Norm Bolen
Executive Vice President, Content
Alliance Atlantis

Norm Bolen is the Executive Vice President, Content for Alliance Atlantis Communications. He has overall programming responsibility for thirteen Canadian specialty networks: Showcase, History Television, Life Network, HGTV, Food Network Canada, BBC Canada, BBC Kids, Discovery Health Channel, National Geographic Channel, Independent Film Channel, Showcase Action, Showcase Diva and Fine Living Television.  Norm is also responsible for Alliance Atlantisí web based and emerging new media content and all Broadcast Operations. Norm started his career at Alliance Atlantis in 1997 as the Vice President of Programming for History Television.  Prior to joining Alliance Atlantis Norm spent more than 20 years as a journalist and executive at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.  Senior positions there included Area Head of TV Network Current Affairs and Regional Director of Ontario. Norm has had a long-standing interest in television program development internationally. He has been a moderator at the Toronto and Amsterdam Documentary Forums. He also served as International President of INPUT, an organization that presents major screening conferences for TV producers from around the world.  He serves on the boards of the National Screen Institute, the Canadian Television Fund, the Banff Television Foundation, the Hot Docs International Documentary Festival as well as several corporate boards.

Eric Call
Senior Artist
Second Life / Linden Labs

Greg is an accomplished games industry veteran with over 12 years experience in the business. He has spent the past 5 years at Microsoft, where is currently Group Manager of the Xbox Live Arcade business for the Xbox and Xbox 360 consoles. Greg also recently served as Director of Business Strategy in Microsoft’s game division, where he drove product strategy and incubated several new online games businesses, including Xbox Live Arcade and MSN Messenger Games. Prior to his time at Microsoft, Greg spent 6 years at Vivendi Universal Games, where he served as Director of Marketing and drove brand and product strategy for the company’s various game offerings. Greg holds a BA from Pepperdine University and an MBA from the University of Colorado.

Greg Canessa
General Manager,
Xbox LIve, Microsoft

Eric is a Senior Artist and Resident Video Expert at Linden Lab; the developer of Second Life. He has worked both as an Actor and Camera Assistant in film and television, and brings those experiences into his machinima film projects.

Eric has more than 10 years of professional experience in computer graphics and animation for games, film and broadcast. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Graphic Design, is Maya Certified in Character Animation, and has produced video, effects and graphics for many corporations and businesses in the Western U.S.

Wayne Clarkson
Executive Director
Telefilm Canada

Ted Cohen      
Senior VP Digital Development & Distribution
EMI Music                                                          

As Senior Vice President of Digital Development & Distribution for EMI Music, Ted Cohen oversees worldwide digital business development for this ìbig fourî record company, which includes labels such as Capitol, Virgin, Angel/Blue Note, Parlophone and Chrysalis.  Under Cohenís 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 EMIís global new media and anti-piracy efforts. He has worked to establish company-wide digital policies, which have provided EMIís artists and labels a substantial advantage in the digital music arena. 

Cohen served previously as the Executive Vice President of Digital Music Network Inc., where he co-founded and served as Chairman of the groundbreaking Webnoize conferences. He currently chairs MidemNet, an international music/technology conference convened in Cannes each year.

Additionally, Cohen lead two highly successful new media consulting operations, DMN Consulting and Consulting Adults, attracting clients such as Amazon.com, Microsoft, Universal Studios New Media, DreamWorks Records, Liquid Audio, Wherehouse Records/Checkout.com and various other entertainment, technology and new media organizations. Cohen also held senior management positions at both Warner Bros. Records and Philips Media.

A 30-year industry veteran, Cohen serves on the NARAS (Grammy) Los Angeles chapter Board of Governors, the Board of Directors for the Neil Bogart Memorial Fund, Co-chairs the new media arm of the T.J. Martell Foundation, and lends his time and talents to music & technology education efforts such as the Grammy In The Schools Program.

Frank Duyvelshoff       
Director, Business Development
Corus Entertainment Inc.                                                        

Frank is the Director, Business Development, at Corus Entertainment Inc., where he is responsible for the Interactive business for the company’s Television web sites. Frank is also the Vice President of the Publisher’s Council of IAB Canada. Prior to entering the Interactive Industry, he spent a number of years in sales and marketing at major Consumer Packaged Goods companies. He brings a combined Interactive Publisher and Client / Marketer perspective to interactive advertising. Frank has an MBA from the Rotman School of Business.

Jeffrey Elliott
President
BiteTV

Jeffrey Elliott brings twenty-five years of strategic and creative experience in broadcasting, production, Internet, radio and print to his latest venture, BiteTV. BITE TV, where A.D.D. is A.O.K.  Canadaís truly interactive television channel is comical, sexy and totally irreverent. BITE gives you Canadian and International short films, videos, animations and interactive games, showcasing both professional and amateur productions. For the wired male with a short attention span Bite offers On-air Interaction, Online Participation, Wireless Downloads, PC or Mobile Chat-to-Screen, Podcasts and much more!

Previously, Jeffrey was Senior Vice President of Alliance Atlantis and Managing Director of Netstar Interactive and established a unique Internet programming philosophy that maximized interactive/convergent opportunities between the network and its audience.

Dale Fallon
Director,
CHUM Interactive
 
Dale leads CHUM Interactive, which is a profitable division of CHUM Limited. The group integrates some of Canada's best-known media brands for music, entertainment, science fiction, lifestyle and local news with new media platforms including online, wireless and enhanced television. Dale joined the division in 2001 to lead the operations, technology, and design teams, and in mid-2005 was promoted to Director of the department. Dale has provided leadership in the development and implementation of many projects, including a content management system for 15 conventional and specialty television station web sites, a centralized membership and contesting system, and Canada’s first all-carrier ringtones store.  Earlier in his career, Dale was proud to be the original webmaster for Bell Canada’s Sympatico consumer web portal.

Treveor Fencott
President, Groove Games

Trevor Fencott is a founding partner and President of Groove Games, a
global publisher of video games for the PlayStation2, Xbox and PC
platforms. To date, Groove has published over 18 games including the
much anticipated Playboy: The Mansion, Pariah and George A. Romero's
Land of the Dead. Prior to Groove, Trevor was a lawyer at Goodmans LLP
where he built the interactive media practice.

 

Jeff Fino
Co-Founder / Head of Television
Wild Brain
 
Spanning the entertainment spectrum of film, television, commercials and interactive media, Jeff has overseen development on nearly every project the studio has produced. This includes numerous award-winning animated short films, two Wild Brain original television series, including hit kids’ show Higglytown Heroes on Playhouse Disney, and visual effects for several feature films. Under his guidance, our trademark commercial and new media divisions have attracted coverage by Fortune, Entertainment Weekly and Rolling Stone magazines.

Before launching the company in 1994, Jeff spent four years producing commercials and supervising production capabilities at Colossal Pictures. Prior to his move to San Francisco in 1991, Jeff worked for Kings Road Entertainment, a large, independent motion picture company, coordinating production and post-production on many of the company’s films.

Along with partners John Hays and Phil Robinson, Jeff founded Wild Brain, Inc. with only $15,000 and the belief that a prosperous, creative community could flourish within a truly collaborative work environment. All these years later, the constant exchange of ideas is still at the core of the company's creativity and originality.

Michel Frappier
CEO
Ontario Media Development Corporation

Dr. Michael Geist
Research Chair, Internet & e-Commerce Law
University of Ottawa

Dr. Michael Geist is a law professor at the University of Ottawa where he holds the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law.  He has obtained a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) degree from Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, Master of Laws (LL.M.) degrees from Cambridge University in the UK and Columbia Law School in New York, and a Doctorate in Law (J.S.D.) from Columbia Law School.  Dr. Geist has written numerous academic articles and government reports on the Internet and law, was a member of Canada’s National Task Force on Spam, is a nationally syndicated columnist on technology law issues for the Toronto Star and Ottawa Citizen, and is the editor of In the Public Interest:  The Future of Canadian Copyright Law, published in 2005 by Irwin Law.  He is the editor of several monthly technology law publications and the author of a popular blog on Internet and intellectual property law issues. Dr. Geist has received numerous awards for his work including Canarie’s IWAY Public Leadership Award for his contribution to the development of the Internet in Canada and he was named one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 in 2003. More information can be obtained at http://www.michaelgeist.ca.

