Speakers All

BSM Media founder and CEO, Maria Bailey is an award-winning author, radio talk show host, nationally known speaker and the foremost marketing authority on marketing to moms. Her book, Marketing to Moms: Getting Your Piece of the Trillion Dollar Market, was the first to examine the buying power of mothers and the most effective marketing initiatives to tap the $1.7 trillion market. Her newest book, Power Moms: The New Rules for Engaging Mom Influencers Who Drive Brand Choice, offers a guide to engaging the Power Moms—influential mothers who help spread the word about products and services—to drive sales to your bottom line by creating a buzz online and offline. Power Moms also includes an unparalleled Directory of Influential Power Moms.

Maria is also the co-host of Mom Talk™ Radio, the first nationally syndicated radio show for moms, Founder/CEO of BlueSuitMom.com, the award winning Website for executive working mothers and the creator of Smart Mom Solutions, a product line that offers solutions to everyday challenges for busy moms.

She serves as a resource on work/life/family balance, working mother, marketing and women business stories for national media such as the British Broadcasting Corporation, CNBC, World News Tonight, Hearst Publications, “The Home Show”, WPLG ABC 10, The NetFinancial News Network, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Self, Smart, O Magazine, Oprah’s Fitness Magazine, Money, Parent, HomeChannel News and Entrepreneur. She and her company have been featured in the Women’s Day, Money, Chicago Tribune, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Miami Herald, Philadelphia Inquirer, Denver Post, theSalt Lake City Tribune, NBC 6-Miami, CBS4-South Florida, WCBS-12 New York, WABC New York and the Tampa Tribune, as well as on hundreds of local radio and television shows. Inc. Magazine named Maria one of America’s Best Work and Life Balance resources in February 2004.

She has served as President of several non-profit organizations and founded The South Florida Parenting Conference. She was a 2001 finalist for Working Woman Magazine’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award, the first recipient of Women in Communication’s Women of the Year-Technology Award and South Florida Up and Comer. Her company, BlueSuitMom.com was named Women Owned Business of the Year-2001 by The South Florida Business Journal. Most recently Ms. Bailey was named “Mother of the Year-2003 by the Broward County Medical Association and Healthy Mother-Healthy Babies Organization. The mother of four young children, Ms. Bailey lives in Pompano, Florida with her husband. She is a marathon runner and enjoys travel.

David is the founder, co-creator, and CEO of ROBLOX. Prior to founding ROBLOX, David was a private investor. In the past, David founded Knowledge Revolution and grew it to be the volume leader in mechanical simulation software and physics educational software. Knowledge Revolution was then acquired by MSC.Software, where David became VP and General Manager, running the desktop simulation division. Prior to founding Knowledge Revolution, David worked as a product manager and electronic designer. David was the General Motors scholar in Electrical Engineering at Stanford University.

Bailey Bounds is the Editor of Engage Digital's KidsWire®, a source which provides business professionals with the latest news, strategies and insight necessary for them to engage with digitally connected kids and youth.She looks forward to contributing the insights she gathers from attendees, speakers and exhibitors at the Digital Kids Conference and Toy Fair to the conversation on this panel.

Mark is a proud husband and a father to two sons. Based on his experiences as a parent Mark decided he needed to build a better way to teach his kids the values of earning, saving, giving and spending. With a common interest and shared vision, he teamed up with Doug Lebda to start Tykoon.

Mark has broad experience in managing start-ups and developing new concepts in the digital, payments and consumer markets. Prior to co-founding Tykoon, Mark founded Seismic Partners in 2005, a business transformation and new venture development company. Prior to Seismic, he led online sales marketing and developed ecommerce strategy at Bank of America, where he helped drive significant growth in online customer acquisition and transform BAC’s use of the Internet. Mark and his family love to spend summers in Vermont, enjoy good meals with friends and play with their menagerie of dogs. When family and work aren’t keeping him busy, Mark plays guitar in a band with other time starved entrepreneurs.

Michael Cai leads the company’s gaming vertical, providing a wide variety of market research and analysis products to help clients gain a comprehensive understanding of consumer gaming habits and interest and make strategic decisions. Prior to joining Interpret, Cai served as Director of Digital Media and Gaming for Parks Associates.  During his tenure with Parks Associates, Cai established and grew its gaming coverage practice and led a research team to provide syndicated and custom research for digital media, gaming and service provider industries.

