Special Event
Tuesday, May 6th
3:30 PM - 5:00 PM
On the Exhibit Hall Stage
Variety’s 10 Innovators to Watch panel presented by BMW
Featuring:
Brent Weinstein: Chief Executive Officer, 60 Frames
Dr. Richard R. Green: President and Chief Executive Officer, CableLabs
Ronny Golan & Ariel Napchi: Co-Founders, Hiro
Jules Urbach: Founder & Chief Executive Officer, JulesWorld LLC.
Michael Malcolm: Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Kaleidscape
Christophe Abric & Vincent Moon: Founders, La Blogoteque
Richard Kerris: Chief Technology Officer, Lucasfilms
Bhaskar Roy, Ramu Sankara & Nikolay Abkairov: Co-founders, Qik
Tim Sassoon: President & Creative Director, Sassoon Film Design
Jenova Chen: Creative Director and Co-Founder & Kellee Santiago: President and Co-Founder, thatgamecompany
Moderated by:
David Cohen & Daniel Frankel, Variety’s Associate Feature Editors

Ramu Sunkara, Co-Founder and CEO: As the CEO of Qik, Ramu leads the company vision and strategy. He brings more than 19 years experience in building new products for user-generated video content, real-time communications, mobile messaging, CRM, and Database products. Prior to Qik, Ramu spent 10 years at Oracle Corporation, serving as Vice President of Real-Time Communication and Mobile Messaging Products, where he led the company’s entry into real-time collaboration software business. Ramu also launched pioneering browser-based CRM business applications with Oracle as Vice President of e-Business Applications, and Oracle Parallel Server to enable databases to run on multiple commodity servers. Ramu holds eight United States patents. He earned his BS from IIT-Madras, an MS in Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin, and an MBA from Boston University.


Bhaskar Roy, Co-Founder and Vice President of Marketing; Bhaskar co-founded Qik on the heels of leading product marketing and management of Unified Communications at Oracle Corporation. Serving as Qik’s Vice President of Marketing, Bhaskar brings over 18 years experience in building teams, leading product strategy, and taking products to market. Prior to Oracle, Bhaskar led channel marketing and product management at PlaceWare, Inc., a leading web conferencing service that was acquired by Microsoft in 2003. Bhaskar’s entrepreneurial penchant dates back to 2001, when he founded Eazen Inc., an online service for managing and collaborating on contracts. Bhaskar holds a BS in Computer Science from Birla Institute of Technology and received his MBA from the University of Phoenix.


Nikolay Abkairov, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer: As Chief Technology Officer, Nikolay leads Qik’s technology development. He brings over 10 years of experience in media streaming from various IP-end points including embedded devices, to take Qik’s software to provide the next generation of video sharing and streaming experience. Prior to Qik, Nikolay was Technical Division Director of SPIRIT DSP, a provider of embedded voice, audio, video and communication software products. At SPIRIT DSP, he led a team that developed state-of-the-art media streaming solution for embedded devices and worked closely with companies like Microsoft, Adobe, TI, and HTC. Nikolay holds an MS in Computer Science from Moscow and has been programming since the age of 13.

Brent Weinstein is CEO and one of the key architects of 60Frames Entertainment, the innovative, Beverly Hills-based financing, ad sales and syndication company for professional artists to create and monetize original online content. Prior to 60Frames, Weinstein was head of Digital Media at leading Hollywood talent and literary agency UTA, where he helped form the department in 2004 to oversee the agency’s digital practice areas, including broadband, video games and mobile entertainment. Weinstein led the dept.’s team of dedicated digital media agents to identify and evaluate opportunities for UTA clients: actors, writers, directors, producers, and recording artists, in addition to many business-to-business and consumer-oriented technology and corporate clients. Weinstein, with UTA co-founder and partner Jeremy Zimmer, also formed UTAOnline (www.utaonline.net), a dedicated broadband division that finds and represents the next generation of web-based content artists. Launched in October 2006, UTAOnline is the first of its kind among major talent agencies. During his tenure at UTA, Weinstein made digital media deals for many of the best known artists in entertainment, including Johnny Depp, Jack Black, Jim Carrey, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, as well as top digital media artists such as Big Fantastic (“Prom Queen”), AskANinja (askaninja.com), and others. Prior to joining UTA in 2001, Weinstein practiced corporate and business litigation in Los Angeles and Irvine, California. He is a graduate of the University of Southern California, where he earned a Bachelors degree in Business Administration, and the University of San Diego School of Law. He is married and lives in Los Angeles.

