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John Welch, President & CEO, Playfirst
John Welch
is the President/CEO of PlayFirst, the leading publisher
of highly-original games made for casual gamers wherever
they play. Prior to founding PlayFirst, John spent five
years at AtomShockwave as VP of Games and Product, where
he helped build Shockwave.com in to one of the
Internet's top games portals. Previously, John held
posts at SEGA and Anderson Consulting. John has also
served as a steering committee member of the IGDA Casual
Games group. He holds a Bachelor's degree from MIT and a
Master's Degree from the University of Massachusetts. |
Ed Zobrist, President,
Sierra Online (Vivendi Games)
Ed Zobrist is president of Sierra Online,
a division of Vivendi
Games. Zobrist
oversees all of the division’s initiatives which
include the creation and publishing of quality short-
and mid-session, casual online games for all viable
gaming platforms. Sierra Online’s titles include
Assault Heroes, an award-winning game for Xbox®
Live Arcade, and the upcoming
FreeStyle Street Basketball,
an online PC game from leading Korean developer
JC Entertainment, Inc.
The division is also developing a variety of other Xbox
Live Arcade and PC online games targeting the
mass-market audience.
Zobrist previously was senior vice
president, Global Marketing for Vivendi Games. In this
role he was responsible for overseeing worldwide
marketing initiatives for brands such as Crash
Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, Leisure Suit Larry,
Empire Earth, SWAT, The Incredible Hulk, Scarface and 50
Cent.
Prior to joining Vivendi Games, Zobrist was a founding
partner and president of Zono, Inc. and ASAP Games, a
consulting and videogame software development company.
Among his clients were Electronic Arts, Sony, Sega,
Fisher-Price, Universal Studios, PopCap and Disney
Interactive. While consulting for Disney Interactive, he
led the company’s marketing efforts to achieve three
top-10 selling games including the number-one hit,
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.
Previously, Zobrist held several senior level marketing
positions for Mattel including director of Marketing,
Hot Wheels and senior marketing manager for the Boy’s
Toys division. His experience also includes a role as
product manager for the Kenner division of General Mills
where he led The Real Ghostbusters product line
to more than $100 million in sales.
Zobrist holds a master's degree in business
administration from The Wharton School of the University
of Pennsylvania and a bachelor’s degree in biology from
Columbia University. |
Roy
Sehgal,
VP, Strategy & New Businesses,
Shockwave & AddictingGames
Roy
is a new media veteran with extensive experience
across the value chain of the online,
entertainment, mobile and retail industries. In
his current role, Roy is responsible for
building and managing new businesses and driving
strategy for MTV Networks’ Shockwave.com and
AddictingGames.com which each attract over 19
million users per month and host hundreds of
online and downloadable games, creativity
applications and other digital media.
Previously, Roy was Vice President of Business
and Corporate Development for Atom
Entertainment, a broadband entertainment pioneer
that was acquired by Viacom’s MTV Networks in
August, 2006. At Atom Entertainment, Roy had a
dual role developing partnerships for a
portfolio of leading online video and game
destinations including AtomFilms.com,
Shockwave.com, AddictingGames.com and
AddictingClips.com while also managing corporate
development activities. Prior to joining Atom
Entertainment, Roy was Senior Vice President of
Sales and Business Development at July Systems,
where he helped companies such as Cingular
Wireless, Electronic Art’s
POGO, Ziff Davis and RealNetworks create and
deliver cutting edge mobile entertainment
services such as the industry’s first
try-before-buy and subscription models for
mobile games. As Vice President of Mobile
Commerce at InfoSpace (NASDAQ: INSP), he was
part of the early mobile business development
team that built the company into one of the
world’s largest mobile content creators and
enablers. Prior to InfoSpace, Roy was Director
of Business Development at Prio, a provider of
turnkey online and mobile promotion services
(acquired by InfoSpace) and an Associate at
Marakon Associates, a strategy consulting firm
to Fortune 100 clients such as Nordstrom and
Bank of America. Roy holds a B.S. in Economics
with concentrations in finance and marketing
from the Wharton School at the University of
Pennsylvania.
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Alex Terry, CEO, NeoEdge Networks
Alex Terry is an avid gamer and a lifelong
entrepreneur with extensive industry experience
in the fields of Internet services, software and
entertainment; and has a proven track record in
building technology startups into market
leaders.
Most recently Alex served as co-founder, vice
president and general manager for AOL’s Voice
Services Division. In this position Alex was
responsible for a portfolio of four consumer
services with over one million paying customers,
a suite of wholesale offerings, and a wholly
owned subsidiary in Canada as well as overseeing
all aspects of AOL’s Voice business.
Prior to AOL, Alex was co-founder and chief
operating officer of ThinkLink (acquired by
Microsoft, 2001), a privately held
telecommunications Enhanced Service Provider
delivering unified messaging and integrated
calling services over one of the country’s fist
VoIP networks. During his tenure, ThinkLink
reached over 5 million account holders using
ad-supported and free-paid- up-sell revenue. As
an Internet pioneer, Alex co-founded and served
as CEO for RockWeb, an award winning online
music company.
Alex holds multiple patents for his work in
integrated communications, Internet services and
interactive billing systems.
Alex is a graduate of Harvard Business School
and Dartmouth College.
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Morgan Guenther, CEO & Chairman of the Board,
Airplay Network, Inc.
Morgan Guenther is Chairman and
Chief Executive Officer of Airplay
Network, Inc. Prior to AirPlay,
Morgan served as President of TiVo,
a position he held from 2001 - 2003,
where he was responsible for the
company’s consumer service and
technology licensing businesses.
