Speakers and Panelists  

Key Speakers

LEVAR BURTON - Guest Host and Panelist
Actor, director and author LeVar Burton first came to prominence portraying Kunta Kinte in the 1977 award-winning ABC television miniseries ROOTS, based on the novel by Alex Haley. He is also widely known for his portrayal of Geordi La Forge on the syndicated science fiction series STAR TREK: The Next Generation and as the host of the PBS children's series READING RAINBOW. Adding to his extensive media career, Burton is also the host and executive producer of a documentary entitled The Science of Peace. It investigates the science and technology aimed at enabling world peace. The documentary explores the forefront of both peace science and the concepts of noetic sciences, and was sponsored in part by the Institute of Noetic Sciences.

JEROME C GLENN - Co-Founder and Director of The Millennium Project,

a global futures research  think tank. Jerome has also co-authored with Ted Gordon the Millennium Project's annual State of the Future report for the past twelve years. He was the Washington, DC representative for the United Nations University as Executive Director of the American Council for the UNU 1988-2007. He has over 35 years of Futures Research experience working for governments, international organizations, and private industry in Science & Technology Policy, Environmental Security, Economics, Education, Defense, Space, Futures Research Methodology, International Telecommunications, and Decision Support Systems with the Committee for the Future, Hudson Institute, Future Options Room, and the Millennium Project. He has addressed or keynoted conferences for over 300 government departments, universities, NGOs, UN organizations, and/or corporations around the world on a variety of future-oriented topics.

Moderators:

ALEXANDRA SOKOL- Director of c3:VisionLAB™, Partner/ Executive Producer MemeStream Media, Inc.

Touted as a Whole Systems Thinker and Creative Brainstormer, Alexandra Sokol brings her diverse talents to the c3:VisionLAB in order to further the organizations’ objectives as a futurist arts and media research incubator and catalyst for global change. Ms. Sokol's unusually expansive career spans the fields of traditional and new media, advertising, brand strategy and marketing, corporate communications, sustainable urban lifestyle design, anthropology and writing, as well as a strong background in the film and entertainment industry. Her career includes work in film development and scriptwriting with producer Alexander Salkind (best known for the “Superman” films). As CEO and Executive Producer of MemeStream Media, Alexandra has been involved with the development of trans-media content properties since 1998. As a Brand Strategist and Integrated Marketing Executive, Alexandra has pushed the limits of creativity and success beyond the radius to deliver innovative excitement through cross-platform communications, advertising, traditional and interactive media, interactive culture building, social networking, online media, print, live events and road show projects for companies such as: Apple, Intel, Disney, Sony, Palm Computing, Kodak, Hewlett-Packard, Motorola, Sun Microsystems, Cisco Systems, Visa International, and Toyota Hybrid Division, among others. She is a dynamic concept generator, consummate strategist, deep-sniffing trend hound and “nimble thinker” who has the exceptional ability to dig deep, identify goals, cohesively synthesize detailed information and push the boundaries of innovation to find the perfect solution. 

Alexandra’s early career began as a professional ballet and modern dancer, performing professionally with José Limon at the age of 14 and graduating from the prestigious North Carolina School of the Arts (now UNC School of the Arts), before attending Goddard College with a major in Psychology and Communications. She continued her education in Paris at the Sorbonne University in the mid-1980’s, where she stumbled into the roots of technology driven performance art after meeting Professor Mit Mitropoulos, who invited her to participate in ArtCom Paris ’86, an international Arts and Communications Exhibition at the L’Ecole de Beaux Arts. Being exposed to then notable experimental technology artists such as Nam Joon Paik, Fred Forster, Mit Mitropoulos, Natan Karczmar, and Mario Costa, she spent several years as a multi-media dance performance artist in both Paris and San Francisco. Driven into a new career by injuries, she none-the-less has maintained a passionate soft spot for arts, media and technology, which finally drew her to Silicon Valley for over 15 years. Infectiously exuberant, Alexandra’s passion for media, technology and sustainability has helped her connect with a wide variety of global industry leaders and thinkers. Always believing that life is circular, she has strived in recent years to create cohesion between parallel careers in media and sustainability, blending them with her passion for technology and innovation toward positive change.

ED LANTZ, Founding Director, IMERSA; President & CTO, Vortex Immersion Media Ed Lantz is a media and entertainment engineer, inventor, scientist, artist and entrepreneur. He is internationally recognized as a pioneer and leading authority in large-format digital cinema and immersive experiences for mass audiences, and continues to nurture the development of the “fulldome” medium which has surpassed IMAX’s installed theater base by replacing film and analog star projectors with large-format interactive computer graphics projected onto domed screens. Other areas of expertise include cable television, themed entertainment, photonics, virtual reality, events production, 3D animation and special effects for large-format film and video. Entrepreneurial activities include advanced digital mass media and e-commerce systems, interactive television, immersive video and film production, interactive place-based entertainment, real-time video/music performance, independent films with socially conscious themes, fine art visual music, and wellness applications exploiting the psychophysical effects of interactive digital media.

