Speakers
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2008 Speakers:
Keynote Presenters:
Tim Kring
Kring grew up primarily in Northern California. Eventually, his parents, who were both teachers, moved the family to Santa Maria on the Central California coast. Kring studied film at nearby Allan Hancock Junior College before transferring to the University of Santa Barbara, where he earned his bachelor of arts degree in religious studies.
Kring later attended the master of fine arts program at the University of Southern California's renowned film school and worked his way up in production as a grip, gaffer and on camera crews. He continued working in production until selling his first pitch for an episode of "Knight Rider" in 1985. Kring spent the next eleven years writing feature films, including the sequel "Teen Wolf II," series pilots and television movies such as "Bay Coven" and "Falling for You."
In 1996, Kring became a producer on the popular television series "Chicago Hope" and became the supervising producer on the series a year later. In 1998, he co-created the series "Strange World" and served as co-executive producer on the drama "L.A. Doctors." Kring joined the staff of NBC's "Providence" in 1999 as co-executive producer and signed an overall deal with NBC Studio. In 2001, Kring created the procedural drama "Crossing Jordan," which ran for 6 seasons and over 100 episodes.
In 2008, Kring expanded his horizons, from the film and TV world by pairing with New York Author Dale Peck to sell a pitch for a trilogy of books to Crown Publishing. The trilogy is to be titled THE FLAG OF ORPHEUS with the first book in the trilogy entitled SHIFT.
Kring resides in Los Angeles with his wife, Lisa, who is a social worker, and their two children, Amelia and Ethan. In his spare time, he enjoys photography and collecting acoustic guitars.
Deborah Meyer
Her professional and academic background includes:
- Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Chrysler LLC, August 2007
- Vice President, Marketing for Lexus Division, Toyota Motor Sales
- Corporate Manager, Toyota Marketing Communications, Toyota Motor Sales
- Manager - Marketing Communications for Lincoln Mercury
- Group Manager, Brand Strategy and Communications, Mazda North American Operations
- Brand Manager - Ford do Brazil
- Product Manager - W. L. Gore and Associates in Paris, France
- Masters degree in Business Administration, Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania
- Masters degree in International Studies, Joseph H. Lauder Institute of Management International Studies
- Bachelors degree in Economics, Wellesley College
Leslie Moonves
Prior to the Viacom separation in 2005, Moonves served as Co-President and Co-Chief Operating Officer of Viacom and Chairman of CBS, overseeing all of Viacom's domestic and international broadcast television operations, radio division and outdoor advertising operations.
Moonves was promoted to Chairman and CEO of CBS in 2003, and prior to that, was President and Chief Executive Officer, CBS Television, a position he was elevated to in April 1998. He joined CBS in July 1995 as President, CBS Entertainment. Under Moonves' aegis, CBS has developed television's Number One drama, "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation;" the king of reality series, "Survivor"; and hit series such as "Everybody Loves Raymond," "Two and a Half Men," "The King of Queens," "CSI: Miami," "Without A Trace," "Cold Case," "CSI: NY" and the Emmy Award-winning reality series "The Amazing Race." It was during this time CBS became America's most watched television network, going from last to first during Moonves' leadership.
He joined CBS from Warner Bros. Television, where as President, he oversaw a television division that supplied the greatest number of programs to network television for nine consecutive years, culminating in a record-setting 22 series (including "ER," "Friends" and "The Drew Carey Show") on the 1995-96 network schedules. He had been President of Warner Bros. Television since July 1993, when Warner Bros. and Lorimar Television combined operations. From 1989 to 1993, he had been President of Lorimar Television. He joined the company in 1985 as executive in charge of its movies and mini-series, and became head of creative affairs in 1988.
Earlier in his career, Moonves was Vice President of movies and mini-series for Twentieth Century Fox Television, where he was also in charge of first-run syndication and pay/cable programming. He had previously been Vice President, development, for Saul Ilson Productions (in association with Columbia Pictures Television) and a development executive for Catalina Productions.
Upon graduation from Bucknell University, Moonves pursued an acting career at New York's Neighborhood Playhouse, studying under the renowned Sanford Meisner. He performed in numerous stage and television productions before opting to produce plays on Broadway and in Los Angeles.
Moonves is a member of the NCAA Advisory Board, the board of directors of the Los Angeles Free Clinic and the board of trustees of the Entertainment Industries Council. He is a trustee of the National Council for Families and Television and of the American Film Institute and is past president of the Hollywood Radio and Television Society. He is also co-chair of the Los Angeles Board of Governors of The Paley Center for Media.
In March 2003, Moonves was honored by the International Radio and Television Society as the recipient of the Gold Medal Award, one of most prestigious honors in media and entertainment. Since joining CBS, Moonves has also been named Variety's Showman of the Year and Entertainment Weekly's Most Powerful Man in Hollywood and received the Casting Society of America's Career Achievement Award.
He is also a past recipient of the American Jewish Committee's Sherrill Corwin Award, given to outstanding leaders in the entertainment and communications industry.
Charlie Rose
Charlie Rose is unique. The round oak table, perhaps the most recognized table on television, and the black backdrop provides an intimate atmosphere for showcasing smart conversation. Journalist Morley Safer, of CBS' 60 Minutes, calls the program "the last refuge of intelligent conversation on television."
"Charlie Rose brings a Southern civility to the most intelligent tete-a-tetes on TV...his table has become an island where savvy channel-surfers put ashore each weeknight...an essential gloss on the media, politics, sports and culture." (Esquire)
Guests on the show include major international political figures and a mixture of renowned personalities from literature, theatre, film, dance, fashion, sports, science, medicine, and business. Guests have ranged from international statesmen Nelson Mandela and Mikhail Gorbachev to Nobel laureates Toni Morrison, Seamus Heaney to leaders in business like Bill Gates and Andy Grove. In the artistic arena, Rose's guests range from actors Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts to musicians Bruce Springsteen and Yo-Yo Ma. His program serves as a window on cultural areas rarely seen on TV like architecture, painting, photography and classical music. "Cheers - and a dozen red long-stems to Charlie Rose?His varied guests?and disarming interview style frequently make for fascinating viewing." (TV Guide)
Charlie Rose Special Edition presents hour-long profiles on such prominent entertainers as Meryl Streep and Garth Brooks, as well as weeklong specials on the cutting edge of science like the Human Genome Project.