Christophe Abric decided to start a blog and invest himself on the web & went by the name of Chryde. He was 25 then and now 33, and the nickname stayed, even though nobody knows how to pronounce it. Originally a technology writer and wanting to invest himself into music. In 2003 he created La Blogotheque with friends purely as a hobby. La Blogotheque started as a hobby which grew to its success today. In 2006, Chryde created the Take Away Shows and in 2007 departed his day job as a technology writer and started a company called, Fresh Media, in order to invest more time to La Blogotheque and other projects. A producer, writer, website creator, he resides in Paris and has one child.

Dr. Richard R. Green, President and Chief Executive Officer, CableLabs®: Richard R. Green is President and CEO of Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. (CableLabs®). In this position he heads the research and development organization responsible for charting the cable television industry’s course in technology. Green has served in this role for the past 20 years. Under Green’s leadership, CableLabs has managed key technology developments that have helped the cable industry expand services to include high speed data delivery and telephony, new business lines that generate $15 billion and $5 billion annually, respectively. The development of the Data over Cable Services Interface Specification (DOCSIS®) has resulted in cable’s dominance of the High-Speed Data market in North America and the retail availability of high-speed cable modems. The data service provides a base for a successful and growing business in telephony for the cable industry. Of current importance is the deployment of interactive television services including targeted advertising and web-based video services now being deployed under the advanced digital devices (OpenCable‘) project. Other initiatives focus on sophisticated use of packet technology on cable systems to deliver multimedia services (PacketCable‘), extending DOCSIS into the home (CableHome‘), Go2BroadbandSM, an industry-wide service locator, and CableB2B, an initiative to support the automation of regular, day-to-day business communication between cable system operators and Internet content providers. Prior to CableLabs®, Green held the position of senior vice president of Broadcast Operations and Engineering at the Public Broadcasting Service where his contributions included construction of national network origination and transmission facilities. He was instrumental in establishing Public Broadcasting as a leader in High Definition Television and digital audio transmission technology. Prior to his role at PBS, he helped organize and establish the Advanced Television Systems Committee, a multi-industry-supported organization founded to develop voluntary national standards for advanced television. He held the position of Executive Director of that organization until 1983. From 1980 to 1983, Green was director of the CBS Advanced Television Technology Laboratory in Stamford, Conn. In addition to his work at CBS in digital television and high-definition TV, Green participated in international standardization efforts that date from the late 1970s and chaired the committee that developed CCIR (now ITU-R) Recommendation 601, a worldwide television standard for digital signals. He is currently chairman of SG9, a United Nations signatory committee (ITU-T) charged with the responsibility of recommending worldwide standards for advanced television services. Green served as Director of Engineering at Time Fiber Communication from 1979-1980. In that role he developed technology for cabling of fiber and electro-optic and laser technology for application in cable distribution. From 1977 to 1979, Dr. Green managed ABC’s Video Tape Post Production Department in Hollywood, and from 1972 to 1977, he directed basic research in laser technology for the Hughes Aircraft Co. in Los Angeles. Green served as a senior staff scientist for Boeing Scientific Research Laboratories (1964-1972), and as an assistant professor at the University of Washington (1968-1972). Green is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the CTAM Board of Directors, the IEC (International Engineering Consortium) Board of Directors, the National Cable Television Center and Museum Executive Committee, is Chairman of Study Group 9 of the International Telecommunications Union, is Chairman of the Communications Technology Advisory Board, is a member of the FCC Technical Advisory Council, and is a Cable Television Pioneer. He also is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a fellow of the Society of Motion Picture and TV Engineers. Green was recently selected for inclusion in October as a 2008 inductee into the Cable Hall of Fame. He is the author of more than 55 technical papers on topics ranging from TV production to electro-optical and laser research. Green was voted CED’s Man of the Year in 1991 and was selected by ElectronicMedia as one of 12 people in the US media to watch in 1993. He is the recipient of the 1999 NCTA Vanguard Award for Science & Technology. Green managed and produced the first HDTV programs in the U.S. in December of 1981. A native of Colorado Springs, Green holds a B.S. degree from Colorado College (1959), A M.S. in physics from the State University of New York in Albany (1964), and a Ph.D. from the

