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2004 DIGITAL
ENTERTAINMENT CONFERENCE & AWARDS
JURORS
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Keith Boesky
Head of New Media & Videogames, International Creative Management (ICM)
In November of 2002, Keith Boesky formed the
videogames department within International Creative Management. The
department translates games to film, brings film and television talent to
games and assists studios in maximizing the value of their intellectual
property. From 1998 to 2002, Mr. Boesky was the principal of Boesky and
Company. Clients included Universal Studios, Paramount Studios, Squaresoft
and The Upper Deck Company, Apple Computer, Thomas Weisel Partners, LLC
and Pacific Century Cyberworks. In 1996, Mr. Boesky joined Eidos as
President. While at Eidos Mr. Boesky expanded Eidos properties, including
Tomb Raider and 'Lara Croft' into film, toys and publishing and acquired
new properties, such as Final Fantasy VII PC and Fear Effect. From 1992 to
1996 Mr. Boesky was an attorney with Cooley Godward.
Vince Broady
SVP, Consumer Media, CNET Networks,
Co-Founder, GameSpot
Vince Broady, Senior Vice President of
Consumer Media for CNET Networks, manages two major media properties for
the company: GameSpot, the Web's leading online gaming site (which he also
co-founded), and mySimon, the award-winning comparative shopping site.
Prior to his current role at CNET, Broady
served as Vice President, Product Development at ZDNet, where he managed
the company's overall strategic development efforts, and as General
Manager, ZDNet Consumer where he developed online destinations for
magazines including Yahoo! Internet Life and FamilyPC. He also wrote a
regular column for Anchordesk, ZDNet's popular email newsletter.
Before beginning work on GameSpot in
1995, Broady had worked for several years at IDG's Multimedia World
magazine, where he held the title of Executive Editor, with a focus on
leading-edge multimedia technologies, software, and systems. Broady
graduated from Brown University in 1990 with a degree in Religious
Studies. A Texas native, he now lives in San Francisco with his wife and
son.
Ted Cohen
SVP, D3 - Digital Development & Distribution,
EMI Music
As SVP Digital Development &
Distribution for EMI Music, Ted Cohen oversees worldwide digital business
development for this “big five” record company, which includes labels such
as Capitol, Virgin, Angel/Blue Note, Parlophone and Chrysalis. Under
Cohen’s guidance, EMI has led the industry with its initiatives in new
technologies and business models, such as digital downloads, online music
subscriptions, custom compilations, wireless services, high-definition
audio and Internet radio.
In addition to seeking out, evaluating and
executing business opportunities for the company, Cohen serves as both a
strategist and key decision-maker for EMI’s global digital ventures.
Marc Geiger
SVP &
Agent, Contemporary Music Department, William Morris Agency
Geiger is the consummate music
industry insider, having worn the hats over the years of concert promoter,
talent agent, record executive and Internet pioneer. Geiger co-founded
ArtistDirect in 1996 and served as the publicly-traded music entertainment
company’s Chief Executive Officer until 2001, when he became Vice
Chairman, a position he held until he left the company on June 1. At
ArtistDirect, Geiger signed over 130 top artists and groups to e-commerce
deals.
Geiger, who attended U.C. San
Diego, began his career in Los Angeles as a talent agent at Regency
Artists (which later, through a merger, became Triad Artists), where he
launched the agency’s Alternative Division, representing such bands as The
Pixies, Dead Can Dance, New Order, Jane’s Addiction and 60 other cutting
edge artists. At Triad, Geiger was instrumental in the formation of the
now legendary alternative music festival, LOLLAPALOOZA.
Just prior to WMA’s
acquisition of Triad in 1992, Geiger joined Rick Rubin’s American
Recordings, where he was Executive Vice President of marketing and A&R.
During his time there Geiger signed 14 artists, bought online music search
engine UBL.com and began his foray into online music.
David B. Goldberg
Vice President & General Manager, Music,
Yahoo! Inc.