Jori is CEO of Circle 1 Network publisher of KidsCom.com.  Her definition of a good day is hanging out with kids and having fun making discoveries on how they can make the world a better place and getting the whole family to play together – she calls these gaming activities “Smart Play”.  Jori is pioneering in using technology to improve learning and create family experiences connecting the virtual world with the real world with things such as virtual gardens and farmers markets that connect with school gardens and real farmers markets and virtual houses that teach about “going green” that connect with making “green” changes in real houses.

Jori’s work has been quoted in national media, she has been an invitational speaker at many global conferences on market research, digital content creation and the gamification of education and information delivery.  Published in several books including Web Usability: A User-Centered Design Approach; Systems, Social and Internationalization Design Aspects of Human-Computer Interaction: Internationalization of Information Technology; and The International Journal of Marketing & Advertising to Children.  She is also author of a tween action adventure fiction book tied into virtual world online content.

Previous to this Jori working in corporate digital marketing where she oversaw teams creating applications and digital content including work for clients including Pfizer, Roche Diagnostics, Kellogg’s, Avery-Dennison, Kimberly-Clark, Colgate, IBM, Levi Strauss, Pepsi, Cable & Wireless, Consolidated Papers, Readers Digest.

Jori also sits on different Boards advising on the use of technology and games at the high school and college level and has been involved in using virtual world play to raise issue visibility and funds for non-profits ranging from a humane society, a food bank, an ecology center and an Aids orphanage in Africa.

Stacy Coleman is the interactive marketing manager at FPgirl.com, a fashion and style destination where girls are the designers and pick the trends.

Stacy’s objectives include developing and directing an integrated strategy that builds community and engagement, drives traffic and revenue, and builds brand awareness for FPgirl.com and its entities.

A serial start-upper, Stacy has deep experience in social media marketing, community management, e-commerce and business development at companies such as PUMA North America, Vivanista and UsTrendy. Her marketing, business development and community-based initiatives have received coverage in publications such as Mashable, Adage, and the Silicon Valley Business Journal.

Stacy holds a BS in Marketing from Southern New Hampshire University.

As Vice President, Digital Media for Disney Channels Worldwide, Lauren Devillier is responsible for the production and operations of websites like DisneyChannel.com, as well as the development of applications for the Disney/ABC Television Group’s kids channels and brands. She has over 15 years experience working in the online and emerging technology industry including working with Yahoo! Kids and the MSN Kids channel.

Caroline is a Co-Founder of Duck Duck Moose and has a background in design and business. She holds an AB in Architecture summa cum laude from Princeton University, attended the Master in Architecture program at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and received an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Prior to Duck Duck Moose, Caroline worked as a design consultant at IDEO, and as a product manager for Quicken and QuickBooks software at Intuit.

Jeff Gomez is an expert at transmedia storytelling, incubating new entertainment properties, strategic planning and production for cross-platform implementation.

As CEO of Starlight Runner Entertainment, an animation and live-action feature film production company and leading creator of highly successful fictional worlds, Jeff transforms intellectual properties into highly successful transmedia franchises. He also extends niche properties such as toys, animation or videogame titles across multiple platforms, evolving them into high quality persistent narratives, which in turn generate multiple revenue streams for his clients.

Jeff has worked on such blockbuster universes as Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean, Prince of Persia and Tron, Microsoft’s Halo, James Cameron’s Avatar, Hasbro’s Transformers, Mattel’s Hot Wheels and Coca-Cola’s Happiness Factory.

Prior to launching Starlight Runner with partner Mark Pensavalle in 2000, Jeff Gomez was a prominent figure in the adventure game and video game industries serving as a producer for Acclaim Entertainment’s comic book division. He helped create the Acclaim Comics super hero universe, in addition to adapting Valiant Comics super heroes into videogames for Nintendo and PlayStation consoles. Characters, concepts and game-play Jeff conceived, wrote and produced for Acclaim’s Turok, Dinosaur Hunter and Turok 2: Seeds of Evil helped that franchise to gross over $420 million. Turok was recently revived as a new videogame franchise from Disney Interactive and as an animated feature from Starz Entertainment.

In addition to serving as a brand extension consultant to such corporations as Disney, Microsoft, 20th Century Fox, Coca-Cola, Scholastic, Wieden+Kennedy, Mattel, Showtime, Konami and Hasbro, Jeff has also delivered his seminar, Creating Blockbuster Worlds: Developing Highly Successful Transmedia Franchises, to the MIT Futures of Entertainment Conference, Game Developers Conference, International Game Developers Association, the NewTeeVee Conference, the New York State Bar Association and the Producers Guild of America.