 KATHY ELDON is the founder of the Creative Visions Foundation, a global organization that supports “creative activists”, to use their creative talents to change the world around them. CVF was inspired by the life of her son Dan Eldon — artist, adventurer and activist — killed in 1993 while on assignment for Reuters News Agency in Somalia. CVF has assisted more than forty artists, filmmakers, playwrights, leaders of other social movements and others who use media and the arts as vehicles of social change. Through its for-profit sister organization, Creative Visions Productions, launched by Kathy in 1992, she has produced award-winning television and film projects, including “Lost in Africa”, a family film about elephant conservation distributed by internationally Columbia Pictures, the acclaimed PBS series “Global Tribe,” about grass-roots social entrepreneurs, the Emmy nominated Turner Broadcasting documentary "Dying to Tell the Story," that profiles journalists who risk their lives to do their jobs, and "Soldiers of Peace: A Children's Crusade," a CNN documentary about the Colombian children's peace movement. Accompanied by extensive websites, the documentaries were distributed internationally to more than 220 countries.

Kathy is currently producing “Five Days to Change the World,” a new VH1 series co-produced with the United Nations, featuring celebrities and their causes and “Extraordinary Women”, a series of shorts for Lifetime. She is the co-creator of “Mothers on a Mission,” a series with Julia Roberts about the power of mothers to transform the world which will air on the OWN Network in early 2010, and “Prized Women”, a series with the Nobel Women’s Initiative about women Nobel Peace Prize winners. She is also exec-producing “Rock your World”, a series about young activists with 7ATE9. Kathy’s company is also producing “Journey,” a major feature film about her son, Dan Eldon that will star Daniel Radcliffe (“Harry Potter”, “Equus”). Julia Roberts will play the role of Kathy in the film. Kathy has been profiled in a number of books, including Arianna Huffington's "On Becoming Fearless", Katherine Martin’s "Those Who Dare: Real People, Real Courage"; Nancy Alspaugh, Marilyn Kentz, and Mary Ann Halpin's "Fearless Women". In 2007 Kathy was named one of MSN’s “10 Amazing Women You Have Never Heard Of,” together with Nobel Peace Prize winners Wangaari Mathai and Jodi Williams. In 2008 Kathy was presented with the Euro-American Women’s Council’s Artemis Goddess Award, the Wayuu Taya Foundation’s Award and was named a Purpose Prize Fellow. The author of 17 books, Kathy has also been featured on many television and radio programs globally and a segment in Oprah's "Producer's Favorites" continue to air about Kathy and her daughter. Kathy has served on the board of the Overseas Press Club Foundation and is currently on the board of Video Volunteers and CALL2ACTION.

PAMELA JAYE SMITH is a mythologist, author, international consultant and speaker, and

award-winning producer-director with over 30 years in the media industry. She has worked on projects ranging from major Hollywood studios to wildly independent companies, always enjoying the process of helping to bring creative ideas to worldwide screens. Founder of MYTHWORKS, Pamela Jaye brings the power of story and Applied Mythology to individuals and organizations in many arenas including media, consciousness & spirituality, education, business, non-profits, and the military. Pamela believes that the future of humanity depends on a synergistic confluence of science, philosophy, and the media arts.

Panelists:

GAYNOR STRACHAN-CHUN - V.P. Marketing, Ovation TV

Gaynor Strachan-Chun is Senior Vice President, Marketing, of Ovation. She is responsible for developing and implementing brand positioning and messaging strategies, overseeing all marketing activities and developing strategic alliances with arts institutions. She also oversees the network's high-priority, educational outreach program. In addition, Mrs. Strachan-Chun created and maintains Ovation's website, an integral part of the network's multi-platform strategy. A marketing executive with more than 25 years corporate and agency experience with industry leaders in media, retail, consumer products and technology, Mrs. Strachan-Chun has a successful track record in developing and executing effective and economical brand and marketing strategic plans and programs, fostering cross-functional relationships and building strong integrated teams in entrepreneurial environments. Most recently, Ms. Strachan-Chun led G4's marketing team and oversaw all areas of this cable TV network's brand and communication efforts, including advertising, on-air design and promotion, consumer marketing, public relations, research, the G4 web site and interactive services. She joined G4 in May 2004 when Comcast purchased TechTV, where she had been Senior Vice President of Marketing & Communications. She started working with TechTV, as a consultant, in May 2001, and was the only member of the TechTV Senior Management Team to join the merged network. Prior to her role at TechTV, Ms. Strachan-Chun was a member of the Oxygen TV Network's launch team. She served as Senior Vice President, Strategic Alliances, creating extensive marketing relationships with such companies as Hewlett-Packard, Proctor & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, and Amazon.com.

