Click on the Video Below and Sample a Session from a previous Digital Hollywood event. For Additional Video Sessions, Click Here Digital Hollywood Wednesday, October 31st 2:15 PM - 3:30 PM Track IV: Social Networks & User Generated Media as a Technology Challenge: The Platform, the Content & the Network Social networks and user generated media are not always a success. Just like any innovation, the challenge is to be among those left standing after the race to be first is over. On a certain level, the era of the social networks and user generated media sites is just beginning. The technology is just starting to make a social network a living and breathing universe of communications and activity, but there is also the downside of getting up and running only to burn out and lose your momentum. In theory, every successful television show or community of users is a potential social network, but in reality, the translation process does not always take hold. In this session we will explore what it takes to create and maintain a successful social network and user generated media site. Don Kosak, Chief Technology Officer, Lycos Chris Tolles, CEO, Topix.net Cynthia Francis, CEO, Reality Digital Anthony Katsur, COO, Panther Express David Bankston, CTO, Neighborhood America Kevin Bromber, Co-founder & CEO, NowLive Reena Jadhav, CMO, Conduit.com, Moderator Harshul Sanghi, Managing Director, Motorola Ventures: Harshul Sanghi manages the Silicon Valley office of Motorola Ventures, based in Sunnyvale, California. Harshul’s role includes identifying, executing, and managing strategic investments in startup companies that will drive the realization of Motorola’s vision of Seamless Mobility. He is also responsible for managing the Venture group’s investment activities in India. Prior to Motorola, Harshul was at Ucentric Systems, a leading provider of Whole Home Media solutions, where he was responsible for worldwide sales and market development of the consumer electronics sector. Harshul has extensive experience in the digital media, consumer electronics, and semiconductor industries. In his previous role, Harshul served as General Manager of the satellite and terrestrial business team of Philips Electronic’s North America Set-Top Box Division. Harshul’s early career was spent in various technical and sales management positions in Silicon Valley, Singapore, and Western Europe. Harshul holds an MBA from the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Lausanne, Switzerland, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from the University of Oregon. He also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Accountancy and Financial Management from the University of Bombay, India. Harshul is an active member of TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) Organization and a board member of the Strategic Venture Association in Silicon Valley. He is an observer on the Boards of Avvenu, Mobile Complete, and Ruckus Wireless. Harshul, himself an entrepreneur, enjoys working with entrepreneurs to drive the adoption of disruptive market technologies. Kevin Bromber is CEO and Co-Founder of NowMedia Corp., parent to social broadcasting company NowLive. He is responsible for business development, public relations, marketing strategy, financing, sales and overall vision. Bromber is a successful entrepreneur with a diverse business background spanning software, Internet, real estate and mortgage banking. Bromber began his career in financial services, co-founding Los Angeles Unified Lending in 1989, a successful mortgage company which he sold in 1993. That same year, Bromber transitioned to the consumer software industry as VP of Sales for Visual Software Inc, a start up 3D software company where he opened national retail and OEM sales channels with top-selling, award-winning products. He also helped Visual Software structure the sale of the company to Micrografx (NASDAQ: MGXI) in 1996. Next, Bromber co-founded 3D Planet Inc (3DGreetings.com) with John Halloran where he served as President in charge of investment, sales, marketing and business development. 3DGreetings.com became the 4th largest electronic greeting card site on the web and was acquired in March 1999 by Mattel, Inc. (NYSE:MAT). Bromber held the position of Vice President Business Development for Mattel Interactive, where he was responsible for strategic relationships with hi-tech companies such as: Kodak, Intel, IBM, Giftcertificates.com and Microsoft. Don Kosak, Chief Technology Officer, Lycos: Don Kosak is responsible for Lycos software engineering, integration, operation, and new product development. In 1995, as Director of Research and Development, Don was a co-founder of WiseWire, a collaborative community web site. After Lycos' acquisition of WiseWire in 1998, he ran Lycos' Search and Directories engineering teams. He led the integration of acquired technologies for sites including Tripod, Angelfire, Matchmaker, Quote.Com, Lycos Communities, and Gamesville. He also led the globalization of Lycos Search for Japan and Korea, and Tripod for Europe, Japan, and Korea. He spearheaded the launch of multiple innovative products for the company including HTMLGear.com, Tripod's subscription and Blogging services, Terra's Global Instant Messenger, and Lycos' Connections products. Don was appointed to the Chief Technology Officer position in 2005. Prior to joining Lycos, Don created information retrieval and expert system applications for Westinghouse, Alcoa, the U.S. Navy, and