A board member of the Producers Guild of America with over 20 years experience developing, writing and producing content, Jeff has been featured and quoted in such periodicals as Forbes, Business Week, Los Angeles Times, Variety, Investors Business Daily, Publishers Weekly, Produced By, Wizard, and Animation, and he has been profiled on MTV News and American Latino.

As a Latino who spent his childhood in the housing projects on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Jeff champions the concerns of young people with his Never Surrender inspirational seminars and curricula. He has also recently worked with Operation Respect, the international non-profit education and advocacy organization founded by Peter Yarrow and dedicated to instilling the values of leadership and empathy in young people. He earned a BA in Film Studies and Communication Arts & Sciences from Queens College, CUNY.

Digital Kids Conference Emcee - February 13, 2013

Richard Gottlieb is a well-known toy industry commentator and CEO of “Global Toy Experts,” a world-renowned consultancy and resource for toy industry analysis and strategies.  Richard is also a partner in “China Ready, LLC,” a Hong Kong based company that assists western toy companies in entering the Chinese consumer market.  In addition, Richard is Publisher of Global Toy News, the industry resource for toy news, toy trends and analysis of the business of play. Richard combines an MBA in Global Management with years of toy industry experience to help small, medium and large toy manufacturers increase their market share.

Richard is frequently interviewed by media worldwide, and has been called on by ABC News, CNN, MSNBC, and the BBC, the New York Times, Newsweek and other media outlets.  He is a Contributing Editor to Gift & Decorative Accessories and Kids Today magazines in the U.S. and Toys n’ Playthings in the U.K., Juguetes in Spain and other European toy magazines.

Considered an expert on the toy industry, Richard is frequently asked to speak at toy industry conferences and serve on various executive panels.  Richard’s “Building Our Future” conferences, focusing on the impact that toys and media have on the future personal and professional choices females make in adulthood, take place annually in New York, Nuremberg and Los Angeles.

Richard has been invited to speak by toy associations in Brazil, Russia, the United States, China, Hong Kong, Croatia, Spain and Germany.  In recognition of his prominence in the toy industry, Richard was appointed a voting member of the National Toy Hall of Fame committee.

Jane Gould is Senior Vice President, Consumer Insights, Nickelodeon Group, where she oversees consumer insights research for all Nickelodeon networks and manages Nick’s international research team. A twelve-year veteran of Nickelodeon, Jane has also served as Vice President, Consumer Insights and Director of Programming, Content Development and Research for Nickelodeon Australia.

Jinny Gudmundsen is a leading authority on children's technology. She is the Kid-Tech Columnist for USA Today and the 82 Gannett newspapers and has written that weekly column for the past 12 years. She has just authored the new book "iPad Apps for Kids" which is part of the Wiley Publishing "For Dummies" series. She is the founding editor of Computing With Kids (www.ComputingWithKids.com) and also works with Common Sense Media. Jinny judges numerous app, video game, and toy awards.

Amy Henry is Vice President of Youth Insights at C+R Research, where she serves as thought-leader for YouthBeat, on-going studies of preschoolers, kids, tweens and teens and parents. Amy is a sought-after youth expert with an enduring commitment to understanding how culture reflects and affects youth and what they do.

Before co-founding ToyTalk as CEO, Oren was an Entrepreneur in Residence at August Capital. A filmmaker and technologist, he spent more than 20 years at Pixar, most recently as Chief Technical Officer and Director of the Studio Tools group. His feature film credits include "Toy Story" and "Toy Story 2", "A Bug's Life", and Supervising Technical Director for "Finding Nemo". Oren also helped found Pixar University and taught animation at the Academy of Art College for seven years. Oren currently teaches "Lean Launchpad" courses with Steve Blank at Stanford, Berkeley, Columbia, and for the NSF. And Oren plans drop all of this in a heartbeat to become a pro snowboarder the minute that first sponsor shows up.

Björn Jeffery is the CEO and co-founder of Toca Boca, a play studio that makes digital toys for touchscreen devices. Since 2011, they have released fifteen products that was sold in over 130 countries worldwide, and downloads of 19 million in November 2012. Toca Boca is a part of The Bonnier Group, one of Europe’s largest media groups with interests in books, newspapers, magazines, television, internet and film. In 2011, Bonnier had net sales of over 3 billion euro.