ALEX BARKALOFF - Executive Producer, Lionsgate - Digital Media

As Executive Producer for Digital Media at Lionsgate, Alex Barkaloff is responsible for developing high-impact mobile entertainment, applications, games and communities from the company’s 12,000 film library and hit TV shows as Weeds, Mad Men, Crash and Fear Itself.  Additionally, he oversees original digital productions, especially those that can be cross-developed for filmed entertainment and TV. Prior to Lionsgate, Alex created media-based mobile applications for musical artists, graphic novels and dramatic, horror and comedy projects with such companies as UCP Morgen/ Pass, Nellymoser, and mobile operators including T-Mobile, Telefonica, Belgacom, Era Poland and handset makers including Nokia.  An entrepreneur and venture capitalist, Alex founded GlobalNet Ventures in San Francisco in 1998 and ArtistOne, an online digital music distributor.  His enterprise experience ranges from Oracle to PSION (UK) to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory/NASA.

ALISON SAVITCH - President, Producers Guild of America - New Media Committee

Alison Savitch is a producer in multi-media entertainment; live action movies & television, digital visual effects for blockbuster movies; animation and theme park attractions for the worlds leading parks. Ms. Savitch is Chair of The Producer’s Guild of America, New Media Council; she is on The National Board of Directors for the PGA; The Advisory Board of Gnomon School of Visual Arts and is a founding Board Member of the Visual Effects Society. Savitch is also known for her innovations in 3-D stereoscopic as well as interactive and real time media for tv, internet and broadband. Her credits include: The Poseidon Adventure, Messengers, Rise, Journey to the Center of the Earth (stereoscopic pre-viz) The Abyss, Dracula, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, The Grudge & The Grudge 2, Rise, Aliens of the Deep, The Shadow, Arachnophobia, The Last Action Hero, the Mortal Kombat movies and television series, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, Beowulf, The Faculty, Dogma and many others. Her groundbreaking work on both The Abyss and Terminator 2: Judgment Day contributed greatly to these films winning 2 Academy Awards for best special visual effects. Most recently, she produced and supervised the animation and visual effects on numerous major theme park attractions, including an all CGI stereoscopic movie for Hershey Park, Star Trek: Borg Invasion a- stereoscopic ride/attraction film for Paramount’s Theme Park Division and the Walt Disney Company’s #1 ride ever, “Mission Space” at Epcot Center as well as one of Euro Disney’s top attractions ARMAGEDDON, based on the blockbuster movie. Savitch is also involved in developing the launch of a new era in a 3D stereoscopic process for the main stream market place, including producing the REAL D demo, and work with Cobalt 3D, Aliens of the Deep Title Sequnce , as well as various museums and alternative venues.

DON LEVY - SVP. Marketing & Communications, Sony Pictures Entertainment

Don Levy is Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications for Sony Pictures Digital (SPD), a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment. Levy directs the corporate communications, marketing and public relations for SPD’s operating units including Sony Pictures Imageworks, Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment, Sony Pictures Animation and Sony Online Entertainment. In addition, Levy is responsible for the coordination of marketing and brand strategy between Sony Pictures Digital and Sony Pictures Entertainment as well as other Sony companies including Sony Electronics and Sony Computer Entertainment. He joined Sony Pictures Imageworks in 1996 during the group’s founding stages. Since then, with Levy directing its communication efforts, Imageworks has gone on to become an award-winning visual effects and digital character animation company. In 2003, Levy oversaw the Academy Award® campaign for Imageworks’ animated short film, “The ChubbChubbs,” which garnered the group’s first Oscar®, and guided the company to win the 2005 Academy Award for Best Visual Effects for its work on “Spider-Man 2.” Over the years, Levy has assumed additional communication responsibilities as SPD has expanded to include Sony Pictures Digital Sales and Marketing , which concentrates on extending entertainment into the digital marketplace, including mobile and broadband video delivery; Sony Pictures Animation, formed in 2002 to produce all-CG animated feature films; and Sony Online Entertainment, the industry-leader in massively multiplayer online games.

Ken Kragen - Music and Film Producer, Activist, Creator of “We Are The World”

Ken Kragen is best known as the creator of the major humanitarian projects “We Are The World,” “Hands Across America,” “NetAid” and “LiveAid.” He has also managed the careers of a number of superstars including Kenny Rogers, Lionel Richie, Olivia Newton-John, The Smothers Brothers and Trisha Yearwood. Over the years Mr. Kragen has produced many film and television projects including the ground-breaking “Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” and Kenny Roger’s five “Gambler” movies. He is the recipient of numerous awards including the prestigious United Nations Peace Medal.

ADRIAN SEXTON - Co-Founder & CEO at New Medici 

Adrian Sexron is Co-Founder & CEO of New Medici LLC, a media strategy + lifestyle innovation network. As former digital head of two media companies, Lionsgate and Participant Media, and co-founding partner of TAG Strategic consultancy, Sexton brings a hybrid background in operational digital strategy, product development, social and strategic marketing and distribution. Before New Medici, Sexton was Executive Vice President, running digital at Participant Media. He was responsible for managing the company’s expansion into global media, digital distribution and marketing. He architected TakePart.com, a social marketing portal. Traffic across the site and acquired sites grew 1000% year over year during Sexton’s tenure. Sexton recently worked on such Participant films as Food Inc., The Soloist, Charlie Wilson’s War, The Kite Runner, and the Academy Award®-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth. Sexton came to Participant from TAG Strategic, a digital media and entertainment agency he co-founded with EMI veteran Ted Cohen. TAG’s diverse client roster has included Qualcomm, Sandisk, Participant, Eyespot, Lionsgate, LimeWire and LivePlanet.