Nathon Gunn
CEO
Bitcasters

Nathon’s exploration of new media has spanned two decades and four continents. Nathon has a degree in computer animation and film, has helped launch new media divisions for five major media companies, including Chum and Miramax, spearheaded innovations such as the first Grammys’ webcast, the first enhanced CDs for BMG and the first major label secure digital music format for Universal. Nathon has won numerous awards for directing and producing music videos, created award-winning games enjoyed by over five million players and has designed innovative campaign technology and strategy in support of world leaders such as Al Gore, John Kerry and former Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin. Bitcasters is currently producing two computer games, one animated children’s television show and is developing Bitcast, the definitive online self-publishing resource.

Nikhil Hasija
CEO
BlastPodcast

Nikhil Hasija is the CEO of Blast Podcast, providers of the first ad-supported video podcast platform for Content Partners and Advertisers, operating in Vancouver and Washington DC.

Nikhil's background in advertising and technology lead to the creation of Blast Podcast in 2005 during the early days of Audio Podcasting; though the Company quickly expanded to apply its technology to include video.
His past experience includes online advertising and designing customer relationship management systems. He holds a Bachelor in electrical engineering from City College of New York and an MBA from Washington University in St. Louis.

Matthew F. Heindl
Director of Marketing
heavy.com

Matthew F. Heindl received a Bachelor of Arts (Advertising) from the University of Minnesota in 1995. After moving to Stockholm, Sweden shortly after graduation he helped found the American operations for Universum AB – the firm behind Fortune Magazine’s “MBA Top 50 Future Employers” list – where he was the Director of Marketing, North America. In 1998 Matthew threw his hat into the dot-com arena becoming the head of marketing at Kozmo.com then at online reality video hub Alltrue.com where he made Alltrue the first video-themed broadband site on the internet to hit more than 2 million unique visitors per month. He was the creator and spokesperson for the infamous FreakBox traveling interactive video experiment which lead to his involvement of the founding of the revolutionary interactive video bar Remote Lounge in New York City. He has judged and directed various niche film festivals in the NYC area.

Heindl joined Heavy Inc. in January 2004 as the Director of Marketing where he has been key in the rebirth of Heavy’s dominance in the broadband entertainment sector. He heads all online marketing efforts and the development on raw online “viral” talent.

Matt Hornburg
Partner & Producer
marblemedia

A co-founder of marblemedia, Matt is responsible for leading creative teams to execute both
television and digital media projects; a shocking development considering as a child he grew up
in the countryside without cable television and the internet.

Currently, Matt is Producer of Burnt Toast, a follow-up Rhombus Media co-production to the
award-winning, Toothpaste. Burnt Toast is an hour-long series of eight original comedic operas
for CBC, Bravo!, Channel 4 (UK), and ZDF/ARTE (Germany). It reunites the creative team of
composer Alexina Louie, writer Dan Redican, and director Larry Weinstein, and Hornburg as
producer. This summer, Matt is leading marble’s interactive division to create a web and
wireless extension of the project.

Recently, Matt produced A pairing of SwanS, an interactive educational DVD with former prima
ballerina, Veronica Tennant. Also, he was Creative Director on deafplanet.com Season 2 for
both web and TV which premiered on TVOntario and the World Wide Web in January of 2005.
He later led the interactive team on Sports Village, a sports-themed extension to the
deafplanet.com site, which launched March 2005.

Additionally, Matt acted as Executive Producer on Season 1 of This is Daniel Cook, a television
and web co-production with Toronto-based Sinking Ship Productions which is enjoying
tremendous success on Treehouse TV. A second season for television is currently in
production.

Every once in a while, Matt also likes to get out of the office. When he’s not around the marble
HQ, Matt is an active member of the industry, guest lecturing alongside business partner Mark
Bishop, at the Canadian Film Centre, WIFT-T, Sheridan College and also acts as a curriculum
advisor of new media at Centennial College. For two years he co-taught the third year new
media class for Ryerson’s School of Radio and Television Arts. He recently served as a jury
member of the OMDC/nmba administered Pl@tform fund. He is a member of the New Media
Business Alliance (nmba), the Alliance for Children and Television, the Canadian Film and
Television Production Association, and the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television. He is
also a Sagittarius and an only child, for which no membership dues are required.

Matt has been nominated for three Gemini Awards; for both Best Interactive and Most Popular
Website in 2004 as producer of deafplanet.com and for Best Picture Editing in 2001 on the
Rhombus Media project, Crossing Bridges, which he also co-produced. While none (to date)
have been wins, his parents have assured him that to them, he’ll always be a winner.

Mark Hyland
VP Marketing
QuickPlay Media

 

Zac Jacobs
General Manager,
Blaze Limited.

Zac founded famous3D in 1996 when he was Marketing Manager for Beam, the forerunner of Blaze. His skills in sales and marketing have been gained from over 18 years in international sales and marketing in the IT industry. Zac has worked for multinational firms in Sydney, Singapore and Tokyo and established Blaze's operations in the US while living there in 2000/01. His focus has always been on world markets and has considerable experience, developing local language and business cultural skills in many regions.

Before joining famous3D Zac headed up the International Marketing division of one of the Internet's first and most successful software companies, Sausage Software (makers of the popular HotDog web tool), as they grew from a small startup to a successful public company. Zac undertook his undergraduate studies at the University of New South Wales and his postgraduate marketing qualifications from Monash University in Melbourne.

Zac now oversees the global launch of the Kemeleon animated mobile phone messaging platform, which draws on famous3D character animation IP and makes it accessible to mobile phone users worldwide.

Jake Gold
President
the Management Trust

Jake Gold is one of Canada's most successful artist managers and music producers. He is co-owner of Kindling Music, an independent record label distributed by Warner Music, and of The Management Trust, through which he is best known for his role in establishing and transforming The Tragically Hip into a national icon. Gold also directs the careers of Gord Downie, Brian Byrne, Sass Jordan, Chris Koster and The Populars, among others.

"A rock and roll road warrior, Jake is both all business and all heart,"said Canadian Idol Executive Producer John Brunton."He looks for the 'feeling' in a performance. He loves the connection an artist makes with the audience. But watch out if you haven't done your homework."

Gold has been recognized by the annual Canadian Music Industry Awards as Manager of the Year in 1991, 1993 and 1994. He has been a member of the Television and Talent committee since the 2003 Juno Awards in Ottawa-Gatineau.

Additionally, Gold is in demand for his industry expertise and has been either moderator or panelist at Australia's Pacific Music Conference, Pollstar's†Concert Industry Consortium, Vancouver's NewMusicWest and both Canadian Music Week and North By Northeast in Toronto. He has also been a keynote speaker at the Canadian Organization of Campus Activities conference.

Gold's†devotion to music and art is matched by a strong focus on charity events and organizations. He is responsible for producing the War Child concert in Winnipeg, which drew crowds upwards of 100,000 people and raised over $400,000 for War Child Canada. He continues to donate his time to War Child and other various charities.

Gold grew up in Toronto, where he sang in top 40 bands in his teens. From 1979 to 1981, he lived in Los Angeles, doing lighting design for the Variety Arts Centre. After receiving a call from a friend, he returned to Toronto to become a tour manager and lighting guy for Hot Tip. That same year, the band reformed as mod-pop group The Purple Hearts and asked Gold to manage it.