David B. Goldberg serves as the Vice
President and General Manager of Music at Yahoo! Inc., since the
acquisition of LAUNCH Media, Inc. by Yahoo! in August 2001. Before the
acquisition, Mr. Goldberg was Co-founder and CEO of LAUNCH Media, Inc. In
his new position, Mr. Goldberg is responsible for the growth and continued
development of LAUNCH, the music destination on Yahoo! as a compelling,
global music destination for consumers, marketers and record labels.
Since its inception in 1994, Mr. Goldberg
spearheaded LAUNCH’s vision to help music fans connect with their favorite
artists and discover new music through a variety of interactive mediums.
Under his leadership, LAUNCH developed into one of the leading
entertainment brands and LAUNCH.com became one of the web’s premier music
sites.
Prior to founding LAUNCH, Mr. Goldberg was
Director of Marketing Strategy and New Business Development at Capitol
Records in Los Angeles, California. While in this position, Mr. Goldberg
was responsible for the development of new multimedia distribution methods
and the development of alternative channels through which music and new
artists could be effectively marketed to consumers.
Before Capitol, Mr. Goldberg worked as a
management consultant at Bain & Co., a prominent strategic consulting
firm. Mr. Goldberg graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with
a B.A. in History and Government.
Mr. Goldberg currently serves on the board of
directors for LivePlanet and is a member of N.A.R.A.S (National Academy of
Recording Arts & Sciences) and the Digital Coast Roundtable.
Jim Griffin
CEO,
Cherry Lane Digital
Jim Griffin is CEO of Cherry Lane Digital.
Cherry Lane is dedicated to the future of music and entertainment
delivery, and works as a consultant to absorb uncertainty about the
digital delivery of art.
In addition to serving as an agent for
constructive change in media and technology, he is an author, serving as a
columnist for magazines, and is on the boards of companies and
associations. Before starting Cherry Lane Digital, he started and ran for
five years the technology department at Geffen Records. Prior to Geffen he
was an International Representative for The Newspaper Guild in Washington,
D.C.
While at Geffen, Jim led a team that in June
of 1994 distributed the first full-length commercial song on-line, by
Aerosmith. Geffen was the first entertainment company to install a web
server, and Geffen World was one of the first corporate intranet sites.
Geffen was named by Network World in 1996 as one of the world's top 25
technology companies, and one of only seven in the United States.
Jim is co-founder of the Pho group. Named
after a bowl of Vietnamese soup, Pho is an organization that meets for
discussion-oriented meals in cities around the world, electronically
linked by the Pho mailing list. Pho's many thousands of readers enjoy
dialogue on the digital delivery of art and the new economy in music,
movies, books and all media.
Jim testified in July 2000 before the Senate
Judiciary Committee at its oversight hearing on file sharing and music
licensing. He regularly moderates video and television shows on digital
entertainment. He is often a keynote speaker or moderator at conferences
(Internet Summit, Giga Conference, Comdex, CES, Webnoize, and many others)
and lectures annually at business schools (Harvard, USC, UCLA, Berkeley).
He also serves as an expert witness in digital entertainment, and has
presented many Continuing Legal Education courses.
In
addition to work with music, his expertise includes wireless work in
Europe, including at Nokia's Research Center in Helsinki, Finland, and
with numerous companies in Finland and throughout Europe. He's moderated
numerous panels on wireless and given speeches on wireless issues around
the world, ranging from music conferences to parliament meetings in
Europe. He is a regular speaker at entertainment industry events and
corporate and association meetings.
John Kilcullen
President & Publisher,
Billboard Information Group
John joined VNU in March, 2003 and is
responsible for its music, radio and literary publishing properties
including Billboard, Airplay Monitor, Bookseller and Kirkus Reviews.
John Kilcullen graduated magna
cum laude with a B.A. in Communications from Fordham College in New York.