Between 1999 and 2001, Morgan was a
Vice President and Senior Vice
President at Tivo, with overall
responsibility for the Company’s
commercial and strategic deals,
including alliances with partners in
the satellite, cable, consumer
electronics, technology development
and broadband spaces. Additionally
he oversaw the TiVo Entertainment
Group and TiVo Studios business
units, with responsibility for the
Company’s advertising, commerce,
content delivery, audience
measurement and other service
related revenue streams. Morgan
holds J.D. and B.A. degrees from the
University of Colorado and an M.B.A.
from the University of San
Francisco. He also serves on the
boards of directors of Integral
Development, a provider of internet
based electronic trading systems,
Avvenu, a leading provider of media
routing and managed peer-to-peer
content distribution technology, and
Tier Technologies, a financial
transaction processing and system
integration services company.
|
Greg
Mills, Director of Casual Games, AOL Games, AOL
As Director of Casual Games, Greg develops
the strategy of monetizing free and premium
game usage across all
AOL brands, and creates new sales and revenue
opportunities for online and downloadable
games. Greg’s responsibilities include
interacting with AOL’s
marketing team to develop concepts for
games, establishing a financial model and
working with partners to build and launch
games on the AOL
service. Greg Mills has more than thirteen
years of marketing and business experience
in the gaming industry. Prior to his nine
years at
AOL, Greg worked at WorldPlay Entertainment and
at The 3DO Company in a variety of marketing
and business development positions. Mills
earned his Bachelor’s degree from
Pomona
College and an MBA from
Santa Clara
University.
Consistently ranked among the leading online
gaming sites, AOL
Games offers hundreds of online and
downloadable games from the best game
publishers on the Web. It’s video game
counterpart, GameDaily.com offers exclusive
demos of the hottest video games,
comprehensive video games information
including cheats, tips and reviews, and
exclusive original streaming video
programming. |
Kitt
McCurdy, GameSpot Trax Analyst,
CNET Networks
Entertainment
Kitt McCurdy serves as CNET's primary
contact for GameSpot Trax, the gaming
industry's premier real-time market
intelligence tool that monitors the online
behavior of millions of visitors to GameSpot,
one of the most popular Web sites for gaming
information and entertainment. Using
GameSpot Trax, Kitt follows trends in the
gaming industry and then leverages the
information to create data-rich analyses for
clients, the media, and CNET Entertainment's
sales team.
Since joining CNET in 2006, Kitt has played
a major role in integrating GameSpot Trax's
business intelligence capabilities into a
cross-media platform, which lets GameSpot
Trax users monitor consumer interest across
all of CNET's entertainment properties:
GameSpot, TV.com, MP3.com, and FilmSpot.
With this enhanced technology, one can
quickly and easily learn, for instance,
which music artists and television shows
fans of a given game are interested in.
Kitt has discussed gaming trends on
Berkeley's KPFA 94.1 FM and has been
featured in a story on female gamers in
Right On! magazine. She has also provided
industry analysis to several media outlets,
including The New York Times, USA Today, CBS
Evening News, MSNBC, and CNBC's Power Lunch.
Before joining CNET, Kitt developed
marketing campaigns and performed online
advertising analysis for the gift site
RedEnvelope. She has also worked in
marketing and financial analysis with
Independent Capital Management, the Roadmaps
Institute, and First Franklin Financial.
Kitt holds a B.B.A. from the University of
San Diego. She grew up and currently resides
in the San Francisco Bay Area. Along with
video games, her interests include camping,
tennis, snowboarding, and travel. |
Adeo
Ressi, Founder & CEO,
GameTrust
Adeo has extensive
experience building media and entertainment
companies, as well as developing complex
systems on time and on budget. In 1994 he
was a founder of Total New York, Inc., one
of the first advertiser-supported web media
and entertainment properties. The property
was later sold to AOL and Tribune Media,
becoming AOL Digital Cities. In 1995 he
founded methodfive, inc., a strategic web
development firm focused on the media and
entertainment industry. methodfive developed
strategies and systems for global media
companies such as The New York Times, The
BBC, NewsCorp, The Economist, Scripps and
Fox Networks. As CEO, he secured a $2
million investment from
PricewaterhouseCoopers, the first investment
of its kind from a "Big 5" firm, and then
sold the company for $88 million in 2000.
From February to September 2000, he was
Chief Strategy Officer and Executive Vice
President of Xceed, Inc. the NASDAQ-listed
web architecture and design firm, where he
oversaw the filing of a secondary stock
offering, organized complimentary service
offerings across 13 offices worldwide and
developed the first intra-company financial
projections. Most recently, Mr. Ressi was a
founding partner and Executive Committee
member of Sophos Partners, a venture
consulting and turnaround firm with offices
in New York, Boston, Sao Paulo, and Tokyo.
Mr. Ressi attended Carnegie Mellon
University and the University of
Pennsylvania from 1990 to 1994. |
Matthew
Bellows, GM & VP, Marketing,
Floodgate
Entertainment
Matthew is responsible
for the operations, sales and marketing of
Floodgate Entertainment, a top mobile games
developer based in Boston, Massachusetts.
Floodgate develops ambitious, engaging
mobile games with companies like Electronic
Arts, Microsoft, Disney and Sony BMG. Before
joining Floodgate, Matthew led
Gamespot.com's mobile entertainment
initiatives. He arrived at Gamespot (a
division of CNET Networks) through that
company's acquisition of Wireless Gaming
Review. Matthew was the co-founder, editor
and publisher of WGR (WGamer.com), the
leading publication for mobile entertainment
consumers. Matthew received his MBA with
high honors from the Olin School at Babson
College. |
Ned Sherman, CEO & Publisher, Digital Media Wire
Ned Sherman is CEO and Publisher of Digital
Media Wire, Inc., where he works at the
center of the rapidly growing digital media
industry. Under his leadership, Digital
Media Wire has grown from a small newsletter
publisher into a well-respected B-to-B brand
that owns and produces six annual
conferences - Digital Music Forum East and
West, Future of Television Forum, Digital
Media Conference, Future of Film
Conference, LA Games Conference and
The Millennials - and provides daily news,
information and community to tens of
thousands of executives and professionals at
entertainment, media and technology
companies throughout the world.
As digital media community-builder, Ned has
established partnerships with the leading
B-to-B media companies and educational
institutions, including VNU Business Media,
Billboard Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter,
Reed Business Information, Multichannel
News, Business 2.0, Business Week, CableFax/CableWorld,
VIBE/SPIN, MidemNet, NYU's Stern School of
Business, USC's Center for Telecom
Management and UCLA's Anderson School of
Management, and hundreds of the leading
digital media companies, including
Microsoft, Real Networks, Sony Corporation
of America, AOL Time Warner, Napster, Yahoo!
and many more.
An expert on legal issues and business
methods, Ned provides value to his clients
and partners by offering timely news and
research, producing executive forum on
cutting-edge topics, and leveraging his
extensive network of media assets and
strategic relationships across games, music,
film, television and mobile industries.