"I've been a manager ever since," said Gold.

Jim Griffin
Managing Director
OneHouse LLC

Jim Griffin is Managing Director of OneHouse LLC, 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. 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.

Maria Hale
Vice President,
Content Business Development

As Vice President, Content Business Development, Maria is responsible for identifying new business and revenue opportunities that are incremental to CHUM's existing core business and that exploit new forms of commerce and distribution on emerging platforms. Reporting to the SVP, Content, with a direct line of report to the Executive Vice President, Radio, CHUM Limited for all radio-related issues, Maria also oversees CHUM’s successful Interactive department.

Maria joined CHUM Television in 1999 as Managing Director, CHUM Interactive. In this role she headed all new media initiatives for the company’s Interactive division and led a team of 30 internet specialists who design, produce and distribute CHUM’s world-renowned content and channel formats across all digital platforms. In 2003 Maria was appointed Vice President of Citytv Toronto where she was responsible for both the strategic planning and growth of Canada’s largest independent television station and its day-to-day operations.

Before joining CHUM, Maria was Launch Director for Excite Canada. Managing all aspects of the launch, she was instrumental in propelling the business into one of Canada’s leading portals.

Prior to her work with Excite, Maria was a director at TMP Worldwide, a $2 billion directory and recruitment agency. Among her accomplishments, Maria was responsible for evolving the Canadian directory advertising division from a data processing unit into a strategic ad consulting business that included a portfolio of new media offerings. She also held a senior position with Interactive Media Group (IMG), a networked context provider with annual sales of over $90 million, where she was responsible in part for establishing an office in Sydney, Australia that met aggressive revenue and profitability targets.

An active member in both television and new media communities, Maria is a member of the Canadian Association of Broadcaster’s Digital Policy Committee and a board member for the McLuhan International Festival of the Future.|

Maria holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of Western Ontario and received her MBA from McMaster University.

Raja Khanna
Co-Founder / Chief Creative Officer
QuickPlay Media

Raja Khanna is the founder of Snap Media, a leading digital media producer, and co-founder of QuickPlay Media Inc., a mobile media company. Raja is recognized as an authority on the development, packaging, publishing, and distribution of cross-media information and entertainment content and applications. His projects and companies develop unique content experiences across each of wireless, TV, iTV, and the web. He has been a speaker at the Banff Television Festival, NATPE, the International New Media Festival, AIMS Canada, IMAT, OMDC’s 6 Degrees of Integration, Convergence iTV, and Digifest among others. In Canada he has been a guest lecturer at University of Montreal, University of Calgary, Sheridan College, Seneca College and the Canadian Film Centre’s Habitat program. Raja is the Executive Producer of such award-winning online properties as Degrassi.tv, CBC’s ArtsCanada, PBS’s Bookworm Bunch, FranklinTheTurtle.com, ChumLimited.com and dragonbooster.com. His company QuickPlay Media operates the VOD services for Rogers Wireless and Telus in Canada and is in the process of launching next generation J2ME and BREW wireless media portals in the US.

Darren Herman
Co-Founder
IGA Worldwide

An entrepreneur in the alternative marketing mediums, Darren's successes first started roughly ten years ago when he launched his first start-up (start-up what?) focusing on the technology world.  Working closely with clients in the advertising, media, entertainment, and technology industries, Herman has handled clients ranging from public to private companies, as well, as global Fortune brands including eBay, FortuneCity, MyPhotoAlbum, Sony/BMG, Altlantic Records, Sprint Nextel, Ralston Purina, Subway, and No-Cal Soda to name a few.

In the 1990s, Darren established iComputerServices, LLC  (iCS) in order to start designing and developing websites and applications for small to medium sized companies.  Shortly after the launch of iCS, having designed over a dozen websites including the American Ideal Diamond Exchange and the SAS Group, Herman established GlobalWebSpace to host the websites.  GlobalWebSpace quickly grew to over 250 clients within a 3 month time frame which led the launch of an automated game serving company, TerminalX.  After two years of running GlobalWebSpace and TerminalX and managing a team of a half dozen server administrators located around the world, Herman sold the companies to a public company in the bandwidth business.

Herman then went to work for i33 Communications, one of the premier interactive agencies.  Darren worked with the new business teams for Sprint, Ralston Purina, Multex, and American Eagle Outfitters.  Leaving i33, Herman went to Student.com taking on the responsibilities for the entire website.  Herman worked directly with the development and management team to oversee all website design and overall marketing initiatives.  Student.com quickly grew to be one of Nielsen Netratings top sites for college and high school students.

After two years with Student.com, Herman went to become an in-house entrepreneur and product manager at Conducive Corporation and led the roll-out of the contextual bid-for-placement ad-network, adMarketplace.  After launching adMarketplace for eBay and various other major websites and communities successfully, Herman incubated Dynamify Productions, a full-service independent booking agency focused on mid-market bands.  While with Dynamify Productions Herman booked acts such as former New Kids on the Block, Columbia Records recording artist Ari Hest, Sire Records recording artist John Lardierie/Twin-A, and dozens of others through its numerous music booking agents, Herman led the acquisition of Fanlist.com, a premier email marketing company for the music space.  After three years of running Dynamify Productions and speaking at every major music tradeshow and conference across the USA including CMJ and SXSW on music marketing, digital distribution, and tour booking, Herman sold the business to a New York based record label.

Before starting [what is today] IGA Worldwide Inc., Herman did a brief stint at FortuneCity, the webís largest hosted community company, and transformed the business into a consumer sided organization.  MyPhotoAlbum was conceptualized and launched under the reigns of Darren Herman and, to date, has 30 million page views monthly including 2 million new pictures uploaded monthly, which makes it one of the fastest growing online photo sharing destinations.  Herman led all marketing initiatives for MyPhotoAlbum which led to multiple marketing awards.  MyPhotoAlbum became the official photo album of the Indie Music World Series, ESPNís Heisman Trophy Presentation, The Today Show, The Naked Cowboy (Times Square), and several other major entertainment events.

Darren Herman is currently working at IGA Worldwide Inc., as a co-founder of the company.  IGA is currently a venture backed in-game advertising company with over $12 million in oversubscribed funding.  Herman leads the business development group across advertising, publishing and technology. 

Darren Herman currently resides in Manhattan, NY. He recently graduated from Skidmore College of Saratoga Springs, NY  with a Bachelor of Sciences degree in business.  For leisure time, Darren enjoys fashion, music, and all sports.  He studies marketing and media fragmentation voraciously and contributes to his blog daily, which can be viewed by visiting  http://www.darrenherman.com.

Darren can be found lecturing at colleges, universities, and conferences.  Darren's credentials include numerous marketing awards, entrepreneurial awards, as well as being a valued source for quotes in major business publications.  Hermanís main line of focus is converging multiple media channels into established or emerging mediums.

Jason Hovey
Vice President, Kids and Educational Properties
Kaboose

Jason Hovey, who joined Kaboose Inc. in November 2005 as Vice-President of Kids & Educational Properties, is an industry leader in the online kids and education space.  Prior to joining Kaboose, Jason spent over seven years at Yahoo! focusing on kids and educational initiatives. After working as a senior editor and product development lead for Yahooligans!, Yahoo!ís award winning site for kids, Mr. Hovey served as General Manager for both Yahooligans! and Yahoo! Education.  As GM, he oversaw all aspects for these two distinct, multi-million dollar businesses, and focused on launching products and services used by over 10 million kids, parents, teachers, and lifelong learners each month. A specialist in developing both entertainment and educational products for kids online, Mr. Hovey was responsible for the launch and rapid growth of kid-safe versions of Yahoo! products like Games, Music, Search, News, Reference, and Movies as well as original offerings like Yahooligans! Animals, Science, Ecards, Jokes, and Horoscopes.

