Joakim 'Jay' Baage, VP, Content
Digital 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."

Mari Baker, President and CEO
Playfirst

Mari Baker is president and CEO of PlayFirst, Inc. PlayFirst’s mission is to deliver delightful play for everybody, every day. Over 500 million people have played PlayFirst’s hit franchise, Diner Dash. Prior to PlayFirst, Mari was CEO of Navigenics, a company she helped incubate while an executive-in-residence at the venture capital firm, Kleiner Perkins Caulfield and Byers. Previously, as president and CEO of BabyCenter, an online site for moms, Mari drove market leading growth and managed the eventual acquisition by Johnson & Johnson. Mari established herself as a premier consumer marketer at Intuit where she built Quicken into the world’s most popular personal finance software. Mari currently serves as an emeritus trustee of Stanford University and director of Cozi Group, Inc. She has been recognized in the San Mateo County Women's Hall of Fame, Fortune’s list of Silicon Valley’s Most Influential Women, and Advertising Age’s Top 100.

Richard Borenstein, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Sales
Zong

Richard is charged with advancing the company's global revenue growth. Richard brings over 20 years of sales and executive management experience to his new role at Zong. He most recently directed Business Development at Baynote Inc., a leading on-demand recommendations and social search solutions provider, where he was responsible for the growth of the channel sales organization, international markets, creating strategic partnerships with Google, Cactus Commerce (MSFT), and CSK of Japan. Prior to that Richard was the Vice President of Business Development for Airborne Entertainment, a top-tier mobile entertainment company, where he directed all worldwide sales and distribution strategies, 85% of Airborne was acquired by Japanese mobile powerhouse Cybird in a deal worth over $90 million.

Jack Buser, Director, PlayStation®Home
Sony Computer Entertainment

Jack Buser is Director of PlayStation®Home for Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) and is responsible for driving business initiatives and activities for the 3D community-based social gaming platform. With ten years of marketing and business development experience, Buser oversees PlayStation®Home activities in the North American region, including revenue generation, management of community operations, and third-party participation in PlayStation®Home.

Previously, Buser served as Director of Worldwide Technology Evangelism at Dolby Laboratories. At Dolby, he drove the adoption of new audio and video technology by developing new business segments for both Games and Internet entertainment. Buser also worked as Director of the Consumer Electronics business segment at Dolby Laboratories where he was responsible for Blu-ray disc technology licensing and driving revenue growth for the company.

Buser received his Bachelor of Science degree with honors in electrical engineering from University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.

Lars Buttler, CEO
Trion World Network

Lars Buttler is a Founder and the CEO of Trion World Network, Inc., the publisher and developer of games and original entertainment for the connected world. Trion provides groundbreaking new capabilities and content to revolutionize global entertainment by combining the best elements of online, gaming, and traditional media. Prior to founding Trion, Buttler was the Vice President for Global Online at Electronic Arts, the world’s largest independent developer and publisher of interactive entertainment software. Buttler led EA’s strategy for online games and services and ran EA’s Online Studio, home to the pioneering Ultima Online MMOG franchise. Before EA, Buttler served as Vice President for Leveraged Buyouts at the Carlyle Group, the premier global private equity firm, focusing on large-scale investments in entertainment, media, and telecommunications. He holds a Ph.D. in Engineering from Dortmund University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and earned an M.B.A from Harvard Business School.

Susan Choe, Founder and CEO
Outspark

Susan Choe draws upon her more than 12 years of international business management in the video game, internet and financial services industries to lead Outspark’s efforts to reshape the US casual games industry. Prior to founding Outspark, Susan most recently served as COO at NHN USA, where she led the US game market entry for Asia’s flagship game portal, NHN/Hangame. Susan also served in many capacities at Yahoo! As director of international operations she supported Yahoo’s 25 international operations, as international director of Yahoo! Games, where she defined and implemented premium games growth strategy, and as director of Corporate Development, where she led investments and acquisitions efforts across games, communities and music. Susan’s other experiences include seven years in financial services working as global Corporate Development lead for CSFBDIRECT’s online broking partnerships in U.K., Japan and Hong Kong, Merrill Lynch’s research group, and American Express’ first online business management team. Susan holds a master’s degree in international finance and business from Columbia University, and a bachelor’s degree in economics and political science from UC Irvine.

