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Digital Drivers 2014: Retail/Technology/Other

Access Digital Entertainment

Craig White, co-founder, CEO
White is co-founder and CEO of Access Digital Entertainment (ADE) in Australia.
ADE is an online retailer of filmed entertainment, offering download-to-own, video-on-demand and UltraViolet in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Europe.
In 2013, ADE launched EzyFlix.tv, the region’s first electronic sellthrough and transactional VOD platform, in addition to WowHD.tv, a cloud-based video streaming service.


Akamai

Bill Wheaton, SVP and GM, media division
Wheaton leads the team responsible for solutions and products that make video and software applications accessible, and complex media content easy to use. Wheaton is also responsible for helping Akamai customers deliver major sporting events, a job he’s undertaken with success of late with the Super Bowl and Winter Olympics, and with the upcoming World Cup. He’s focused on laying the foundation for growth in online video consumption, more OTT services and the advance of 4K in the home.


Amazon

Brad Beale, head of digital video content acquisition
Beale is responsible for acquiring digital video content from studios, broadcast and cable networks and other sources for Prime Instant Video and Amazon Instant Video. Previously he was VP of business development at Peel Technologies, and he spent 11 years in various roles at DirecTV.


Apple Inc.

Eddy Cue, SVP, Internet software and services
Cue oversees Apple’s content stores, including iTunes, the App Store and the iBookstore, as well as Siri, maps, iAd and Apple’s iCloud services. His team oversees all online services for the company, including relationships with content owners. A 25-year Apple veteran, he played a major role in the creation of Apple’s online store in 1998, the iTunes store in 2003 and the App store in 2008.


AT&T U-verse

Lori Lee, senior EVP
Lee leads strategy, marketing and operations for AT&T’s wireline consumer organization, which includes AT&T U-verse, high-speed Internet and voice services. Lee is responsible for consumer connections across AT&T U-verse’s 22-state footprint, which includes more than 11 million total subscribers to AT&T’s U-verse services.


Mel Coker, chief marketing officer
Coker is responsible for driving AT&T consumer wireline marketing, including voice, data and video product development; pricing; lifecycle management; and consumer marketing programs. She also is charged with developing award-winning TV applications such as U-verse Easy Remote, as well as delivering live TV content across multiple platforms including Uverse.com and the U-verse App.


Aaron Slator, president, content and advertising sales
Slator is responsible for content strategy and acquisition as well as ad sales for all AT&T platforms: TV, broadband and wireless. Previously, Slator served as managing director — corporate development, and was responsible for mergers and acquisitions, business development, and strategy initiatives related to AT&T’s business services.


G.W. Shaw, VP, U-verse and video products
Shaw leads product marketing, applications development and product management for AT&T U-verse. His team is responsible for driving U-verse customer growth, developing and rolling out new integrated applications that utilize the company’s IP platform, and differentiating the U-verse TV product and customer experience from the company’s cable competitors.


CinemaNow

Fred Baral, business operations and development manager
Baral has been a key factor in launching CinemaNow, a digital movie service in the Canadian market. The service has seen phenomenal growth in the two years since its launch, expanding to a variety of devices and continuously adding new studio partners to expand the service’s offering.


Comcast

Matthew Strauss, SVP and GM, video services
Strauss is responsible for all aspects of Comcast’s video business. His team is responsible for the ongoing rollout of the cloud-based X1 platform and driving advancements in the TV Everywhere experience. Strauss’s tenure with Comcast spans nearly 10 years. In his previous role, he led the business team tasked with expanding and growing the Xfinity TV catalog to more devices and platforms.


Andy Hunter,  VP, programming
Hunter manages editorial and programming across all video platforms and consumer touchpoints, including Xfinity On Demand, XfinityTV.com and the Xfinity TV app. In addition, he oversees the content development team and works closely with content partners to bring their programming to as many platforms as possible.


DECE/UltraViolet

Mitch Singer, president, Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem and UltraViolet
Singer is involved in the overall strategy and advancement of UltraViolet, bringing more than two decades of home entertainment experience to the group.

