Doug Hogan is a Creative Technologist at Groove Jones with 18 years of experience working in the Feature Film, Advertising, and Theme Park industries. Known for bridging creativity and technology, he specializes in VFX Compositing, AI/ML, GenAI, and secure Agentic LLMs. He has led compositing pipelines for major studios, contributed to films like The Book of Life, SCOOB, and most recently Thelma the Unicorn. He has also taught VFX techniques at major institutions like Texas A&M and fxphd. He holds a BFA in Visual Effects and Film & Television from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Outside of work, Doug is an online community organizer of the VFX community, an avid rock climber, and a long-distance runner.

Kate Armstrong-Smith is Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Othelia Technologies, a narrative design and management platform that assists content creators working across film, television, social and gaming in the curation and control of story-driven IP throughout the content development and production process. In her role, she is responsible for running the company’s operations in Sydney, Australia. Othelia was formed by Armstrong-Smith and the company’s Chief Technology Officer Joe Couch, who both identified a need within the creative community for an intelligent digital framework that preserves the human and emotional elements of storytelling while providing creators and producers with agentic tools to develop, refine and scale narratives. Othelia’s flagship tool, Storykeeper, is scheduled to launch in beta in Fall 2025. Its proprietary semantic data model treats narrative text as structured data – bringing key story elements such as plot, characters, themes, timelines and world rules into one secure, interconnected platform. As stories grow in size and complexity, Storykeeper tracks all narrative connections, contradictions and cascading revisions across evolving drafts, enabling users with valuable efficiency, real-time control and clear visibility into the shape and scope of their IP. Prior to Othelia, Armstrong-Smith was an award-winning creative producer/dramaturg with two decades of experience in cultural strategy and media asset management. Her career spans film, television, theatre and digital media, during which she has pioneered new formats of content storytelling working with international institutions, including the Sydney Festival, National Opera de France, Adelaide Arts Festival, TEDxSydney, Sydney Opera House and the ABC. Her audience development programs won the Ruby Award and earned her a Churchill Fellowship from The Winston Churchill Trust, which led her to devise cultural programs with National Theatre of Britain, Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Gare des Mines Paris, St. Ann's Warehouse and LACMA. 

Eric Yang is the CEO of Topaz Labs, a tech company that uses AI to upgrade the quality of image and video content. Topaz Labs is trusted by photographers and designers on teams at NASA, Google, Nike, and more. Previously, Eric founded and sold a company out of UT Austin and was an early product manager at a tech unicorn in San Francisco.

Matthew Wenhardt, Head of AI Production, Gennie: As a digital creator with a unique and meticulously honed expertise in leveraging AI for digital media – video production and photography being my key forte. Why simply tell a story when you can engineer an immersive narrative experience, right? In the electrifying world of AI, where the scenery is as mutable as quicksilver, I've taken to heart the philosophy of being an "AI-first" thinker. I've adopted cutting-edge tools like Midjourney and Stable Diffusion, transforming them into the Swiss Army knife of my creative process. This is no magic trick, but a precisely crafted skill I've developed - like a mixologist fusing an Old Fashioned with a Futuristic twist. Delving deeper into the AI landscape is my pastime, my passion, and my profession. I'm a technophile that takes the road less traveled, traversing the dynamic terrain of this brave new world. Much like a Mad Men episode, you're never quite sure what's around the next corner, but you can bet it's going to be original and engaging. My approach to AI can best be compared to jazz improvisation - a splash of whimsy here, a strategically placed surprise there. I savor the serendipity of prompts, turning them into light-hearted yet impactful elements in my creative repertoire. Trust me, when it comes to wit, I've got the syntax to make your neural networks chuckle. At the end of the day, my goal is simple: to merge my love for AI, video production, and photography to craft visually stunning, captivating narratives that move, inspire, and ultimately, deliver your message in the most impactful way possible.

Margaret Burris has over two decades of experience in developing and producing groundbreaking unscripted content. Known for her leadership at YouTube Originals, she led the creation of over 50 original shows, including notable projects like "Kevin Hart’s: What the Fit," the "Coachella: 20 Years in the Desert" documentary, “Will Smith’s: The Jump,” “Paul McCartney: Live from New York,” and the 96-hour live event "Katy Perry: Witness World Wide." Her innovative approach helped drive high-impact live events such as "Coldplay: Live in Jordan" and the critically acclaimed documentary "The Letter: A Message for Our Earth" featuring Pope Francis. As an Emmy-nominated producer, Margaret's career highlights include iconic shows like CBS's "The Amazing Race" and "Undercover Boss," and ABC's "The Toy Box." Most recently, Margaret has been focusing on creating pioneering AI content, such as the Webby Award–winning Reid AI digital twin experiment with Reid Hoffman.

Peter Busch is the Senior Vice President, Customer Success of Flawless, the global leader in cutting-edge technology for filmmakers. Founded by Scott Mann and Nick Lynes, the company creates the world’s most advanced and artist-friendly film technology, empowering filmmakers to streamline production and multiply audience reach, thereby setting the stage for a new era of profitable, globalized film that benefits artists, studios, and audiences. Flawless’ proprietary, best-in-class visual dubbing technology, named a TIME Best Invention for its cinema-quality visual translation of films to any language, was recently used to enable the world’s first theatrical full-length feature to use immersive AI dubbing, with Swedish hit WATCH THE SKIES (Swedish title UFO SWEDEN), released in English-language markets on May 9, 2025, followed by several other international territories. Flawless’ mission is to integrate transformational, AI-powered technology into the film industry in the manner that most effectively strengthens artists and enhances human creativity, and it believes this is the most profitable long-term approach. All Flawless tools are built entirely with legitimately sourced data, and the company works closely with industry labor groups to empower and protect filmmakers. In addition to providing world-first film tools to studios and advertisers, Flawless has created the Artistic Rights Treasury (A.R.T.), a groundbreaking rights management system guaranteeing proper consent and compensation for all parties, and Flawless Productions, a tech-powered film financing and production division. With over 25 years' experience in the entertainment industry, Busch founded and led the growth of one of the largest AI-based B2B tools companies, Faceware Technologies from 2007-2022. Nominated in 2015 for a Scientific and Technical Academy Award, his other accolades include The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Kong vs Godzilla, The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie, Call of Duty, Madden, FIFA, Halo and Destiny, and worked at Paramount Pictures, Warner Brothers feature animation and Image Metrics. Busch is passionate about technology adoption within entertainment and pragmatic go-to-market strategies.