Ted Cohen, Managing Partner
TAG Strategic

In an industry that’s been slow to embrace change, Cohen is the exception to the stereotypical music-exec rule. Of course, when you start a career on the road with the Sex Pistols and Van Halen, you're more primed for the unexpected.

In his previous role as SVP Digital Development & Distribution for EMI Music, Cohen led next-generation digital business development worldwide for this "big four" record company. During that time, EMI led the industry by embracing and exploiting new technologies and business models such as digital downloads and online music subscriptions, custom compilations, wireless services, high-definition audio and Internet radio.

Cohen also led two highly successful new media consulting operations, DMN Consulting and Consulting Adults, attracting clients such as Amazon.com, Universal Studios and DreamWorks Records. Cohen also held senior management positions at both Warner Bros. Records and Philips Media.

A 30-year industry veteran, Cohen served as Chairman of the Mobile Entertainment Forum idemNet. Cohen serves on the boards for NARAS, the Neil Bogart Memorial Fund and co-chairs the new media arm of the T.J. Martell Foundation.

Chris Davis, Senior VP, Sales
Gaia Online

Chris Davis is Senior VP of Sales at leading virtual hangout Gaia Online. He has vast experience integrating traditional brands into a nontraditional space and specializes in custom integrated advertising campaigns.

Chris Davis has over 20 years of sales and sales management experience working with many of the world's most successful brands in various verticals, including entertainment, gaming, retail, and consumer packaged goods. Prior to joining Gaia Online, Davis managed global sales for Neopets, a leading virtual world targeting youth, which was acquired by Viacom/MTV Networks Digital in June 2005. During his time at Neopets, Davis partnered with McDonalds, Disney, Hasbro, Target and General Mills to create customized in-world advertising campaigns designed to engage the Neopets' member base. Previously, Davis spent 12 years at Pfizer, Inc. in various sales and sales management positions. While there he was elected to multiple Vice President Management Cabinets, was named District Manager of the Year and received the 'Spartan' Award, named after him to recognize excellence in salesmanship, teamwork and communication.

Allen DeBevoise, Chairman & CEO
Machinima.com

Allen DeBevoise is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Machinima Inc, and its operating site Machinima.com, a premier entertainment network for gamers. With more than 25 years of experience in the entertainment and interactive multimedia industries, DeBevoise oversees the company’s programming, marketing and sales. Since taking the reins the company has grown three-fold and is now boasts over 100 Million views per month. Additionally, he has recently closed a $3.5 Million venture capital deal for Machinima.com bringing the total funds DeBevoise has raised during his 25 year industry tenure to over $130 Million for a variety of business ventures including dotTV, LowerMyBills.com and Dealer.com, where he was on the Board of Directors. Prior to joining Machinima, DeBevoise co-founded Creative Planet, an online resource for film and television production professionals, after serving as President and CEO of TCI Interactive. Allen was featured on The Hollywood Reporter’s DIGITAL POWER LIST for 2009 and has just been recognized as one of Digital Media Wire’s “25 Executives to Watch” for 2010. The company has fast become a revolutionary social media marketing tool due to its highly engaged and interactive community, delivering high CTR and ROI to the brands, studios, networks and retailers who advertise with them.

Michael Doron, Vice President, Americas
ClickandBuy

Michael Doron serves as ClickandBuy’s VP, of The Americas Michael has increased sales by over 300% and gained new business from major companies such as McAfee, FXDD, OfferPal, Live Gamer, Artix Entertainment, Perfect World Entertainment, Hi5, and Super Rewards.

In his role as VP, The Americas, Michael spearheading ClickandBuy’s growth into Latin America with an emphasis on the Brazilian market and, in addition, is expanding the company’s verticals to financial services, Massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG) and Casual Games, Physical retailers, social networking, and paid content .

Michael is an entrepreneurial executive who has a wide breadth of experience in successfully managing business development, sales, strategic marketing and operations for all types of companies, including start-ups, Web 2.0 companies and financial services corporations.

Before arriving at ClickandBuy, he was the Director of Business Development for Softchoice and the Director, Global Sales for Broker Processing Service. Michael is a graduate of George Washington University and currently resides in New York City

Dave Etling, Vice President, Product Development
InComm

Dave Etling has spent the past eight years at InComm, holding various management positions including Sales Engineering, Merchant Services, and Business/Product Development. Over the past four years he has been instrumental to InComm's success in product partner acquisitions and successful retail launches of Apple, Nexon, Zynga; specifically as it relates to prepaid digital entertainment products, including virtual goods prepaid game cards as well as digital music and software applications.

