Click on the Video Below and Sample a Session from a previous Digital Hollywood event. For Additional Video Sessions, Click Here Media Summit 2010 Bloomberg BusinessWeek Wednesday, March 10 Media in Transition Workshops Day Long Strategic Track 3:45 PM – 5:00 PM Session D: Digital Money - Virtual Currencies: Experimenting and Developing a Micropayment Economy The micropayments industry is maturing, and with that has come margin pressure and industry consolidation. In addition, publishers, banks, PayPal and others-- recognizing that there is money to be made-- are creating product offerings that are micropayment based. Will we begin to see “snack size” content from publishers? Are Internet retailers starting to get in on the act? While the micropayments industry was borne out of gaming and virtual worlds, in order for it to become a billion dollar industry, it will need to cross over into mainstream transactions. Where and when will see this cross over? What is required to enable that growth? Karl Mehta, Co-Founder & CEO, PLAYSPAN, Inc. Scott Kessler, Senior Director, Internet Software & Services and Internet Retail, Standard & Poor's Equity Research Kris Soumas, Head of Games, A&E Television Networks Pooj Preena, CEO, Groupe Hi-Media USA Mihir Shah, Chief Revenue Officer, Offerpal Media Renata Dionello, Chief of Staff to CEO, eBay Robert Abbott, General Partner, Norwest Venture Partners, Moderator Kris Soumas is Head of Games, for AETN Digital Media, a division of A&E Television Networks. She reports to Dan Suratt, Executive Vice President, Digital Media and Business Development. Based in New York, Soumas oversees AETN’s casual gaming initiative, which includes the Games channel on myLifetime.com and the social gaming site DressUpChallenge. She has also released a series of downloadable and retail games under the Lifetime Games label. Additionally, Soumas was responsible for Lifetime Networks’ acquisition of Roiworld.com, which brings more than 1,000 fashion and style games to the Lifetime Games portfolio. Soumas also manages Lifetime Game Studios Korea, which is headquartered in Seoul, and Roiworld.com’s U.S. operations, based in San Francisco, that focuses on business development, technology and sales. In the first month of its domestic launch in February 2009, Roiworld.com posted significant traffic figures, over 2 million unique visitors and 70 million page views, and registered more than 500,000 new members. Soumas played the leading role in the Lifetime Networks’ successful Games initiative. The Company’s downloadable games have launched in the top 10 across all the major gaming portals, and she oversaw the release of Blood Ties, which was a #1 top-selling game in both the U.S. and Europe. Previously, Soumas was Vice President, Content Development, New Media of Lifetime Networks. Before joining Lifetime in 1999, she worked for ABC Television. From 1995 to 1999, Soumas was an original member of the team that developed ABC.com and ABCNews.com. She produced Oscars.com® from 1996 to 1998, as well as some of the network’s first interactive television applications. Prior to that, Soumas worked in CD-ROM game development for Creative Wonders, ABC’s joint venture with Electronic Arts. From 1991 to 1995, she worked on the production units at ABC in Concert and ABC News Peter Jennings Reports. Soumas is a graduate of Barnard College. Renata Dionello, Chief of Staff to CEO, eBay: Renata Dionello is currently the Chief of Staff to eBay’s CEO. Prior to assuming this role, she led PayPal’s efforts in business development and strategy for PayPal’s initiative in the micropayments and digital goods space. Renata has over 10 years of experience in business development, strategy, product management and marketing. Prior to PayPal, she led marketing and product management at Pictage, the leading online services provider for professional photographers. Renata’s experience also includes heading up strategy at Rent.com, corporate strategic planning at Disney, project management at Universal Music and strategy consulting at the Boston Consulting Group. Renata holds a BA and MEng from the University of Oxford (England) and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. Robert Abbott, General Partner, Norwest Venture Partners (NVP): Robert joined NVP in 1998 and is focused on a wide variety of investment categories including mobile, online advertising, infrastructure and systems. Robert currently sits on the boards of mBlox (the world’s largest mobile transaction network), <http://Brand.net/>Brand.net (the leading network provider of online media solutions for the world’s largest brand advertisers and their agencies) and Mozes (the service that connects people to what they love from their mobile phones). Robert’s other current investments and board seats include KACE, Occam Networks, ClariPhy and Zenverge. Robert was formerly a member of the board of directors of Covigo (an enterprise mobile software company acquired by Symbol Technologies), Resonext Communications (acquired by RF Micro Devices) and SideStep (acquired by Kayak). He has also worked with such companies as Embark (acquired by Princeton Review), Escalate (acquired by GERS), mPower (acquired by Morningstar) and Quantum Effect Devices (acquired by PMC-Sierra). Robert has nine years of operational experience in various roles, from engineering to marketing and product management. Before joining NVP, he was at Silicon Graphics. Prior to Silicon Graphics, Robert worked at IBM-ROLM Systems. He holds a bachelor of science and a master of science in electrical engineering and an MBA, all from Stanford University. Mihir Shah, Chief Revenue Officer, Offerpal Media: Mr. Shah is responsible