Drawn from major exhibits at distinguished museums, his series called Great Masters takes an in-depth look at an artist's biography, as well as the artist's visual presentations of their art. All specials are produced by Charlierose.com, Inc. which also presents other programs in multi-media formats.
Rose is also a correspondent for 60 Minutes II, the CBS news magazine program seen on the CBS television network Wednesdays at 9 PM. He is known for his major profiles on Bill Gates, and President Clinton at the end of the Millennium, Hollywood stars such as Warren Beatty, Jodie Foster, and Madonna, interesting sports figures like Pete Sampras and George Steinbrenner, and cutting-edge subjects like Lou Gehrig's disease, suicide, and gene therapy.
Charlie Rose was born in Henderson, North Carolina and graduated from Duke University with an AB in history and a JD from the school of Law. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and has received honorary doctorates of law from C.W. Post College and the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. He is the recipient of the George Peabody Broadcasting Award, the Emmy Award and The CableACE Award. This year he accepted the Futrell Award, an award given to Duke University alumni who have demonstrated excellence in communications. The Charlotte World Affairs Council also honored him as the world citizen for the year 2000.
He is a popular speaker on a wide variety of subjects at college campuses around the country and is a frequent moderator of technology conferences in the United States.
More praise for Charlie Rose
The best late-night talk show...Rose has presence, is warm, engaging, and the cameras love him. The crème de la crème in the late-night world of television discourse.
New York Newsday
A well-produced hour that can move onto a late-breaking subject.
The New York Times
Those who like tabloid journalism and celebrity gabfests will always have plenty of television junk food to gorge on. Those who don't have had a problem - at least until now. Charlie Rose is the most intelligent talk show on television.
Women's Wear Daily
I am convinced Charlie could draw a fascinating interview from a stone.
Liz Smith
Rarely on television can you find intelligent, sustained conversation between grown-ups about subjects that are genuinely interesting. Charlie Rose is an exception.
Gannett News Service
Imagine Sheriff Andy Taylor in black tie, chatting with newsmakers and celebs. [Rose] combines big-city polish with down-home hospitality to make a captivating host.
Associated Press
With Rose, there are no boundaries, other than the extent of his own craving for information, education and stimulation.
Daily Variety
Clay Shirky
In addition to his consulting work, Clay is an adjunct professor in NYU's graduate Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP), where he teaches courses on the interrelated effects of social and technological network topology - how our networks shape culture and vice-versa. Prior to his appointment at NYU, Clay was a partner at The Accelerator Group, an investment firm focused on early-stage companies.
Formerly, he was the chief technology offi cer of the NYC-based Web media and design firm Site Specific, where he created the company's media tracking database and server log analysis software. Site Specific was later acquired by CKS Group, where Clay was promoted to VP Technology, Eastern Region.
Clay has written extensively about the Internet since 1996. His new book, Here Comes Everybody, explores the effects of open networks, collaboration and user created and disseminated content on organizations and industries. Over the years, he has had regular columns in Business 2.0, FEED, OpenP2P.com and ACM Net_Worker, and his writings have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Harvard Business Review, Wired, Release 1.0, Computerworld, and IEEE Computer. He has been interviewed by Slashdot, Red Herring, Media Life, and The Economist's Ebusiness Forum. Time Magazine featured him with other futurists in a fall 2005 story entitled "What's Next."
Clay frequently speaks on emerging technologies at a variety of forums and organizations, including TED Global, PC Forum, the Internet Society, the Department of Defense, the BBC, the American Museum of the Moving Image, the Highlands Forum, the Economist Group, Storewidth, the World Technology Network, and several O'Reilly conferences on Peer-to-Peer, Open Source, and Emerging Technology.
Clay's writings are archived at www.shirky.com, and he currently runs the a mailing list for his writings on networks, economics, and culture.
Additional Speakers:
Magid Abraham, PhD
Before founding Paragren, Dr. Abraham was president and COO of Information Resources, Inc., a major international research company, which he led through a period of rapid growth in revenues, market share and profit. Throughout his IRI career, Dr. Abraham was a prolific innovator who designed a number of pioneering marketing applications that became standards of CPG marketing practice.
Dr. Abraham is a widely recognized expert on consumer modeling and decision support systems. He has authored several articles in the Harvard Business Review and Marketing Science. He has received the Paul Green award by the American Marketing Association (AMA) for the "best article that shows or demonstrates the most potential to contribute to the practice of marketing research and research in marketing," and the AMA's William F. O'Dell Award for an article "that has made the most significant long-term contribution to the marketing discipline." Dr. Abraham has given numerous speeches on marketing subjects in various industry conferences and forums.
Dr. Abraham received a Ph.D. in Operations Research and an M.B.A. from MIT. He also holds an Engineering degree from the Ecole Polytechnique, France's premier science and engineering school.
Tim Armstrong
Tim joined Google from Snowball.com as that company's vice president of Sales and Strategic Partnerships. Prior to his role at Snowball.com, Tim served as director of Integrated Sales & Marketing at Starwave's and Disney's ABC/ESPN Internet Ventures working across the companies Internet, TV, radio, and print properties. He started his career by co-founding and running a newspaper based in Boston, MA, before joining IDG to launch their first consumer Internet magazine, I-Way.
Tim has been named one of the top "100 People to Know" for global media by Media Magazine and was awarded a Media Maven Award by Advertising Age in 2004. He sits on the boards of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), KnowledgeStorm Inc., and the Ad Council. Tim is a graduate of Connecticut College with a double major in Economics and Sociology.
Dan Ballister
Jordan Bitterman
Andrew Blau
Blau was named SVP - TII in January 2008. He manages the finance and advertising operations for most of Time Inc.'s sites and plays a critical role in developing Time Inc.'s strategy for publishing content on the Web.