Prior to his service at InComm, Etling spent seven years at a startup consulting company and last served as VP of Engineering where he managed a team focusing on financial institution network design and implementation.

Owais Farooqui, Managing Director, NA
King.com

Owais heads up King.com in North America and is responsible for groundbreaking partnerships with leading media companies such as NBC, CBS, Yahoo!, Real Networks, and Lifetime. He is also responsible for extending brands of popular TV properties to games such as the Biggest Loser, Survivor and Big Brother. He has more than 11 years experience in business development and marketing. Prior to King.com, Owais was Senior Director, Marketing at Knowledge Adventure, the leader in adventure-based 3D virtual worlds for kids, and was also Senior Director Marketing at Academy123, which was acquired by Discovery Communications.

Robert Ferrari, VP, Publishing & Business Development
Sanrio Digital

Robert Ferrari serves as VP Global Publishing and Business Development at Sanrio Digital, as well as VP Business Development at the company’s joint venture partner - Typhoon Games. Sanrio Digital focuses on the publishing of interactive entertainment based on the world renowned Hello Kitty® and Sanrio brands. The company holds a leadership position creating the convergence of virtual worlds, MMOs and social networking for a truly integrated social gaming solution. Typhoon Games is a premier game development studio for leading MMO brands such as Hello Kitty Online from Sanrio Digital, and Ben 10 Omniverse and Tom & Jerry Online from TurnOut Ventures.

Based in Boston MA, Ferrari oversees the company’s global publishing and business development initiatives across PC, console and handheld platforms. Ferrari brings a wealth of global business experience to Sanrio Digital and Typhoon Games as a well-known and highly respected industry veteran and executive within the online games sector.

Ferrari was previously VP Business Development at Turbine Inc. a leading publisher and developer of massively multiplayer online games. Having joined Turbine back in 2004, Ferrari was instrumental in the company’s hyper growth, global expansion, strategic partnerships, self-publishing transition, licensing, digital distribution, and traditional retail channel initiatives. His efforts contributed to the success of Turbine’s award-winning online games, including The Lord of the Rings Online™, Dungeons & Dragons Online™: Stormreach™ and Asheron's Call®. Previous to his tenure at Turbine, Ferrari held senior executive roles at interactive media and consumer product companies such as Philips Electronics (NYSE:PHG), Websurfer Inc, and Merinta Inc.

Ferrari is an active and high profile industry speaker. He serves on the exec committee of the MIT/NE Games and Interactive Entertainment SIG, as well as the Massachusetts Tech Leadership Council/Entertainment Sector.

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.

Since 2002, Eric is or has been a board member of, advisor or consultant to AOL, AT&T Wireless, Centerscore, Digital Chocolate, Electronic Arts, Exponential Entertainment, Gaia Online, HipLogic, In-Fusio, Juice Wireless, Kayak (dba Blaze), Lifetime, LimeLife, Meredith, Mforma (dba Hands-On Mobile), Moloon, Openwave, PaymentOne, PickTeams (fka GoCrossCampus), Reaxion, rmbrME, Thumbplay, Unplugged, Vindigo, Warner Music, YouPlus, and two US venture capital firms.

Eric was most recently the President and Co-Founder of Unplugged, for which he secured distribution with four of the five largest North American carriers. Previously, he served as President and Founder of Crossover Technologies, one of the first consumer online companies, for which he secured AOL, BMG, Discovery Channel, Intel, Microsoft, Prodigy (IBM/Sears/CBS joint venture), Random House, Sony, Time Warner, and Viacom as clients and distribution partners; and, prior to that, as President of West End Games, the adventure game company for which he published, among 40+ titles, Star Wars, Ghostbusters, Star Trek, and Junta. His award-winning games include Paranoia, Tales of the Arabian Nights, The Tom Peters Business School in a Box, and MadMaze, the first online game to draw one million players. He is a three-time winner of the Origins Award for Best Role-Playing Game and a two-time winner of the Game Designers Guild Select Award.

Eric is a regular speaker at the major North American games, wireless and online conferences, including CTIA, MECCA, Internet World, The Conference Board, DMW, GDC, GDC Mobile, MES, AGC, MGC, LA Games Conference, and E3, and has served as a programs advisor or advisory board member for the latter six conferences. He was previously a board member for the New York New Media Association and New York University’s Center for Advanced Digital Applications.