Prior to joining Yahoo! Mr. Hovey was an elementary school teacher in California, teaching second and seventh grades for several years before working as a K-6 technology coordinator helping teachers integrate computers, software, and the Internet into their daily lessons. Mr. Hovey has a BA in Political Science from UCLA, and received his California multiple subject teaching credential from the University of San Diego. He has been quoted in Reuters, the Associated Press, eMarketer, TheStreet.com, and Forbes.com for his extensive knowledge about building online kids products and appropriately advertising and marketing to kids online.

Salim Ismail
Co-Founder
PubSub

JSalim Ismail is a successful angel investor and entrepreneur. He has operated four early-stage companies, has just transitioned out of his fifth, and was recently nominated by Crain’s Magazine as one of New York City’s “Top 40 under 40” businesspeople for 2003. His blog can be found at www.salimismail.com.

Most recently, Salim co-founded and built PubSub Concepts, a New York based startup which builds internet-scale Publish/Subscribe systems and is redefining how content is delivered over the internet. The website, www.pubsub.com, was launched in early 2004 and is now a recognized leader in prospective search technology in the RSS and weblog (blog) space.

Salim started his career as a software engineer with CSC Europe and then joined ITIM Associates, a boutique consulting firm headquartered in London, as a business and technology strategy consultant. For five years, he led business restructuring projects for companies like Philips, NatWest Bank, Europcar, Whitbread, Carlson WagonLit and the UK Home Office. He finished by setting up the firm’s practice in France.

After building and operating two other early-stage companies, in April 2002 Salim founded the New York Grant Company, which in its first year attracted over 400 clients and delivered over $12 million of federal grants to the local economy. The company was built solely on cashflow, received innumerable accolades and is thriving.

In 2001, Salim was presented with a New York City Award of Recognition by the Giuliani Administration. He frequently presents at conferences on the topics of private equity, technology and digital media.

 

Dr. David H Jacobson
Director Technology Advisory
Price Waterhouse Coopers

Dr. David Jacobson, Director-Technology, Advisory Services, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is the Canadian member of the PwC international technology network which includes resources in California, UK and Europe. David has served as a Board Member of the Canadian Photonics Consortium. Respected internationally for his breadth and depth of technology understanding, David has recently been appointed to the Editorial Board of the premier emerging technologies journal IEEE Spectrum.

David’s responsibilities include technology-business reviews and advice for PwC and its clients, venture capitalists and banks covering: technology thought-leadership presentations and technology and new product development strategy. David’s technology and business background and experience as a former professor at Harvard University, senior executive in international industry and in venture capital are of particular benefit to clients in bringing a uniquely refreshing perspective on emerging technologies and their prospects.

The multimedia, broadband, wireless, TV, video games, consumer devices and software sectors are all undergoing significant change and that presents significant strategic opportunity and risk to small, mid-sized and niche players. David’s experience in helping a wide range of technology companies review and adapt their strategic position has enabled many companies to enhance their value.

Richard Kanee
Supervising Producer, Interactive
CHUM Television

Richard Kanee has worked in various capacities within CHUM Television Interactive for over six years.  In his latest position as Supervising Producer, Richard is responsible for the overall growth of MuchMusic and CHUM’s youth brands across emerging digital platforms including web, mobile and interactive television. Previously, as Manager of New Media Business Development, Richard has overseen the development of iTV, EnhancedTV, wireless services, online games, convergent television and exclusive Internet properties.  His recent projects have included the launch of PunchMuch and RazerTXT SMS controlled interactive broadcast channels, mobile VoD services and the MuchPhone, MuchMusic branded handset with Rogers wireless. 

Joe Kennedy
CEO
Pandora.com

 

Friedrich Kirschner
Producer, Director, Developer
Zeitbrand

 

Albert Lai
CEO
Bubbleshare

Albert leads BubbleShare's hard-working team with his compulsive need to find new ways to do "things" better, a maniacal desire to build these "things", and his midnight runs to the grocery store for "fuel" for our developers. Prior to founding BubbleShare Albert spent the last decade founding and running a variety of startups in the fields of educational software development, electronic marketing, online publishing, e-commerce, peer-to-peer software, and others. Some turned out better than others, but virtually all of them gave him the great opportunity to write about himself like this in the third person. He has gotten much better at it!

In his early days, before the consumer Web emerged, Albert created what is recognized to be the first "CD-ROM Yearbook" (coined a "Yeardisc") while he was still in high school. This was considered marginally insane since most people at the time didn't even have basic audio output on their computers.

Not long after, Albert was involved in creating interactive marketing productions for a variety of international organizations under his production company, Frogdog. Since his discovery of the first graphical Web browser, he has focused on developing Web-based tools that do cool things.

Notable ventures include MyDesktop (publishing network, sold for a few million buckaroos), BuyBuddy (comparison shopping agent, raised a few million buckaroos), and IdleAgent (self-healing p2p storage software, Nasdaq blew up = no buckaroos).

He loves photography, small animals, and creating last-minute feature requests to stress out the development team. During his spare time he likes long walks on the beach (except when it's' snowing in Toronto), candle-lit dinners, being grilled by prospective investors, and writing silly bios for other people.

Albert blogs at http://simplyalbert.blogspot.com/.

J.D. Lasica
Executive Director
OurMedia

J.D. Lasica is co-founder and chairman of Ourmedia, a free nonprofit
repository and community site for grassroots video, audio, photos and
text. A writer and blogger, his book about the personal media
revolution -- "Darknet: Hollywood's War Against the Digital
Generation" -- is the result of two years of reporting and research.
J.D blogs about citizens media, digital rights and videoblogging at
Newmediamusings.com, Darknet.com and RealPeopleNetwork.com. He lives
in the San Francisco area.

Lucie Lalumière
VP & GM Interactive, Television
Corus Entertainment Inc.

Lucie Lalumière joined Corus Entertainment Inc. as Vice President and
General Manager Interactive, Television in December 2005 and is responsible
for leading the production of online properties and developing new
interactive business opportunities for Corus Television.

Previously, Ms. Lalumière was Executive Director of New Media at
Radio-Canada, heading up new media initiatives, including the award-winning
Radio-Canada.ca, one of the top web destinations in Canada. She also oversaw
Internet and wireless partnership development for CBC and Radio-Canada for
over 6 years, and was chair of the international multimedia committee of the
Communauté des Télévisions Francophones. She sat on the board of the Bell
Broadcast and New Media Fund from 2002 to 2005.Ms. Lalumière is a member of the New Media Business Alliance (NMBA) Board of Directors.

With more than a decade of experience in the online industry, Ms. Lalumière
has held a number of strategic positions, notably the development of
multimedia applications at Bell and online bilingual content at Sympatico,
where she served as General Manager of online French services.
Ms. Lalumière holds an undergraduate degree in management of information
systems from Université de Sherbrooke and an MBA from McGill University,
completed at New York University¹s Interactive Telecommunications Program..

Michael Lee
Chief Strategy Officer
Rogers Communications Inc.

Michael Lee is Chief Strategy Officer for Rogers Communications Inc. Mr. Lee is responsible for strategy development, business development, and strategic partner management for the Rogers Communications’ group of companies which include Rogers Cable, Rogers Wireless and Rogers Media.

Previously, Mr. Lee held the role of Vice President, Strategy and Development for Rogers Cable where he managed the development of new businesses and services for video, high speed Internet and telephony.

Jeff Leiper
Director, Canadian Market Strategies
Yankee Group

As a Yankee Group director of the Canadian Market Strategies Decision Service, Jeff Leiper manages research and programs that help service providers and technology companies position themselves in the Canadian telecommunications marketplace. His current areas of focus include voice over internet telephony, IPTV, broadband deployments and applications, wireless, enterprise developments, and developments in telecommunications, broadcast and communications law and regulation.

