10:45 AM - Noon
Track I:
Power Economics – How the Convergence of Media, Entertainment and Technology Shape the Global Economy
Recognizing that the entertainment, media and technology industries are global is hardly a new idea, but trying to understand the current state of that relationship, the nature of global expansion or dislocation, the advantages of global synergies, the trends in international versus national branding, and the effects of digital technologies in a global context, gives rise to a host of unique arguments. While this country may be at the center of the technological, media and entertainment explosion, it is interesting to note that each global region from Europe to Asia are developing their own distinct approaches to media and technological innovation. It may be best however to approach this question from the inside out, by first trying to define the basic economic and social impact of these converging industries on this country’s economy and general lifestyle and work our way out. Since the bursting of the bubble in 2000, it has taken our economy almost three years to find its footing, arguably as a result of the downsizing, stabilization and now steady growth and innovation in broadband, wireless, DTV, DVD, Consumer Electronics, HDTV, computing, communications along with the ever evolving sophistication of our "content industries." With this new economic baseline, are we primed for an entertainment, media and technological boom? A global boom? Will all the good news be undermined by digital piracy and intellectual rights controversies? Are ever larger conglomerates doomed to fail or is massive technological innovation needed to approach the "global technological and media revolution" only be afforded by a handful of dominant companies?
Roy A. Salter, founder and Managing Member, The Salter Group
Saul Berman, Partner, Media and Entertainment group, IBM Business Consulting Services (BCS)
Jeff DeJoseph, Vice Chairman and Chief Strategic Officer, Doremus
Jim Bankoff, EVP, Programming, Properties, and Production, AOL
Don Levy, Senior Vice president of Marketing and Communications, Sony Pictures Digital, Moderator
Saul Berman, Partner, Media and Entertainment group, IBM Business Co
nsulting Services (BCS): Saul J. Berman is a Partner in the Media and Entertainment group as well as a Global Strategy & Business Development Executive for the Strategy and Change practice at IBM Business Consulting Services (BCS). In addition, he leads IBM’s BCS overall Strategy and Change competency development and the global business strategy competency. Prior to joining IBM, Saul was the Global Strategic Change Leader at PwC Consulting and previously with the Boston Consulting Group in Los Angeles. He was also previously a divisional Vice President with Broadway Department Stores and an Assistant Professor of Management at the University of Southern California. Dr. Berman has more than 20 years of consulting experience advising senior management of large corporate and start-up organizations. He has directed engagements addressing issues of strategy, organization, and operations. He has worked extensively on issues of competitive positioning, differentiation, new business plans & strategies, growth, operational & cost improvement, operations/manufacturing strategy, organizational design and enterprise transformation. His clients have included most of the major media companies as well as telecommunication companies, consumer goods manufacturers, retailers and automotive companies in the United States, Japan, Europe and Australia. Dr. Berman holds a Ph.D. in Management and Information Systems and a MBA in Production Systems and Operations Research from the Graduate School of Business at Columbia University in New York. He obtained a Bachelor of Science in Economics at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. Dr. Berman is a frequent speaker to industry and strategic planning organizations such as the Association of Strategic Planning, the National Association of Broadcasters, the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing, the National Association of Recording Merchandisers, and the Consumer Electronics Show. Dr. Berman served as a board member of the USC Film School Entertainment Technology Center, and of the Southern California chapter of the Strategic Leadership Forum.Jim Bankoff, EVP, Programming, Properties, and Production, AOL: As Executive Vice President, AOL Programming, Jim Bankoff is responsible for programming across the AOL service covering all platforms including narrowband, broadband, wireless, and voice. In this role, he is responsible for online programming and services spanning a full range of categories such as Entertainment, Kids and Teens, Lifestyle and Community programming. Previously, Bankoff served as President of AOL Web Properties. He was responsible for AOL's network of Internet brands including Netscape, CompuServe, Moviefone, MapQuest, ICQ, and AOL Instant Messenger services. Additionally, he coordinated the integration of online properties across Time Warner. Before he was named to lead the Web Properties group in 2001, Bankoff served as President of Netscape where he was charged with directing business operations and managing the continued growth of Netscape.com, one of the most visited sites on the Internet, and for the Netbusiness initiative, the most comprehensive online destination for small businesses. Prior to managing Netscape, Bankoff served as Vice President of Strategy and Operations for the AOL Brand where he was responsible for leading several critical businesses and operating infrastructure groups that supported the AOL core service. His responsibilities included managing business strategy, new category development, and content acquisition in addition to managing several cross-brand strategic initiatives for the AOL Interactive Services Group. Bankoff also led the AOL Plus and AOL Music programming groups. In addition, in the months following AOL's merger with Netscape, he was instrumental in assisting with the operational integration and strategic planning development for Netscape. Bankoff has also served as a Director in AOL's Electronic Commerce Business Development Group and as a Director of Business Development for the AOL Greenhouse, an Internet content company incubator. He received a master's of business administration from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor of arts from Emory University.