Jeff Gomez, CEO & President
Starlightrunner Entertainment

Jeff Gomez is an expert at transmedia storytelling, incubating new entertainment properties, strategic planning and production for cross-platform implementation.

As CEO of Starlight Runner Entertainment, an animation and live-action feature film production company and leading creator of highly successful fictional worlds, Jeff transforms intellectual properties into highly successful transmedia franchises. He also extends niche properties such as toys, animation or videogame titles across multiple platforms, evolving them into high quality persistent narratives, which in turn generate multiple revenue streams for his clients.

Jeff has worked on such blockbuster universes as Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean, Prince of Persia and Tron, Microsoft’s Halo, James Cameron’s Avatar, Hasbro’s Transformers, Mattel’s Hot Wheels and Coca-Cola’s Happiness Factory.

Prior to launching Starlight Runner with partner Mark Pensavalle in 2000, Jeff Gomez was a prominent figure in the adventure game and video game industries serving as a producer for Acclaim Entertainment’s comic book division. He helped create the Acclaim Comics super hero universe, in addition to adapting Valiant Comics super heroes into videogames for Nintendo and PlayStation consoles. Characters, concepts and game-play Jeff conceived, wrote and produced for Acclaim’s Turok, Dinosaur Hunter and Turok 2: Seeds of Evil helped that franchise to gross over $420 million. Turok was recently revived as a new videogame franchise from Disney Interactive and as an animated feature from Starz Entertainment.

In addition to serving as a brand extension consultant to such corporations as Disney, Microsoft, 20th Century Fox, Coca-Cola, Scholastic, Wieden+Kennedy, Mattel, Showtime, Konami and Hasbro, Jeff has also delivered his seminar, Creating Blockbuster Worlds: Developing Highly Successful Transmedia Franchises, to the MIT Futures of Entertainment Conference, Game Developers Conference, International Game Developers Association, the NewTeeVee Conference, the New York State Bar Association and the Producers Guild of America.

A board member of the Producers Guild of America with over 20 years experience developing, writing and producing content, Jeff has been featured and quoted in such periodicals as Forbes, Business Week, Los Angeles Times, Variety, Investors Business Daily, Publishers Weekly, Produced By, Wizard, and Animation, and he has been profiled on MTV News and American Latino.

As a Latino who spent his childhood in the housing projects on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Jeff champions the concerns of young people with his Never Surrender inspirational seminars and curricula. He has also recently worked with Operation Respect, the international non-profit education and advocacy organization founded by Peter Yarrow and dedicated to instilling the values of leadership and empathy in young people. He earned a BA in Film Studies and Communication Arts & Sciences from Queens College, CUNY.

Simon Jeffery, Chief Publishing Officer
ngmoco

Simon Jeffery is the Chief Publishing Officer at ngmoco, helming the company’s publishing group and partner relations.

Jeffery brings 23 years of games industry experience to ngmoco after more than four years as president and COO of Sega of America, where he oversaw all publishing and product development activities for the top ten publisher. Prior to Sega, Jeffery was president and COO of LucasArts. Jeffery moved to LucasArts in 1998 after working in a number of marketing, business, and development roles for Virgin Interactive and Electronic Arts, both in the United States and Europe

Established in June 2008, ngmoco has claimed the top of the App Store charts with the success of its diverse and expanding catalog of iPad, iPhone and iPod touch games powered by its plus+ suite of developer systems that power freemium features. Having delivered more than twenty Top 25 products into the market and with its games played more than 28 million minutes a day, ngmoco is a leading gamemaker and publisher for the iPhone, iPod touch and now iPad.

Gene Hoffman, CEO
Vindicia

Prior to Vindicia, Mr. Hoffman co-founded eMusic in January 1998 and served as President, Chief Executive Officer, and a Director. As head of eMusic, Mr. Hoffman was featured on the cover of Forbes Magazine as a member of the July 1999 E-Gang, and named one of the 100 most influential entrepreneurs in technology in Upside Magazine's November 2000 Elite 100. Mr. Hoffman led the acquisition of eMusic by Vivendi/Universal in June 2001.

Before founding eMusic Mr. Hoffman was Director of Business Development and Director of Interactive Marketing of Pretty Good Privacy. Mr. Hoffman joined Pretty Good Privacy after it acquired PrivNet, Inc., an Internet privacy software company, where he was co-founder, Director and Executive Vice President.