A 23-year Time Inc. veteran, Blau was named President of LIFE Magazine in June 2004 when he relaunched LIFE as a weekly newspaper supplement reaching 13 million households a week in more than 100 leading daily newspapers. Blau was given the LIFE brand to manage in December 2000 and has since published over 50 books with more than four reaching best-seller status. He is oversees the LIFE Picture Collection, which houses more than 22 million photographs and is considered one of the most important collections of contemporary imagery. The Picture Collection also includes the licensing, syndication and gallery businesses of LIFE.
LIFE was first published as a weekly in 1936. It ceased publication in 1972, but returned as a monthly in 1978, going briefly to weekly frequency during the first Gulf War before suspending publication in 2000. LIFE has periodically published a number of special issues as well as series of books under the LIFE imprint.
Previously, Blau was General Manager of TIME Magazine. His main responsibilities included management of TIME's financial, business development, administrative and technology operations.
Blau has held numerous positions at Time Inc. including TIME's Director of Operations where he led TIME's editorial operations, production and technology which included the shift to an entirely digital editorial and production process in 1998. He also oversaw the decentralization of TIME International's editorial and production staff to offices under local management in London, Hong Kong and Sydney. Blau started at TIME in 1985 as Assistant Business Manager. He has also served as Entertainment Weekly's Production Director, as TIME International?s Operations Director, and as Financial Manager for Fortune, Money and LIFE magazines.
He is on the executive board of the Arava Institute which brings together Arabs and Israelis to work on joint environmental projects in the Arava basin between Israel, Egypt and Jordan. He is also on the board of Hazon, an outdoor and environmental education organization. He served on the Greenway Conservancy for the Hudson River Valley, which is a state-appointed position.
A graduate of Rutgers University, Blau also holds an MBA from New York University. He lives in Piermont, New York with his wife and their two children.
Henry Blodget
From 1994-2001, Henry was an investment banker at Prudential Securities and an equity analyst at Oppenheimer & Co. and Merrill Lynch. As a Managing Director at Merrill, he ran the firm's global Internet research practice and was the top-ranked Internet analyst on Wall Street.
Blodget's first book, The Wall Street Self-Defense Manual: A Consumer's Guide to Intelligent Investing, was published in January 2007.
Brian Bos
Before joining Mindshare in 2005, Brian was a Manager of Emerging Technology at GM Mediaworks where he led ground breaking Emerging Media campaigns for Pontiac, Chevrolet and Cadillac, winning Digital Hollywood's award for the Best On Demand Advertising Technology & Programming Innovation for the 2004 launch of the Cadillac CRX.
An Emerging Technologies veteran, Brian has 11 years experience marketing automotive brands in Emerging Media and 15 years in interactive advertising. His vision of how to approach consumers via these channels is sought out by the press and advertising industry and he has been featured in articles in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, The Financial Times, Ad Age, Brandweek and Automotive News.
Bos holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Visual Communications from Kendall College of Art & Design in Grand Rapids, Michigan and a degree in Business Administration from Wayne State University in Detroit.
Sheila Buckley
Chadha is known for his innovative approach to marketing and has led numerous breakthrough campaigns in his career. Some highlights include the creation of Cuervo Nation, a fully integrated, multinational marketing campaign, as well as many branded entertainment, viral and digital campaigns for AXE, the leading men's grooming brand. The Degree Men deodorant's online webisode and digital series, The Rookie, featuring 24-themed content, and the Dove Go Fresh product launch with the MTV micro-series, Fresh Takes, featuring Alicia Keys, are a few recent successes. Chadha was recognized for his work in the industry with Ad Age's coveted "40 Under 40" Award in 2007.
He holds a B.A. in Economics from Manchester Metropolitan University, where he graduated summa cum laude. Chadha hails from London, England, and lives with his wife in Chicago, where is passionate about tequila, travel and music, often in that order.
Jeffrey Cole
Prior to joining USC, Dr. Cole was a longtime member of the UCLA faculty and served as Director of the UCLA Center for Communication Policy, based in the Anderson Graduate School of Management. At UCLA and now at USC Annenberg, Cole founded and directs the World Internet Project, a long-term longitudinal look at the effects of computer and Internet technology on all aspects of society, which is conducted in over 20 countries. At the announcement of the project in June 1999, Vice President Al Gore praised Cole as a "true visionary providing the public with information on how to understand the impact of media."
Cole was Principal Investigator of the Network Television Violence Monitoring Project which in 1995, 1996 and 1997 issued annual reports to the television networks, Congress and the nation. Upon the release of the 1996 report, Cole held a joint press conference with President Bill Clinton, who referred to the Center for Communication Policy as "the premier educational institution setting trends in entertainment." Nationwide there was unanimous praise for the quality of the reports and their contribution to the television violence debate.
Cole has testified before Congress on television issues and has spoken as a keynote and panel member at more than 200 conferences on communications issues. He has worked with both the Clinton and George W. Bush White House on media and telecommunications issues, including detailed briefings on the Center's work.
In 1994, 1995 and 1996 the Center co-authored with U.S. News & World Report national surveys examining attitudes and values of decision-makers in the entertainment industry. In 1994 the Center co-sponsored "The Superhighway Summit" in UCLA's Royce Hall with the leaders of most of the nation's major media companies. For the annual Family Reunion Conferences in Nashville, Tennessee, Cole has worked with Vice President Gore to produce films opening the 1995 through 2002 conferences. The annual films were screened before an audience of 1,400 including the Vice President and President Clinton.
Cole has lectured extensively in Asia, Africa, Europe, South America, Australia and throughout the U.S. He regularly consults with top government officials and leaders of the telecommunications industries throughout the world on communications issues. He currently is a member of the ITU (International Telecommunication Union) Forum Programme Committee. He was a member of the Executive Committee of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS) from 1997 to 2001 and was the founding governor of the ATAS Interactive Media Peer Group.
Over the past 31 years, Cole has taught to over 35,000 students. In 1987 he received UCLA's Distinguished Teaching Award.