Kellee Santiago, President received her BFA in Theatre from Tisch School of the Arts at New York University and recently earned an MFA in Interactive Media at the University of Southern California’s Interactive Media Division, located within USC’s School of Cinematic Arts. She has produced and managed a number of interactive projects including "I'm Gonna Kill the President! A Federal Offense" at PS122, and "The Angel Project" at Lincoln Center. While at USC, she teamed up with fellow student Jenova Chen to develop the student-created game, “Cloud.” While at USC, Kellee's research focused on game design, interactive narrative, and physical and gestural interfaces for digital media. This led her to work as Director of Motion Capture at the Vicon studio, House of Moves, and culminated in a thesis installation which used a motion capture interface to allow a person to play "Cloud" using their body. To see more about her projects, visit http://www.kelleesantiago.com.

Jenova Chen, Creative Director studied video game design at University of Southern California’s Interactive Media Division, located within USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, and got his terminal master degree in interactive media in 2006. One of Jenova's greatest dreams is to bring the best things and messages to the world. Like what Hayao Miyazaki did to anime, Jenova wants to be one of the heroes who can make video game a more mature and adorable treasure shared by every human being. To see more about his projects, visit http://www.jenovachen.com.
(blurb from Wired magazine article): "In the late 1960s, precocious auteurs like George Lucas and Martin Scorsese went from film programs at USC and NYU to fomenting a revolution in Hollywood. Almost four decades later, it's the videogame industry's turn. Jenova Chen, as one of the first generation game design graduates from USC, produced more than a dozen indie and commercial video games. As an multi-award winning programmer, artist and pioneer game designer with a solid vision, Jenova Chen has prepared to change the gaming world. "

Jules Urbach, Founder, JulesWorld LLC: Jules Urbach is one of the earliest pioneers of game content and technology in the multimedia industry. He was born in Paris, France. Jules began his career as a software engineer in high school developing technology that allowed for full screen video playback on an Intel 386. After being accepted to Harvard University, Jules left college to develop video games full time. Urbach’s first game, Hell Cab was developed for Time Warner Interactive when he was 18 years old. Jules went on to develop games, engines and authoring tools for Virgin GT Interactive, Electronic Arts and Bandai. Jules was the first individual to create a 3D game, Real Pool CD-ROM, with the use of Macromedia Director in 1996. Jules then applied his expertise to the Web to create the 3D Groove technology and Co-founded the Groove Alliance in 1998, an industry leading developer and publisher of online content and cutting edge Internet technology with clients including Microsoft, Disney, Time-Warner, Nick.com, Cisco Systems , Cartoon Network, Nestle, Proctor and Gamble, Macromedia, Michelob, Mazda, Radio Shack , Pepsi, Intel and AT&T. In 2004, Jules created and launched OTOY, a cross platform 800k web web plug-in intended to push 3D inside the web browser beyond games. OTOY allows developers to combine various internet, web and 3D features in novel ways. The technology encompasses vector and 2D imaging, next generation 3D rendering, scriptable shaders, chat, instant messaging, desktop widgets, VOIP, web browsing, application sharing and P2P. It also includes components for pushing game and media content onto mobile devices and set top boxes. The OTOY technology has been used in browser based games for Disney, Shockwave.com, Hasbro and Nickelodeon.