Daniel Kayser, Founder/EIC, Host/Writer, Host/Producer
EpicBattleAxe.com, GameTrailers TV, GameTrailers.com

Games industry veteran, writer/producer and presenter Daniel Kayser contributes to various gaming outlets and is best-known for his role as Editorial Producer and Host for GameTrailers TV, GameTrailers.com and MTV Networks. He is also Founder/Editor-In-Chief of the community-driven games industry blog EpicBattleAxe.com.

Originally from New York, Daniel Kayser's GTTV hosting duties have taken him around the world including France, Germany, England, Japan, Croatia, China, Canada as well as throughout the United States. As the co-host of GameTrailers TV on SPIKE (Viacom), Kayser has interviewed sports legends, gaming icons, music artists and entertainment personalities ranging from Tiger Woods to Shigeru Miyamoto, Elijah Wood, Dan Akroyd, John Elway, Stan Lee, Dwight Howard, Perry Farrell, Eliza Dushku, Kurt Schilling, Todd McFarlane, Jim Lee, Brett Farve, Jesper Kyd, Akira Yamaoka, as well as executives from the top gaming companies including Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Electronic Arts and Ubisoft.

An informative writer for numerous media outlets, Daniel Kayser has contributed feature articles for both international/domestic websites and magazines, including GameDaily.com, IGN.com, Hardcore Gamer and The Comet, while owning and operating EpicBattleAxe.com. The goal of EpicBattleAxe is to "empower and inform" the global gaming masses while creating an entertaining forum for publishers, developers, and gamers alike to get the real deal on today's gaming industry. As fond of music, athletics, art, and the outdoors as he is of gaming, Daniel Kayser aims to re-brand today's perception of what it means to be a "gamer." Having been around the industry since the days of Atari, Kayser possesses a rich knowledge of gaming's culture and throughout his career he has established himself as a recognizable and respected face within the industry. "My passion for gaming is only surpassed by my desire to take the industry forward through the entertaining and informative content I seek to create." http://www.danielkayser.net/.

Teemu Huuhtanen, President, North America
Sulake Inc. (Habbo Hotel)

Owais has over ten years experience in marketing, most recently at Knowledge Adventure, the leader in adventure-based 3D virtual worlds for kids where Owais created customer acquisition and retention campaigns for their online educational games. Prior to Knowledge Adventure, Owais directed marketing campaigns at Discovery Education.

Jack Koch, Head of Marketing
Massive, Inc.

Jack Koch is the Head of Marketing for Massive Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft. At Massive, Jack overseas marketing strategy, PR, events, and research - including advertising effectiveness, audience profiling, and industry analysis. Prior to joining Massive, Jack has held strategic positions on both the client and agency sides designing programs to deepen consumer insight, evaluate advertising effectiveness, and maximize media efficiency and return on investment.

Elan Lee, Cheif Designer & Co-Founder
Fourth Wall Studios

Elan Lee believes that if you're bored, you're doing something wrong. A self-identified entertainment-addict, Elan has pent his career finding and sharing ways to extract adventure from the world around us.

From surfing down the flooded streets of LA to broadcasting a radio drama over thousands of ringing payphones, Elan has pioneered breakthroughs in the area of entertainment and immersive gaming.

Elan started his career at the Microsoft Game Studio where he was a Lead Designer for the X-BOX launch portfolio. He co-founded and served as the Vice President of Design for 42 Entertainment, and was co-founder and Lead Designer for EDOC Laundry.

Elan has spoken all over the world on the future of gaming, and is considered among the foremost Alternate Reality Game creators in the world. He has been featured in WIRED Magazine, The New York Times, Entertainmet Weekly, and the Wall Street Journal. He has won awards for best web game of the year, best advertising campaign of the year, and best idea of the year. Also, his mom claims he's a very nice boy.

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.

Peter Levin, Co-Founder
GeekChicDaily

Peter Levin is the co-founder of GeekChicDaily.com, a daily email newsletter editorializing all things popular culture. Additionally, Levin is principal & CEO of GYL, LLC, a technology development and investment portfolio focused on digital media companies and video game platforms. Levin serves as an Executive Advisor to Ascent Media and Yoshimoto Kogyo as well.

Prior to GYL, Levin served as President and Co-Founder of Bellrock Media, Inc., a mobile and broadband entertainment company creating and distributing premium content for mobile and broadband platforms throughout North America and Japan.