Ms. Cook has 13 years of experience in digital advertising sales. She joined MSLO from IAC Partner Marketing, where she served as Vice President, Sales, managing a 52-person team and bearing responsibility for sales marketing and national advertising revenue across such IAC sites as CitySearch, Evite.com, Expedia, Match.com and Ticketmaster.
Previously, Ms. Cook served as Director, Consumer Advertising at the Financial Times. Prior to that, she spent five years at The New York Times Digital in various sales executive roles, culminating in her position as Vice President, International and founder of nytimes.com's first international sales office in London.
A graduate of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Ms. Cook lives with her husband in New York City.
Jacqueline Corbelli
At BrightLine, Ms. Corbelli brings her insight and extensive expertise in heightening market performance, effecting transformational change, and accelerating the achievement of aggressive strategies to the burgeoning iTV advertising space. Ms. Corbelli's principal focus is on equipping top U.S. marketers to transform consumers' television viewing experience with brands and products, and achieve exceptional results from pursuing iTV advertising that deepen relationships and dramatically raise the 'bar' on advertising effectiveness.
BrightLine iTV Marketing Specialists(TM) creates and implements interactive TV ("iTV") advertising strategies that engage target consumers in a two-way dialogue with clients' brands. The company is recognized as the market leader in transforming TV advertising into an interactive experience for television viewers. BrightLine's groundbreaking work in iTV has been cited for two consecutive years by the National Academy of Television Arts and Science, generating 3 Emmy nominations and one award. BrightLine was also named Admaker to Watch in 2007 by the Wall Street Journal, and Jacqueline Corbelli, was named by AlwaysOn Media to the "Madison Avenue 'It' List" in February 2008, recognizing individuals who have proven they understand how to translate new media into effective advertising vehicles for marketers.
Dave Couture
Dave works closely with a number of companies to apply his insights to their unique challenges, is a member of the CMO Council's Advisory Board, and is a frequent author and speaker on Marketing Effectiveness topics.
He first began writing about television in 2001, when he joined Cable World as a technology reporter and editor. Prior to that, Crupi was an editor at the first incarnation of Mediaweek.com.
Before beginning his media career in 1998 as the managing editor of the entertainment portal IndiePlanet.com, Crupi worked as a freelance writer for a number of new-media publications, including Business 2.0 and The Industry Standard. His introduction to publishing came during a stint as an associate editor of the literary quarterly Partisan Review, a position he held in the early 1990s.
Crupi graduated from Boston University with a degree in English before going on to attain a Master's degree from Boston College.
Chris Cunningham
He is a frequent speaker on widget and application marketing and has spoken at iMedia, OMMA, Graphing Social, Widget Expo, Digital Hollywood, ad:tech and Piper Jaffray and was a driving force behind the highly successful first annual Widget Con in 2007. His efforts in this area have garnered uniformly positive press coverage in the Washington Post, BusinessWeek, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. Chris is also writes a monthly column for MediaPost.
As a sales and new media entrepreneur, additional career highlights include: Global VP of Sales at Freewebs, VP of Sales at Bolt Media and Director of Sales for leading organizations including Digital Music Network and Music Vision where he pioneered the sales strategy for marketing online digital music platforms and built solid relationships with leading advertisers including Paramount, Verizon Wireless, Sony Pictures, Adidas, Proctor & Gamble and hundreds of other brands.
Chris graduated from the University of North Carolina Greensboro with a degree in Economics & Marketing.
Tim Davis
Davis currently leads Deloitte's Interactive Advertising practice and speaks regularly on the topic. He has led a number of panel events across the country on "Emerging Trends in Interactive Advertising" that involved executives from leading advertisers, interactive agencies, and online publishers.
Davis is a member of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and represents Deloitte on a number of critical IAB's task forces that are working to define click and audience measurement standards for the industry. Among his other credentials, Davis is a Certified Risk Professional, Certified Information Systems Auditor, and a Web Analytics Association Professional.
Prior to his current role and the acquisition of Rapt by Microsoft, James held various leadership positions in Rapt's Professional Services organization, including management of the Business Consulting and Engagement Management functions. Since joining Rapt in 2004 he has led software deployments and advisory services engagements at a number of Rapt clients, including iVillage, TACODA, MTV Networks, and About.com.
Before Rapt, James was a consultant at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where he worked on a range of strategy and operational advisory projects. James earned Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Engineering-Economic Systems and Operations Research from Stanford University. He also has Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Engineering Science from Auckland University in New Zealand.
Scott Donaton
Before being named publisher of Entertainment Weekly in November 2007, Donaton served as publisher at Advertising Age/Creativity, where he oversaw the business and editorial strategies and operations across all platforms - including print, online, digital, video and conferences. Prior to being named publisher in February 2007, Donaton was AdAge's associate publisher and editorial director, with a primary responsibility for such high-growth areas as events and conferences; digital new-product development; and global licensing. A veteran of the media industry for nearly two decades, Donaton also spent seven years as editor of Advertising Age, overseeing editorial strategy and day-to-day operations of the weekly Ad Age and its real-time online edition.
In 2006, Donaton was named one of the "21 Most Intriguing People in Media" by MIN Magazine, which noted in a profile that he "has the uncanny ability to anticipate the next thing." Donaton was inducted into the American Advertising Federation's Advertising Hall of Achievement recognizing the work of executives under 40, and now sits on the AAF board. He was the 2006 recipient of the American Business Media/Medill School of Journalism McAllister Fellowship.
Donaton was recently named to the 2008 Folio 40 list, the oldest, most comprehensive compilation of its kind. The Folio 40 selects individuals who best represent an increasingly multifaceted media landscape and the best of what the industry has to offer.
Donaton is the author of the non-fiction book "Madison & Vine: Why the Entertainment and Advertising Industries Must Converge to Survive," published by McGraw-Hill in 2004.