Roy A. Salter is the founder and Managing Member of The Salter Group, an
independent financial and strategic advisory firm serving the entertainment and media industries. Mr. Salter is highly regarded for his groundbreaking work on valuing entertainment properties, forecasting performance, evaluating and structuring financial and strategic deals for entertainment companies, and advising entertainment companies and investors around the world on a wide variety of financial issues. Over the years, Salter’s clients have included major studios such as Sony, Fox, Warner Bros., Universal, MGM, and Walt Disney, along with other well-known entertainment and media companies in the U.S. and internationally such as Saban, Kirch Gruppe, Pro Sieben,,ICM, Mandalay, Cox Communications, Telemundo, and Playboy, along with music industry clients such as Chrysalis, EMI, and individual artists’ catalogues. Roy Salter is frequently quoted in the media including The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Dow Jones, Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Los Angeles Business Journal, Television Week, Advertising Age, and CBS Marketwatch related to entertainment and media happenings. Prior to The Salter Group, Mr. Salter was a Principal and Managing Director with the investment bank Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin, where he founded and managed the firm’s Entertainment & Media Group between 1988 and 2002. Therein, Mr. Salter directed the Group’s analytic, valuation and transactional activities, led the development of methodologies and systems to evaluate entertainment and media properties. Salter frequently lectures on a variety of media and entertainment corporate finance subjects. Mr. Salter taught MBA courses in the Anderson School of Business at UCLA on "The Economics and Valuation of Media and Entertainment Properties" and "Evaluation and Development of Entertainment Business Plans." Mr. Salter has taught similar courses in the European Media Business School. In addition, Mr. Salter has authored a text on the subject of valuing media and entertainment industry investments published by Warren Publications. In addition, Mr. Salter is a founder and manager of Brand Advisors, LLC, a company formed to enable advertisers to maximize the value of their brand and economic resources expended in entertainment content. Mr. Salter is also a founder and board member of Royalty Review Counsel, an independent music royalty administration company. Prior to Houlihan Lokey, Mr. Salter was a Vice President with Wells Fargo Capital Markets, Inc., where he provided mezzanine financing and M&A services to select bank clients. Previous to Wells Fargo Capital Markets, Mr. Salter was a Vice President in Wells Fargo’s Entertainment Group. Mr. Salter attended California State University at Northridge where he earned a B.S. in Business Administration, with an emphasis in Business Economics and Investment Management, and Loyola Marymount University where he earned an M.B.A. Mr. Salter is licensed with the Securities and Exchange Commission through the NASD as a Registered General Securities Representative (Series 7, 63).Jeff DeJoseph, Vice Chairman and Chief Strategic Officer, Doremus: A se
asoned strategist, Jeff is one of the architects behind Doremus' new positioning as a C2C (corporate to culture) agency. His insights have played a key role in bringing about some of the recent innovations in the business communications area. An integral part of his work has been the ongoing creation of proprietary, intellectual capital to help Doremus' clients differentiate their products and services and create a "category of one" for their offering. Jeff's unique understanding of key business decision-makers, their habits and histories, has provided valuable insights for those wishing to communicate with this elusive group. His strength in identifying solutions and insights that cut through complex issues has guided many Doremus clients, including The ACE Group (business insurance), Corning, Hitachi Data Systems, ITT Industries, United Technologies and Deutsche Bank, among others. Prior to joining Doremus, Jeff worked at J. Walter Thompson where he was Head of Worldwide Account Planning. While there he built one of the largest planning groups in advertising, managing domestic and multi-national brands such as Unilever, Ford, Schick, Warner-Lambert and Merrill Lynch. (He also led the effort that won the Merrill Lynch account for the agency). Prior to joining JWT, he ran his own agency. He was Director of Account Planning at Bates Worldwide, where he enabled category dominance through strategic and creative campaigns for clients such as EDS, Hyundai, and Miller Brewing Company. As Managing Director at Deutsch, Jeff oversaw the agency's work for IKEA and Pontiac, among others. Jeff began his advertising career as the first American Account Planner at Chiat/Day, New York. He has appeared on business programming for CNN, CNBC, Fox News and CBS Marketwatch. He is a Board Director for the Planning Committee of the American Association of Advertising Agencies, the APG, and was former Chairman of the American Marketing Association Committee (for Planning). He has authored numerous published business articles.Don Levy is senior vice president of marketing and communications
for Sony Pictures Digital which oversees the digital production and online assets of Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) and consists of four key operating business units: Sony Pictures Animation, Sony Pictures Imageworks, Sony Online Entertainment and Sony Pictures Digital Networks which is responsible for mobile entertainment, broadband video delivery and personal media software and services. By making information and entertainment available anywhere, anytime on any connected device, Sony Pictures Digital is exploring new technology that links hardware with software in ways that advance the current boundaries of the entertainment landscape. Levy is responsible for Sony Pictures Digital’s corporate communications, media and public relations for the division’s operating businesses, and coordination of marketing strategy between its business units. Levy, a seven-year veteran of Sony Pictures Entertainment, came to Sony Picture Digital from Sony Pictures Digital Studios Division, where he served in a similar capacity in support of the studio’s technology driven businesses. He joined Sony Pictures in 1995 as the studio’s Awards campaign consultant working on the Oscar-winning campaign for "Sense and Sensibility," and, in 1996, became Executive Director of Advertising, Publicity and Promotion for Sony Pictures award-winning visual effects and digital character animation company, Imageworks. During his tenure with Imageworks, Levy oversaw the publicity efforts for the visual effects and character animation facility, which included five Academy Award campaigns for "Starship Troopers, " Hollow Man," Stuart Little," "Spider-Man" and "The ChubbChubbs." This past year, Imageworks received its first Academy Award for "The ChubbChubbs", in the category of Best Animated Short Film. Prior to joining SPE, Levy held a six-year post at Paramount Pictures, where he was in charge of production publicity for that studio’s motion picture group. Freelance credits as a production publicist include numerous films in which visual effects played a significant role, including "The Lost World: Jurassic Park," "The Flintstones," "Star Trek: The Next Generation," "The Witches of Eastwick," "2010," "Brainstorm," "Poltergeist" and "Coming Home." Levy is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and has received the Publicists Guild of America’s highest honor, The Les Mason Award.