Before joining IDG Books Worldwide, he spent nine years in various sales
and marketing management positions at publishing industry leaders
Prentice-Hall, the Bantam/Doubleday/Dell Publishing Group and computer
book publisher Que. Mr. Kilcullen has been profiled in the Investor's
Business Daily, The New York Times, People Magazine, and USA Today and has
been seen in CNBC, CNN, and CNNfn. Most recently, John was named one
of Irish American's Business 100 of 2003.
In 1987, over dinner with a friend, John was
kicking around some new ideas for computer books. He kept coming
back to a remark made by a customer in a Software Etc. store who requested
a book in the DOS operating system. The customer said that he needed a
simple, basic book because he didn't know anything about computers.
"Something," he suggested, "like DOS for dummies." The rest,
as they say, is history with more than 100 million Dummies® books in print
and of 750 different For Dummies titles on technology and general
reference topics.
By 1998, IDG Books had grown to sales of $200
million and Kilcullen took the venture public in a successful IPO.
Kilcullen used IPO proceeds to later acquire the company which published
Cliff Notes, Macmillan General Reference, and Hungry Minds, an internet
start-up which billed itself as a one-stop online learning marketplace for
adults, students and companies. Hungry Minds offered courses on a variety
of academic subjects, as well as for those simply looking for new skills
or certification. Kilcullen later rebranded IDG Books into Hungry
Minds Inc.
Hungry Minds Inc. was acquired in 2001 by
educational publisher John Wiley & Sons Inc. in a deal valued at $182.5
million, including assumed debt.
Kilcullen is a frequent lecturer on corporate
entrepreneurship at Babson College's School for Executive Education and on
publishing at the Stanford Professional Publishing Course. He is
also a board member of Kindermusik International.
Kilcullen resides in New York City with
his wife, Jessica, and is father to two sons: Sean and new arrival, Conor.
Don Levy
SVP, Marketing &
Communications, Sony Pictures Digital
Don Levy
is senior vice president of marketing and communications for Sony Pictures
Digital which oversees the digital production and online assets of Sony
Pictures Entertainment (SPE) and consists of four key operating business
units: Sony Pictures Animation, Sony Pictures Imageworks, Sony Online
Entertainment and Sony Pictures Digital Networks which includes SoapCity,
Screenblast, Sony Pictures mobile and wireless services, the studio's
online promotional arm SPiN, and the UK interactive television service
GoPlayTV.
By making
information and entertainment available anywhere, anytime on any connected
device, Sony Pictures Digital is exploring new technology that links
hardware with software in ways that advance the current boundaries of the
entertainment landscape. He is responsible for Sony Pictures Digital’s
corporate communications, media and public relations for the division’s
operating businesses, and coordination of marketing strategy between its
business units.
Levy, a
seven-year veteran of Sony Pictures Entertainment, came to Sony Picture
Digital from Sony Pictures Digital Studios Division, where he served in a
similar capacity in support of the studio’s technology driven businesses.
He joined Sony Pictures in 1995 as the studio’s Awards campaign consultant
working on the Oscar-winning campaign for "Sense and Sensibility," and, in
1996, became Executive Director of Advertising, Publicity and Promotion
for Sony Pictures award-winning visual effects and digital character
animation company, Imageworks.
During his
tenure with Imageworks, Mr. Levy oversaw the publicity efforts for
the visual effects and character animation facility, which included
five Academy Award campaigns for "Starship Troopers, " Hollow Man," Stuart
Little," "Spider-Man" and "The ChubbChubbs." This past year,
Imageworks received its first Academy Award for "The ChubbChubbs", in the
category of Best Animated Short Film. Prior to joining SPE, Levy
held a six-year post at Paramount Pictures, where he was in
charge of production publicity for that studio’s motion picture group.
Freelance credits as a production publicist include numerous films in
which visual effects played a significant role, including “The Lost
World: Jurassic Park,” “The Flintstones,” “Star Trek: The Next
Generation,” “The Witches of Eastwick,” “2010,” “Brainstorm,”
“Poltergeist” and "Coming Home." Levy is a member of the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and received the Publicists
Guild of America’s highest honor, The Les Mason Award.