Andy Ellenthal
Ellenthal comes to quadrantONE from his a position as Senior Vice President at Visible World, where he played a key role in helping the company build its revenue streams, and increase sales. Prior to that, he served as a senior executive at PointRoll, where he dramatically increased the company?s sales and revenues, and retooled and redirected the company's sales management and operational structure. Ellenthal has been in the online advertising space for almost ten years and brings with him a potent combination of media sales, technological savvy, and creativity.
Andy is a top online sales management professional with close to 20 years of experience building and leading companies in the advertising sales space. He has held senior positions with Visible World, PointRoll, and Doubleclick. Before entering online advertising, Ellenthal worked in print media sales for niche technology and lifestyle publications. He is a graduate of Trinity University, San Antonio, and lives in Old Greenwich, CT, with his wife and four children.
Aaron Finn
Prior to AdReady Aaron launched ia Interactive Inc, a traditional online advertising agency and was also a consultant to technology and consumer businesses. Aaron was a founding executive of Classmates Online where he served as VP of Customer Acquisition and Business Reporting & Analytics. From 1999 through 2004 he had full responsibility for growing and managing Classmates' customer acquisition programs and online marketing budget that consistently ranked as one of the 10 largest in the world during his tenure. Aaron began his career in the commercial banking industry and holds a Bachelors Degree in Business from the University of Iowa.
Sean Finnegan
Prior to joining Vibrant, Sean Finnegan was the Chief Executive Officer of OMG Digital, a unit of Omnicom Media Group. As head of OMG Digital, Sean led its global management team and developed functional services in Digital Investment, Search, Mobile, Gaming, Futures, Analytics and Ad Operations.
Sean began his career in the early 1990s at BBDO New York, where he focused on Spot TV buying and Print planning. When the internet became commercial, Sean quickly shifted his focus to new media, working at such interactive agencies as Darwin Digital (Zenith), APL Digital and JWT Digital. Sean then departed the agency world for two years to become Director, Advertising Business Development at AllAdvantage.com. In 2001, Sean left for his native Chicago, where he became Media Director for TribalDDB. A year into his tenure at Tribal, Omnicom formed OMD (the combined media units of DDB, BBDO, TBWA Chiat Day and Rapp Collins) and Sean became Midwest Director of OMD Digital. Eventually Sean was promoted to lead OMD Digital nationally and relocated back to New York, a position he held for three years before forming OMG Digital.
Sean is committed to mentorship and as such, he has spoken at several conferences such as the iMedia Summit Series, Cannes Advertising Awards, the Goldman Sachs Internet Conference, the MSN Strategic Account Summit and the AAF National Conference. Sean was named an AAF Advertising Hall of Achievement inductee, an Advertising Age Media Maven, a Media All Star for Mediaweek Magazine, a MediaPost All Star, one of min magazine's 21 Most Intriguing People, an Inter-nationalist Magazine Agency Innovator, OnMedia's Madison Avenue "IT" List and an official Kentucky Colonel. Sean is involved in many online advertising industry groups and associations, such as the AAF, IAB, AAAAs Digital CEO Board, Google's Agency Advisory Council and the TiVo Advisory Council. Sean is also a proud co-founder and board member of the Tom Deierlein Foundation, an organization dedicated to helping needy families and children both nationally and internationally with their most basic living needs including medical care.
Russ Fradin
Matt Freeman
Matt's focus on outstanding work that drives outstanding results has helped fuel the organization's growth and expanded relations with multinational clients including PepsiCo, Johnson & Johnson and McDonal'’s. Matt's work has won every major industry award for creativity and effectiveness including Gold Lions at Cannes, Art Directors Club, New York Festivals, International ANDYs, Effies, and "Best of Show" at the One Show Interactive. He has served as a judge for the Cannes International Advertising Festival and the Art Directors Club and has also served as Interactive Chairman of the One Show, the International Andy Awards and the Clio Awards.
Matt has also been recognized by publications including Wall Street Journal, New York Times, CNN, CNBC, CBS MarketWatch, Forrester Research, AdAge, Adweek and Creativity. Matt is the founder and chairman of the IAB's Agency Board and is an active member of the AAAA's Interactive Committee. He was also recently inducted into the AAF's Hall of Achievement.
Prior to his life in advertising, Matt worked for MTV, wrote for several magazines and was a prep school English teacher. He has a B.A. in English and art history from Dartmouth College and attended the School of Visual Arts.
Matt lives in New Jersey with his wife Robin and sons Sawyer, Colby and Wes.
Barry Frey
Mr. Frey's unit utilizes Cablevision's advanced two-way fiber-rich network's ability to provide a robust interactive experience for both brands and consumers. Cablevision's cable service with the nation's highest digital penetration rate of over 83%, and having received an unprecedented four interactive Emmy Awards has long been recognized as an industry pioneer and leader in cable service innovation.
National advertisers who have owned their own interactive VOD channel positions via work with Mr. Frey and his team include Disney Vacations, American Express, Sony Electronics, Jet Blue, General Motors, Unilever (Bertolli, I Can't Belive Its Not Butter! and Slimfast), FX Network, Ford, Mars Brands (Dove Chocolate) and The U.S. Navy, to name a few.
Working with this roster of blue chip clients; Cablevision has developed unique and award-winning dedicated branded channels for advertisers that consistently engage, entertain, educate and motivate consumers. Cablevision also provides marketers with the opportunity to take advantage of tailored VOD formats within the company's proprietary and groundbreaking Optimum Autos and Optimum Homes platforms as well as the Cablevision's Optonline Web Portal. The company also offers a continually growing list of innovative communications tools and multi-Emmy Award-winning technologies.
Having previously served in senior sales and marketing positions with USA Networks, Crown Media and the National Basketball Association, Mr. Frey has successfully built, pioneered and overseen divisions connecting the advertising community with new and important media, entertainment and technology platforms on a domestic and international basis.
At Crown Media, as senior vice president overseeing global sales for the Hallmark Channel, Mr. Frey managed the division that created and sold television's first digital product placement agreements. Previously, as senior vice-president for the NBA, he oversaw the development of multi-million dollar, multi-platform advertiser partnerships with the nation's leading marketers. Earlier in his career he was responsible for leading the international sales, new business development and interactive efforts at USA Networks (USA Network and Sci-Fi Channel), and serving on both domestic and global channel and Internet launch teams.