He most recently served as chief digital strategy officer at Sony Pictures Technologies, where he worked with the studio’s various business units on studiowide strategies to address digital changes within the entertainment industry. He played a central role in Sony Pictures’ worldwide anti-digital theft and digital rights management efforts.

Inducted into the Variety Home Entertainment Hall of Fame in 2012, Singer has been called on to serve on the boards of several industry groups, including Motion Picture Laboratories, DVD CCA, the Entertainment Technology Center USC, the HDBaseT Alliance and the HQME (“High Quality Mobile Experience”) Steering Committee.


Mark Teitell, GM, Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem/UltraViolet
Teitell has served as GM of the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) since 2009, working closely with nearly 80 companies involved in the development of the buy-once-play-anywhere service UltraViolet.

His role covers strategy, product development, marketing, finance, and operations functions. UltraViolet has more than 18 million consumer accounts in 13 countries.

Before becoming an advocate for UltraViolet, Teitell served as a consulting partner at Oliver Wyman; as a member of Sprint PCS’s launch management team; and has held roles with PepsiCo and McKinsey & Co.


Yves Caillaud, manager director, Europe, Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem and UltraViolet
Caillaud is charged with leveraging his 20-plus years of experience in home entertainment to develop, manage and implement all industry marketing and business initiatives in support of UltraViolet’s European expansion.

First joining DECE in summer 2013 and based in Paris, Caillaud has helped UltraViolet gain acceptance in several countries, including Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

Before joining DECE, Caillaud held a range of senior management and sales and marketing positions at Warner Home Video in France and Europe, managing home video and digital distribution operations. He was president of the France Video Association from 2000 to 2002 and chairman of the Digital Entertainment Group Europe from 2007 to 2011.


DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group

The DEG helps navigate the way for content providers and their partners to find the best path forward for engaging consumers in the digital ecosystem. Whether it be in their work streamlining the digital supply chain or creating marketing activities to engage consumers, the DEG is helping lead the way.


Deluxe

Cyril Drabinsky, president and CEO, Deluxe Entertainment Services Group 
Since MacAndrews & Forbes acquired Deluxe Entertainment Services Group, Drabinsky has served as president and CEO of the company, shepherding the acquisition and development of digital services and technologies that have allowed the company to expand beyond its legacy film lab business.

Drabinsky served as worldwide president for Deluxe between 2001 and 2006, and as its North America president from 1995 to 2001, and had previously worked in executive positions for Toronto-based Cineplex Odeon Corp., beginning in 1981.

During his tenure, Deluxe built out a new Toronto film laboratory, as well as a film lab in Rome, and in 2011 he was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Hollywood Post Alliance.


Steven Weinstein, CTO, Deluxe Entertainment Services Group
Weinstein brings a background spanning technology, product development and entertainment.
Before joining Deluxe, Weinstein was founder and CEO of MovieLabs (a research consortium of the six Hollywood major studios) where he explored and invested in emerging technologies to advance the consumer experience in the new-media environment.

Prior to joining MovieLabs, Weinstein served as EVP and chief strategy and technology officer at Rovi Corp. He also served as EVP and GM of Macrovision’s Entertainment Technologies Group, where he guided the transition from physical technologies to e-commerce, connected home, secure and subscription services.


Peter Feigin, chief marketing and revenue officer, Deluxe Entertainment Services Group
Feigin is responsible for positioning and promoting Deluxe, working with the company’s teams to enhance sales and broaden its business-development efforts. Prior to joining Deluxe, Feigin was president and COO of Marquis Jet Partners Inc., From 1998 to 2004, Feigin worked for the New York Knicks in roles including VP of marketing.


Todd Collart, GM, SVP, Deluxe Digital Distribution
Collart provides the strategy behind Deluxe’s video content supply and distribution solutions, enabling service providers to offer customers compelling, high-quality video on more devices, fueling VOD distribution strategies.

