Monday, March 27
1:00 PM – 2:15 PM
Session A:
Mobile as the Dominant Video & Broadband Experience – Building a Network and Interface for Entertainment and Communications
Mobile communications has effectively and successfully integrated itself into our daily lives as the primary personal and business communications vehicle and daily usage is only accelerating. With every new feature and service provided, the acceptance and adaptation of mobile as the broadband, audio, video and text based consumer information and entertainment accessory is continually reinforced. The entertainment, information and technology industries have effectively joined forces in providing the consumer with one of the most readily adapted and embraced consumer products ever devised. The question of whether the consumer is willing to accept video as a mobile service is no longer in question. In the coming year, the industry will experiment with new and enhanced products and services, with video, audio and text features and it will be the consumer who will sort out the hits from the misses. Video and broadband is now the dominant vision for the future of mobile consumer adaptation.
Bruce Gersh, Senior Vice President Business Development, ABC Entertainment Group
Jeremiah Zinn, Senior Director, Wireless Product Development, MTV Networks
Mark Bercow, SVP Business Development, Palm, Inc.
Mike Bailey, Senior Director, Programming, MediaFLO USA, Inc.
Tom Parrish, Senior Vice President, Business Development and Content, Mobliss
Dr. Phillip Alvelda, Chairman & CEO, co-founder, MobiTV
Ken Rutkowski, founder, KenRadio Broadcasting, Moderator
Mike Bailey is senior director of programming for MediaFLO USA, Inc., a wh
olly-owned subsidiary of QUALCOMM, offering interactive wireless multimedia services to consumers in cooperation with U.S. wireless operators. In this role, Bailey is responsible for programming for the MediaFLO service, including identifying content opportunities, collaborating with content providers and determining MediaFLO’s overall content packaging and positioning. Prior to joining QUALCOMM, Bailey was vice president of sales for Entriq, an International Pay TV company, where he launched broadband services with content providers including MTV, NBC/Universal, 2004 Olympics, Major League Baseball, WWE and Echostar. Previously, Bailey also served as vice president of programming for a subsidiary of Motorola, where he was responsible for content strategy, licensing and acquisition, and as vice president of worldwide programming for On Command, where he negotiated hundreds of deals with major motion picture studios including Disney, Fox, Universal, Sony, Paramount, MGM, DreamWorks and Warner. Bailey was also responsible for all cable network acquisitions, advertising, promotion and new product development. Bailey holds a B.A. in telecommunications and film from San Diego State University and an MBA from the University of San Diego.Bruce Gersh was named Senior Vice President Business Developme
nt, ABC Entertainment Group, in April 2004. In this position, Mr. Gersh has responsibility for all traditional and online business development programs across ABC Daytime/Primetime, Touchstone Television. Since joining ABC in 2000, Mr. Gersh has been involved in several groundbreaking business development initiatives for the online and traditional business units of the Network. Mr. Gersh developed the nation's first "premium-rate" Short Messaging Service campaign for ABC Daytime. Mr. Gersh also devised and manages, "Shop the Soaps" on ABC Daytime, which is considered to be the first fully integrated cross-media shopping program on network television. Finally, Mr. Gersh oversees several new business initiatives including, merchandise licensing, book publishing, music soundtracks, home video, e-commerce, and product placement. Before joining ABC, Mr. Gersh was a business development consultant for NBC Enterprises, where he identified and created new revenue generating programs. Mr. Gersh was instrumental in the creation and expansion of the NBC direct response business, which was measured as revolutionary in the network television world. Prior to joining ABC, Mr. Gersh was a business development consultant for NBC Enterprises, where he identified and created new revenue generating programs. He began his career at Arthur Andersen, and was recently selected by the Hollywood Reporter in the Next Generation issue as one of the young executives poised to become an industry leader. Mr. Gersh holds a degree in Accounting Theory and Practice from California State University, Northridge. He resides in Los Angeles with his wife, Sharon, and their three children, Casey, Nicki and Hailey.Dr. Phillip Alvelda - Chairman and CEO, MobiTV, Inc.: Dr. Alvelda is the CEO
, Chairman, and cofounder of MobiTV, Inc., Previously, Dr. Alvelda was the founding CEO and CTO of The MicroDisplay Corporation, a manufacturer of ultra-high resolution miniature displays for portable systems and low cost HDTVs. Prior to MicroDisplay, Dr. Alvelda was a developer of spacecraft hardware and software systems for image processing and data compression at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Dr. Alvelda holds a Bachelor's degree in Physics from Cornell University and received his Masters and PhD degrees in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.Mark Bercow, Senior Vice President, Business Development, Palm, Inc.