Mr. Frey has served as a board member for the International Advertising Association and currently guides industry initiatives for Advanced Advertising within The Cable Advertising Bureau, CTAM On Demand and the cross MSO Consortium (which works closely with the AAAA in developing guidelines for VOD and ITV platforms). Mr. Frey often speaks on the future of media, advertising and television at conferences in the U.S. and in Europe.
Carrie Frolich
Tolman Geffs
Recent notable engagements include:
- Sale of M:Metrics to comScore;
- Sale of Undertone Networks to JMI Equity;
- Sale of KnowledgeStorm to TechTarget;
- Sale of Venture Direct to Plattform Holdings and Arlington Capital;
- Sale of Healia to Meredith Corporation;
- $50+ million investment in Gorilla Nation Media by Great Hill Partners; and
- Sale of Cymfony to TNS.
Previously, Tolman held a series of senior executive positions in magazine publishing. He began his career in the M&A department of Lehman Brothers, and also consulted for media companies with McKinsey & Company. Mr. Geffs earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in English as well as a BS in Engineering Physics from the University of California at Berkeley.
Interested parties may contact Tolman at tolmang@jegi.com or 212-754-0710.
Larry Gelfand
Prior to joining the NHL, Larry Gelfand was the Vice President of Digital Sales for VH1 at MTV Networks. Gelfand oversaw all aspects of VH1's Digital media sales business and developed the sales strategy, recruitment of the sales staff in implementation of organizational goals and initiatives. Gelfand reshaped the VH1 digital sales department to achieve the objectives of establishing the VH1.com presence in the online advertising marketplace resulting in doubling the ad revenue business in two years, when he was the recipient of the first President's Award of distinguished service.
Prior to joining MTV Networks, Gelfand served in a variety of key sales roles with ESPN. After establishing ESPN.com's ad sales relationships in New England with key league partners, Gelfand lead the digital effort for ESPN Customer Marketing's Team OMD.
Prior to joining ESPN. Gelfand served in a variety of sales leadership roles at AOL and The New York Times.
A New York native, Gelfand graduated SUNY Albany with a Bachelor of Arts degree.
Alec Gerster
Derek Handley
In 2000, Derek founded mobile strategy, media and execution company The Hyperfactory, with his brother Geoffrey Handley. Now based in Los Angeles, Derek is responsible for The Hyperfactory's global strategic growth and direction.
The company has grown exponentially since its inception and now has eight offices worldwide - an International Headquarters in Auckland, New Zealand, US Headquarters in New York, and sales and operations offices in Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Shanghai, Sydney, Hong Kong and Hyderabad. Clients include Toyota, Nike, Nintendo, Mastercard, Motorola, Vodafone and Coca-Cola. The Hyperfactory is the world's most awarded mobile agency.
In 2006 Derek was named one of the 40 Most Influential People in New Zealand Telecommunications 2006; in 2007 he was nominated as Bayer New Zealand and the National Business Review Top 60 Innovators 2007 and won the PwC Young Entrepreneur of the Year. He became New Zealand's youngest ever managing director of a listed company at the age of 22 when he led online racing and sports betting company Feverpitch to list on the New Zealand Stock Exchange.
Tom Hespos
An avid writer, Tom is well known as a weekly columnist for such publications as iMedia Connection, ClickZ and Mediapost. His writing has also appeared in DM News, Business 2.0, The Industry Standard and several other business publications. Tom also founded The Old Timers List, a private industry discussion list for experienced online marketing professionals.
Referred to by some as "a spiritual leader for online advertising," Tom has a rare combination of communications and technology experience that shaped his holistic approach to online media. His drive toward deep technological understanding of advertising technology (ad management systems, rich media, content management systems, etc.) have led him to bring technology consulting capabilities to every organization he has been with. A self-professed social media junkie, Tom can often be found offering up his latest views on Conversational Marketing, new media channels and the social web on his blog at Hespos.com and elsewhere in the blogosphere.
Tom holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from Washington & Lee University. He is a member of the One Hundred Club, the Five Hundred Club, The Old Timers and American Mensa. He lives in Holtsville, New York with his wife.
Mike Hess
Before joining OMD in 2004, Mike was Senior Vice President, Chief Research Officer, at TNS in Chicago and Cincinnati, where he ran the global in-store research business and worked in advanced analytics. Prior to this he focused on market mix modeling at PDI-Knowledge Networks and co-authored a book on the long-term effects of advertising, published by the American Association of Advertising Agencies. He ran the Midwest market testing practice for IRI from 1990-1996 and in 1985 opened the Chicago office for BASES, a new product forecasting firm. Mike has client side experience at Clorox, where he was Director of Marketing Research, and at Bristol-Myers, where he was a product manager. He taught executive seminars in market and advertising research at BASES, Clorox, and IRI.
Mike has held numerous industry leadership positions during his career and is currently Co-Chair of the Advertising Research Foundation's Media Effectiveness Council; Vice-Chair of the Committee for Research Excellence; and serves on the P.R.I.S.M in-store committee as well as on the Advertising Council. Mike often represents OMD at global and regional conferences and has spoken at over 90 events. He presented the results of the OMD/Yahoo! Family study at the first OMD Predicts conference in Dubai in 2007 as well an OMD study on in-store research at the ESOMAR conference in Budapest in 2008.
Mike lives in Wilton, Connecticut, with his wife and three children.
Benjamin W. Hill
Most recently, Benjamin led Motorola's global interactive and relationship marketing function. Reporting to the CMO, he had corporate responsibility for all aspects of online marketing and promotions, CRM, direct marketing, partner extranets, and the development, promotion and operations of global websites. He recently left Motorola to form his own interactive marketing consultancy.
Prior to Motorola, Benjamin was a Managing Director with internet and technology consultancy Sapient, specializing in growth strategy development and mobile solutions within the company's Technology & Communications group. He was also a leader of the company's Mobile Solutions practice, which focused on the research, business development, and strategic growth of mobile technologies and solutions.