As a cloud-based multiscreen-ready service, Collart’s division reduces the cost and complexity to manage hundreds of content providers and eliminates the need to build out costly internal infrastructures and workflows to support the VOD landscape.

Before founding Deluxe Digital Distribution, Collart was SVP of the new-media group at Deluxe, where he was responsible for identifying, incubating, and driving go-to-market strategies for home entertainment products and services.


DirecTV

Dan York, EVP, programming, and chief content officer 
York spearheads the satellite-TV operator’s programming and content rights business. Prior to joining DirecTV, York was president of content and advertising sales at AT&T, where he helped build the AT&T U-verse video platform from the ground up. AT&T just acquired DirecTV, pending regulatory approval.


Dish Digital

Geoff Campbell, VP, online strategy and development
Campbell defines Dish’s digital strategic direction by managing the company’s business development, business engineering and customer service operations. Dish Digital’s portfolio currently includes Dish World, an international IPTV service in the United States, and Blockbuster On Demand, a movie-on-demand rental store operated under the Blockbuster brand.


Dolby

Jeffrey Riedmiller, senior director, Sound Platform Group, Dolby Labs
As the senior director of Dolby Labs’ Sound Platform Group, Riedmiller is responsible for overseeing the development and innovation of all of Dolby’s sound technologies, including Dolby’s audio coding systems, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby E as well as a suite of audio signal processing technologies utilized by professional and consumer media and electronics industries.

Currently, Riedmiller is working on Dolby’s next-generation audio codec, which tackles intelligent loudness, advanced dialogue enhancement, accessibility management and improved bandwidth efficiency.

First joining Dolby in 1998, Riedmiller worked on the launch of multichannel audio across numerous digital TV and HDTV services in North America. He holds multiple patents in the areas of content identification, machine learning-based loudness estimation and correction in the compressed domain, and has served as co-chairman for the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) Engineering Committee – Audio Quality Subcommittee.


Bill Villarreal, director of image technology and content development
Villarreal serves as Dolby’s director of image technology and content development, a position that’s seen him help develop Dolby Vision, an end-to-end solution that allows content creators and TV manufacturers to deliver images with true-to-life brightness, colors and contrast.

With nearly two-dozen technical film credits to his name, Villarreal has worked with Sony Pictures Imageworks, where he was involved in the day-to-day technical operations of the visual effects and animation studio, and was a founding member of DreamWorks Animation, where he helped establish the technological infrastructure for feature animation production.

Prior to DreamWorks Animation, Villarreal was co-founder and GM of visual effects house Pacific Title Digital Studio. He is a member the Visual Effects Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), sits on the AMPAS Scientific and Technical Awards Committee, and is also a member of SMPTE, ACM Siggraph, The Visual Effects Society and ASIFA.


DTS

Jon Kirchner, chairman and CEO
Kirchner oversees every aspect of home entertainment technology provided by DTS. First joining the company in 1993, he had taken it from a small startup to one of the top leaders in audio for home video, games and music. He’s been CEO and a member of DTS’s board since 2002. Within the company, he previously held the titles of president, CFO, COO and EVP of operations, and VP of international.


Geir Skaaden, SVP, corporate business development, digital content and media solutions
Skaaden handles a global team responsible for developing solutions for connected device partners, content owners and service providers. Before joining DTS, he was CEO of Neural Audio, a firm that developed audio technology for audio compression and surround-sound.


Epix

Mark Greenberg, president and CEO
Greenberg heads the pay-TV, VOD and online service launched in 2009 by Viacom, Paramount, MGM and Lionsgate. Previously, he launched Showtime On Demand and other media properties.


Emil Rensing, chief digital officer
As a founding member of EPIX, Rensing spearheaded the multi-bitrate delivery of HD feature films with full studio transmission compliance and the ability to share full-length films online with friends in a virtual living room.


