- Click on highlighed Names to see their LinkedIn Profile

Jim Brady, Executive Editor, washingtonpost.com: Jim Brady is the driving force behind the site’s growing innovation and customization. From political widgets that they can embed on their blogs to applications for social networking and mobile news alerts, readers on wasingtonpost.com are presented with a wide array of customization tools that allow them to choose how and when they get their news and information. Brady leads the charge for more personalization on the redesigned site. Using Pluck technology, readers will be able to view all of their comments, discussion posts, photos and video on their MyPost pages. Brady aims to incorporate more interactivity, customization and mobile content into the new site which is to be launched late this year.









Derrick Oien, Founder and President, Intercasting Corporation: Derrick Oien is a seasoned operations executive with an extensive background in entertainment, media and technology. As co-founder and president of Intercasting Corporation, Derrick oversees the company’s overall strategic direction, managing product development and negotiating strategic partnerships. Prior to co-founding Intercasting Corporation in March 2004, Oien was President of Vivendi Universal Net USA, a subsidiary of Vivendi Universal that operated MP3.com, Rollingstone.com, eMusic, and Trusonic from December 2001 until April 2003. Oien was COO of MP3.com from January 2001 until the acquisition in August 2001, which resulted in his promotion to President and COO, and in December to head of all of Vivendi’s Internet music properties. Oien worked at MP3.com starting in July 1999, holding a number of positions including strategic account management through January 2000. In January 2000 he became Vice President of Operations until his subsequent promotion to COO in January 2001. Previously, he held a variety of positions with companies such as Universal Music Group, Computer Sciences Corporation, BDO Seidman, and Sony Pictures Studios in primarily operations or technology roles. Oien graduated Magna Cum Laude from California State University Los Angeles with a Bachelors Degree in Computer Information Systems.

Jessica Steel, Vice President of Business Development, Pandora: Jessica has served as Pandora's Vice President for Business Development since mid-2004, and is responsible for strategic partnerships for the company. Prior to joining Pandora, Jessica led the business development efforts for the international division of Overture Services (a Yahoo! company). During her four-year tenure there, she helped to grow the business from one market to a 19-country, 600+ person international division that drove $500M in annual revenues. Before Overture, Jessica worked in international finance, with clients ranging from Softbank Japan to the Thai Ministry of Finance. Outside of work, she is a singer-songwriter, writing under the name "Jessica Stone," with a full-length CD entitled Seven Letters released in 2002. Jessica holds a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and a Master's Degree from the London School of Economics. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and a recipient of the Thouron Scholarship. She also attended the Los Angeles Music Academy for vocal performance.

Michael Jones, CEO of Userplane and Senior Vice President of AOL, oversees Userplane's business strategy, sales and operations as well as providing strategic oversight to AOL's product strategy. As a founder and CEO of Userplane, Jones' business leadership brought the company from startup to acquisition by AOL in August 2006. As a Senior Vice President of AOL, he now focuses on the growth of AOL's syndicated application strategy, under the Userplane brand. This includes coordination with a variety of AOL subsidiaries and internal technologies to pioneer distribution to millions of web publishers as well as AOL's strategic positioning as a platform provider to the online community sector. Userplane now supports more than 50 million users in some 15 countries across 200,000 different web publishers, including top tier web properties like myspace.com, date.com, Red Bull, and Honda. Userplane has been recognized as a pioneer in the Web 2.0 movement, one of the inventors of the open widget distribution model, and among the largest users of Macromedia Flash and Flash Media Server as core, web-application technologies. In addition, Userplane has provided core infrastructure to MySpace since its launch, encompassing communication technologies and, for the first nine months of the MySpace Music, its music playback system. A serial entrepreneur, Jones founded Elixir Magazine in 1994, a nationally distributed pop-culture music and entertainment magazine. Subsequently Jones founded his first digital production studio PBJ Digital in 1996, during his junior year at the University of Oregon, which he sold in 2000 after growing the company to profitability. He has since launched numerous businesses and participates in fund raising, angel investing and as an advisory board member in various online startups including Nesting.com and Investing.com. Jones frequently represents AOL and Userplane at conferences and in publications. He was the keynote speaker at the 2007 Online Dating and Social Networking conference, 2003 OFFF conference in Barcelona Spain, a featured presenter at Flash Forward 2003, BlogON 2004, iDate Miami 2004, SITRAS 2004, iDate Nice 2004, iDate Miami 2005, iDate Hong Kong 2005, iDate Miami 2005 and Digital Hollywood 2006. He has also been published in numerous Internet journals, including iMediaConnection. Jones earned his Bachelor of Arts in International Business and Marketing from the University of Oregon.


Leonard Brody, NowPublic’s CEO, is one of Canada’s most respected young technology entrepreneurs. He has helped in raising millions of dollars for startup companies, been through one of the largest internet IPOs in history and has been involved in the building, financing and/or sale of four companies to date. Much critical acclaim has followed him in his endeavours. At Onvia Canada (where he was part of the initial executive) the company was voted Canada’s number one startup in 2000 and subsequently closed a $240 Million NASDAQ IPO. At Marqui (where he was Chief Advisor) the startup was rated as the best new internet company in the country in 2003.

JD Lasica, founder, OurMedia.org/Partner, Outhink Media/President, Social Media Group: JD is one of the world's leading authorities on social media and the revolution in user-created content. A writer, strategist, blogger and consultant, he is the co-founder of Bid4Vid.com, a new video production marketplace; co-founder of Ourmedia.org, the first video hosting and sharing site; president of the Social Media Group, and a partner in Outhink, an incubator of social media startups. His book about the emerging media landscape is Darknet: Hollywood's War Against the Digital Generation (Wiley & Sons, 2005). Author Lawrence Lessig said of "Darknet": "There are few who see the future clearly, and even fewer who can explain what they see. This brilliant, beautifully written book sees, and explains."

Ted Cohen, Managing Partner, TAG Strategic, Moderator: industry luminary and former, Vice President, Digital Development & Distribution, EMI Music: As Vice President of Digital Development & Distribution for EMI Music, Ted Cohen oversaw worldwide digital business development for this "big five" record company, which includes labels such as Capitol, Virgin, Angel/Blue Note, Parlophone and Chrysalis. Under Cohen’s guidance, EMI has led the industry with its initiatives in new technologies and business models such as digital downloads, online music subscriptions, custom compilations, wireless services, high-definition audio and Internet radio. In addition to seeking out, evaluating and executing business opportunities for the company, Cohen serves as both a strategist and key decision-maker for EMI’s global new media and anti-piracy efforts. He has worked to establish company-wide policies, which have allowed EMI’s artists and labels a substantial advantage in the digital music arena. Cohen served previously as the Executive Vice President of Digital Music Network Inc., where he co-founded and served as Chairman of the Webnoize ’98 & ’99 conferences. He currently chairs MidemNet, an international music/technology conference convened in Cannes each year. Cohen also held senior management positions at both Warner Bros. Records and Philips Media. Additionally, Cohen lead two highly successful new media consulting operations, DMN Consulting and Consulting Adults, attracting clients such as Amazon.com, Microsoft, Universal Studios New Media, DreamWorks Records, Liquid Audio, Wherehouse Records/Checkout.com and several other entertainment, computer and new media organizations. A 25-year industry veteran, Cohen serves on the NARAS (Grammy) Los Angeles chapter Board of Governors, the Board of Directors for the Neil Bogart Memorial Fund, Co-chairs the new media arm of the T.J. Martell Foundation, and lends his time and talents to the Grammy In The Schools Program.