Ned's background is in law. Before joining
Digital Media Wire, Ned spent 7+ years as a
corporate and entertainment attorney
practicing at several of the leading law
firms in the world with an international
client base across industries including
technology, Internet, media and
entertainment.
As a founding member of the iLaw Group in
the Entertainment Department at Loeb & Loeb
LLP in Century City, he handled complex
licensing transactions and financings for
media and entertainment clients including
Universal Studios and MGM and launched
dozens of Internet and new media start-ups.
He has counseled company founders from
initiation of a business plan to seed,
angel, venture capital and later-stage
private financings and managed all legal
aspects of Internet clients from corporate
organization, stockholder relationships,
board compositions and dynamics, stock
option plans, capital raising and security
regulatory matters, Internet law issues,
trademark, copyright, content and technology
licensing, advertising and privacy issues.
From 1997 to 1999, he practiced in the Los
Angeles office of Mayer, Brown & Platt where
his practice centered on representation of
U.S. and foreign banks in complex lending
transactions.
From 1995 to 1997, he was a foreign lawyer
at Nishimura & Partners in Tokyo, Japan,
where his practice involved international
mergers and acquisitions and the formation
of technology and entertainment joint
venture companies. He also served as
President of the Roppongi Bar Association in
Tokyo.
In 2000, he was an Adjunct Lecturer of Law
at Tulane University Law School where he
taught an entertainment law seminar. Ned is
a graduate of Brown University (AB, with
honors, 1990) and the University of Texas
School of Law (JD, 1994) where he was Chief
Articles & Notes Editor of the Texas
International Law Journal.
Ned is a frequent speaker at media and
entertainment industry events, including
MidemNet (moderator at 2004 and 2005
conferences), Digital Music Forum (host and
moderator, 2001-2005), Billboard Digital
Entertainment Awards (co-chair and host,
2004) and the O2 Digital Media Awards (judge
2004), and has been quoted in publications
including American Lawyer, The Los
Angeles Times, The Hollywood Reporter,
Billboard and Crain's Mermigas on Media, and
interviewed on National Public Radio (NPR),
NY1 Evening News and nationally syndicated
radio shows, Inside Digital Media, WebTalk
and Online Tonight with David Lawrence.
He sits on the Board of Directors of Wild
Way, a non-profit dedicated to cultivating
environmental awareness and developing
educational programs for inner-city and “at
risk” kids and has traveled extensively from
Europe to Asia to South America to Northern
Africa. Ned is married and lives with his
wife and son in Hollywood Hills, California. |
Scott
Goldberg, Sr. Writer/Director of Bus.
Dev., Digital Media Wire
Scott Goldberg is the Director of Business
Development for Digital Media Wire and a
Senior Writer for DMW Online. His editorial
focuses include the Millennial Generation
(people between the ages 12 and 28), the
video game industry, music and film media,
and poking fun at anything that takes itself
too seriously. He is responsible for Digital
Media Wire partnerships, and the development
of content for DMW Online. He has several
years of experience in the financial
services and media industries, and is a
strong advocate of the consumption of new
personal technology. Scott received his BA
in Economics from Williams College in 2002,
and his MBA from Northwestern University’s
Kellogg School of Management in 2005. He was
born and raised in Colorado, and spent much
of 2005-2006 traveling abroad, retooling his
Spanish and Portuguese, and freelance
writing. Scott believes no program is more
important for discovering the newest music
than Nic Harcourt’s Morning Becomes
Eclectic on KCRW. |
Mike
Yuen, Sr. Director, Gaming Group,
QUALCOMM
Internet Services
Mike Yuen
is Senior Director, Gaming Group, for
QUALCOMM Internet Services. QIS is
responsible for QUALCOMM's BREW solution
and is the division chartered with
accelerating next-generation wireless
data applications, technologies and
value-added services worldwide.
Mike
manages the team chartered with defining
and driving the BREW gaming experience
as well as ensuring the platform is
profitable and viable for game
publishers and developers. Prior to
founding the Gaming Group in 2005, Mike
led the BREW Developer Relations team
that is responsible for signing up
companies such as Microsoft, AOL,
Yahoo!, Disney, Sony, and EA to deliver
wireless consumer and business
applications to users around the world.
He helped create a virtuous mobile
content ecosystem resulting in more than
$1 billion being paid out to BREW
publishers and developers as of March
2007.
Mike is a
frequent speaker at gaming and wireless
industry events and is an evangelist of
cross platform game design, wireless
digital distribution, and the converged
computing and entertainment device for
emerging markets (the GEC or "Good
Enough Console"). He previously held
positions with Accolade, GTE Interactive
Media, Hammerhead Entertainment, AMD and
NCR, and holds an MBA from UC Davis and
a BA in computer science from UCSD.
Mike is a
member of the advisory boards for Game
Developers Conference (GDC) Mobile and
Floodgate Entertainment, the board of
directors of the San Diego Software
Industry Council (SDSIC), and was a
member of the founding board of
directors for Mobile Entertainment Forum
(MEF) Americas.
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Margaret
Wallace, Co-Founder & CEO, Rebel
Monkey
Margaret Wallace is the Co-Founder and
CEO of Rebel Monkey -- a New York-based
game development studio focusing on
casual games.
Before Rebel Monkey, Margaret was a
Co-Founder and CEO of Skunk Studios in
San Francisco, CA. Ms. Wallace was named
in Next Generation as one of the Game
Industry's 100 Most Influential Women of
2006. She serves on the Steering
Committee for the International Game
Developers Association (IGDA) Casual
Games Special Interest Group and was a
Co-Editor of the 2006 IGDA Casual Games
White Paper.
Prior to the establishment of Skunk
Studios, Ms. Wallace produced and
designed games at
Shockwave.com, including Shockwave
Tetris, and contributed to Mattel's
Planet Hot Wheels. She also created
CD-ROM and online content for Mindscape
Entertainment (then also encompassing
SSI & RedOrb Games) and at a start-up
called PF Magic, makers of the "virtual
pets" game series, Dogz and Catz, a
brand currently published by Ubisoft.
Ms. Wallace holds a B.S. in
Communication from Boston University and
an M.A. in Communication from the
University of Massachusetts/Amherst.