FlixFling

Thomas Ashley, founder and CEO
Ashley has helped FlixFling differentiate itself from its competitors by offering its customers a cloud-based digital locker system, transactional VOD and SVOD. FlixFling caters to independent film fans and is now featured on consumer electronics brands such as Roku, LG, Samsung, Android, Apple iOS, and Xbox, among others. Ashley also inked FlixFling’s first retail deal with Movie Stop and an UltraViolet pact with wholesaler VPD.


Google

Malik Ducard, head of content business development
Ducard brings decades of studio experience to the company, most recently serving as SVP of domestic digital distribution for Paramount Digital Entertainment.

There, he helped set the studio digital strategic course and was crucial in striking new deals with distributors across online, mobile and new-media channels. Prior to that role, he served as VP of North American digital distribution for the studio.

Ducard came to Paramount from Lionsgate, where was VP of home entertainment acquisitions and business development. Before that he worked in several positions with MGM.


Hulu

Mike Hopkins, CEO
Hopkins replaced acting CEO Andy Forrsell last October. Hopkins, a Hulu board member since 2011, most recently was president of distribution for Fox Networks Group. His hire underscores the importance Hulu’s corporate owners — Disney, Fox and Comcast — place on episodic programming as the key to driving growth at Hulu and Hulu Plus.


Tian Lim, CTO
Lim became Hulu’s chief technology officer in March. Lim most recently served as SVP of product engineering at Sony Network Entertainment International. There, he was responsible for client and service engineering for the PlayStation Store on the Web, PS3 and PS4, and many of the network features of the PS4.


Tim Connolly, head of distribution
Connolly was hired in March to head Hulu’s distribution business. Connolly most recently was VP of digital video distribution and new product development with The Walt Disney Co., which is co-owner of Hulu.


Level 3

Mark Taylor, VP, media and IP services
Taylor has been instrumental in helping Level 3 enter the content delivery network business and grow the company’s portfolio of media-related products. Over the past decade, he has held a variety of positions within the company, most recently as head of strategy and mergers and acquisitions in Europe and before that as head of the IP and data services strategic business unit in Europe. Prior to joining Level 3, Taylor spent two years as a business leader for Concert, a joint venture between AT&T and British Telecommunications (BT), where he managed global customer contract origination and execution.


Limelight

Joe DePalo, SVP, content delivery engineering and operations
DePalo is charged with ensuring that content from some of the largest events in the world is successfully delivered, via Limelight’s content-delivery services offering. Since the mid-‘90s, Joe DePalo has had an early eye on Internet technologies, beginning his career when the Internet overall was doing less traffic than Limelight Networks does today. Before joining the Limelight team eight years ago, DePalo gained experience at some of the world’s largest telecommunications companies, as well as co-founding Internet technology company NetVmg.


M-Go

John Batter, CEO
Batter is responsible for the strategic direction and day-to-day operations of M-Go, the entertainment service (co-owned by Technicolor and DreamWorks Animation) that offers streaming, VOD and EST of movies and TV shows.

Previously, Batter was president of production for DreamWorks Animation, managing worldwide production, post-production, technology and studio finances. Along with handling strategic partnerships with Intel and Samsung, he helped launch online marketing for the studio’s films and played a pivotal role in building the studio’s 3D business.


Microsoft

Nancy Tellem, president, Xbox Entertainment Studios
Tellem oversees Xbox Entertainment Studios — the production studio that is developing Xbox Originals, premium, interactive programs ranging from drama, to documentary, to animation, to comedy, to unscripted and live events  — for Xbox and other Microsoft devices and services.
Prior to joining Microsoft, she was a senior advisor to the CEO of CBS Corp., where she helped mold business and strategic opportunities worldwide, involving content partnerships, developing technologies, emerging media and new production models. Prior to that she was president of CBS Network Television Entertainment Group.


Netflix

Reed Hastings, co-founder and CEO
Hastings co-founded Netflix as a by-mail DVD rental service in 1997. In 2002 he took the company public, and in 2003 it surpassed 1 million subscribers. Netflix began streaming content over the Internet in 2007 and today has more than 40 million subscribers globally.