Prior to joining Sapient, Benjamin was a Senior Manager with Ernst & Young. In addition to managing the completion of various strategic studies and recommendation development for senior executives of Fortune 100 companies, he helped build Ernst & Young's strategy practice and telecommunication practice. Benjamin also co-authored Ernst & Young's CEO Leadership Connection Study, a global study of 90-plus global telecommunications industry.
Benjamin started his career in information technology, working for multiple Fortune 500 companies, including IBM, Xerox, Mobil Oil Corporation, and Reader's Digest, before attending graduate school.
Benjamin obtained his Master of Business Management degree from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University, where he concentrated in Finance, Marketing and Strategy. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Information Systems from the Rochester Institute of Technology. Benjamin is an accomplished speaker and presenter who is a former member of the Ad:Tech Advisory board and a member of the American Marketing Association and Direct Marketing Association. When not advising his clients or working on his golf swing, he is at home in Oak Park IL with his wife, 5 year old triplets, and a 3 year old.
Nick Johnson
Prior to joining NBC Universal, Johnson was Vice President of National Sales at Reuters beginning in 2006. While there, he was responsible for the National Sales team in both the online and digital outdoor areas. Before that, Johnson spent two years as the Chief Revenue Officer of Revenue Science, responsible for publisher and agency sales as well as driving behavioral targeting.
Additionally, he held various management roles at Lycos, Turner Interactive Sales and CNNSI.com. He began his sales career in 1990 at Levine Huntley Schmidt and Beaver and then with Grey Advertising in Tokyo and New York.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania and resides in Madison, NJ with his wife and three children.
David Katz
Prior to his current role, David served as Yahoo!'s vice president of corporate strategy and head of strategy for Yahoo! Mobile. He worked with the company's executive team on top strategic priorities including product planning and direction, significant corporate partnerships, cross-functional initiatives and M&A, including the acquisition of Right Media, the largest Internet Advertising Exchange. David was also charged with advising on top strategic priorities for Yahoo! Mobile, including Yahoo!'s industry leading mobile advertising partnership with Vodafone UK.
Before joining Yahoo!, David was a consultant with McKinsey & Company's West Coast Technology, Telecom and Media (TTM) practice with clients in the software, interactive TV and wireless industries. David also served as a strategic technology analyst for AirTouch Wireless (now Verizon Wireless/Vodafone Ltd.) where he was responsible for identifying emerging wireless technologies, defining market opportunities and evaluating corporate investments.
David has also been active in political and public affairs and has held senior positions in several US Presidential campaigns, the US Department of Commerce and the G-8 Summit organizing committee.
David holds a Bachelor of Arts degree and an M.B.A from the University of California, Berkeley.
Jim Kelly
David Kenny
In his 11 years as CEO of Digitas, David led the digital agency through a decade of evolution and growth to an industry-leading position in digital and direct marketing services. Digitas is helping the world's biggest brands develop, engage and profit from building profitable relationships with their customers by pairing media, marketing, technology, creativity, imagination and analytics to ignite emotional bonds between people and brands. Digitas also operates an independent healthcare marketing brand, Digitas Health, as well as Prodigious Worldwide, the world's only standalone, global digital productions company.
Previously David was a partner, eventually senior partner, of the global strategy consulting firm Bain & Company from 1991 to 1997. He was named to its Policy Committee in 1995 at the age of 33. Prior to his consulting career, David held marketing and strategy positions with General Motors Corporation.
David holds a B.S. from the General Motors Institute (Kettering University) and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. He sits on the boards of directors of Akamai Technologies, Inc., the Ad Council, The Corporate Executive Board and Teach For America.
Andrew Q. Kraft
Kraft attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Michael Lampert
Michael's 15-year career includes experience with some of the largest clients and agency networks in the US. In his senior media and account management positions, his work has covered all aspects of digital and marketing strategy, program development, business intelligence and analytics, and acquisition/retention for both direct response and branding clients. His ongoing focus has been in developing campaigns that deliver results against established business goals within a predictive and technology based environment.
Before OMD, he was at sister agency Prometheus as Group Director of Strategy, Digital, on the Bank of America account. There, he oversaw digital strategy, cross channel integration, and partner agency relations with a team of more than 15 people.
Prior to relocating to New York City from Boston (always challenging for a diehard Red Sox fan!), Michael worked at MPG/Media Contacts as Account Director where he managed all online brand and acquisition campaigns for Vonage. During this time, Vonage was the top VoIP provider in the U.S., and consistently one of the top three online advertisers in the country. It reached its goal of 1,000,000 subscribers a quarter ahead of plan, and was named Brandweek Magazine's 2005 Marketer of the Year.
His other positions include time at Universal McCann on the Johnson & Johnson team, IPG's Marketing Drive Worldwide on the U.S. Environmental Protective Agency/Energy Star account, Omnicom's i2I Communications and the BellSouth Residential and Small Business DSL business. Michael also managed acquisition and brand campaigns for the MSN Internet Access narrowband service and DSL product launch at Grey Direct West/Seattle.
Michael is a graduate of The George Washington University School of Business and Public Management in Washington D.C., and holds a B.B.A. in consumer marketing. He and his wife Suzanne reside in Manhattan.
David Lang
As President of MindShare Entertainment in North America, Lang oversees all creative development & production, strategic marketing and deal making in the entertainment marketing arena. He also sits on MindShare's North American Management Board.
Lang joined Mindshare Entertainment in March of 2005 and quickly earned notoriety for his creativity and ability to execute complex projects. In his first year, he closed three major deals starting with Dove's groundbreaking "webisodes" starring Felicity Huffman and directed by Penny Marshall. The second was a prime time television special that was the centerpiece of a brand launch for Axe, and the third was a 10-episode, multi-platform television series for American Express entitled, Trip of a Lifetime.
