12:30 PM - 1:45 PM
Session C:
VC and Investment in the Entertainment - Technology Space, Part I
The VC and Investment community has always led the way in recognizing the newest opportunities in the technology and entertainment space. VC funds are always available for the right idea and in this session, we will focus on the three sectors leading the entertainment and technology space today, broadband, wireless and the DTV/SVOD content and technology opportunities. Broadband has been the holy grail for the entertainment industry for years, but what it represents today, is the reality of locking in millions of users. Wireless represents the explosive technology of the moment and DTV/SVOD represents the next explosive area of growth in the entertainment business - bringing new content to millions of consumers.
David O. Higley, Head of US Digital Media Technologies, UBS Warburg LLC
Allen Sussman, Partner, Morrison & Foerster LLP
Sun Jen Yung, Director, Media Investment Banking, Deutsche Bank Securities, Inc.
John C. Kirkland, Partner, Greenberg Traurig, LLP
Mariana Danilovic, CEO, Women in Technology International
Carl Rosendahl, Managing Director, Mobius Venture Capital
Joey Tamer, President, S.O.S. Inc., Moderator
David O. Higley, Head of US Digital Media Technologies, UBS Warburg LLC: David O. Higley joined UBS Warburg LLC from Prudential Volpe Technology Group where he was head of the Interactive Media and eBusiness Groups. During his career, Dave has raised over $5 billion for his clients and advised on over $2 billion in M&A transactions. Prior to investment banking, Dave was a securities attorney at Thelen Reid & Priest, a national law firm based in San Francisco. During his time at Thelen, Dave was involved in numerous equity and debt offerings and M&A transactions for emerging growth companies. Dave has a bachelors degree in Business Administration from the University of Southern California (where he was part of the Business Scholars Program) and a Law Degree from the University of Virginia.
John C. Kirkland, Partner, Greenberg Traurig, LLP: John Kirkland is a shareholder in th
e Los Angeles office of Greenberg Traurig, LLP, a full-service international law firm. Kirkland concentrates his practice on corporate, venture capital and information technology matters. He represents new media, technology and other emerging growth companies, and venture capital funds and investment banks that invest in such companies. Kirkland counsels clients in developing and refining their business models, setting up optimal capital and legal structures, identifying, protecting and exploiting their intellectual property and proprietary information, and obtaining financing through private placements and initial public offerings. He also provides clients with ongoing strategic advice, general corporate counseling on a variety of matters, and assistance with resolution of complex business disputes. Kirkland serves on the Board of Directors of the Oak Tree Foundation, is an Executive Member of the Venice Interactive Community, and a member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association. He received the Wiley W. Manuel Award for Pro Bono Legal Services and is listed in the Who’s Who in American Law. Kirkland is a graduate of the UCLA School of Law, and earned his undergraduate degree from Columbia University.Sun Jen Yung, Director, Media Investment Banking, Deutsche Bank Secu
rities, Inc. based in San Francisco. Sun has responsibilities for the firm's Investment Banking franchises in Enhanced TV and Broadband. Sun joined Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown in February 2000 from Lehman Brothers, where she was a senior Internet banker in the San Francisco office. During her seven years at Lehman Brothers, Sun initially spent a year in equity research covering software and service companies and six years in banking covering software and Internet. Prior to Lehman Brothers, Sun spent two years at TCSI in Berkeley, CA in Business Development and Finance. In addition, Sun's background includes several years of investment banking experience at J.P. Morgan (Brazil) and PaineWebber (New York and San Francisco). Sun graduated from Columbia Business School in 1988 with an MBA in Finance and a B.A. in Economics and International Studies from Macalester College in St. Paul, MN in 1984.Allen Z. Sussman, Partner, Morrison & Foerster LLP. He specializes in corpora
te and securities law, with particular emphasis on high technology companies. Allen's practice includes public and private financings, venture capital, mergers and acquisitions, corporate partnering and strategic alliance arrangements, joint ventures, franchising, licensing and start-up and emerging company business transactions. Prior to joining Morrison & Foerster, he was a Partner of Brobeck Pelps & Phillips, LLP, served as Senior Counsel, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C., and Senior Attorney, Office of Thrift Supervision, Department of the Treasury. Allen is a graduate of Boston University Law School (J.D., 1988) and Cornell University (B.A., 1985).Mariana Danilovic, CEO, Women in Technology International: In 1997, prior to joining WITI, Ms. Danilovic founded and directed the Digital Media Busi
ness Incubator at KPMG LLP. This practice developed numerous "cutting-edge" companies, including Internet Wire, Tonos.com, Enband, mySMART.com, Popular Arts, WalkThisWay.com, FirstLook.com, E-Poll, CatchTV, and QST.com. Intel, Enron and Hewlett-Packard are some of the strategic investors in these ventures. The practice successfully facilitated the sale of The Well to Salon.com prior to its initial public offering. The companies Ms. Danilovic incubated at KPMG LLP received first round institutional funding from such well-known venture capital firms as Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia Capital, Hummer-Winblad, Constellation Partners, Softbank and North Star Ventures. The first seven companies that were incubated each received pre-money valuations in excess of $30 million after an average of less than six months of incubation. Another was sold and then resold. Prior to joining KPMG, Ms. Danilovic headed business development for Mandalay Entertainment. She was also in business development at Sony Pictures Entertainment and at Twentieth Century Fox International Television Group. Prior to attending business school, she worked in Product Management and Mergers & Acquisitions for Transamerica and SunAmerica. Ms. Danilovic earned a Masters in Business Administration from the Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA and a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics from University of California at San Diego. Ms. Danilovic serves on the Board of Directors of the Zone Club, the Board of Directors of the California Culture Net, the Industry-University Council of University of California's Digital Media Innovation Program, and as a member of the Los Angeles Mayor Riordan's Digital Coast Roundtable.Carl Rosendahl is a managing director for Mobius Venture Capital. Prior to
joining the fund, Mr. Rosendahl founded Pacific Data Images in 1980 to combine his interests in filmmaking and computer graphics. Over the next 20 years, the company successfully expanded from being a specialty production facility to one of the most respected computer animation and visual effects studios in the industry. PDI has produced over 700 television commercials and created effects and animation for more than 70 feature films. In 1996, DreamWorks SKG became a minority equity partner in PDI, and in 2000 acquired Mr. Rosendahl’s interest in the company. Mr. Rosendahl was an executive producer for the first DreamWorks/PDI computer-animated feature film, ANTZ. He has been awarded multiple Emmy awards for television graphics, and The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recently recognized him and PDI co-partners Glenn Entis and Richard Chuang with a Technical Achievement Award for the concept and architecture of the studio's animation system. Mr. Rosendahl has been a guest editor for Animation Magazine, taught a graduate level course on computer animation and visual effects at USC Film School and has moderated panels at Siggraph, Delphi, Digital Hollywood, Promax and numerous other conferences and seminars. He is a founding member of the Visual Effects Society (VES), and currently is vice chair of the governing board of directors for the VES. He also serves on the board of directors of Media 100 (NASDAQ: MDEA), Mondo Media, NewZing, Oediv, Pulse Entertainment and Tonos. Mr. Rosendahl is a Los Angeles native. He holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University.Joey Tamer, President, S.O.S., Inc. Joey Tamer consults to Internet CEOs on their