Ted Sarandos, chief content officer
Sarandos oversees the Beverly Hills, Calif., office with a staff of more than 75 that manages the company’s content acquisitions, including original series and landmark content pacts with The Walt Disney Co. and DreamWorks Animation, among others.


Neil Hunt, chief product officer
Hunt spearheads the product team, which designs, builds and optimizes Netflix’s SVOD business. He has been instrumental in the rollout of 4K-resolution streaming of select Netflix original programs, including “House of Cards” and “Orange Is the New Black.” Hunt holds a doctorate in computer science from the University of Aberdeen, U.K., and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Durham, U.K.


Gregory Peters, chief streaming and partnerships officer
Peters is responsible for the global partnerships with consumer electronics companies, Internet service providers and multichannel video programming distributors. Prior to joining Netflix in 2008, Peters was SVP of consumer electronics products for Macrovision — later renamed Rovi Corp.


Redbox

Joseph Ambeault, CEO, Redbox Instant by Verizon
Ambeault is responsible for the overall strategic direction and day-to-day operations of the online joint venture between kiosk operator Redbox and Verizon, as well as the service’s product and design strategy and customer experience management.

Ambeault oversees the venture’s product managers, business analysts, user interface designers and usability experts.

First joining Redbox Instant as its product line strategist and business manager, he came over from Verizon, where he served as the manager of the FiOS TV product line. He brings more than 15 years of experience in the design, development and management of advanced video entertainment products and solutions.


Rentrak

Chris Roberts, SVP, sales, OnDemand products
Roberts has been a key figure at Rentrak for more than 25 years, including creating the company’s digital measurement service, and producing the industry’s first digital transparency initiative for movies and TV content in 2013. This service, Digital Download Industry Essentials, is used by all major studios and broadcast networks, who rely on it for context and business intelligence for a constantly evolving digital landscape. Roberts is a member of the EMA’s digital council.


Vince Muscarella, VP, studio digital services
Muscarella has more than 12 years of digital and home entertainment industry experience, including business development for all digital transactional and ad-supported accounts for Millennium Entertainment (previously First Look). Muscarella joined Rentrak two years ago and has helped grow its Digital Download Essentials, Digital Download Industry Service and OnDemand Essentials services.


Roku

Anthony Wood, founder, CEO
Wood founded Roku, which launched the Roku streaming player, the first device ever to stream Netflix, in 2008. Prior to founding Roku, he invented the digital video recorder (DVR) and founded ReplayTV, where he served as president and CEO. The company was sold to various entities before being acquired by DirecTV.


Matthew Anderson, chief marketing officer
Anderson joined Roku as its first CMO in 2013 and is responsible for global marketing and communications for the company. Previously, he led strategy and corporate affairs at News Corp. for Europe and Asia. Before that he ran brand marketing and communications for BSkyB. Anderson serves on the boards of MOBY and Team Sky, the British professional cycling team featuring 2012 Tour de France winner and Olympic gold medalist Bradley Wiggins.

BSkyB parent 21st Century Fox is a financial partner with Roku.


Steve Shannon, GM, content and services
Shannon heads Roku’s content and services group, which is responsible for establishing new content provider relationships, acquiring entertainment and growing engagement on the Roku platform. Shannon has a long history of working in the television industry, holding leadership roles at RealD, Gemstar-TV Guide, Akimbo and ReplayTV.


Collette Bunton, GM, devices
Bunton leads the devices group, which is responsible for getting Roku products into the hands of consumers around the world. She has worked with many successful consumer electronics companies, including Logitech, 3M and Compaq.


Chas Smith, GM, OEM
Smith oversees Roku’s OEM (original equipment manufacturer) business to expand the Roku platform reach beyond the set-top box and into televisions and consumer electronics devices. In 2014, his team announced Roku TV and is working with manufacturers to build the platform directly into TVs.


Saffron Digital

Jason Keane, CEO
Keane has been president of online video technology company Saffron Digital (acquired by Cinram in September) since mid-2011, and during that time has grown the company revenue 110%.