Before joining Yankee Group, he served as publisher and editor-in-chief of Decima Reports, a respected group of telecommunications, internet and broadcast trade newsletters. He provided a blue chip roster of Canadian subscribers with news and analysis that assisted private- and public-sector decision-makers. He was the editor of one publication while overseeing the editorial and strategic direction of the company, including the creation of new information products.

Leiper holds two B.A. degrees from the University of Ottawa, and a diploma in print journalism from Algonquin College in Ottawa. He has been a regular media commentator on digital copyright and new media issues, as well as wireless spectrum and telecommunications regulatory developments in Canada. He has served as a frequent moderator of industry panels, and served on several advisory bodies and juries.

James Lewis
Editor, Canadian NEW MEDIA/Canadian Communications Reports

James was born in Birmingham, England and emigrated to Canada with his family at age 4. Before joining Decima Reports, he was associate editor and later managing editor at Canadian Investment Review, a Rogers Publishing quarterly aimed at the institutional investment and pension finance community. He also simultaneously served as a contributing editor on another Rogers publication, Benefits Canada. Prior to that, he worked for another Rogers magazine, Channel Business, as news/online editor. In 1998, James joined the staff of CANOE, Sun Media Corp.'s online presence, as online editor--and later senior editor--at CANOE Money. His work has been nominated for several Kenneth R. Wilson business press awards.

 

Alexander Manu
Director, Beal Centre for Strategic Creativity
Ontario College of Art & Design

Alexander Manu is an author, lecturer, professor and the director of the Beal Centre for Strategic Creativity at the Ontario College of Art & Design. Before joining the Beal Centre, Alexander was the founder – in 1980 - and Principal of Axis Group International, an applied research consultancy committed to enabling companies develop policies and strategies that address emerging issues. Alexander is involved in the development of new learning ecologies, new business competencies and concepts that integrate a broad range of skills; he specializes in the application of play behavior in strategic innovation methodologies, new economic and business models and the creation of compelling user experiences.

Alexander has a unique ability as conceptual creator; his imaginative frameworks lead to the discovery of new and innovative paths, and the creation of experiences that evoke emotion, insight and understanding. He believes that the exploration of possibility requires imagination as a prerequisite for strategic change and innovation. A member of various national and international professional and advisory boards, he has been involved in an exceptional and sustained activity as an international lecturer, giving over 100 lectures in 22 countries.

He is the author the books: "ToolToys: Tools with an Element of Play", 1995, and "The Big Idea of Design", 1999 as well as of over 20 articles published in national and international periodicals. His most recent book “The Imagination Challenge” will be published by Peachpit Press in July of 2006.

Paul Marino
Executive Director, Academy of Machinima Arts & Sciences
Author, 3D Game-based Filmmaking: The Art of Machinima
Acting Creative Director, Machinima.com

Paul Marino is an award-winning Machinima director and designer, having worked in this medium for the past seven years. He leads the Academy of Machinima Arts and Sciences, a non-profit organization to promote Machinima, as its executive director and oversees the Academy's annual Machinima Film Festival.  He's the author of the world's first book about Machinima: 3D Game-based Filmmaking: The Art of Machinima (Paraglyph Press, August 2004) and has recently collaborated with Rooster Teeth Productions (Red Vs. Blue) on a series of Machinima shorts for the Independent Film Channel. Paul is also the co-founder of the pioneering Machinima team, the ILL Clan, who combine Machinima production with live improvisation.

Paul has been interviewed for numerous Machinima articles by the New York Times, USA Today, Entertainment Weekly, NPR, Wall Street Journal, PBS, ARTE, G4TechTV, the Economist and CNN. Additionally, Paul has led Machinima presentations at the Stuttgart FilmWinter, SF-MoMA, the Florida Film Festival, the Edinburgh Interactive Entertainment Festival and the Austin Game Conference. In January 2005, Paul moderated the first Machinima panel ever at the Sundance Film Festival.

Prior to his involvement with Machinima, Mr. Marino was a broadcast graphics and animation professional for 14 years, winning a number of industry awards, including an Emmy for his animation work with TBS.

Anne Marie Maduri
President
Mimesis Capital Corp.

Anne Marie’s experience in financial services over the past 10 years spans numerous equity research and investment banking roles with boutique and bank-owned investment dealers. From the start, the focus of her work has been on the nascent new media sector - or until very recently - the components of that sector including media & entertainment, software, Internet, and telecom & cable, hardware and ‘special situations’. Since her formative academic work in ‘culture and technology’ and ‘multimedia’ Anne Marie has complemented her ongoing interest in New Media scholarship with her work in Finance. She holds MBA in Finance, and through her company, mimesis capital corp. advises and shapes New Media companies for growth and investment.

Barnaby Marshall
Partner
Pod10

Barnaby Marshall was born in London England, and educated at U of T’s Trinity College, graduating in 1991 with a degree in English and Philosophy. A computer enthusiast since his father brought home an Atari 400 for Christmas, 1980, Barnaby has worked in media production for more than 15 years, spanning the fields of television production, website development, and print journalism. From 1996 to 2000 he ran Shift Magazine’s online department, while the current century has seen him and his wife and partner, Carmen Dunjko, tackle projects such as Toronto’s Drake Hotel (strategy, branding, positioning, technical infrastructure and staff training) Soulpepper Theatre and the Young Centre For The Performing arts.

Brian McKechnie
Co-Founder
commandN

Brian is a film and video producer specializing in content for the Internet. His body of work includes the feature film "P.O.V", the music video "Mine" for New Zealand artist Melayne Web and the weekly video Podcast "commandN". For more information about Brian and his
work please visit bamcat.com.

David McGirr
Creative Director
Illumina Digital Ltd

David is Creative Director at Illumina Digital Ltd, a new media and TV production company in West London. Davie is the creative driving force behind Illumina's many award winning e-content and e-learning projects including Stagework for the National Theatre which won 2 Baftas, the UN World Summit Award and the UK Association of Online Publishers Award for Design.

Davie has a BA in Economics, an MA in Design and has been designing websites since 1994 although some of the early ones were not very good. His skills focus on the user experience rather than the enabling technology, which he thinks should just do the right thing.

He's been with Illumina for five years and has worked with a variety of clients such as Universal Music, Hulton Getty, British Museum, Microsoft Network, Channel 4, the Welsh Assembly, Random House, Scottish Executive, Department of Culture Media and Sport, British Medical Journal, Haymarket Publishing, Teachersí TV and, at sometime, probably almost all of the BBC departments. He was almost entirely responsible for the, now infamous, 100 Welsh Heroes project.

Davie is currently working with the Royal Shakespeare Company, developing their productions of A Midsummer Nightís Dream, Hamlet and Macbeth into an online resource. Heís also working on a large groundbreaking exhibition with the Centre of the Cell at Queen Maryís University in the East End of London. The team at Illumina are working on a number of projects including two of the BBCís Jam services, a set of post 16 education project for the UK Governmentís Department of Education and the BBCís first online soap opera, Wannabes.

Alistair Mitchell
Chief Executive Officer,
Puretracks Inc.

Mr. Mitchell brings over ten years of senior level experience to Puretracks, including leadership positions in the media, marketing and internet sectors.

An award winning documentary and recording producer with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and later a senior manager within Bank of Montreal's corporate marketing and communications group, Mr. Mitchell founded Puretracks and spearheaded the launch of one of North America's first licensed digital music providers. Under his leadership, the Company
has developed rapidly, securing key relationships with major content providers, strategic equity investments, and a leading position among digital music providers in both Canada and the US. Recipient of theinternational Gabriel Award for broadcasting achievement, and frequent
speaker on the digital media sector, Mr. Mitchell holds a Dean's list MBA from the Rotman School of Management at University of Toronto, and a
Bachelor of Music from McGill University.