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Greg
Harper, President,
iWin
Greg Harper is the President of iWin, a
leading developer and publisher of games
for the mass market. Greg has over 15
years of management and marketing
experience in the Internet,
Entertainment and Games industries,
including the launch of 3 new, start-up
ventures. Prior to iWin, Greg was a
freelance consultant in the video game
industry for clients who included
GameSpy (vertically integrated online
game service) and Transplay (in-game
advertising start-up). In 1995, Greg
co-founded and served as Vice President
of Business Development for the Total
Entertainment Network (T.E.N.), an
online service for multiplayer PC video
games. T.E.N. later morphed into
Pogo.com, providing an online service
for "Family Games." Pogo was sold to
Electronic Arts in 2001. Before
launching T.E.N., Greg founded two
start-up companies, EOS Corporation
(interactive television) and Digital
Blackboard (edutainment software
development), and worked at the Walt
Disney Company.
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Charles
Merrin,
Vice President, RealArcade,
RealNetworks, Inc.
Charles Merrin is Vice President of
RealArcade at RealNetworks. Prior to
joining RealNetworks, Charles
managed worldwide Sales, Marketing
and Product Management efforts for
TikGames, an emerging casual game
publisher. In this role, he was
intimately involved in all aspects
of the games development,
publishing, and distribution
business. Prior to joining TikGames,
Charles was deeply involved in the
emergence of Electronic Software
Distribution (ESD) as a major force
within online computer gaming. As
Vice President of Sale & Business
Development at Trymedia Systems, he
directed a broad range of strategic
initiatives that established
Trymedia as the premier provider of
ESD technologies.
Charles has been involved in a
number of other entrepreneurial
e-commerce businesses, including
ReleaseNow, Ancestry.com, and
Broderbund / The Learning Company.
At each, his product strategy and
day-to-day management resulted in
consistent growth and exceptional
performance. He played several key
roles in the early growth of online
genealogy, helping it become one of
the largest and most profitable
subscription businesses on the
Internet.
Prior to Broderbund, Charles served
marketing and sales roles with
several leading Bay Area firms.
Charles holds an undergraduate
degree in Economics from Washington
University in Saint Louis, and a
Masters of Business Administration
from Santa Clara University.
|
Chris
Petrovic,
Vice President, Digital Media,
Playboy Media Group
Mr. Petrovic is
a new media veteran, having started
his career in the digital media
arena in the late 90’s. He has held
executive management positions in a
variety of corporate settings, from
start-ups to publicly traded
companies to venture capital firms.
Petrovic
currently serves as Vice President
of Digital Media for Playboy Media
Group. In this role, he is
responsible for developing and
managing strategic and business
development initiatives for all
divisions the group, including
Playboy Mobile, Playboy Online,
Playboy Radio and Playboy TV.
Before joining
Playboy, Mr. Petrovic served as VP,
Business Development for AG
Interactive, a division of American
Greetings. Petrovic oversaw all
business development efforts across
of the division’s digital business
units. Petrovic joined AG
Interactive from theglobe.com, where
he served as VP, Strategy and
Business Development and was
responsible for developing and
growing the company’s digital and
print media businesses.
Petrovic is a
graduate of Columbia University in
New York and holds a J.D. from
Southwestern University School of
Law in Los Angeles. He began his
new media career as the CEO of an
Internet start-up in 1998, and from
there went on to become COO and
General Counsel of Buzztone, a
leading viral marketing agency,
before joining the venture capital
firm Prime Ventures as their VP of
Business Development and Legal
Affairs, managing the business
development and legal operations of
its portfolio companies, including
most notably drkoop.com.
Petrovic is
based in Playboy’s Los Angeles
office.
|
Robert
Nashak, General Manager,
Yahoo! Games
As general manager of Yahoo! Games,
Robert Nashak oversees the growth
and development of the #1 online
gaming site. Nashak leads the
strategy for the site’s portfolio of
casual and video games, partnerships
with top gaming and entertainment
companies and exclusive editorial
and gaming content. He joined
Yahoo! in 2006.
Prior to joining Yahoo!, Nashak led
creative development at Glu Mobile,
the worldwide leading independent
mobile games publisher of acclaimed
titles such as Driver3,
Project Gotham Racing and
Monopoly. He was also
previously vice president of product
development at Acclaim
Entertainment, whose franchises
included AllStar Baseball,
Turok and Legends of
Wrestling, and was executive
producer at Vivendi Universal Games.
He also held positions as adjunct
professor in interactive design at
University of Southern California
School of Cinema and Television and
was a producer at Disney Online,
during the earliest days of Flash.
Nashak holds a B.A. from Georgetown
University where he was a member of
the Phi Beta Kappa fraternity. He
went on to receive a Masters at
Oxford University and was a
Fulbright scholar to the
Netherlands.
|
Cooper
Moo,
VP, Business Development,
FUN Games
Cooper Moo is
vice president of business
development for FUN Technologies’
FUN Games division. FUN Games
develops and distributes skill-games
solutions across a broad network of
games and lifestyle sites worldwide,
including market leaders AOL, EA’s
Pogo, GSN, “the Network for Games”,
Lycos, and MSN.
Cooper has extensive experience in
the online space, focused primarily
on B2C business development. Prior
to joining WorldWinner, a
wholly-owned subsidiary of FUN, in
2004, he was senior manager of
e-commerce for Monster.com. In this
role, he represented Monster's
interest in a $104 million dollar,
four-year partnership with AOL. As
director of strategic partnership
for Salary.com, he created and
managed partnerships with Monster,
Yahoo!, CareerBuilder and other
major online media companies.
Before entering the online space,
Cooper was a partner in a Seattle
trading company for eight years.
Cooper resides near Seattle, WA and
graduated from the University of
Oregon with a B.A. in International
Relations focused on China.
|
Adam
Boyden,
VP, Business Development & Marketing,
Xfire
Adam Boyden is
in charge of all Business
Development and Marketing
initiatives at Xfire. Prior to Xfire,
Adam was the CEO and co-founder of
Autodaq, and the Associate Director
of The China Consultancy. He
graduated from the University of
Exeter and received his MBA from
Stanford Business School.
About Xfire, Inc.
Xfire, Inc. one of the fastest
growing online gaming platform and
community in the world helping
gamers to easily connect, chat and
play with their friends online.
Xfire is a free service that allows
gamers to easily browse for game
servers, chat with friends through
IM and voice chat, as well as
download the latest updates and
additions to their favorite games.