Levin began his career at Creative Artists Agency (CAA), working in the Corporate Advisory Group with a client list including Matsushita Electric Industry Company, Sony, Nike, The Coca-Cola Company, and Credit Lyonnais. In 1996, Levin joined The Walt Disney Company in the Corporate and Strategic Planning groups and later joined Disney Online as a senior producer. Leaving Disney in 1998, Levin became managing director of Lynx Technologies. Lynx’s investments included Applied Semantics (sold to Google 4/03), Gamespy Industries (sold to IGN 12/03), Ask.com (sold to IAC 3/05) and Atom Entertainment (sold to Viacom 8/06).

Levin serves on the Board of Directors of Sulake, Inc. (Habbo) and Mind Control Software. He is also on the steering committee of The East/West Sports Council and the Center for International Sport Business Advisory Board at the Western New England College.

Levin is founder and co-owner of the 2006 World Champion Chicago Rush of the Arena Football League and a managing partner in Palisades Baseball, which owns and operates the West Virginia Power, the class “A” affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. He is also a minority partner in and strategic advisor to Strikeforce, a mixed martial arts promotional entity. In June 2009, Levin served as the exclusive representative of Nikki Finke’s DeadlineHollywoodDaily in its sale to MMC.

Robert Levitan, CEO & Co-Founder
Pando Networks

Mari Baker is president and CEO of PlayFirst, Inc. PlayFirst’s mission is to deliver delightful play for everybody, every day. Over 500 million people have played PlayFirst’s hit franchise, Diner Dash. Prior to PlayFirst, Mari was CEO of Navigenics, a company she helped incubate while an executive-in-residence at the venture capital firm, Kleiner Perkins Caulfield and Byers. Previously, as president and CEO of BabyCenter, an online site for moms, Mari drove market leading growth and managed the eventual acquisition by Johnson & Johnson. Mari established herself as a premier consumer marketer at Intuit where she built Quicken into the world’s most popular personal finance software. Mari currently serves as an emeritus trustee of Stanford University and director of Cozi Group, Inc. She has been recognized in the San Mateo County Women's Hall of Fame, Fortune’s list of Silicon Valley’s Most Influential Women, and Advertising Age’s Top 100.

Jason McMinn, Co-Founder
Blockdot

Jason McMinn is a co-founder of Blockdot, a Dallas-based branded entertainment, social media, advergaming, and mobile development studio. Jason has over 15 years of experience helping brands with their strategy and execution on digital platforms. He has helped lead Blockdot from a startup concept in 2001 to being a leader in the advergaming space today with clients such as American Airlines, Microsoft, LEGO, Frito Lay, General Motors, and others. Prior to launching Blockdot, Jason was co-founder of Cosus Interactive, an award winning web development studio.

Today at Blockdot, he oversees teams working on game and application strategy/delivery for world class brands on the web, mobile, and social platforms.

Joe Minton, President
Digital Development Management

Joe Minton is President at Digital Development Management, an industry leading video game agency that represents top-tier game development studios. Before co-founding DDM, Joe served as President of the 13-year veteran game developer Cyberlore Studios. At Cyberlore, Joe was responsible for overseeing day-to-day operations, setting the corporate direction, building a management team and maintaining a tight ship in a competitive industry. Joe was responsible for all business development – securing millions of dollars in console & PC deals – and fostering major brand relationships with international companies like Hasbro and Playboy. Joe focused on becoming an expert on studio organization, personnel management and communication systems and has lectured on those subjects domestically and internationally.

Hany Nada, Partner & Co-Founder
GGV Capital

Hany Nada is managing partner of GGV Capital. He co-founded the firm in 2000. His focus is on Internet, Mobile, Application Software, and Enterprise Infrastructure. He was previously with Piper Jaffray as a Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst specializing in Internet software and e-Infrastructure. Hany was an All-Star analyst in computer software and was named in Institutional Investor All-Star in three categories. He was involved in many transactions, including initial public offerings, secondary offerings, mergers & acquisitions, private placements and venture rounds. Hany's responsibilities include IT investment activities, deal sourcing, investment due diligence, and Board directorships. GGV investments include: Glu Mobile, Xfire, Kintana, Accruent, Vocera Communications, Endeca Technologies and Turbine. Hany is a graduate of the University of Minnesota where he earned a B.S. in economics and a B.A. in political science.

Chris Petrovic, General Manager, Digital Media
GameStop

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.

