the first payment platform to monetize social traffic by providing end-users with a comprehensive set of virtual currency payment options, including direct payments such as PayPal, credit card, micro-transactions and mobile payments, plus more than 4,000 advertising offers such as free trials, big-brand discounts, online surveys and more as an alternate payment method. The company's turnkey monetization platform uses a sophisticated optimization engine with proprietary algorithms to generate publisher revenues at a network-wide average of $80 per day for every 1,000 Daily Active Users. A serial entrepreneur, Anu is also the founder and CEO of Mybuys Inc., the leading provider of personalized product recommendations for online retailers. Prior to Mybuys, Anu pioneered the category of Internet Marketing Automation as founder and CEO of Rubric, Inc. Rubric was acquired in 2000 for $366 million. Prior to Rubric, Anu held a variety of executive roles including the VP of Marketing and Product Strategy at Versata (VATA), and Vice President of Worldwide Marketing and Product Management at Compuware/Uniface Corporation (CPWR). Anu has served on the Board of Directors of the International Museum of Women (imow.org) and the Advisory Board for the Leavey School of Business, Santa Clara University. She was named to the Computer Industry "Dream Team" by Business 2.0 magazine in 2004, awarded the YSU Distinguished Alumni award in 2005, and the Entrepreneur of the Year by the Washington D.C. based Dialogue on Diversity organization in 2005. In 2007 Anu was awarded an Honorary Doctorate degree from Youngstown State University in recognition of her business achievements.  Brandon Van Slyke,
Game Designer
Vicarious Visions Brandon Van Slyke is a professional video game designer with experience designing commercial console games, mobile games, and casual downloadable web games. In addition to his work in game design, Brandon has also written feature articles for GameCareerGuide.com and Game Developer Magazine and is the Editor-in-Chief of nycgameindustry.com, the central online repository and informational hub for New York’s growing game development community. A frequent speaker and panelist at various industry related events, Brandon is an active outspoken member of the IGDA and lifelong game enthusiast. He currently works as a game designer at Vicarious Visions (an Activision Blizzard studio) in New York.  Justin Smith,
Founder and Editor
Inside Social Games
Justin Smith founded Inside Facebook, the first blog focused on tracking Facebook and the Facebook Platform for developers and marketers, in April 2006. In 2007, he wrote the Facebook Marketing Bible, the most widely referenced book on Facebook marketing today. The Facebook Marketing Bible has been used by thousands of brands, agencies, businesses, universities, and non-profit organizations to craft their Facebook marketing strategy. In 2008, he founded Inside Social Games, the first blog focused on tracking the convergence of games and social platforms.
 Ian Swanson
Co-Founder and CEO
Sometrics
Ian Swanson is co-founder and CEO of Sometrics (www.sometrics.com). Sometrics was the first to tailor its analytics and ad managing solutions to focus on social networking platforms and applications, providing the most relevant and effective audience analysis and social ad targeting available. In December 2008, the company achieved another first when it launched the Advertiser Supported Transaction Platform, an ad server to manage all virtual currency monetization from multiple offer providers.  Wade Tinney, CEO & Co-FounderLarge Animal Games Wade has been designing and developing games since 1996. He holds an MFA in Design and Technology from Parsons School of Design. Wade is the founding editor of the IGDA (International Game Developers Association) Casual Games Quarterly, and the Coordinator of the NYC Chapter of the IGDA. Wade founded Large Animal Games with partner Josh Welber in January of 2001. Since then, Large Animal has developed over 75 titles for various platforms, and worked with a variety of publishing partners, including LEGO, Lifetime Television, Oberon Media, Majesco, D3 Publisher, iWin and Microsoft. Currently, Large Animal is focused on building social games. Try out their popular Facebook game Bumper Stars at www.bumperstars.com  John Vechey, Co-Founder and Head of Social Games StudioPopcap Games John Vechey co-founded PopCap Games with Brian Fiete and Jason Kapalka in 2000, and served as the company’s interim CEO until 2003, heading up business development and securing some of PopCap’s largest partnerships with major Web portals and game publishers. John now manages PopCap’s direct-to-consumer experience as director of PopCap.com, overseeing all aspects of the company’s Web site and online presence and directing PopCap’s e-commerce, privacy/security and online games services. Previously, John helped design and develop online games for WON.net, the Internet games division of Sierra Online. Before that, John worked in partnership with Brian Fete, while both were Purdue University students, to create, sell and help oversee future development of an online action game called ARC. John is also active in the independent film industry, having directed seven short films and having recently joined Lockspring Pictures, a Seattle-based film production company, as principal investor.  Mike Vorhaus, PresidentMagid Advisors Mike Vorhaus is the managing director who founded the Magid Internet and New Media research and consultation practice in 1995, beginning with projects for AOL and Excite. Mike has participated in hundreds of studies for our clients and personally consults a number of leading Internet and gaming companies. Mike has been involved in strategic and tactical consulting, including the launch of new services and programming, as well as development and implementation of online and offline marketing programs. Mike has also been extensively involved in video and PC gaming strategies for a number of major gaming companies, as well as the development of game concepts. Mike has also consulted on a number of film projects such as You've Got Mail and The Matrix. He holds a B.S. in psychology and sociology from Wesleyan University and has worked as a fundraiser and transfer of technology officer at the California Institute of Technology and the University of California. Mike also worked for the U.S. House of Representatives, The U.S. Senate, and for two administrations in the White House.  Michael Worosz, Vice President of Business Development, Games & MusicCBS Interactive Michael Worosz is Vice President of Business Development, Games & Music at CBS Interactive. In this role, Michael is responsible for commercial partnerships, corporate development and shaping strategy with the executives who oversee the video game and digital music business units at CBS Interactive. This includes Gamespot, Metacritic, last.FM and the CBS Interactive Music Group.
 Neil Young, CEO and Co-Founderngmoco
Neil Young is the CEO and Founder of ngmoco, creator and publisher of games exclusively for iPhone and iPod touch.
 Eric Zimmerman, Co-Founder & CEOgameLab Eric has been working in the game industry for more than a decade. He is the co-founder and CEO of gameLab, a game development company and publisher that creates online games for sites like Shockwave.com and Microsoft's Gaming Zone, including the hit downloadable game DINER DASH. Eric has taught courses at MIT, NYU, and Parsons School of Design. |
|||
|
©2008 Digital Media Wire, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
|
||||