the U.S. Senate. He is a pioneer in information filtering and Internet communities, with several patents in the field. Additionally, he has served as a Director for the Berkshire Technology Council, and Director of Lycos Labs incubator. Chris Tolles: CEO, Topix: Chris came to Topix from Spoke Software, a business social networking company, where he was a co-founder and VP of marketing. Before Spoke, Chris was a Director of Marketing at AOL/Netscape for AOL Music, Netscape Search and Directory Products. Chris was a co-founder and VP of Marketing at NewHoo, and led the sale of the company to Netscape. After the acquisition, NewHoo was relaunched as the Open Directory Project at Netscape and became the world's largest human edited directory of the web, and is still used by companies like Google, Alexa and AOL. Previous to NewHoo, Chris held a variety of sales, marketing and management positions at Sun Microsystems. Chris graduated from the University of California at San Diego with degrees in Computer Science and Economics, where he was awarded the Michael J. Addison award for his senior thesis about the online information industry. Cynthia Francis, CEO, Reality Digital: A dedicated serial entrepreneur with over 12 years in the field of digital media management, Cynthia has founded or managed companies and departments for Apple Computer, The Content Group, eMotion, Cinebase Software and the DMM Group. Her corporate and leadership experience over the past two decades have made her a frequent speaker on topics including digital media, user-generated content (UGC) and women entrepreneurs. Cynthia is gratified to see the advent of Web 2.0, despite the challenge of simultaneously running a company and raising three daughters. Cynthia has a BA in Drama and a BA in Development Studies from the University of California at Berkeley. Anthony Katsur, COO, Panther Express: Anthony Katsur is the Chief Operating Officer of Panther Express. He brings over ten years of process management and operational expertise in deploying and maintaining high availability networks. His responsibilities are driving the daily operations at Panther Express, including everything from network operations, customer support, infrastructure deployment to working with account management and sales. Anthony comes to Panther Express from DoubleClick, where he most recently served as Vice President of Engineering for DoubleClick's DART ad serving infrastructure, which processes billions of ad transactions daily. Prior to joining DoubleClick, Anthony was President and cofounder of a successful ISP and web design and development company based in New York. Anthony attended the State University of New York, Albany where he studied biochemistry and criminal justice. Reena Jadhav, CMO, Conduit.com: Over the past fifteen years, Reena Jadhav has led countless marketing successes and BtoB marketing campaigns. Reena is a serial entrepreneur with a passion for game-changing, value-making ideas. Prior to her current role as CMO of Conduit, Reena founded and served as CMO at JobFlash, an award-winning service for automating hourly recruiting and also co-founded and ran product marketing at Done.com, an award-winning wireless messaging service. In addition, she worked at Oracle Corporation and PriceWaterhouseCoopers. Reena graduated summa cum laude from Wharton Business School with a Bachelors in Science and earned her MBA from Harvard Business School. Reena is a sought-after speaker, due to her ability to captivate audiences with real world marketing expertise. For example, she recently addressed her peers at the AlwaysOn Media conference in New York in January, after which, the organizer stated, "Reena did a fantastic job at AO Media NYC and was a huge success." Previously, she presented at SVASE (Silicon Valley Association of Startup Entrepreneurs) and moderated several panels for the Mobile Insights research firm, including a leading panel of top CEOs for an audience of hundreds. She also presented various topics at SNHRA’s (Southern Nevada Human Resource Association) largest conference to audiences of over 500 esteemed executives for three years in a row. She also served as a panelist at various wireless conferences between 1999-2001. David Bankston is the chief technology strategist for Neighborhood America, specializing in software integration and technical innovation. As co-founder, David has been with the company since its inception in 1999. “This company started with three people and creative ideas. From there we have grown to build something with enormous value and potential,” explains David. “Our team has since grown to over 50 dedicated and talented employees who have each contributed to the success of our company and our solutions.” “What I like most about Neighborhood America is that our team has adopted our vision, and together, we are making a difference with our technology – in our own work environments and in the world around us,” stated David. “Projects such as Flight 93 and Imagine New York exemplify that statement. We are truly making a difference.” David builds upon his real world experience as an Adjunct Professor at Ohio’s Antioch University McGregor. His lectures focus on the role and impact technology plays in the workplace and in people’s lives. Prior to Neighborhood America, David spent 15 years at LexisNexis in progressive positions and initiated many innovations that are still in use today. He was also a self employed photographer and web designer.