With more than seven million members
in over 100 countries, Xfire is an
international community connecting
gamers across the globe. Xfire is a
wholly owned subsidiary of MTV
Networks and is based in Menlo Park,
CA.
|
Mike Vorhaus,
Managing Director,
Frank N. Magid Associates
Mike
founded the Magid Internet and New Media
research and consultation practice in 1995,
AOL and Excite as our first two clients.
Mike began the Magid Gaming Practice in 2001
with EA and Sony Online as our first two
clients. The Magid Game Practice now works
with most of the major game publishers. |
Jill
Braff,
SVP, Worldwide Marketing/GM of the
Americas, Glu Mobile
Game industry
veteran Jill Braff leads Glu Mobile's
corporate and consumer marketing
initiatives, including co-marketing programs
with licensors and carriers. Braff was named
one of the game industry's 100 most
influential women by Next Generation and
sits on the board of the Mobile
Entertainment Forum. Prior to joining Glu,
Braff most recently consulted with Sega of
America as interim vice president of
marketing. She also served as a creative
director at Konami of America, worked with
Sprint on its entry into wireless gaming and
has held senior marketing positions at
Photopoint Corporation and MyFamily.com. She
also held positions at The Learning Company,
Sega of America, Griffin Bacal and Nintendo
of America. Braff has a B.A. from Colgate
University. |
Jess
Dominguez, Product Manager, Gaming
Group, QUALCOMM Internet
Services
Jess
Dominguez is product manager of the
Gaming Group for QUALCOMM Internet
Services (QIS). QIS is the QUALCOMM
division responsible for the BREW®
solution, a family of offerings that
includes uiOne, deliveryOne, QPoint and
BREW Signature Solutions as well as the
QChat® push-to-talk solution. QIS is
chartered with driving the development
of next-generation wireless data
applications, technologies and
value-added services.
In his
current position, Dominguez collaborates
with key partners in the mobile gaming
value chain, including top mobile game
publishers and developers, mobile
platform providers and wireless service
providers, to ensure QUALCOMM BREW
Gaming Signature Solution and flexible
offerings are the premiere choice all
companies seeking to differentiate
mobile game service offerings. He also
is involved in developer and partner
relations, business development and
technical evangelism as it relates to
the BREW mobile gaming space and drives
QUALCOMM's next generation gaming
service, BREW Gaming Signature Solution.
Prior to
his current role at QUALCOMM, Dominguez
worked at Midway Games contributing in
their San Diego game studio where he
focused on Xbox and PS2 console game
development. Dominguez also held a
position at Monkeystone Games where he
focused on wireless game development.
Dominguez earned his Bachelor of Science
at MIT in Electrical Engineering and his
Masters of Science at Stanford in
Management Science.
|
Teemu
Huuhtanen, President, N.A., Sulake (Habbo
Hotel)
Teemu
Huuhtanen is President, North America
and Executive Vice President, Business
Development for Sulake Corporation.
Previously he held the position of SVP
of Sales and Business Development. Mr.
Huuhtanen also served as VP, Sales &
Marketing, for Sulake at its
headquarters in Finland since January of
2003. Prior to this, he has held several
senior posts in consumer & B2B sales &
business development functions for
several international digital start-ups
such as Small Planet, a mobile
application company, as EVP and the CEO
of Orchimedia, a mobile & internet
entertainment company. Huuhtanen has
studied at Kuopio Polytechnic and
University of Kuopio. Sulake's virtual
world and social networking site for
teens, Habbo, is one of the world's
fastest growing online destinations for
teens. Sulake is an interactive
entertainment company specialized in
developing, publishing and distributing
multiplayer online games and
communities, like Habbo.
|
Steven
Roberts, VP & GM, Games & Strategic
Initiatives, DirecTV
Steven Roberts is a
20 year veteran of the sports,
television and entertainment industry.
Currently, as Vice President and General
Manager for Gaming and Strategic
Initiatives at DIRECTV, Steven Roberts
is responsible for the development and
launch of both Game Lounge, a new, 24/7
interactive games channel as well as,
the highly anticipated Championship
Gaming Series, a global professional
video gaming league beginning in 2007.
Both of these initiatives and other
gaming related original programming,
represents the commitment that both
Roberts and DIRECTV has to the gaming
industry.
Before joining
DIRECTV, Steven was Executive Vice
President at Sportvision, the worldwide
leader in sports television broadcast
technology. His focus at the company was
not only bringing the ubiquitous “yellow
line” to every televised football game
but also, expanding the product line to
include broadcast enhancements for
NASCAR, Major League Baseball and the
Olympics. The company tripled in revenue
during his tenure.
Steven honed his
marketing and overall business skills,
first as Managing Partner of Pinnacle
Promotions, a promotional consulting
agency for such companies as Coke Foods,
AIG and Coors and then, at two divisions
of Sony, Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE)
and Sony Sports and Entertainment. As
Managing Director of Sony Signatures,
the consumer merchandising and licensing
arm for SPE, Roberts was responsible for
new property acquisitions, branding and
managing one of the world’s largest
licensing businesses at the time, World
Cup Soccer 1998. The following year,
Roberts was tapped to start a new
business for Sony Corporation, Sony
Sports and Entertainment. As General
Manager of Global Operations, Roberts
was responsible for leading Sony’s foray
into sports marketing beginning with the
Sony Open, a PGA TOUR Event and other
sports oriented initiatives.
Steven graduated
from University of California at
Berkeley, is on the Board of Mi6, the
video game industry’s only marketing
organization and is married with two
daughters.
|
Dave
Madden, EVP, Sales, Marketing &
Business Development,
WildTangent
Mr. Madden has
been with WildTangent since March 2000
and is responsible for the sales and
marketing of WildTangent’s products and
services and for its business
development efforts. A media industry
veteran, Mr. Madden has over a dozen
years of experience in the print, cable,
broadcast and interactive media
industries. Prior to WildTangent, he was
the Executive Vice President of Sales
for News Digital Media, the Internet
Division of News Corporation. At News
Digital Media, Madden ran sales and
marketing for the digital properties of
Fox Sports, Fox News and Fox
Entertainment and was tasked with
cross-media integration around such
properties as the World Series and Super
Bowl. Previous to News Digital Media,
Mr. Madden was the Associate Publisher
of Runner’s World magazine. At Runner’s
World, he oversaw sales and marketing of
for the U.S. and overseas editions.