Before forming TAG, Sexton headed Digital Media as Vice President at Lionsgate, where he oversaw the day-to-day operations, production, media planning and business development for digital and mobile properties. His duties encompassed theatrical, home entertainment, television, international and physical studios. He oversaw the digital campaigns for such movies as Best Picture Academy Award®-winning Crash, Monster’s Ball, Fahrenheit 9/11, and Tyler Perry franchises; as well as digital cinema initiatives with BMW Films and Microsoft. During Sexton’s tenure at Lionsgate, the company's market capitalization rose from $60 million to $1.2 billion; and he was part of the team which secured the $350 million credit facility to acquire Artisan Entertainment. Prior to Lionsgate, Sexton's professional experience also includes work in television at Sony Pictures Entertainment, production and development at HBO Pictures, 20th Century Fox and Saban Entertainment. He is a frequent media presenter, delivering media and entertainment keynotes at events such as 2009 X Media Lab in Auckland, the studio keynote at the Opening Forum of the 60th Anniversary of the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, as well as keynotes at the 2007 Digital Hollywood  Intel Viiv launch in Tokyo, just to name a few. Sexton has served as an arts advisory member of non-profits American Democracy Institute, Games For Change and the Los Angeles Film Festival. Additionally, he is on the Interactive Media Peer Group Awards Committee for the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, and a New Media Council member of the Producers Guild of America. In October 2009, New Medici was awarded the British Airways/Harvard Business Review “Face of Opportunity” entrepreneurial award.

BEN MENDELSON - Co-Founder and President, Interactive Television Alliance  

Ben Mendelson is the co-founder and president of the Interactive Television Alliance, the primary trade association representing the broad interests of the ITV industry. Ben has been an innovator in sponsor-based programming and has been involved in New Media technology from its earliest days. He was the founding executive of various early on-line companies (Interactive Center, Internet Imaging, Internet Outfitters), head of the Internet division of a magazine publishing company (Curtco Freedom), VP of Internet Development for the Electronic Retailing Assoc. (ERA), and SVP of Business Strategies at an investment bank (Winterberry Group). __Before his involvement with Interactive technologies, Ben was primarily involved in the art world. From 1981 – 1991, he owned and operated LA Art Photographers Assoc. (LAPA), an art gallery and resource center for fine art photography. In 1992, he founded PhotoSource— a gallery and resource center for high quality digital imaging. His interest in facilitating the creative process has been a guiding influence, whether from the art community or from the business community. __In 2002, Ben co-founded 2degree Partners with his business partner, Allison Dollar. 2DP manages the ITV Alliance and provides business strategies that include Direct Response TV, ITV, and cross-media marketing. Ben has taught at the American Film Institute (AFI), UCLA Extension, and the So. CA Institute of Architecture (SCIArch) and has been published in numerous magazines and trade journals. He is on the advisory board of the AFI Enhanced TV Program, the exec. committee of the IMPG at the Television Academy, and is a familiar speaker at many Technology, Marketing and Media conferences.

 TOM SHADYAC - Producer, Director; Patch Adams, Bruce Almighty

Tom Shadyac moved to Los Angeles in 1983 and, at age 24, became the youngest staff joke writer ever for comedian Bob Hope.  Shadyac received his master's degree in film from UCLA in 1989 after completing the critically acclaimed short, Tom, Dick and Harry. He then worked on movies-of-the-week, rewrote and directed for Fox. Shadyac has also dabbled in stand-up comedy and at one time, appeared regularly at the Improv on Melrose, as well as guest starring on TV series and movies.  He has directed and/or produces movies such as; Evan Almighty, Bruce Almighty, Patch Adams, Liar Liar and The Nutty Professor.  Most recently, he served as Executive Producer on the documentary Happy, which is described as a worldwide adventure from desert of the Kalahari bushmen, to the alligator infested Louisiana Bayou to discover what the new science of happiness can teach us about ourselves.