for all of Offerpal's commercial activities, including revenue growth and user acquisition. As such, Mihir manages the company's relationships with leading advertisers, developers and publishers. Prior to joining Offerpal Media, Shah was Vice President, Ad Network for RockYou, a leading provider of applications and widgets across the social media space, with application properties on major social networks including Facebook, MySpace and Hi5. In a short time, Shah grew the company's revenues by more than 500% and more than quadrupled gross margin. He was responsible for 15 billion monthly ad impressions, as well as sales, account management, performance marketing, analytics, and publisher management. Mihir also founded CookEatShare.com, a vertical social network catering to home cooks and professional chefs. Prior to that, he was the Vice President and General Manager for Direct Selling Solutions at QuinStreet, the largest performance marketing firm in the country. Earlier, Mihir was the President and CEO of Liquid Software, a Sutter Hill Ventures backed enterprise application integrator. Mihir earned his BA in Quantitative Economics from Stanford University. Karl Mehta, CEO, PlaySpan: Karl Mehta brings over 16 years of experience to PlaySpan in founding and building high-tech businesses in the US and international markets. Prior to co-founding PlaySpan Inc., Karl was part of the founding team at MobileAria Inc. (acquired by Wireless Matrix) and co-founder/ CEO of OmniLabs Inc.. Prior to that, he held executive positions at Hughes, leading new business and technology development. Karl is Charter member of TiE-Silicon Valley and board member of Ecosystem Ventures. Faisel Hussein, Vice President, Investment Banking, RBC: Faisel Hussein has spent more than 10 years operating and advising companies across a host of industries and currently serves as a Vice President in the investment banking group at RBC. Faisel started his career in the global technology investment banking division of Citigroup where he rose to become a Senior Analyst advising companies throughout the exciting Web 1.0 market. Following his time at Citi, Faisel lived and worked in Islamabad as a Transaction Manager for the Ministry of Privatisation where he oversaw the restructuring of the country’s largest electricity provider (KESC). Faisel returned to the U.S. to serve as the interim COO/CFO of a privately funded luxury bedding company and to advise private companies with regard to strategic positioning, capital market access and operating efficiencies. Faisel holds a BBA from Emory University with Dean’s List and Mortar Board National Honors recognitions. Faisel holds an MBA from NYU where he was a Stern Alumni Scholar and nationally recognized as a Toigo Foundation Fellow. Faisel has served as a guest speaker at various international organizations ranging from Tsinghua University in Beijing, to Digital Hollywood in Los Angeles. Scott Kessler is an equity analyst and group head at Standard & Poor’s Equity Research. He covers the Internet Software & Services and Internet Retail sub-industries, having joined the company in July 1998. With more than 11 years experience following technology stocks, including nearly ten years analyzing the Internet industry, Scott’s coverage includes, eBay, Google and Yahoo. He also authors the bi-annual industry survey entitled, "Computers: Consumer Services & the Internet." Scott was recognized by The Wall Street Journal in its Best on the Street 2003 Analysts Survey as the top analyst covering General Industrial Services for his work on data-processing technology stocks. He is regularly relied upon as an expert by media including Bloomberg, CNBC, CNN, The Financial Times, Investor’s Business Daily, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal, as well as numerous local U.S. periodicals and international outlets. Scott has been a panelist at the New York Media Summit since 2004. Prior to becoming an equity analyst, Scott worked as a legislative fellow to the Vice Chairman of House Telecommunications & Finance subcommittee, handling issues related to technology and telecommunications. Thereafter, he worked for a private law firm in Washington, D.C. as a telecommunications attorney, representing clients including SBC Communications, Time Warner and The Walt Disney Company. Scott graduated from Brandeis University in 1992 and received a law degree from Washington University in St. Louis in 1995. Pooj Preena is the CEO of Hi-media USA and runs the Payments Business Unit out of the company’s San Francisco office. Through its product offering Allopass, Hi-media Payments is a leading provider of micropayment solutions worldwide and has been in business for more than eight years. Its parent company, Paris-based Hi-media Group, also operates a leading display ad network and content publishing business and now employs more than 500 employees worldwide in 12 countries. Most recently, Pooj was at Jangl, where as a member of the management team, he drove a number of partnership and distribution efforts. He came to Jangl from Skype, where as the first US employee he developed and executed key partnerships that comprised the Skype hardware partner ecosystem and contributed significantly to the company's value at acquisition by eBay in 2005 for over $2 billion. Pooj has invested in or consulted for prominent technology ventures including Betaworks, OMGPOP (formerly iminlikewithyou) and Hewlett-Packard. As a strategy consultant at Scient Corporation, he advised a broad spectrum of start-ups and Fortune 100 companies on using the internet for competitive advantage. He sits on the board of advisors of several technology start-ups worldwide.