Matthew Mullenweg
Founder
WordPress& Automattic

 

 

Gabe Nachman
Gabriel Nachman, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

Gabe graduated from the University of Toronto in 1970 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in
Economics. In 1970 he commenced employment with McDonald, Currie & Co. (predecessor of
Coopers & Lybrand in Canada and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP) and enrolled as a student in
accounts with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario. In 1973 Gabe qualified as a
Chartered Accountant. Therefore he has over thirty continuous years of accounting, auditing
and consulting experience. In 1979, Gabe was admitted to Partnership in Coopers & Lybrand
and has worked in that capacity since, including in the successor firm,
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.

Gabe has had partner responsibility for a wide variety of audit and consulting engagements for
private and publicly traded companies primarily in the retail, franchise, wholesale distribution,
real estate and entertainment and media industries as well as large family holding companies.
Some of his former and present clients in these industries include:

Jim Munroe
No Media Kings

Jim Munroe lives with his wife in Toronto's Annex neighbourhood above an
ice cream shop and an income tax office, which would be convenient
except that he's a vegan who does his own taxes. His fourth novel is
called An Opening Act of Unspeakable Evil. He runs a monthly indie
touring circuit called The Perpetual Motion Roadshow, did a videogame
column for alt-weekly eye and theculturalgutter.com, and annually puts
out Novel Amusements, a DVDzine. He invites you to visit his website
nomediakings.org, which has do-it-yourself articles on book and video
making and news about his latest projects.

Kerry Munro
General Manager
Yahoo! Canada

Kerry Munro joined Yahoo! Canada in 2005 as general manager where he is responsible for leading the company’s operations and managing the strategic direction and growth.

In this leadership role, Munro supports and guides a talented management team that includes advertising sales, business development, finance, marketing, PR and product. He and the team continue to drive Yahoo! Canada as the Internet destination of choice for Canadians to find the products and services essential to them and to offer a full range of tools and marketing solutions for businesses to connect with Internet users across Canada and around the world.

Munro’s more than 20 years of experience in business development, marketing and strategic relationship management provides Yahoo! Canada with a strong leader. He has a proven record of developing strategic growth models, managing mergers, acquisitions and alliances, and in marketing technology products and services.

Munro has historically been an agent for change having been responsible for creating and growing businesses at leading companies including Bell Canada, AT & T. His entrepreneurial spirit led him to start his own business, KBM Marketing, where he provided marketing and growth consulting to startups and multi-million dollar organizations alike.

In 2005 Munro was recognized by Marketing Magazine as one of Canada’s top influential marketers. He is a graduate of the University of Toronto and received an MBA from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.

McLean Mashingaidze-Greaves
President, Founder
The Nimble Company

Described by the Village Voice as a “black web hero,”  Toronto Star as a "something of a CBC wunderkind" and as a "techno whiz kid" by FFWD magazine, MMG brings an original perspective to content development and programming, leveraging a unique tri-medial mix of software, broadcast and print experience.

As executive producer of the groundbreaking interactive nightly CBC series, ZeD, MMG was the driving creative force behind a revolutionary format that landed 5 Gemini nominations in its inaugural season as well as selection in the prestigious 2003 INPUT TV conference (Denmark) and 2 Leo Awards (including Best Variety Show). His second season followed up with more acclaim including Gemini, Webby and a prestigious Emmy® nomination for Advanced Media. Season three landed four Gemini nominations and a Media Person Of The Year nomination at the Western Canadian Music Awards. Most recently, MMG created and executive produced Burning To Shine, an intimate documentary on the rapper K-OS collaborating with the CBC Radio Orchestra.

The NIMBLE Company signals MMG's return into new media entrepreneurialism, after producing 300+ episodes of music, variety & interactive public broadcasting. Prior to his recent foray in television, MMG was an internet content pioneer in New York City where, as founder of the urban dotcom company VMI, he was twice selected as a Silicon Alley "cyber star" by the Village Voice and Virtual City magazines. His new media work has drawn positive reviews from the likes of The New Yorker, Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wired and Crain's Business Weekly. Former clients include filmmaker Spike Lee, music mogul Sean "P-Diddy" Combs and media giant Time Warner. MMG's NYC days also included stints as VP of Content at HBO's Volume.com, Associate New Media Editor at PAPER magazine and contributor to Essence, Vibe, BET Weekend & The Source magazines. As a guest lecturer, MMG has presented at the 2005 PBS Technology Conference, Western Canadian Music Awards, New York University, Columbia University School of Business, Pratt Institute and more.

Rick Nathan
Managing Director, Goodmans Venture Group


Rick Nathan brings many years of experience as an entrepreneur, investor and professional advisor to his leadership role as Managing Director of Goodmans Venture Group. At Goodmans, Rick acts as legal counsel and as a strategic business advisor to emerging growth companies and to investors. Rick currently serves as President of the CVCA, Canada's Venture Capital and Private Equity Association, where he represents private
capital market investors from across the country.

Prior to joining Goodmans Venture Group, Rick was one of the three founding partners of Brightspark, anearly-stage investment fund and software development group in Toronto, formed in 1999. At Brightspark,Rick and his partners raised and managed one of Canada's leading early-stage venture capital funds, and created an organization with hands-on management expertise in all areas relevant to the success of growing software companies. At Brightspark, Rick was primarily responsible for leadership of all financings and other
strategic transactions for the Brightspark Ventures, L.P. fund and its portfolio companies, and oversaw all financial and legal operational matters.

Prior to founding Brightspark, Rick spent more than ten years as a corporate and securities lawyer at one of Canada's leading law firms, where he was a leader of the firm's Technology Business Group. In that role, Rick spent several years as a key advisor to early-stage growth companies in the software, communications, media, biotech and other technology sectors, as well as institutional and corporate investors, private equity and venture capital funds.
Rick is a graduate of Dartmouth College (B.A. Computer Science) and the University of Toronto (LL.B.) and is admitted to the practice of law in the Province of Ontario and the State of New York.

Michael O'Connor Clarke
Vice President, Business Development
Marqui

A seasoned marketing professional, Michael O'Connor Clarke has spent almost twenty years in and around the corporate communications universe, including stints as a senior vice president and practice director with two of the world’s largest PR agencies. He is currently Vice President, Business Development for Marqui; a Vancouver-based developer of Marketing Automation software. In other roles he has lead worldwide marketing for a large publicly-traded technology firm, been part of a team that took a software startup from zero to IPO in nine months, and provided strategic marketing and communications counsel to clients such as AOL, Compaq, eBay, H&R Block, Intel, MDS, and many others. A blogger since 2000, Michael’s main blog is at michaelocc.com. He also contributes to a number of well-known group blogs, including Flackster – a blog focused on the changing nature of public relations. He studied Philosophy at the University of Wales and currently serves on the advisory boards of two private Toronto-based companies.

Mark Northwood
Vice President of Licensing, The Americas
Nelvana

Mark Northwood joined Nelvana as Vice President of Licensing, North America in 2003. His remit was recently expanded to include Latin America and South America. Northwood oversees the Americas licensing team, negotiates and manages master toy agreements and initiates and executes retail plans across multiple categories and brands.

Northwood is a seasoned business executive with extensive toy market experience in Canada. He has more than 10 years of experience in senior positions with Thinkway Toys, The Walt Disney Co (Canada) Ltd. and Hasbro Canada. 

Previously, Northwood was Vice President, New Business and Technology for Markham-based Thinkway Toys, where he led the marketing efforts and worked with the Hong Kong office to launch lines in the electronic figure, plush and play set businesses. In this role, Northwood developed plans to market Thinkway’s product lines both directly in the U.S. and Canada and through distributors across Europe.

Northwood holds a BA in Economics from the University of Western Ontario.

Jennifer Ouano

Jennifer has over 14 years of experience as a producer, director, journalist, host and consultant in the television, new media, radio and film industries. She is committed to pushing the boundaries of media in fresh and compelling ways, and passionate about creating and producing innovative, multi-platform entertainment.