Michael Malcolm, founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Michael Malcolm previously founded two California-based public companies: Network Appliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP), and CacheFlow Inc. Network Appliance pioneered the concept of network-attached storage appliances, and is now recognized as the leading developer and manufacturer of these high-performance network filers. Malcolm served as president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Network Appliance until 1994. CacheFlow, Inc. also created a new category: Internet caching appliances. Malcolm acted as chairman and CEO of CacheFlow until 1999. Prior to founding Network Appliance, Malcolm spent five years as a technical and business advisor to senior executives at Auspex Systems, Sun Microsystems, Quantum Corporation, Tandem Computers, and various venture capital firms. Before that, he served five years as chairman and CEO of Canada's Waterloo Microsystems, Inc. Malcolm holds Ph.D. and master's degrees in computer science from Stanford University, and bachelor's and master's degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Denver. As a tenured associate professor of computer science at the University of Waterloo, he directed one of the most prominent research projects in Canada. Malcolm holds numerous U.S. and foreign patents in computing and computer networking.


Richard Kerris joined Lucasfilm in December of 2007. As Chief Technology Officer Kerris oversees the company’s technical operations and is responsible for the development and execution of the technology strategy for Industrial Light & Magic, Skywalker Sound, LucasArts, Lucasfilm_Animation, Lucasfilm Animation Singapore and Lucas Online. Prior to joining Lucasfilm, Kerris held numerous positions at Apple, from managing special projects for the applications division to managing the company’s technical marketing strategies for professional applications. Kerris was also senior director of Developer Technologies for Apple's Worldwide Developer Relations group where he managed teams supporting Unix, Java and Cocoa developers working to bring their applications to Mac OS X. Prior to joining Apple in 2001, Kerris was the director of Maya Technologies at Alias|Wavefront, where he was responsible for working on strategic partnership and licensing agreements that brought parts of Maya's 3D technology into new markets. Earlier in his career, Kerris held senior management positions at both Electric Image and Silicon Graphics. Kerris is an active member of the Visual Effects Society where he holds a seat on the Technology Advisory board and the Society of Motion Pictures and Television Engineers. He received his Bachelor of Science in Communications from Fitchburg State College, in Massachusetts.

Ariel Napchi: Prior to co-founding Valis and being its CEO, Ariel served as the VP of sales and marketing at Heidelberg Israel (a privately owned affiliate of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG) and was involved in the formation of a British-based start-up which developed professional desktop publishing tools, eventually sold to Linotype AG. Ariel was recently elected as one of the ten most promising start-up entrepreneurs in Israel, after holding senior positions in the high-tech arena for the past 17 years. He has a proven track record of success building ventures that provide marketplace solutions and value for investors. In fact, the previous three companies for which Ariel has worked have yielded liquidity events for investors in the form of two mergers and one IPO. Ariel holds a BA in philosophy and humanities from Tel-Aviv University. He sometimes manages to win at tennis and shoots photographs with his Lomo when he needs to relax.

Ronny Golan: Ronny has an extensive background in cutting-edge R&D and management, spreading over more then 18 years of innovations in the fields of video and communication. On the way to the inception of HIRO in 2004, Ronny co-founded and managed the successful wireless community start-up, Valis, and together with Ariel led it to its successful merger and later IPO. Prior to branching out into entrepreneurial activities with Valis and HIRO, Ronny held key R&D and management positions for several hi-tech companies in Israel and is a specialist in video compression algorithms and application-server technologies. Ronny strongly believes in social responsibility and in contributing to the community and made sure these values will become an integral part of the HIRO system by letting users donate ad viewings to their favorite charities. Ronny holds a BSc in computer science from Tel Aviv University and an MBA from INSEAD.