Jim Poole, General Manager, Global Networks & Content
Equinix

As a results oriented Executive with extensive experience in operations, engineering and sales, Jim has management experience with proven successes in business re-engineering and strategic market development within both the Fortune 500 and startup arenas. He holds a thorough financial and technological understanding of the Global Telecommunications and Information Technology markets. Currently, Jim is the General Manager of Global Networks & Content for Equinix.

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.

Previously, Ms. Reeves was one of the early members of the JAMDAT Management Team and responsible for many of JAMDAT's technology initiatives, including the delivery of JAMDAT's multiplayer platform and mobile content distribution interfaces. Prior to JAMDAT Nanea Reeves has held various positions in product development and marketing for emerging new media and e-commerce companies including eToys, eCompanies, and Venu Interactive. Well known in the digital content field, she began her career in motion pictures and television advertising/marketing.

Manu Rekhi, General Manager, MySpace Games & Developer Platform
MySpace

Manu Rekhi serves as General Manager of MySpace Content and the Games and Developer Platform. In this role, he works with executives and product managers to set the strategic vision for Games and Developers Platform product sets and ensure alignment with the company’s broader goals. Manu is closely aligned with Product Management, User Experience and Engineering, to deliver world class products. Manu previously oversaw Strategy, Marketing, Biz Dev and Corp Dev at Lolapps, where he transformed Lolapps from a Quiz/Gift provider to a social gaming company through profitable acquisitions and a successful publishing model.

Prior to Lolapps, he was a Product Manager at Google. In this role he worked on several Google products including Gmail, Open Social, Calendar, Orkut and ads. Prior to working at Lolapps and Google, Manu held senior product management roles at WineGlobe, 123 Signup, and AudioHighway. In his spare time, Manu is on the board of advisors at Vivu.tv, Credit Sesame, j2play (acquired by EA), Games2Win, Social Game Universe, Sapplica and Popcorn Apps. Manu holds a B.S from Boston University and a joint MBA from Columbia Business School and Walter Haas School of Business.

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.

Prior to founding Arkadium, Kenny was Vice President of Emerging Technologies at On2, a broadband media company, where he developed innovative Video on Demand systems for iTV and Set Top Boxes.

Conrad Sheehan, Founder and CEO
mPayy

Conrad Sheehan founded mPayy in 2007 and has extensive experience in the payments industry. He spoke recently at the 2010 Gridley Events Investment Conference on the topic of mobile payments, and is confirmed to speak at the upcoming CTIA WIRELESS 2010 conference.

Prior to founding mPayy, Conrad was a senior vice president at JPMorganChase and head of its Consumer Payments business, where he was responsible for the bank's retail payment products that serviced the bank's extensive corporate and public sector clients. While at JPMorganChase, Conrad grew the company’s Consumer Payments business from $80 million to more than $120 million by commercializing numerous Internet and telephony-based payment solutions. Prior to joining JPMorganChase, Conrad was a partner at Accenture, where he worked with global financial institutions focused on transaction processing, risk and payments.

Conrad also worked with Bank of America, IBM and Chase to create Viewpointe, the largest provider of digital check archival and exchange services. Conrad holds an MBA from the University of Chicago and a bachelor of arts degree in economics from Holy Cross College.

Ned Sherman, CEO & Publisher
Digital 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.

Before co-founding Digital Media Wire, Ned spent seven years as a corporate and entertainment attorney practicing at several of the leading law firms in the world.

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.

Ian Swanson Co-Founder and CEO
Sometrics

As the co-founder and CEO of Sometrics, Ian Swanson brings together publishers, advertisers and consumers from all types of online experiences – MMOs, casual and social games. As the visionary of Sometrics, he helps maximize revenue for publishers, drive traffic and leads for advertisers, and enhance gameplay for consumers with Sometrics’ technology. The company’s offerings allow partners to learn which audience demographics are responding to specific offers, and directs traffic accordingly to optimize conversions and increase revenue.

Under Ian’s leadership, Sometrics launched the industry’s first virtual currency platform in December 2008, helping publishers manage all virtual currency monetization from multiple offer providers. Today, the company’s Offer Solution and Payment Manager have a global reach with more than 4,000 ads across the global network.

Before launching Sometrics, Ian was business development manager for Userplane, an AOL company that provides social media applications to hundreds of thousands of online communities, supporting millions of users daily. He was instrumental in helping the company extend the reach of its hosted chat, IM and other communications applications, and in building the company’s advertising network. Before Userplane, Ian was an executive with Sprint and helped launch two mobile Web startups.