BRETT LEONARD - Director, Writer; The Lawnmower Man, Virtuosity, Highlander Brett Leonard is considered one of Hollywood's most innovative film directors. Known as one of the entertainment industry's digital media visionaries. Mr. Leonard directed and co-wrote the hit movie The Lawnmower Man, starring Pierce Brosnan and Jeff Fahey. Heralded as a maverick in science fiction, fantasy and adventure for creating films with a strong visual presence, Brett Leonard pioneered the creation of digital visual effects in filmmaking with Lawnmower Man, a cult classic considered way ahead of its time in the use of groundbreaking computer graphics.  In the 1990’s, Mr. Leonard was a key participant of the Sony 2000 think tank, a small group of media visionaries assembled to discuss the future of media. Always on the leading edge, Brett Leonard went on to direct Virtuosity, which was the first major film to feature nanotechnology set in a cyberpunk based future, and starring Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington. He also directed Peter Gabriel's Kiss That Frog, the first all computer graphic music video/ride film. Kiss That Frog toured the world as a wildly popular theme park attraction, and won Mr. Leonard a 1994 MTV Music Video Award. Constantly of the forefront of exciting innovation in entertainment, Brett Leonard continues to push the creative envelope. He created an undeniable sensation when he took his “Swarm Cam-Fusion Station” onto The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and guest Billy Idol, and implemented one of the first live web-casts ever, from the House of Blues, LA. He also directed a state-of-the-art "interactive show" for the CAA/Intel Media Lab introducing the Hollywood community to the "future of entertainment" by digitizing actor Danny DeVito, and using live performance animation to create the interactive animated character "Mr. Head", who guided the audience/participants through the experience. Most recently, Mr. Leonard, through his company MegaTrend Media, LLC is again pioneering new media forms with a musically driven feature film concept for the internet called StoryMusicStory, created with partners Dick and Doug Rudolph.  He has completed directing the first film of this concept entitled, Truth?, and is currently in post production on Feel for Hollywood Records/Disney for world-wide distribution in 2010. Mr. Leonard and MegaTrend in partnership with producer Wilbert Smith, has also recently completed a feature-length documentary entitled, Hole in the Head: A Life Revealed, narrated by renowned actor Dennis Haysbert, which is also being developed as a dramatic feature film. 

CHARLOTTE HUGGINS - Producer; Journey to the Center of the Earth, Wild Safari 3DVeteran writer-producer, Charlotte Huggins has the distinction of being the most prolific producer of 3-D motion pictures in the world. The multi-faceted creator of new media entertainment has spent more than 20 years in television, commercials, special venue productions and feature film. She was included in Daily Variety's prestigious "2008 Women's Impact List" and she was saluted in The Hollywood Reporter's "Digital 50," a group comprised of producers and innovators who distinguished themselves in the realm of new media storytelling in 2007. Other honorees included Steve Jobs and John Lasseter. Prior to her feature film work, Huggins served two years as story editor and writer for television legend Roy Huggins on the hit NBC TV series Hunter produced by Stephen J. Cannell Productions. Huggins was soon offered a position at Boss Film Studios producing national Clio Award-winning commercials (Magnavox, United Airlines). Here she discovered her passion for special format production as a producer of the 1993 World Expo attraction Journey To Technopia. She went on to work on a number of highly successful large format films including Disney's 3-D theme park attraction Honey I Shrunk The Audience and Sony Pictures Classics' 3-D film Wings Of Courage. As one of the founders of nWave Pictures, a Brussels-based digital studio, Huggins held the position of President and Head of Production for over 10 years, serving as producer of all of nWave's special venue and giant screen productions. Huggins has held positions on the Boards of Directors of nWave Pictures, the Visual Effects Society and the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. She is a member of the Producers Guild of America, where she serves on the New Media Council Board, and an emeritus member of the Writer's Guild of America West.

 MICHEL KRIPALANI - President Oceanhouse Media

Michel Kripalani is President of Oceanhouse Media, publisher of mobile apps that uplift, educate and inspire. Oceanhouse Media is a major player in the iPhone and iPad space with an offering of over 90 apps, numerous bestsellers and proprietary technology. Licensing relationships are in place with Dr. Seuss Enterprises, Hay House Publishers and others. A veteran of the videogame industry, Michel founded Presto Studios in 1991. Presto Studios had numerous hits including The Journeyman Project series, Myst 3: Exile and more. Michel was also Director of Business Development at Autodesk for many years where he spent a large portion of his time managing relationships with Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo and independent game development studios worldwide

MARC SCARPA - Veteran Director and Executive Producer of live participatory media; Earthday 40th Anniversary, GRAMMY LIVE!

Marc Scarpa is a veteran Director and Executive Producer of live participatory media.

His most recent credits include, GRAMMY LIVE! a 72 hour live participatory online experience for the 52nd Annual GRAMMY Awards. MySpace LIVE! a seven hour live High definition transmission on MySpace that celebrated community through individual expression. He has also directed Grammy Award artist John Legend, Teddy Geiger, The Editors, Joe Satriani, 50 Cent, Gogol Bordello, Jonas Brothers and The All American

Rejects for the LiveNation Verizon VCAST Mobile performance series.  He Produced and Directed several "firsts" pioneering the live participatory programming genre including, "Townhall with President Clinton" (now apart of the permanent collection of the Clinton Presidential Library), Woodstock '99, The Tibetan Freedom Festivals, several Vans Warped Tours, "The Lola Pandora Show", "HSX/Excite Rocks the Oscars" featuring Beck; along with numerous live music events for artists such as the Beastie Boys, Elton John, Moby, Wyclef Jean, Primus and Pat Metheny.