Tim Sassoon is President of Sassoon Film Design (SFD), a Visual Effects and post-production facility in Santa Monica, California with long experience in large format, stereo and feature films. Born in London, UK and with a degree in both Cinematography and Motion Graphics from California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), Mr. Sassoon was also trained in stage motion control/downshooter and optical printing before going digital in the early 1990's. He has supervised large productions at companies as diverse as Dream Quest Images and Buzz/FX. He opened SFD in 1997, and has grown it into a constantly busy facility whose key personnel have won several VES Awards, more than any other facility of its size. A pioneer with a dozen years of experience in not only working with high-resolution stereo imagery, but also the conversion of standard 2D images to stereoscopic 3D, SFD has completed two full-length IMAX 3D conversions, including "Lions 3D" for National Geographic, and "Mummies, Secrets of the Pharaohs 3D", which is in current release from Giant Screen Films. "Mummies 3D" is remarkable for being the first film planned for 3D, but shot in 2D by noted cinematographer Reed Smoot, ASC purposefully for post conversion. Additionally SFD provides scene conversions and Visual Effects (VFX) services for many other 3D films. SFD has completed more live action conversions actually in release than any other company. Some other recent projects include the graphics and compositing for "U2-3D", VFX, title design, and 3D conversion for "Sea Monsters", "Grand Canyon Adventure", VFX for Working Title's "Wild Child", and special edition VFX for a number of Sony Blu-Ray disc releases. Mr. Sassoon also taught at Art Center College of Design for many years, contributes to various industry magazines and forums, is an exhibiting artist, and professionally active photographer and cinematographer. He is a member of SMPTE, the Giant Screen Cinema Association (GSCA), and the Visual Effects Society (VES).

Vincent Moon was born in Paris in 1979. At the ago of 18, he decided he wanted to see it all, to learn things on his own, out of curiosity, even if that could have led to overfeeding, and so for ten years. From that experience, images came out, through photography first, which he studied under the influence of Michael Ackerman and Antoine D'Agata. Some years later, as he discovered the work of Peter Tscherkassky, his images gained movement/motion. He made use of the Internet and developed various projects related to music, directing videos for Clogs, Sylvain Chauveau, Barzin, The National. In 2006, overwhelmed by the beauty of Step Across the Border, directed by Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzel, on the English guitarist Fred Frith, he created with Chryde the Take Away Shows project, La Blogotheque's video podcast (takeawayshows.com). This series of outdoor/wild documentaries consists in improvised video sessions with musicians, set in unexpected locations and broadcast freely on the web. In a year, he managed to shoot over a hundred clips with bands like REM, Arcade Fire, Sufjan Stevens, Beirut, Grizzly Bear and many more. He perfected a style immediately recognizable of intimate, fragile, dancing and shadowing long shots, and at the same time changed the whole idea of what should be a music video. While he works on his Take Away shows, Vincent Moon also keeps side projects, exploring other formats. He directed a movie-essay on New York band The National titled A skin, A night, released in May 2008, also created a one hour movie on The Arcade Fire and works closely with Michael Stipe and REM on several video and web projects related to their recent album : the 48’essay 6 Days, a free documentary on the recording of Accelerate, the experimental ninety-days-long web project called 90nights, and the video for the single Supernatural Superserious. He released in November 2007 his first dvd, a very unique film with Beirut, all the 12 songs from his new album being filmed in the streets of Brooklyn. In his attempt to find new ways to film music, distancing himself from mainstream and commercial formats, he filmed in 2007 an average length gonzo film on the ATP Festival, Sketches from a nightmare, the first of a serie on this festival, as well as on the Music Now Festival in Cincinnati, in a very different style – a 30 min one shot in a building filled with musicians. In October 2007, Warp Films signed him up as a video clip director. But he doesn't really enjoy video clips. Exploring new forms and territories being not only a metaphor, Vincent Moon is developing now what will be his lifetime project: to document every country in the world, as temporary areas, on a very unique website – WWW.TEMPORARYAREAS.COM- and not only dedicated to music this time. The first territories explored are Mali, Jerusalem, Iceland, The Lower East Side etc… A lot is still to come…