Ian actively advises several successful social networking applications, Fortune 500 companies and startups with their brand and marketing strategies within the social media ecosystem. He is often invited to share his insights at industry events and has addressed audiences at the IAB’s Leadership Forum – Audience Measurement, SNAP/SWAT Summits, Graphing Social Patterns, LOGIN Conference, User Generated

Wade Tinney, CEO & Co-Founder
Large 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

Sutton Trout, Vice President, Digital Content/Gamespy Technology
IGN

Sutton started his career in video games with Sega of America in 1993. At Sega, as an art director, Sutton was involved in over 200 Sega titles – including the Sega Genesis, Game Gear, CD and Saturn platforms. Sutton moved on to Sony Computer Entertainment in 1995, where he worked on the launch of the first PlayStation. Sutton also co-produced the first Sony e3 booth. From there he went to Eidos Interactive, where he spent the next 6+ years of his career in a variety of roles. As part of the founding team, he was instrumental in the transition of the Tomb Raider video game franchise from the small screen to the silver screen. Sutton also executive produced multiple TV spots including all of the Tomb Raider commercials, as well as 6 years of the Eidos e3 show and booth. In 2001 he went to work at Konami, in a business development role. Sutton worked on a variety of projects while at Konami, including a Dance Dance Revolution TV show pilot. In late 2 003, Sutton moved to GameSpy, which was then acquired by IGN Entertainment, to build and run content acquisition for IGN's digital distribution channel, Direct2Drive.com and FilePlanet.com. In October 2005, IGN was acquired by News Corporation. Since early 2004, Sutton has been managing content acquisition, and distribution for both sites – D2D and FP. Sutton also oversees the GameSpy Technologies sales group, which licenses proprietary technology to game developers and publishers, enabling their games online accessibility. Since launching in 2004, Direct2Drive has become a #1 retailer in the digital retail space.

Rob Uhrich, Senior Director
PaymentOne

Rob Uhrich is Senior Director, Digital Markets for PaymentOne, the leading payment provider for alternative and global online payments. Rob has over a decade of business, market development and operations experience in payments and transaction processing for online based and digital content service providers. He has been with PaymentOne since it's inception over 8 years ago and been instrumental in assisting PaymentOne's clients in generating over $3.5 Billion in gross retail billings. Rob brings PaymentOne expertise in the digital entertainment and content markets. Prior to PaymentOne, he has held sales and business development positions in a variety of industries from shipping and logistics to medical devices. Rob has a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Santa Clara University.

Brandon Van Slyke, Editor-in-Chief
NYGamesIndustry.com

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.

Mike Vorhaus, President
Magid Advisors

Jack Koch is the Head of Marketing for Massive Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft. At Massive, Jack overseas marketing strategy, PR, events, and research - including advertising effectiveness, audience profiling, and industry analysis. Prior to joining Massive, Jack has held strategic positions on both the client and agency sides designing programs to deepen consumer insight, evaluate advertising effectiveness, and maximize media efficiency and return on investment.

John Watson, Executive Director, Business Development
AT&T Digital Media Solutions

John Watson is responsible for Business Development and Market Development at AT&T’s Digital Media Solutions, encompassing its Content Delivery, Content Management and Digital Signage services. He is responsible for identifying and developing go-to market propositions that integrate partner and AT&T products and services.


Prior to joining AT&T John was Vice-President of Business Development at Level 3 where he was responsible for building relationships and positioning Level 3’s Content Markets Services within major Media organizations.

Mr Watson did two stints at IMG, most recently he was responsible for the international sales and marketing of IMG Media’s Internet and Broadband Platform. John was tasked with using new media to enhance the online offerings of clients including The Open Championship, Arsenal and The European Tour.

Prior to rejoining IMG Media, John was the Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Nine Systems, a San Diego based streaming services company where he built a team that more than doubled revenue in 12 months attracting clients including Warner Music, the NBA and the NHL.

In his earlier stint at IMG Media, John served as a Vice President of Hosting Operations and subsequently VP of Business Development leading strategic initiatives on four continents with clients that included HP, MCI, O2, and Wimbledon.

John has also held business development and product management roles at PSINet where he was instrumental in launching the managed web hosting business while building revenue.

John holds a BA from the University of Kent at Canterbury and an MBA from the College of William and Mary where he graduated first in his class.