Al
Lieberman
Executive Director, EMT Program, NYU Stern School of Business
Al
Lieberman is the Clinical Associate Professor of Marketing
Entrepreneurship and Innovation and the Executive Director of the
Entertainment Media and Technology Program at New York University’s Stern
School of Business. In his current position, Professor Lieberman teaches
several courses including in The Marketing of Entertainment Industries.
Global Impact of Entertainment, The Business of Producing, Sports
Marketing, and a Los Angeles based course called The Craft & Commerce of
Cinema.
Professor
Lieberman has been with NYU Stern for more than six years. His primary
research areas of interest include film festivals and entertainment
globalization.
Before
joining NYU Stern, Professor Lieberman served as the executive vice
president of Young and Rubicam Direct Response Division and managed the
advertising accounts of Fortune 500 companies. He then joined Simon and
Schuster as World-Wide Director of Marketing and became Executive Vice
President of the company’s Silhouette Books division. Professor Lieberman
was also the founder and CEO of Grey Entertainment, an advertising and
marketing company whose client roster included Warner Brothers Studios,
ABC Entertainment, News American Corp., Harper Collins Publishers and a
variety of theater and arts companies.
Professor
Lieberman received his Bachelor of Science in labor relations from Cornell
University and his master’s degree in marketing from NYU Stern.
Rick
Mandler
VP & General Manager, Walt Disney Internet Group & ABC Enhanced TV
Rick Mandler is responsible for all business
development, production, technical, and integrated sales for Enhanced TV
fare produced for all Disney-owned broadcast and cable network
programming. WDIG & ABC’s Enhanced TV programming is delivered via an
Internet-connected computer and is controlled by the user while watching
the show simultaneously on television. It is neither a television
experience nor an Internet computer experience, but truly both at the same
time -- the first step towards in-home convergence programming. Prior to
assuming his current position in March of 2001, Mandler had been vice
president of WDIG Local and Broadcasting. In that position, he was
responsible for developing and managing the Internet efforts of the ABC
Broadcasting properties, including ABC-owned television and radio stations
across the country, ABC Radio Networks, and the localization of WDIG’s
Internet businesses. Earlier, Mandler was vice president, new media for
ABC Broadcasting after serving as general manager, new media for ABC Radio
Networks, where he had operational and strategic responsibility for the
ABC Radio division's Internet efforts. Mandler joined Capital Cities/ABC,
Inc. (now ABC, Inc.) in 1992 as a general attorney. He was named director
of business affairs for ABC News in 1994, where he was responsible for
negotiating talent and business agreements. Prior to coming to ABC,
Mandler was an associate at the New York law firm of Patterson, Belknap,
Webb and Tyler from 1989 to 1992, and a law clerk for the Honorable
Leonard I. Garth, United States Circuit Judge for the Third Circuit Court
of Appeals, from 1987 to 1989. Mandler is a graduate of Wesleyan
University and New York University Law School.
Ben Mendelson
President,
Interactive Television Alliance
Ben Mendelson is the founder and president of
the Interactive Television Alliance, an independent trade association
representing the broad interests of the entire iTV industry. He is also
the co-founder and sr. partner in 2degree Partners, a management
consultancy involved in iTV, Direct Response TV, and integrated online
services. Ben has been an innovator in developing interactive Òt-commerceÓ
applications and has been involved in New Media technology from its
earliest days.
In January 1994, he started one of the first
commercial Internet companies, where his clients included Sony Pictures,
HBO, House of Blues, Philips Media, and Graham Nash. In 1996, Ben created
the Internet Services Division for Curtco Freedom Publishing. In 1999, he
developed the Internet division for Williams Direct, a full service Direct
Response TV (DRTV) advertising agency. Later that year, Ben was hired to
head the Internet program for the Electronic Retailing Association, the
primary trade organization for the DRTV industry. Most recently, Ben was
VP of Business Development for the Winterberry Group.