Jennifer was awarded the 2005 Women in Film and Video’s prestigious Woman of Vision Award. She also won a 2004 Leo Award and was nominated for two Gemini Awards for her work on CBC TV’s ZeD. She was one of the key individuals responsible for garnering a 2004 Advanced Media Technology Emmy nomination for ZeD.

As ZeD’s convergence maven and an original architect of the program, Jennifer was instrumental in developing and producing this acclaimed series. Jennifer's creative flair, new media mindset, logistical aptitude and tireless work ethic are significant reasons why ZeD is internationally recognized as great television/web.

Susan J. Peacock
Vice President
CMPDA, Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association

SUSAN J. PEACOCK is a graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School and called to the bar of Ontario. She has been in-house counsel to Baton Broadcasting, and First Choice Canadian Communications Corporation (The Movie Network). She also practised law chiefly in the areas of film and television financing, production and distribution. She was Chair of the Board of YTV Canada Inc. from 1988 until 1996. Ms. Peacock is Vice President of both Copyright Collective of Canada and The Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association. She is a co-author of Hughes on Copyright and Industrial Design, published by Butterworths.

Steve Pratt
Director
CBC Radio3

Steve Pratt is the Director of CBC Radio 3, a unit of the public broadcaster
that focuses on emerging Canadian music.  In the last year, CBC Radio 3 has
launched Canada's #1 music podcast, a new satellite radio station on Sirius,
and a revamped website, cbcradio3.com.  Prior to CBC Radio 3, Steve has
worked with MuchMusic, CTV, and AOL Canada.

Sheila Robinson
Managing Director
Solvebrand Limited

Providing a breadth of business support tools and services, online and face-to-face. Solvebrand specialises in incubation and global growth for organisations. Mentoring companies like 23 YYZee who produce Pax Warrior educational software.

Sheila has particular expertise in Digital Media and wireless applications, and is affiliated to the International Centre to New Media in Salzburg (jointly developing online business planning for new media companies), and an advisory board member for the Banff New Media Institute in Canada.

She is also chairing Worldwoman; a charity creating online news from Africa, written entirely by women journalists, and last year worked for the UK Commission for Africa/Culture & Participation Commissioner Sir Bob Geldof on the benefit of IT, mobile & new media in economic development in Africa. As a result of that work she was invited to moderate and present for infoDev at their Middle East & North African Incubator conference, Jan 2006.

Mike Ryan
Managing Director
Idaho Technology Limited

Mike graduated in Information Technology in the early 1990's and initially worked on the original OSI standards for CGM and SGML and implementing on standards with the ADA language. He has lectured in all aspects of ICT, specialising in the social and user-centric elements at Manchester University.

Forming Idaho in early 1995, he has established himself as a leading player in the North West's New Media community, driving forward innovative solutions. Mike is Company Secretary of Manchester Digital, the region's new media trade association, chair of employers at Manchesterís New Technology Institute and the chair of personal broadcasting for Manchester: Knowledge Capital. Idahoís products include a online learner portfolio system used by 47,000 students aged 14-19 in Greater Manchester and an public sector monitoring system used to audit European projects in the public sector.

A keen futurologist, he regularly speaks on future technology and is currently advising the largest University in Western Europe on its long term IT strategy and Idaho is working with the BBC on some innovative labs that take BBC online content delivery to a new level. He is happy to share his vision of the future with other delegates.

Adeo Ressi

Nicholas Reichenbach
Director of Business Development
Gamefederation

Nicholas Reichenbach has over ten years experience in the music, media, technology, games and entertainment industries. Nicholas has successfully brokered international partnerships with companies such as, Microsoft¹s X-Box, MTV, Motorola, T-mobile, HP, Intel, EA, Universal Music Group, Sony Music/BMG and Napster through various projects ranging from Mobile gaming & Music ,digital asset management, IP licensing, B2B/D2C mobile content
distribution/publishing and corporate sponsorship to integrated 360°marketing campaigns directed at mass market product exposure.

Implementing global strategic and mobile content partnerships with world leading companies such as Intel, Hewlett Packard (Mobile Services), Samsung, Monster Mob PLC and Microsoft's MSN as well as developing relationship with world leading mobile publishers such as Jamdat, Ifone, Namco, In-fusio, M-forma, Telcogames and EA mobile.

While at Gamefederation , Nicholas created and excuted D2C and B2C
cross-pollination (360°) campaigns involving mobile entertainment
products, music,interactive content & videogames through mobile media
(WAP), traditional print and broadcast media for Internet & mobile
communities totaling 20 million members in Europe, North America and
Asia.

Paul Robertson
President, Television,
Corus Entertainment Inc.

As President of the Television Division of Corus Entertainment, Paul Robertson leads the growth and development of an exciting group of specialty television services: YTV, W, Treehouse, CMT, Discovery Kids, Scream and The Documentary Channel. Additionally, Mr. Robertson is responsible for Movie Central: Corus' pay movie business in Western Canada; Corus Custom Networks which offers local cable advertising; Max Trax: Corus' pay digital music service; as well as conventional television stations in Central Ontario. Robertson joined the company as President of YTV in 1997.

The television division has grown dramatically during his tenure with the addition of new acquisitions as well as strong organic growth. Before joining YTV, Mr. Robertson held senior marketing and sales executive positions in broadcasting with CTV and Baton including President of Baton Broadcast Sales from 1995 – 1996 and Senior Vice President of Programming and Marketing at CTV Television Network. Previously, he also held various marketing positions with General Foods, Saatchi and Saatchi and Campbell Soup.

Mr. Robertson holds an Honors Degree in Business Administration from the Richard Ivy School of Business at the University of Western Ontario.

Alan Sawyer
Strategy Consultant
IBM Canada

Alan Sawyer is senior strategy consultant in the Canadian Media and Entertainment practice within IBM Business Consulting Services and is the author of The End of television as we know it ñ a Canadian perspective, a companion piece to the IBM Institute for Business Valueís study The end of televison as we know it: A future industry perspective.  Mr. Sawyer has an extensive background in the area of digital content and brings a unique combination of technical and business perspectives to his analysis of the Canadian television industry and of emerging technologies and business models.  He has addressed the Central Canada Broadcast Engineers (CCBE) and the Canadian Satellite Users Association (CSUA) on the subject of digital content management in broadcasting and is an active member of the Toronto chapter of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) and of the Canadian Telecommunications Consultants Association (CTCA). 

Ana Serrano
Director, Habitat Canadian Film Centre
H@bitat

 

Colin D. Sharman
Senior Manager
RBC Media & Entertainment

Viewed as an industry authority in the Film & Television Distribution, Animation and Visual Effects sectors, Colin is responsible for a diverse portfolio of clients that operate in the North American Media & Entertainment market. Ranging from publicly traded US studios to small privately owned upstart companies; his portfolio further encompasses the New Media, Sports Entertainment, Broadcasting and Recording industries. Colin has been a member of the Commercial Banking team with RBC for the past 7 years. He is an honours graduate of a top-ranked Canadian business school and a member of the Canadian Film & Television Producers’ Association, Ontario Association of Broadcasters and American Film Institute.

For over 25 years the RBC Royal Bank, Media & Entertainment Group has been the leading provider of “boutique style” specialized financial services to the Media & Entertainment sector in Canada through their dedicated offices in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal and Halifax.

Eli Singer
Strategist
CundariSFP / Singer.to

Eli Singer develops integrated marketing strategies leveraging the Internet, new media, and online communities. He has consulted for Fortune 500 firms, and works with a range of CundariSFP clients including LG, BMW, Allstream, National Car Rental and BMW. Eli is the New Media Advisor to the Art Gallery of Ontario, and participated in writing the 2004 business bestseller The Power of the 2x2 Matrix. He has contributed to Strategy & Leadership, Slashdot and The Torontoist, and maintains his own blog at Singer.to. Eli holds an honors degree from The Richard Ivey School of Business and has studied internationally. He currently lives in Toronto.