Previously, he was Director of Future Media & Technology at Bonnier Research & Development, where he was responsible for global research and analysis regarding consumer behavior and strategic shifts in technology. Previous employers include being CEO of the strategic web agency Good Old, founding Manolo.se, and working with online journalism for kids and young adults at the Swedish daily Göteborgs-Posten and SVT – Swedish National Television.

Kent S. Johnson is chief executive officer of Highlights for Children, Inc. and a member of the corporation's board of directors. The company, which publishes educational products for children, including the popular children's magazine Highlights, has grown to include multiple wholly owned subsidiaries. These include magazines, book clubs, a children's trade book publisher, a domestic and international licensing business, an educational curriculum publisher, a publisher of professional development books and videos for teachers as well as a company that provides direct training seminars for teachers.

Johnson is only the third CEO in the history of the company, which Garry Cleveland Myers, Ph.D., and Caroline Clark Myers, founded in 1946. He is the great-grandson of the founders, and a member of the fourth generation in the family-owned enterprise. Previously, Johnson served as a corporate vice president of strategic management.

Johnson received his bachelor's degree from Amherst College and his doctorate in Physics from Harvard University. Prior to joining Highlights, he served in various roles in research and development, manufacturing and operations.

Johnson lives in Columbus, Ohio with his wife and two young sons.

Victor leads the Hasbro Global Digital Marketing group responsible for digital marketing for all Hasbro brands such as Transformers, Monopoly, My Little Pony, Nerf, Playskool and others.  In his role he drives all digital strategies and activations within the web, mobile, social and digital media.

Prior to, he was Senior Vice President of Marketing at Digitas and led the relationships for brands such as, Goodyear, Buick, GMC, Harley-Davidson, Pontiac, IHG, OnStar, Saturn and GM Branded Entertainment.  In addition to CRM, digital strategy and promotions, he worked on key partnerships with NASCAR, Marvel, NFL, Bravo, The Apprentice, NCAA, Maxim, Sports Illustrated, Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Oprah Winfrey Show, MTV, Survivor, Transformers The Movie, The Jonas Bros, Glee and Live with Regis and Kelly which have won awards from The Pro Awards, The Reggies, The Effies, MIXX, MITX, and Cannes Lions.

Prior to Digitas, he was Vice President, Creative and Strategy, for Alloy Media and Marketing and Senior Publicist at Viacom parent, National Amusements.

Victor is a Boston native and a graduate of Boston College.

As a tech expert, Katie Linendoll spends as much time on her computers as she does in the field. If you’ve seen Linendoll discussing technology and sports during her many appearances on ESPN, CNN, The Today Show and more, then you know that this self-proclaimed nerd sees to it that her life is packed with adventure, whether she’s challenging IBM supercomputer/know-it-all Watson to a game of Jeopardy, flying over the Pacific Ocean wearing a jetpack, driving a life-sized Mario Kart, detoxing (and surviving!) in digital rehab, winning the Guinness World Record for performing the most “high fives” in 60 seconds, or shared a stage with Lady Gaga—all in the name of tech.

Nancy is the CEO and co-founder of Fingerprint, the first-of-its-kind gaming network for kids and their grown-ups, offering more than 25 apps for learning and fun, plus multi-player gaming features and enhanced safe social capabilities for children as young as 3 years old. Prior to Fingerprint, Nancy was EVP of Product Innovation & Marketing at LeapFrog where she led the charge around connected learning with the launch of the Learning Path Online, Tag Reader and Leapster Gaming System. Before LeapFrog, Nancy was VP Global Sales and Marketing at LucasArts where she traveled the world marketing a lot of Star Wars games. Earlier, she was VP Marketing at Hasbro Interactive working on everything from Tonka CDRom Playsets to Monopoly Online to  Roller Coaster Tycoon on all gaming platforms.  All told, Nancy has launched over 100 games, 11 #1 titles, and over $2 billion in revenue.

Dave Merrill is co-founder and president of Sifteo, a startup creating platforms and games that merge physical and digital play. Dave is an expert in cutting-edge human-computer interaction and has developed multiple award-winning interfaces and technologies. A frequent speaker in the domains of user interface innovation, the future of play, and entrepreneurship, Dave and his work have been featured by TED, MoMA, the Discovery Channel, Popular Science, the New York Times, and Wired.

Nic is CEO of K Zero, a leading virtual worlds consultancy formed in 2006. Nic spent 7 years in the Telco sector in strategic marketing role before setting up his own ad agency. The metaverse beckoned and K Zero now sits in the hub between brands, virtual world operators and investors providing analytics, consulting and virtual world strategies.