Under his guidance, Runner’s World was a
top 10 consumer title for advertising
sales growth. Mr. Madden is the Chair of
the IAB Interactive Games Committee and
sits on the IAB Board of Directors. Mr.
Madden received his B.A. degree from
Princeton.
|
Alex
St. John, CEO,
WildTangent
Alex St. John is
the CEO and co-founder of WildTangent,
the leading online game publisher and
creators of the Web Driver platform, the
most ubiquitous gaming platform on the
Internet today.
Prior to
founding WildTangent in 1998, St. John
was responsible for Microsoft's
multimedia strategy which led to the
creation of Microsoft's DirectX
technology, which become the foundation
for all Windows multimedia applications,
3D graphics, media players, as well as
thousands of PC and Xbox games. Several
books have been written about St. John's
exploits at Microsoft including
Renegades of the Empire by Michael
Drummond, Opening the Xbox by Dean
Takahashi, and Masters of Doom by David
Kushner.
St. John is
widely considered to have his finger on
the pulse of cutting edge technology
trends in the gaming industry and is a
frequent speaker at major media &
technology events as well.
|
Gordon
Bellamy, Dir. of Business Development,
Double Fusion
At
Double Fusion, Gordon is responsible for
developing strategic business
partnerships for Double Fusion with
Video and PC game publishers and
developers, casual games publishers and
developers, providers of online
communities, technology partners. As an
executive consultant for MTV, Bellamy provided creative guidance on the
content, direction and strategic
marketing partnerships for the annual
Spike TV Video Game Awards show and the
highly rated weekly program Game Head
also on Spike TV. Previously, he was
Executive Director of the game
industry's trade organization, the
Academy of Interactive Arts and
Sciences. Bellamy has also played key
business and product development roles
at Electronic Arts, where he was named
the company's Rookie of the Year for his
work on the best-selling Madden Football
franchise, THQ, and Activision
subsidiary Z-Axis. He earned a BA degree
from Harvard College in engineering,
where he was also a John Harvard scholar
and AT&T/ Bell Labs Engineering scholar.
|
Levi
Shapirio, Sr. Dir. Audience Metrics,
Mobile Content,
Telephia
Levi Shapiro is the Sr. Director
of Audience Metrics for
Telephia. In this role, Mr.
Shapiro has created partnerships
and products for leading movie
studios, television networks,
game publishers, record labels
and advertising agencies. He has
also developed innovative new
products, including the
industry's first-ever Mobile
Video Report. Mr. Shapiro is a
veteran speaker, having
presented at high level wireless
industry conferences, including
CTIA, NAB, NAPTE, IIR, Informa,
IQPC, iHollywood, Terrapin and
other industry forums.
Previously, Mr. Shapiro served
as CEO of two mobile video
companies, Two Minute Television
and Snack Mobile. Two Minute
Television created short-form TV
series with episodes averaging 4
million broadcast and cable TV
viewers, carriage on 110 major
websites and distribution on
wireless carriers in North
America, Asia and Europe. Snack
Mobile developed software
enabling a completely new
category of mobile media—
combining casual mobile gaming
with live-action video. Prior to
that, Mr. Shapiro helped
re-launch a multi-million euro
line of online digital services
for IBM in Europe, growing
revenue in a previously flat
segment. Mr. Shapiro is
completely fluent in Japanese
and Italian and spent the early
part of his career in Tokyo and
Beijing, with Toyota Motor
Corporation. Mr. Shapiro is an
Editor at Video Age Magazine (www.videoageinternational.com),
where he covers the business of
film and television. His
education includes Tulane (BA),
Cornell (MA) and MIT (MBA).
|
Kanishka
Agarwal, VP, Mobile Content,
Telephia
Kanishka Agarwal is the Vice
President of Mobile Content at
Telephia. Mr. Agarwal is
responsible for driving the
growth agenda of the company in
mobile content, as well as the
company’s international
expansion. He is frequently
quoted in top media and trade
publications, including CNBC,
Associated Press, San Jose
Mercury News, Washington Post,
RCR News, and Wireless Week. Mr.
Agarwal has more than 10 years
of comprehensive experience in
the communications, media,
technology and mobile market
research industries. He is a
seasoned speaker and mobile
industry expert on such topics
as mobile content, including
gaming, music, TV, and
entertainment and converging
communications. He’s presented
at many industry conferences,
including CTIA, Mobile Games
Summit, Digital Media Wire,
Wireless Week EXPO, among
others.
Prior to Telephia, Mr. Agarwal
spent seven years in the
communications, media and
technology industries. He spent
five years at Booz Allen
Hamilton, including a year at
Sprint PCS developing new
products for the enterprise
wireless data market. Mr.
Agarwal also helped launch a
wireless middleware start-up and
a telecom infrastructure
software spin-off from Lucent –
both through Booz Allen’s
incubator arm. For more than two
years years, he also ran sales
and marketing at an enterprise
software start-up (now a part of
PeopleSoft), and stints at
Twentieth Century Fox and
Universal Studios. Mr. Agarwal
holds an MBA from Stanford
University, as well as an ME and
BS from Harvey Mudd College.
|
Phaedra
Boinodiris,
CEO,
WomenGamers.com
Phaedra Boinodiris is the
co-founder and CEO of
WomenGamers.Com, the largest
women’s’ gaming portal on
the Internet providing
marketing and consulting
services to game companies
that target women as
consumers.
Three years after college,
Phaedra launched her first
startup Atlantis Internet
Technologies, a 10-year old
custom software services
development company
specializing in ecommerce
and WebSphere.
Phaedra is currently
pursuing an MBA from the
Kenan Flagler Business
School at UNC-Chapel Hill,
serves on the advisory board
of many educational
institutions who have
fledgling game design and
development degrees and is
an active contributor to
events hosted by Women in
Games International.
Prior to Telephia, Mr. Agarwal
spent seven years in the
communications, media and
technology industries. He spent
five years at Booz Allen
Hamilton, including a year at
Sprint PCS developing new
products for the enterprise
wireless data market. Mr.