Martin Thomas
Director, Business Development
Ericsson Canada Inc.

Martin S. Thomas has spent over 17 years in the Telecom industry, and joined
Ericsson in 1997. Throughout his career, Mr. Thomas has held various
positions which have included business development, product management, and
software development. Mr. Thomas is currently responsible for business
development for Ericsson's Service Layer and Systems Integration portfolio.

While at Ericsson, he has held positions in the in the UK and Canada. Prior
to joining Ericsson, Mr. Thomas spent 8 years with Nortel Networks.

Martin S. Thomas is a graduate of the Computer Science Program at Concordia
University, Montréal, Quebec.

Ian Verchere
Founding Partner
Proving Ground Media

Ian Verchere is an Executive Producer and Creative Director specializing in video games,
intellectual property and branded entertainment. Since graduating with honors from the Emily Carr College of Art and Design in 1989, he has been involved in the creation and production of over 30 video and computer games, including the million-plus selling SSX Tricky and NBA Street V2 for Electronic Arts, and the classic best-selling Sega Genesis title Beavis and Butt-head for MTV.

Currently, Verchere is working on branded entertainment initiatives for Napster and Pepsi, and providing gaming expertise and integrated media consultation to TracyLocke, a leading brand activation network. In addition, Verchere has two original features in development, and is completing his first book, a non- fiction title for Douglas & McIntyre, to be published in 2006.

Verchere was recently elected to the Foundation Board of the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in Vancouver, and is a member of the Bachelor of Media Arts advisory committee for the Institution. He is a frequent presenter at Vidfest, the Computer Game Developers Conference, the Rotterdam Film Festival, iTV, and the Banff World Television Festival.

James Walker
Co-Founder
Bryght

James is a software developer with an insatiable appetite for new,
collaborative and/or disruptive internet technologies. He most
recently co-founded Bryght (http://www.bryght.com/), a Vancouver- based
technology company focused on providing hosting, services and
expertise around Drupal, a popular open-source content management
system.

Wendy Walters
President
Right Think Inc.

Wendy Walters thrives on challenge, fresh ideas, and disciplined thinking. She has a reputation of being a respected mentor and a vibrant leader and is most on her game when she’s thinking about the hearts and minds of consumers. Wendy believes the ‘how’ is an important tactical step but that the ‘who’ and the ‘why’ are the critical strategic spokes that make any medium more meaningful -be it a mobile messaging campaign or a television spot, branded entertainment programming, or direct marketing. Status Quo is not good enough for Wendy, which is why she doesn’t like to stay still for too long. She’s pursuing the ‘surprise’, the ‘gasp’, the power of inventive thinking that won’t slow down.

Wendy has a career that includes senior management roles at major advertising agencies (MacLaren McCann and Saatchi & Saatchi), an exhilarating time Client side working with Rothman’s, Benson & Hedges on some of the country’s largest and most high profile events as well as some that would surprise you (ever heard of bike courier races – the Alley Cat Scramble rocked!). Wendy has moved metal with General Motors and built castles with Lego Canada. She worked with the Royal Bank when the ‘big six’ had major perception problems and she worked with British Airways when open-skies threatened their international stronghold. Wendy dissected the ‘cocktail crowd’ for Bacardi Martini brands and she developed the first ever women’s car care program for General Motors. Wendy also built the strategy and masterbrand architecture for The Bay that resulted in ‘Shopping is Good’. She’s increased business 30% for Vital Steps fitness centers with the ‘building strong women’ platform and developed a refer a friend viral marketing campaign for her U.S. contract with Arts & Exhibitions International.

Wendy has been running a brand consultancy for the last 5 years, taking on projects and contracts with like-minded companies who embrace change with open arms, an open mind, and trust in the partnership. She is a regular contributor to Marketing Magazine and, manages to surround her kids with kisses every day. She is currently reading “Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister” by Gregory Maguire.

Miles Welch
Managing Director
Victoria Real

Miles joined Victoria Real in 2004 to strengthen the company's delivery, improve creativity and drive strategic growth.  He achieved this by repositioning VR within the marketplace and implementing a strategic growth plan. 

Prior to joining Victoria Real, Miles worked at Channel 4, where he was responsible for delivering the biggest project in the UK's interactive calendar, Big Brother 5.

Miles began his career in advertising, working as an account manager on finance, automotive and beverage accounts. In 1995 he moved into digital media, working for various companies including Oyster Partners, Cable & Wireless and Saatchi & Saatchi. 

Miles is an Immunology graduate from Kingís College London.  In his spare time, Miles is a keen runner and has completed numerous ultra-marathon distance races including the Jordan Desert Cup, a 105-mile non-stop race across the Jordanian desert and the Gobi March, a 160-mile race across the Gobi Desert in Western China 

Dianne Williamson
President and Executive Producer
Digital Wizards Inc.

Diane established Digital Wizards in 1996 following a successful career of Senior Production Management at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Since inception Digital Wizards has produced a variety of quality interactive media with a content specialization in the areas of culture, heritage, travel and education.

Working with the Digital Wizards creative team Diane has been responsible for producing award winning websites, innovative publishing projects, interactive games, and multiple cross platform projects across TV and interactive media.

In March 2006 Diane was selected as the Project Manager for www.cultureconsultants.ca The Association of Cultural Executives (ACE) and the Centre for Cultural Management (CCM) intend to launch a new online resource to bridge the gap between consultants and cultural organizations looking for skilled expertise, and funding agencies. The project, with initial funds from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council, is to be launched in late 2006, with subsequent upgrades over the next four years.

Diane is a member of the advisory committee on Digital Media to the Ontario Media Development Corporation, as well as the Canadian Film and Television Producers Association and is a board member of the New Media Business Alliance.

Diane is also a founding member Equal Voice, a multi-partisan national advocacy group addressing the issue of women’s under representation at all levels of government in Canada.

Andy Wright
Director, Business Development Consumer Wireless Services
Bell Mobility

Andy has been with Bell Mobility, a leading Canadian carrier for 3 years. He
currently holds the position of Director, Business Development Consumer
Wireless Services where he manages strategic partnerships with leading data
related products ranging from games to text to music to video.

In the last three years at Bell Mobility, Andy has been responsible for
sourcing and launching content using various new mobile phone technologies
including premium inter-carrier SMS, Java applications, Music, LBS, and
Video. He has worked with industry leading content providers in a variety of
genres including MSN, WWE, Olympics, Universal Music, Warner Music, NHL,
CTV, The Weather Network, Much Music, Sega, Namco, THQ, Sony Pictures,
Disney, Universal Pictures etc.

Bob Young
Founder & CEO
Lulu

 

Charles Zamaria
Project Co-Director & Principal Co-Investigator
Canadian Internet Project

Charles Zamaria is Project Director and Principal Investigator for the Canadian Internet Project a comprehensive longitudinal survey and study of the behaviour and attitudes of Canadian Internet users and non-users, in international perspective. He also serves as Financial Director, Senior Evaluator and Strategist for three private funding agencies: the Bell Fund, Independent Production Fund, and Cogeco Fund - providing financing for various genre of television, film, new media and itv content production. Concurrently, since 1991, Charles has been a full-time tenured faculty member in the School of Radio and Television Arts and Faculty of Graduate Studies at Ryerson University. He has worked in the television, film and new media industries for more than 28 years and has a long list of credits on dozens of award-winning independent film and television productions. Charles is the author of numerous articles, book chapters, publications, and reports for the industry. He has served as Director for cultural and trade missions for the Canadian government and conducted research analysis and studies internationally.

Shawn Zupp
Director of New Content
BBDO Worldwide