He’s overseen the launch of the company’s end-to-end online video platform (complete with UltraViolet integration), the launch of the HTC Watch in 16 territories, and the launch of the unlimited movie service KDDI Video Pass in Japan.

With more than a decade of digital media experience, Keane has served as VP of Universal Networks Interactive, the digital arm of NBC Universal Networks International, where he led the deployment of a global Web video platform that powers interactive experiences for Syfy Universal, Diva Universal, Studio Universal, Universal Channel and 13th Street Universal.

Before joining NBC, Keane was global head of product for Yahoo! Answers.


SCEA

Michael Aragon, VP and GM, global digital video and music services, Sony Network Entertainment
Aragon handles content acquisition, product management, content operations, marketing and programming, business operations, and store operations for all PlayStation Network and Sony Entertainment Network branded services.

He’s in charge of Sony’s digital video and music services in 16 countries, covering North America, Europe and Asia, covering all Sony, Android and iOS devices.


SnagFilms

Rick Allen, co-founder, CEO
Allen heads SnagFilms, a distributor of independent films, with titles offered via sponsor-supported free streaming on its own website and across a network of more than 110,000 websites, webpages and apps on tablets, smartphones, set-top boxes and connected TVs. SnagFilms also offers content on all major pay platforms, including Comcast, FiOS, iTunes, Hulu Plus, Amazon, Vudu and others. Allen will oversee the launch of Thundershorts, SnagFilms’ new original series production arm and platform.


Target

Anne Stanchfield, divisional merchandise manager, entertainment
Stanchfield oversees all merchandising functions for music, movies and books for Target’s 1,789 U.S. stores — including the recent launch of Target Ticket, the chain’s first digital movie store. In her previous role, Stanchfield was the director of CityTarget, where she led the launch of Target’s first small-format stores in urban markets in 2012.


Verizon

Lowell McAdam, chairman and CEO, Verizon Communications
McAdam is responsible for the operations of Verizon, including all business units and staff functions. He is also chairman of the Verizon Wireless board of representatives.

From October 2010 until he assumed his current position, McAdam served as president and COO and had responsibility for the operations of the company’s network-based businesses — Verizon Wireless and Verizon Telecom and Business — as well as Verizon Services Operations. He was also responsible for the technology management and CIO functions.


Anthony Melone, EVP, chief technology officer
Melone is responsible for Verizon’s technology roadmap, including overall platforms integrity and architecture, network strategy and product development. He is also responsible for the company’s overall network engineering and operations.

Before being named to his current position in December 2010, Melone was SVP and CTO for Verizon Wireless. In that job, to which he was appointed in 2007, he led the transition of the Verizon Wireless network from 3G (third-generation) services to the commercial launch, at the end of 2010, of 4G LTE (fourth-generation, Long Term Evolution) services.


Walmart

Chris Nagelson, VP, entertainment merchandising
Nagelson is the head of Walmart’s media and entertainment business, first coming on board with the retailer in 2005. He helped launch the company’s disc-to-digital program via Walmart-owned Vudu.com in early 2012, an initiative that also backs the UltraViolet cloud-based digital storage service.


Louis Greth, category director, movies and home entertainment, Walmart, Walmart.com and Vudu.com
Greth is responsible for the growth and development of Walmart’s disc-to-digital program. Greth has 14 years of retail experience, previously serving as a product development manager for Sam’s Club and a senior buyer of movies for Walmart. Vudu just announced a program enabling registered members to share their UltraViolet movies with up to five friends online.


Watchwith

Zane Vella, CEO, founder
Vella has built Watchwith into one of the leading software platforms for TV networks, studios and advertisers to create and deliver timed content to their viewers in sync with their programming and commercials.  Bravo, USA, Fox and Syfy use Watchwith to deliver a more engaging video experience across TV Everywhere, mobile apps, connected TVs, Twitter and Facebook. Vella has led the development of interactive products and platforms for companies including Apple, Disney, NBC Universal and Netflix.


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