Agarwal also helped launch a
wireless middleware start-up and
a telecom infrastructure
software spin-off from Lucent –
both through Booz Allen’s
incubator arm. For more than two
years years, he also ran sales
and marketing at an enterprise
software start-up (now a part of
PeopleSoft), and stints at
Twentieth Century Fox and
Universal Studios. Mr. Agarwal
holds an MBA from Stanford
University, as well as an ME and
BS from Harvey Mudd College.
|
Howard
Marks,
CEO,
Acclaim Games
Howard Marks is the CEO of
Acclaim Games, the rebirth of
the former Acclaim
Entertainment, an online social
gaming company with free to
download multi-player games,
in-game advertising and virtual
items.
With over 2,000,000 registered
players, Acclaim is one of the
fastest growing destination for
online games. Marks is President
of the recently formed Online
Game Consortium. Marks was
Chairman of Activision Studios
from 1991-1997.
|
Brad
Singer,
EVP, Products & Markets,
PaymentOne
Brad Singer
is Executive Vice President
of Products and Markets for
PaymentOne, a leading online
payment solutions provider. Brad
leads the company’s overall
market strategy, new product
initiatives, and partnership
activities. Brad has over 18
years of business and general
management experience in the
media, payment and technology
markets. Previously, Brad served
as Vice President of Strategic
Marketing and Content Licensing
at NewsEdge, an early pioneer in
content syndication, which
achieved annual growth rates of
over 40%, consistent
profitability, and a successful
IPO during his 8-year tenure
(later acquired by Thomson
Corporation). Brad also served
as General Manager of the
NewsPage.com business, an early
innovator in on-line fee-based
services. Most recently, Brad
served as Vice President
Marketing and Business
Development at TeleKnowledge, a
billing and e-commerce
infrastructure company. Brad has
also held management positions
at Citibank and General Electric
and served on the Dun and
Bradstreet executive Advisory
Board. He earned a BS in
Computer Science and Economics
from Tufts University, and holds
an MBA in Finance from the
Wharton Business School. Brad
has been featured in the
technology and business press,
and has been a frequent speaker
at industry events.
|
Stan
Liu,
VP, Mobile Content Development, The
Walt Disney Internet Group
As vice president of mobile
content development for the Walt Disney
Internet Group’s (WDIG) domestic mobile
content division, Stan Liu oversees creation
and development of games, ringtones,
graphics and applications for the mobile
platform under WDIG’s mDisney and Starwave
Mobile publishing labels.
mDisney mobile content is
based on a long list of both classic and
current Disney and Disney/Pixar theatrical
favorites as well as popular Disney Channel,
Walt Disney Records and Buena Vista Games
franchises. The company’s Starwave Mobile
arm is a licensor and publisher of
third-party brands as well as non-Disney
brands within The Walt Disney Company which
allows WDIG to offer a full demographic
suite of content in the mobile space.
Liu has more than 15 years
experience in digital media development
within the interactive entertainment market.
He has pioneered unique and addictive game
play mechanics through the creation of the
MotionFX™ engine. Prior to joining Disney,
Liu founded and served as the creative
director for Atomic Bullfrog LLC and its
media production division Atomic Bullfrog
Studios.
Liu began his career at
Kronos CG Consulting and later spearheaded
the launch of Kronos Digital Entertainment
where he served as president and CEO. There
he created and developed the “Fear Effect”
franchise for video games, comic books and
motion picture licensing, which received
multiple perfect ratings as well as game of
the year award.
He holds a Bachelor of
Science degree in Industrial Design from the
Art Center College of Design in Pasadena,
California. |
George
Borkowski,
Partner, Mitchell Silberberg Knupp
LLP
Borkowski
is a member of MS&K Governing Board, and
Chair of MS&K Intellectual Property &
Technology Practice. He is also a senior
member of litigation team representing the
record industry in its copyright
infringement suit against Kazaa, Sharman,
Music City, and Grokster. |
Mark
Friedler,
Publisher/Founder, GameDaily
Mark is CEO and co-founder of Gigex, Inc./GameDAILY
(http://www.GameDAILY.com) a leading
provider of video game news, reviews, free
downloads and the leading provider of trade
news with the GameDAILY newsletter. He has
been with the company since 1995. He has 10
years experience marketing video games
online and is a frequent speaker and
panelist at industry events including CES,
E3, Digital Hollywood and events sponsored
by Microsoft, IQPC, Jupiter Communications,
Digital Media Wire and IEMA. He was
chairperson for both conferences "Best
Practices for Marketing, Selling and
Distributing Software over the Internet" and
the European Electronic Software Delivery
Conference. Mark’s television experience
includes several features in 2003 including
NBC’s "TechNow," "NBC Today About the Bay"
(San Francisco/San Jose KNTV) and "Silicon
Valley Business." He is the video game
columnist for the IMedia Connection
newsletter and he has written for industry
publications Software Business , GameDAILY
and SIIA’s Upgrade. Previously, Mark was
Director of Marketing at Reach Networks in
New York from 1994-1995 where he managed
marketing and sales of integrated services
to Fortune 500 clients. From 1992 – 1994,
Mark was Managing Director of Teleworld
Sweden AB, a division of Philips Media.
Teleworld developed and operated interactive
voice and television-based online
entertainment and transaction services
together with MTV Europe and other major
European broadcasters. From 1988-1992, he
founded and operated Sweden’s first chain of
cookie stores. He holds a B.A in Political
Science from Hamilton College in New York
and has taken graduate courses in business
law, programming and network management.
Mark is 40 years old and lives in the San
Francisco bay area with his wife and 2 sons. |
Mike
Breslin,
VP, Marketing, Americas.,
I-play
Mike has
deep roots in the video games industry
spanning over 12 years. Having managed
marketing and communications for some of the
video game industry’s most prolific and best
selling titles, such as The Doom
series, Hexen, The Quake series,
Duke Nukem, Star Craft,
Mortal Kombat, Resident Evil,
Deus Ex, Tron and Kingdom
Hearts, Mike brings a seasoned approach
to the marketing of I-play’s exciting roster
of mobile titles.
In
addition to managing the global marketing
communications for some of the video game
industries most successful brands, Mike has
managed the marketing communications,
licensing and development of consumer
products for entertainment leaders such as
Disney, Paramount, Sony and Mattel. Mike
has also been instrumental in coordinating
and delivering some of the mobile gaming
industry’s most impactful and successful
marketing and promotions for award winning
titles like Jewel Quest and
Skipping Stone, as well as for Hollywood
studio licenses such as Fox’s 24, the mobile
game, and Universal’s The Fast & Furious
mobile game franchise.