Marc is the architect for New York City Hall's Mayoral Blue Room multi-platform broadcast facility. Which enables press conferences to be distributed live over the web, TV and radio simultaneously and is in use daily by Mayor Bloomberg.  Simulcast credits (web & TV) include, "The A&E Live By Request series", "Backstage at the Tony Awards" and an "Online Prayer with the Dalai Lama". Prior to founding JumpCut, he served as the original New York Bureau Chief for C|NET networks where he Produced news segments for C|NET programs"TV.COM", "The Web" and "C|NET Central". He also co-developed C|NET's early video on demand deployment strategy and produced C|NET's first live webcast from the floor of the 1997 PC Expo. Marc is a featured speaker with Streaming Media East/West/Europe and Digital Hollywood where he serves as an Advisory board member for the OnDemand Content & Technology Consortium. He is recognized as one of Silicon Alley Reporters Top 100. Marc served as the founding Co-Chair for NYC Mayor's Council on New Media with Deputy Mayor Tony Coles under the Giuliani administration. Currently he is a national board member and founding NY committee chair for the Producers Guild of America New Media Council. Personally Marc is a partner with Lifebeat - The Music Industry Fights AIDS.

Lee Helper - President, Bender/Helper Impact, Chairman, Channel Lab LLC, Managing Partner, Neo Communications LLC

Lee Helper has 28 years of high level, professional strategic business consulting and development experience. Mr. Helper’s work encompasses the areas of media, entertainment, global business, government, Wall Street and consumer branding & products. He has been instrumental in the development, growth and evolution of such companies and organizations as King World, Twentieth Century Fox/Newscorp, Paramount, CBS, NBC, ABC, OpenTV, Viacom, Disney, Amazon.com, Liberty Media, The Mobil Marketing Association, ad:tech, NATPE, Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), VSDA, Association for Interactive Media (AIM) & The University of California Regents DIMI Institute.

At Neo Communications LLC, together with Co-Managing Partner Paul Leighton, Mr. Helper guides Neo’s mission to establish, maintain and continually expand its client’s presence throughout the inter-connected and inter-dependent industries of entertainment, media, brand, agency, technology and capital, while building relationships that trigger strategic, goal-based opportunities for clients. Mr. Helper is the President and founding partner of the 22 year young firm, Bender/Helper Impact, where together with partner Dean Bender, he has built a highly specialized & preeminent international marketing communications force, providing comprehensive guidance & leadership to the world's leading entertainment and media companies & brands since 1986. He is the founder and Chairman of the cross-platform, media business accelerator Channel Lab LLC – focused on launching over 30 new TV network, Internet, video, radio and select print enterprises it co-develops and owns. Mr. Helper has engineered and managed PR & marketing plans for launch/relaunch of 29 high profile television channels, including Showtime, Discovery Channel, USA Network, UPN, FX, Sundance Channel, The National Geographic Channel, Telemundo, Antenna 3, The Travel Channel and the Game Show Network. He has also developed and overseen the strategic marketing and successful launch/relaunch of over 30 hit networks and syndicated television shows including “Oprah,” “Jeopardy,” “Wheel Of Fortune,” and “Star Trek Next Generation.” Contact Lee at leehelper@neobizdev.com

BRIAN SELZER - Ogmento (Augmented Reality)

Brian Selzer is the President and Co-Founder of Ogmento, Inc., a developer and publisher of mobile augmented reality games and entertainment. As a creative executive and digital media pioneer, Mr. Selzer has created, produced and distributed online and mobile games, animation and social media content in collaboration with Fox, Universal, Sony, Activision, EA, Marvel, Hasbro, Nike, PBS and others.  Mr. Selzer is also a recognized speaker at industry events and a sought after advisor for emerging media, social gaming and augmented reality initiatives.

EVONNE HEYNING - Interactive Experience Producer, Amoration
Evonne is the dynamic polymath leading Amoration studio, a nonprofit dedicated to social action through intelligent events, interactive media & international aid. For the past ten years Evonne has served as a strategic creative consultant for NGOs, media networks and educational institutions. She produces and leads diverse virtual teams to produce dozens of new releases and thousands of images every year; managing a community of artists at Amoration we build large scale public art productions, shows and major festivals. Amoration's current installation: the Lightning Temple experience will be touring through 2009-10 season.  With dozens of creative volunteers we integrate social action, art, science, technology and the spirit of change.  She has produced content and IP for TV, film, radio, web, events.  Is an award-winning director and machinimatographer, a project leader & nonprofit director with 10+ years experience.  Evonne is a published writer for screen, print, web (documentary, narrative, creative nonfiction).  She is also an Interactive artist & designer: virtual worlds, live art, performance and a global bridge-builder, community organizer & better world scout assisting over 150 nonprofit organizations. 