Prior to his Internet experience (from
1982 - 1991), Ben was the owner and director of LAPA (L.A. Art
Photographers Association), an art gallery and resource center for
commercial and fine art photography. In 1992, he founded PhotoSource, a
showcase, service bureau, and training center for digital imaging. He has
taught at the American Film Institute( AFI), UCLA Extension, and the So.
CA Institute of Architecture (SCIArch). Ben writes a regular column for
Response Magazine and has been published in numerous magazines and trade
journals. He is on the advisory board of the American Film Institute
Enhanced TV Program and is a familiar speaker at many iTV, Internet, and
Direct Marketing conferences.
Julia Miller
Director, Xbox Live, Microsoft
As director of Xbox Live,
Julia Miller is responsible for the worldwide marketing and sales programs
for Xbox Live, the world's first broadband only online gaming arena.
Miller's two-and-a-half-year experience with Xbox Live has been packed
with excitement. Utilizing her more than fifteen years of consumer sales
and marketing background, including extensive experience with SegaNet, the
first online console gaming service, Miller has been influential in the
branding and successful launch of Xbox Live. Prior to joining Microsoft,
Miller spent five years with Pepsi Co., leading strategic initiatives and
major branding campaigns for Pepsi and Pizza Hut. She also led the initial
launch strategy of the POS technology in the grocery store environment for
Citicorp, providing flexible payments and efficient marketing tactics such
as the Safeway- Preferred Card.
Ned Sherman
Co-Founder & CEO, Digital Media Wire, Inc.
Ned Sherman is Co-Founder and CEO of Digital
Media Wire, Inc. Under his leadership, Digital Media Wire has three
revenue channels and communicates daily with 30,000+ executives and
professionals at entertainment, media and technology companies throughout
the world.
Ned is a frequent speaker at media and
entertainment industry events. He has been quoted in publications
including American Lawyer and Crain's Mermigas on Media, and
interviewed on National Public Radio (NPR), the NY1 Evening News
and nationally syndicated radio show, Online Tonight with David
Lawrence. He also writes for and is editor of Digital Media Law &
Policy Report.
Before joining Digital Media Wire, Ned was a
corporate and entertainment attorney with an international client base
across industries including high technology, Internet, media and
entertainment. While practicing at Loeb & Loeb LLP in Los Angeles,
he represented media, entertainment and Internet clients including
Universal Studios, actor George Hamilton, Internet Studios, and MGM.
In 2001, he was an Adjunct Lecturer of Law at
Tulane University Law School where he taught an entertainment law seminar.
From 1997 to 1999, he was a lawyer in the Los Angeles office of Mayer,
Brown & Platt. From 1995 to 1997, he was a foreign lawyer at Nishimura &
Partners in Tokyo, Japan. Ned is a graduate of Brown University (AB, with
honors, 1990) and the University of Texas School of Law (JD, 1994) where
he was Chief Articles & Notes Editor of the Texas International Law
Journal.
He sits on
the Board of Directors of International Education Foundation, a non-profit
which provides scholarships for abroad to college students with financial
need and demonstrated talent in the arts, and Wild Way, a non-profit
dedicated to cultivating environmental awareness and developing
educational programs for inner-city and “at risk” kids. Mr. Sherman
is married and lives in Hollywood Hills, California.
Mika Salmi
Founder & CEO, AtomFilms/Shockwave (AtomShockwave Corp.)
Mika founded AtomFilms in 1998 with the
vision that the creation and distribution of entertainment was rapidly
changing due to the rise of new digital technologies. After establishing
itself as a leading next-generation entertainment company, AtomFilms
merged with Shockwave.com in early 2001 to form AtomShockwave Corp. Today,
the company's consumer services (Shockwave.com, GameBlast, and AtomFilms)
attract over 20 million unique users per month, comprising one of the
largest entertainment audiences on the Internet. Prior to AtomShockwave,
Mika led business development for the media and entertainment industries
at RealNetworks. He also spent seven years in the music industry working
for TVT Records, Sony Music and EMI Music, discovering bands such as Nine
Inch Nails and Presidents of the United States of America. Mika was born
in Finland and he graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of
Wisconsin and earned his MBA from INSEAD in Fountainebleau, France.