: As senior vice president, business development, Mark is responsible for Palm corporate and business-development functions. He returns to Palm after an absence of four years. In his early years at the company, Mark was the vice president responsible for the Palm OS® platform and led the creation of the "Palm Economy," which grew to more than 100,000 developers and 20,000 applications during his tenure. Prior to his return to Palm, Mark was a vice president at Intuit, where he helped establish and grow the Intuit Developer Network. His group created SDKs (software development kits), recruited developers and provided technical and member support and service resulting in 30,000+ developers producing 7,000 applications for Intuit. Prior to Intuit, Mark was vice president of marketing and business development at Atheros Communications, an early stage wireless semiconductor startup. He was responsible for all marketing, product marketing strategy, segmentation and business development. Before his initial position at Palm, Mark held several management and executive management positions at high-growth technology companies, including Sun Microsystems and Chipcom Corporation. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from California State University, Northridge.Tom Parrish, Senior Vice President, Business
Development and Content, Mobliss: As Senior Vice President, Business Development and Content, Tom Parrish heads up partnerships, alliances and licensing deals with leading brands, entertainment properties, and wireless carriers. He has been an integral member of the Mobliss leadership team for over two years, from its early days as a small start-up to its current position as a major player in the US mobile content market within the Index Group, which acquired Mobliss in 2004. He previously served six years at AT&T Wireless Services in product and business development roles, notably in the Mobile Multi-media Services Group, where he was responsible for a broad set of third party content, portal services, and messaging applications.Jeremiah Zinn, Senior Director of Wireless Product Development for MT
V networks, is responsible for managing the mobile product roadmap and development path for six Viacom Brands; MTV, VH1, CMT, Comedy Central, Spike and LOGO. In this role, Jeremiah is directly responsible for the production oversight of all mobile products that MTV networks distributes. Jeremiah was most recently head of service development at Ericsson Mobility World (www.ericsson.com/mobilityworld/) where he worked with North American operators to bring innovative content and applications to their customers. He conceived, developed, and sold Ericsson’s first hosted content services to both US and European operators in the areas of MMS content, SMS content and Mobile downloads. Before joining Ericsson, Jeremiah worked at several new media and Internet startups with a focus of creating entertainment experiences using emerging technologies. In addition to being an experienced strategic planner and business manager, Jeremiah has extensive experience evaluating technology and consumer services for venture capitalists including the Soros Group. Jeremiah is currently an adjunct professor at Parsons New School for Design, where he teaches mobile game design. Prior to his new media career, Jeremiah studied Art History and Art Restoration at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.Ken Rutkowski is one of most broadly-informed and connected people in
the media, entertainment and technology (MET) market. A true industry insider, Ken’s relationships span senior managers of leading technology companies to studio executives; from small software companies innovating the next generation of MET products/services to IT outsourcers and consultants. Part pundit, part matchmaker, part strategist – Ken helps start-ups to multi-national corporations understand the trends shaping their industries and connect with the people that matter. As pundit, Ken’s daily Internet and radio talk show, World Tech Round-Up, is a must-listen-to source of inside information for over 186,000 Internet listeners in over 40 countries – regularly scooping the major media and giving perspective to emerging trends, developments and industry maneuvers. His Daily Tech Clicks newsletter and IQ Report are distributed 5 days/week to the technology, entertainment and business elite. As matchmaker, Ken opens doors for clients across the media, entertainment and digital technology landscape. In 2000, he founded METal, a networking group of 100+ MET industry influencers that meet for breakfast and information sharing each Saturday in Los Angeles. Additionally, he co-hosts MET Salon, one of Los Angeles’ premier invitation-only networking events. As strategist, Ken helps clients utilize emerging technology developments to create new business models, identify revenue opportunities and out-maneuver competitors. Combining his deep understanding of MET convergence with an insider’s perspective of the problems facing the industry today, Ken crafts breakthrough strategies that leverage innovations in the digital economy. On an international level, Ken works with countries such as Finland, Australia and Holland – helping them fortify their technology outreach story and strategy. In his public role, Ken is a founding member of the Streaming Media Executive Committee and is on the board of several media, entertainment and technology companies. He is a much-sought-after speaker/moderator at conferences around the world. He regularly appears as a guest correspondent for Fox 11 KTTV and Fox’s Good Day LA – talking about everything from new tech gadgets to important websites.