MARY T. DUDA - CEO/President at VirtuePlay Inc. and VirtueArts

In 1996 Duda pioneered the production team that was responsible for “A Virtual Day in Paris,” which was one of the first live cybercasts in history. In 2000, Duda established Virtue, a technology software company. As CEO/President of Virtue, Duda has used her extensive knowledge of multimedia and software to deploy and develop industry leading production tools which assists in creating programs more quickly and efficiently. In November of 2003, Duda launched VirtuePlay, a game development company to take advantage of the power of the software which she had created.  In late 2010, Duda and VirtuePlay will unveil the most extensive application of these new tools, releasing the first virtual world of its kind: Lunar Racing Championship.  Lunar Racing Championship fully utilizes Duda’s proprietary tools to create an astronomically and physically correct lunar exploration game. Duda holds a BS in Media Arts and an MA in Educational Technology from Pepperdine University and fom 1985 to 1997, was an adviser and educator for Computer Graphics and Interactive Technologies as part of UCLA’s extension program. She has lectured worldwide on the subjects of Interactive Games and Educational Systems. 

MICHAEL GILBERT - Senior Fellow USC Annenberg’s Center for the Digital Future

Michael Gilbert was born and raised in Montreal, where he attended Concordia University and concluded his formal education with a graduate degree at Harvard. His multi-faceted career included positions as a university lecturer, a research analyst and investment consultant, real estate executive and independent film producer. Michael's work at the Center for the Digital Future is focused on the impact of the Internet on gender and family issues. Author of articles on a variety of topics, he has been featured on national television as a guest analyst, most recently on Fox News and MSNBC, as well as the op-ed pages of Newsday and The Christian Science Monitor. He is the author of an award-winning book  The Disposable Male: Sex, Love and Money - Your World through Darwin's Eyes, and was winner of an Independent Publisher 2007 Silver Medal. He was executive producer of "Two Solitudes," a Canadian film adaptation of Hugh MacLennan's award winning historical novel, and served as a senior executive and director of a multi-faceted entertainment production company located at the Burbank Studios.

DANIELLE BRAZELL - Executive Director of Arts for LA 

Brazell transitioned Arts for LA from an ad-hoc steering committee comprised of local executive arts leadership to a highly visible arts advocacy organization.  The only one of its kind in the country, Arts for LA fosters a healthy environment in which arts and culture may thrive and be accessible to all in the Los Angeles region. Under her stewardship, Arts for LA has surveyed candidates running for election in each Arts for All district, built an Online communications infrastructure that allows for a greater exchange of information and resources among the arts and arts education community and with strong input from the field, launched a policy platform that will guide the fields collective advocacy over the next two years. Brazell brings over fifteen years experience to the field.  She is

the former Director of Special Projects for the Screen Actors Guild Foundation and Artistic Director of Highways Performance Space.  Ms. Brazell is the recipient of numerous grant awards including the 2000 Getty Fellowship. 

In 2009 Ms. Brazell received the CLEAR Communications Fellowship sponsored by the James  Irvine Foundation.

DR. M.A. GREENSTEIN - Founding Director of The George Greenstein Institute, Inc.,  and Adjunct Assoc. Professor, Art Center College of Design.

As an internationally recognized author, keynote speaker and coach, Dr. Greenstein is dedicated to increasing global recognition of whole-brain, whole-body, whole-mind intelligence and neuroleadership. A meditation trainer at TED, a speaker on and member of The NeuroLeadership Institute and Mindshare.la, Dr. Greenstein is committed to the generative social networking principle: Creative problem-solving begins with an awareness of breath and spawns through the matrix of collective genius. She is the publisher/editor in chief of Bodiesinspace.com, and the founding director/chief brainiac of The George Greenstein Institute.

JOHN RAATZ - Founder of GATE:Global Alliance for Transformational Entertainment

JEAN OELRICH - Director of Marketing for Los Angeles Opera

With more than twenty years experience in arts marketing, Jean Oelrich has distinguished herself as a strategic marketing communications professional with significant experience in building new audiences for the arts, integrating online-offline branding, and generating earned income. Since 2006, she has worked for Los Angeles Opera. Los Angeles Opera has become, under the leadership of General Director Plácido Domingo, the United States' fourth largest opera company. Poised to celebrate its 25th Anniversary Season beginning Fall of 2010, LA Opera is currently presenting Los Angeles’s first-ever production of Wagner’s The Ring of the Nibelung at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of the Music Center through June 26. This innovative and visionary production is directed and designed by Achim Freyer, a German artist who worked closely with Bertolt Brecht, and LA Opera Music Director James Conlon conducts the LA Opera Orchestra, Chorus, and an internationally celebrated cast of Wagnerian singers.

Jean Oelrich’s career in the arts ranges from positions in public relations, marketing, development, and music journalism to programming and arts administration. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Roosevelt University and earned a Master of Arts degree in musicology with additional studies in marketing and management from Northwestern University.