The next year, MSE produced 10 projects, including an innovative partnership between Fox's Emmy-award winning show, "24" and Degree, where he helped create a new character that lived in the CTU world called, "The Rookie." For this project, Lang and his team created and produced 2 short films and 7 national commercials, while orchestrating and overseeing the multi-platform marketing campaign.
Lang's most successful creation to date came when he brokered an unprecedented marketing partnership between Unilever and Sprint as he executive produced "In the Motherhood" - an online comedy series starring Jenny McCarthy, Leah Remini and Chelsea Handler. For this project, Lang took consumer generated interactivity to a new level by combining consumers stories with professional screenwriters and top name talent. By crafting a 360 marketing campaign that included distribution on all three screens - the first two seasons of "In the Motherhood" has over 20 million video views.
As a content strategist, Lang thrives on developing branded concepts that are compelling, executable and economical, while having the ability to achieve a brand's goals and objectives across many different channels. As an experienced television executive producer, Lang comes to the table with the understanding of the entire creative process and first hand relationships with other writers, producers and directors. His experience as a marketer has allowed him to strategically develop and sell cross-promotional campaigns to advertisers, increasing brand awareness and market share.
Before joining MindShare Entertainment, Lang was Senior Vice President of Development and Production at Lorne Michaels' Broadway Video, where he oversaw his group's development of shows and the production process as show runner/executive producer.
Cree Lawson
Mr. Lawson began his online publishing career in 1995 when he posted the entirety of The Belmont Vision, his college newspaper, online. The only thing missing from the college paper - one of the first to be published online - was online advertising. Mr. Lawson has spent the past 11 years making up for his omission. After completing Belmont's Honors and having a scholarship established in his name, Mr. Lawson wrote for the Nashville Banner, where he eventually published a weekly internet column and won national recognition for investigative journalism. Mr. Lawson moved to New York on a master's scholarship to NYU in 1997. While completing his studies, he worked at Random House, Foder's Travel Guides, the Associated Press, Time Warner and two failed e-publishing start-ups. Mr. Lawson joined the travel guide publisher Rough Guides Inc. in September 2001. Travel Ad Network was born out of his experience selling joint campaigns across Roughguides.com and then sister site Igougo.com.
Prior to joining Cox, Leon was executive vice president at The Arizona Republic where his focus was to develop strategies and business plans that aggregated audience across multiple online and print products. This included young readers, Hispanics, and convergence with a company-owned television station.
Leon joined The Arizona Republic as VP/Circulation in 1996. Prior to joining The Arizona Republic, Leon was vice president of circulation marketing for the Newspaper Association of America (NAA) where his responsibilities included developing programs to better understand readership trends, repositioning the role of circulation as a marketing function, and to add a more business-like approach to subscriber acquisition and retention.
Prior to NAA Leon worked at newspapers in Wilmington, North Carolina and Gadsden Alabama.
Leon began his newspaper career at the Las Vegas Review-Journal after graduating from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 1979 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication Studies, and an emphasis in journalism. In 1978 he was editor of the Yell, the campus student newspaper.
While in Arizona Leon served on the board of one of college football's premier bowl games, the Fiesta Bowl, and in 2001 was the organization's chairman.
Leon's wife's name is Libby, and he has two adult children, Elizabeth and Stephen.
Michael Linton
Before coming to eBay, Mike was executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Best Buy, North America's top specialty retailer of consumer electronics, personal computers, entertainment software and major appliances. At Best Buy, Mike was responsible for marketing, brand management, research, customer care, consumer relations, promotions, advertising, public relations, communications and government and investor relations.
Advertising Age named Mike one of the top 30 "Power Players" in marketing in 2003, 2004 and 2005, and Promo magazine named him one of its Marketers of the Year in 2004. He is also one of the charter members of the Marketing 50.
Linton's experience spans more than 25 years. His career began at Procter & Gamble in brand management, and then he moved on to become general manager for Progressive Insurance. Following his role at Progressive, he served as the vice president and general manager of a product category at James River Corporation and then worked for Remington Products Corporation as vice president of marketing.
Linton serves on the board of directors for Peet's Coffee and Tea Company and the Allen Edmonds Shoe Company. A native of Ohio, he earned his bachelor's degree from Bowling Green State University and his master's from Duke University. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and two children
Dave Madden
A media industry veteran, Madden has over a dozen years of global experience in Print, Cable, Broadcast and Interactive. Prior to joining WildTangent, he was the executive vice president of Sales and Marketing for News Digital Media, the Internet Division of News Corporation and before that, the Associate Publisher of Runner's World magazine. At News Digital, Madden ran the sales and marketing for the digital properties of Fox Sports, Fox News and Fox Entertainment and was tasked with cross-media integration around properties like the World Series and Super Bowl. At Runner's World, a Rodale magazine, Dave oversaw sales and marketing of the dominant title for the US and overseas editions. Under his guidance, Runner's World was a top 10 consumer title for advertising sales growth.
Dave currently chairs the Internet Advertising Bureau's Interactive Games Committee.
Om Malik
Maria Mandel
Prior to joining Ogilvy, Maria was VP - Director of Interactive Services at Draft where she oversaw clients such as Verizon/Verizon Wireless, Unilever, Jose Cuervo International and Johnson & Johnson. She joined Draft after they acquired the interactive group from Lowe Worldwide. At Lowe, Maria was a VP-Account Director and led interactive advertising initiatives for Unilever, Lego, RCN, DirectHit.com, and RCA.
Her client-side experience includes brand management at Kraft where she worked on several brands under the Maxwell House portfolio. Previous to her experience at Kraft, she was also the Founder and President of Market-Strat, a Philadelphia based advertising agency, with clients that included AT&T, Dow Jones & Company, Kellogg's USA, and Citibank.
Maria is on the board of the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) and co-chairs their Marketing Strategy and Best Practices committee. She is also on the AAAA's Advanced Television committee as well as numerous industry organizations and advisory boards. She has received over twenty-five industry awards including three Echo awards and seven Caples. Maria is an adjunct professor of marketing at NYU's Stern Business School where she teaches a course in integrated marketing communications. She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton Business School.
Sue McCarthy
Jason McKay