Mike has presented at numerous conferences
and events such as GDC, Austin Game
Developers conference, E3, and ECTS, and has
been widely quoted in several entertainment
and business publications from PC Gamer,
Computer Gaming World, Rolling Stone, The
New York Times, Forbes and Newsweek,
to on air interviews.
Born in Los Angeles, California, Mike was
raised in Dallas, TX. He attended the
University of Texas at Austin where he
played and lettered in Football, was
Honorable mention Academic All America, and
double majored in Advertising and Business
Administration. A self proclaimed
entertainment and gaming junky, Mike
currently, lives in Half Moon Bay California
with his wife Michelle and is still known to
master games at a thumb blistering pace
whether playing console, PC or mobile games.
|
Karl
Long,
Web/Social Media Integration Manager,
N-Gage Group,
Nokia
Karl Long
is the Web/Social Media Integration Manager
for the N-Gage group at Nokia. In this group
Karl helps develop tools and strategies to
deepen and extend the relationships with
customers, and market our products and
services through the web and social media.
Karl has been blogging since 2003 at
experiencecurve.com where he has been
writing and instigating conversation around
social media, customer experience and
marketing since 2003. Karl holds an MBA in
Design Management from the University of
Westminster in England. |
Karin
Pagnanelli, Partner,
Mitchell Silberberg Knupp LLC
Karin Pagnanelli’s legal expertise is in
civil litigation with a concentration in
intellectual property disputes involving
copyright, trademark, piracy, trade secrets,
defamation, and unfair competition in state
and federal courts. She was the lead counsel
in the successful representation of Take2
Interactive and Rockstar Games in a
trademark infringement suit before U.S.
District Court alleging the company's game
"Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" infringes
upon the marks of a Los Angeles business
establishment.
She graduated from Southwestern University
School of Law, J.D.
magna cum
laude in 1994. |
Jay
Moore, Head of Special Ops,
The Strategery Group
Jay,
founder of The Strategery Group, works with
talented game developers to help build their
ventures. Providing insight on fashioning
strong business side teams and advising on
brand and business development. Jay was
previously Dir. of Business Development,
Marketing Director & Evangelist for
GarageGames, an online tool dev and game
publisher. He joined GG in '02 when they
were 5 guys crammed into a one-room office.
When he left, they were a team of 30+. While
at GG, he launched IndieGamesCon, oversaw
the online publishing of independent games,
and worked to establish Torque as the game
engine platform of choice for independent
game developers.
|
Joseph
Olin, President,
Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences
Joseph Olin brings more than
25 years of experience in video games and
consumer products to his position as
President of the Academy of Interactive Arts
& Sciences. Since taking the helm of the
non-profit organization in July 2004, Olin
has championed the $25 billion video game
industry by raising awareness of
individuals, games, companies,
organizations/associations and changing
issues by promoting innovation and
commitment. As President of AIAS, he is the
voice of the Academy and oversees the annual
DICE Conference and Interactive Achievement
Awards.
Prior to his presidency with
the AIAS, Olin spearheaded the introduction
of gaming’s most famous heroine, Lara Croft,
with the launch of the blockbuster Tomb
Raider franchise as vice president of
marketing and business development for U.S.
GOLD, INC. / EIDOS Interactive.
Olin also served as senior
partner and group account director at Ogilvy
& Mather where he launched Mattel’s
Generation Girl Teen Dolls product and the
first Barbie brand advertising campaign.
Earlier in his career, Olin
held senior level positions in game
publishing, advertising, sales, and
marketing. At Elliot Portwood Studios,
Olin co-created Leonardo’s
Multimedia Toolbox, an educational
product, developed with Gene Portwood and
Lauren Elliott (creators of
Carmen Sandiego). His impressive background
also includes tenure with NEC’s System
Laboratory Group of Japan,
Voiceweb Corporation, Kovel/Fuller, Inc.,
Della Femina McNamee, Panda Management
Company and Microprose/Hasbro Interactive.
Olin is active in the Agoura
Hills community, a board member with Agoura
Pony Baseball League and a number of local
school support groups. Olin also sits on
the advisory board of FMX.
Olin earned a Bachelor of
Science degree in Business Administration
from the University of Southern California.
|
William
Wohnoutka, VP, Bus. Dev. Content
Markets Group,
Level 3
Communications
Bill Wohnoutka is Vice President of
Business Development for the Content
Markets Group at Level 3. In this role
he leads Level 3’s Content Markets Group
in providing end-to-end digital
distribution solutions to digital media
companies – enabling the acquisition and
distribution of digital content to
end-users around the world. From the
highest quality live events, to
massively multiplayer online games and
into the world of user generated
content, Level 3 network and services
help the worlds’ leading content
providers reach their audiences directly
with compelling content and the highest
quality end-user experience.
Prior to Level 3, Bill directed product
development at LogicTier, a managed
services company focused on helping
major media companies architect and
operate high-volume web sites. Bill
held product management positions with
GlobalCenter, an early leader in
providing digital distribution services
to leading entertainment companies, and
began his career with NetManage, the
developer of the first commercially
successful consumer Internet
applications.
|
Suzanne
Stefanac, Director,
AFI Digital
Content Lab
Suzanne Stefanac is director of the
American Film Institute's Digital
Content Lab. For nine years, the AFI DCL,
in collaboration with a community of
first-tier mentors, has served as the
premiere incubator for innovative
interactive solutions for producers of
film, television, games, mobile
applications, and more. Previously,
Stefanac was co-founder and SVP
creative/production for RespondTV, an
interactive television infrastructure
company based in San Francisco where she
oversaw the build of more than 100
applications for clients such as
Coca-Cola, Comedy Central, Ford, the
Sci-Fi Channel, American Airlines, and
PBS. With the launch of MSNBC in 1996,
Stefanac was named an executive producer
for "The Site," an hour-long nightly
news program and website. As founding
editor of Macworld Online in 1994,
Stefanac oversaw the creation of that
organization's award-winning website.
For fifteen years prior to these
ventures, Stefanac was a journalist
covering technology issues for Wired,
Salon, Macworld, PC World, New Media,
Publish, San Francisco Chronicle,
California Lawyer, and Rolling Stone,
among others. Stefanac is author of
"Dispatches from Blogistan: A Travel
Guide for the Modern Blogger," published
by Peachpit/New Riders, as part of their
Voices that Matter | |