JILL GURR - Founder and Executive Director of Create Now

Jill Gurr has devoted the last fifteen years of her life to mentoring more than fifty at-risk and high-risk youth. Through Create Now, the nonprofit organization that she founded in 1996, Jill has matched hundreds of mentors with thousands of troubled children in the Southern California and Orlando regions. She has recruited and trained all the mentors in her program to work with these children, especially high-risk institutionalized kids who are troubled. Through her extensive experience, Jill has the ability to develop and coordinate mentoring programs that are tailored to the mentors, as well as the children. She has just completed writing a comprehensive book about mentoring called, “Mentor Youth Now: A Guidebook for Transforming Young Lives.” Jill is also a produced screenwriter, having adapted the book "Hit and Run" by James Hadley Chase into the screenplay Rigged, which stars George Kennedy and is distributed internationally by Kodiak Films. She also wrote Socrates, a PBS pilot that stars Ed Asner. Several of her scripts have been optioned. In addition, Jill was also a contributing writer on an Internet series called “The Compatible Marriage” for eHarmony.com and has published several articles online and in small publications. In 2009, she won First Prize (a Writers Retreat at Woodhull Institute) in a national essay contest sponsored by Sadie Magazine. Jill was one of eight people in the country selected by the Museum of Tolerance to be part of their permanent exhibit "Everyday Heroes." She has been featured on "NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams," CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360°", Fox11 News, NBC-TV, ABC-TV and in the Los Angeles Times. Jill was one of the first five Americans ever chosen to participate in a Global XChange program sponsored by the British Council and VSO. She spent six weeks in early 2010 in South Africa and Northern Ireland, collaborating with community leaders from six countries.

ANDRE MIRIPOLSKY - Artist “Fear No Art”

World renowned artist who pushes the limits in many media, creating his own brand of expression in painting, sculpture, mobiles, graphics, sets and costumes; groundbreaking provocateur who marries idioms of art, music, and film; name translated in Russian mans "fields of peace." Born in Paris, The family lived in a series of exotic landscapes including Iran, Thailand, Austria, France, Indonesia and Korea. Miripolsky's father was Cultural Advisor for the American Foreign Service and also an artist.  Miripolsky was immersed and surrounded by art since his youth. By age eight he was working with oils and by age ten he sold his first painting to the American Ambassador of Indonesia. After graduating High School in Seoul, Korea, he headed to the California Institute of the Arts. The artist left after two years to pursue a classical acting career before finally centering his creative axis around the canvas and all things visual. Andre Miripolsky's keen understanding of pop imagery and energy has resulted in collaborations with Elton John (famous Central Park "Piano Key" costume and 1997 stage acts for his "Tonight Show" appearance), Bette Midler (album package/visual design for her worldwide "DeTour"), Quincy Jones, rolling Stones, Gato Barbieri, robin Williams, Beastie Boys, Cheap Trick, MTV and "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno. Miripolsky has been commissioned by MTV, Absolut Vodka, ElektroBike, Terumo Medical, Jewish Chabad's "L'Chaim To Life", Mattel, and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.  He is one of Japan's most beloved contemporary American artists after working extensively there since the mid-'80s. Miripolsky's deep commitment and participation in timely social and political causes is reflected in the artistic vision he brings to these organizations: United Nations Artist and Performers Against Apartheid Symposium, Director's Guild of America  "The Artist's Rights Foundation", inner city youth of Chicago, Pro-Peace, AIDS Project Los Angeles, and Artists for Disarmament, various film festivals, Los Angeles Community of Angels public arts program, and contributed his world-famous graphic slogan "Fear No Art" to KCRW 89.9 FM.

TALA MOHEBI - USC Annenberg Dept. of Public Diplomacy, Editor-In-Chief of Public Diplomacy Magazine

Kenji Williams - Violinist, Creative Director and Composer
Kenji Williams is an award winning filmmaker, music producer, theatrical show director, and classically-trained violinist. A world bridger of music, visual arts, science and unique storytelling, Williams has collaborated with international DJ John Digweed, evolutionary philosopher Ken Wilber, world famous painter Alex Grey, the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, Manila's premier Ballet Group "Ballet Philippines", MegaStar Planetarium star projector creator Mr. Ohira, and is exposing his solo work from big music festivals around the world, to mainstream television, and film soundtracks. His current live multimedia show, “BELLA GAIA”, involves collaborating with institutions such as NASA and The Smithsonian. In addition to public and critical acclaim, Pioneer, Panasonic, and Sony corporations have sponsored Williams with technology to support his artistic vision.

Jennifer Ouellette -  Director of the Science & Entertainment Exchange

Sandra de Castro Buffington is director of Hollywood, Health & Society (HH&S), a program of the USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center that harnesses the power of entertainment media to improve the health and well being of people worldwide. She provides Hollywood’s writers and producers with access to public health experts for their scripts for television, film and new media.  The program recognizes the profound impact that entertainment media have on individual knowledge and behavior, and celebrates exemplary TV health storylines at the annual Sentinel Health Awards ceremony at the Writers Guild of America West. Sandra is known for her award-winning work in global health, entertainment education and social transformation. She has nearly 30 years of experience working in global leadership, public health and emergence technologies; 20 years were spent working internationally, and five of those years were spent in residence overseas. Sandra is working in collaboration with Hollywood’s creative community and global partners to establish a network of Centers for Entertainment Education in the major media markets that serve the developing world.  The Centers will provide writers and producers worldwide with access to experts to increase the accuracy of health, conflict transformation and climate change portrayals in their scripts.