Howie Singer, PhD
Vice President
of Technology, Warner Music Group
As the Vice President of Technology for
Warner Music, he leads the recently created Digital Technology Group,
which supports technical aspects of WMG's on-line music and new media
initiatives. In addition, he oversees systems, networks, and other
infrastructure related technology for WMG's global information technology
team. Singer joined WMG from Rightscom, Limited, where he served as a
senior consultant, providing business strategy and technical expertise to
major media companies, technology providers, and other enterprises working
with e-commerce and digital rights management. Prior to his work at
Rightscom, Limited, from 1999 to 2001, he served as senior vice president,
marketing and product strategy at Reciprocal, where he was involved in the
implementation of services for secure digital distribution of media.
During his tenure at Reciprocal, the company served more than 100 clients
and processed millions of transactions for the sale and distribution of
protected content. In 1997, he co-founded a2b music and held the position
of CTO, where he led the development of a secure digital distribution
service for the music industry. Before a2b music, Singer spent 20 years at
AT&T, where he held technical and business positions on product
development teams responsible for the production of speakerphones,
cellular phones, smart cards and videogame peripherals. He is a frequent
speaker at music industry and Internet related conferences. Singer holds
more than a dozen U.S. patents in video processing, consumer electronics
and multimedia. He holds a BS degree in Mathematics and Computer Science
from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and a PhD in
operations research from Cornell University.
John Welch
President & CEO, PlayFirst Inc.
Prior to
launching PlayFirst, John Welch was Vice President of Games and Product
Development at AtomShockwave Corp., where he was responsible for
acquiring, developing and promoting interactive games and entertainment
for the Shockwave.com brand. John is driven by the purpose of raising
online gaming to greater mass-market appeal and commercial success. He has
been with Shockwave.com since 1999. Prior to Shockwave.com, John spent
time at Sega and with a consulting company that he co-founded. He holds
Bachelor's and Masters degrees in Computer Science, the former from MIT
and the latter from the University of Massachusetts.
Neil
Young
VP and Executive in Charge of Production, Electronic Arts
Neil Young
is currently leading development on The Lord of the Rings games based on
the New Line Cinema license. The first game from the series, The Two
Towers, has seen sales of over 4 million units worldwide and was one of
the top 10 best-selling games of 2002. The second game, The Lord of the
Rings, The Return of the King, is set to release in early November 2003.
British-born Young began is career in the interactive entertainment
industry in 1988, when he was a programmer and producer at Imagitec, a
small British development company. He joined the staff at Probe Software
in 1990 as a senior producer, working on a wide variety of titles for
Acclaim, Sega, Hudson, USGold and Virgin Interactive. Young moved to the
United States in 1992, where he went to join Virgin Interactive, where he
produced or executive produced Disney's Aladdin, Jungle Book, Toonstruck,
11th Hour, among many others. He was quickly promoted to Vice President
for Product Development. In April of 1997, Young was named Vice President
and General Manager of ORIGIN Systems, a subsidiary of Electronic Arts
based in Austin, Texas. During this time, Young supervised the launch of
the highly successful Ultima Online. In 1999, Young left ORIGIN to become
Vice President and Executive in Charge of Production at Electronic Arts,
where he founded Synthetic, an internal Studio creating next-generation
products. With Synthetic, Neil was the creator and driving force behind
Majestic, the first Internet-based interactive game that places players in
the center of an unfolding conspiracy-thriller. Majestic blurred the line
between fiction and reality by engaging players through non-traditional
gaming mediums such as the telephone, email and fax.
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