As the Director of Sales, Games at Virtual Piggy, Jason oversees the acquisition of new merchants in the gaming space as well as new partners in the payments vertical. Working with current partners like BigPoint, Gaia Online, Changyou, The La Jolla Group, Knex, and Cardinal Commerce, Jason helps companies deal with the issues surrounding youth monetization. Previously, Jason managed international business development at Xsolla USA, an international payment service aggregator, where he worked with gaming companies like Valve Software, World of Tanks, BigPoint, and Aeriagames to provide international payments and monetization support. Prior to Xsolla, Jason worked at a variety of game companies such as Vivendi Games, ActivisionBlizzard, Freeverse Studios and many others, in roles such as Producer, Project Manager and Business Development. Jason focused on mobile and later iPhone titles when the App Store was launched and was at the forefront of free-to-play and in-app monetization when it began in the US.

bio coming soon.

Calvin NG is the founder and CEO of APPLE TOON, a leading entertainment company in China’s kids’ animations, toys and online games space. Previously, he was a consultant to teen virtual world SULAKE Habbo.com, developed new media strategy as VP of CITIC PACIFIC and CITIC TELECOM 1616 and built China’s first digital magazine and 3G mobile comics.

Digital Kids Conference Emcee - February 12, 2013

My professional experience is a patchwork of seemingly disparate projects, that when seen comprehensively create an impressive quilt of new media business expertise.  I am an Online Media Professional specializing in online community and children’s marketing, specifically the under-13-year-old demographics.

Professional Accomplishments include:
• Articulated corporate integrated digital marketing strategies for 6 children’s entertainment properties
• Designed team management and organizational structures for multiple Web Content and Web Marketing departments
• Led international remote teams, consisting of staff in US, UK and China
• Led development of a 3D multi-player virtual world based on repurposed and original assets
• Developed a business plan for scalable online community infrastructure for internal and external partners
• Participated in a thorough VC due diligence process
• Produced 12 animated 2 minute shorts for broadcast on television
• Developed initial animation production department workflow
• Developed audience research programs both on and offline
• Led 4 major website redesigns into include more fan interaction

I now work as Director of Community Engagement for Smart Bomb Interactive, where I architect and oversee all aspects of community management for National Geographic Animal Jam, an exciting online virtual world for kids where they can become the animals they love and learn about the natural world while having fun.  Our mission will be to create an online destination that is an industry leader in child safety, parental engagement, and pure fun.

I have been asked to speak at multiple conferences, including KidScreen, Digital Hollywood, Engage Expo and YPulse Mashup. I began championing and implementing COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act) compliance and monitored networks at both Kidfu, a safe online community for children that I co-founded, and FreeZone, one of the first safe online communities for children.

Brad Powers is the Co-Founder and Chairman of Cupcake Digital, Inc., a new media company dedicated to the development of enhanced story experience apps based on popular children’s entertainment properties. With over 20 years in building brands and developing businesses, Brad has mastered the process of creating, marketing and monetizing digital products.

Robin Raskin is a rehabilitated tech journalist.  Former editor of PC Magazine, FamilyPC, Yahoo!Tech and others, Robin has been writing about  technology for thirty years.  The latest incarnation is Living in Digital Times, a series of conferences and exhibits that focus on the intersection of technology and lifestyle.

Diana Rhoten is the CSO for Amplify, responsible for internal planning, external communications and partnership development. Amplify is dedicated to reimagining K-12 education by creating digital products that empower teachers, students and parents. Previously, Diana cofounded Startl, which was dedicated to advising and accelerating for-profit start-ups in the digital learning.

bio coming soon.

bio coming soon.

Craig looks at IP and decides if it will translate to toys and merchandise.

In his capacity as VP Global Licensing Craig works closely with TV Networks, Film Studios, Video Game Publishers, Casual Game and App Publishers.

Denise Tayloe is a recognized leader and authority in permission and identity management with more than 20 years experience in business development, sales, finance and the development of companies innovating and providing business and technology related services. Ms. Tayloe co-founded Privacy Vaults Online, Inc. d/b/a PRIVO, in early 2001, a Federal Trade Commission recognized independent safe harbor certifier of companies’ compliance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). With PRIVO, she helps consumers manage their digital identities and provides consultation and software solutions that help companies effectively interact with children while in compliance with international laws. PRIVO bridges the gap between the competing privacy and commerce interests of consumers and businesses, with a special focus on the protection of kids' privacy. Some of Denise’s clients include Moshi Monsters, Toca Boca, LEGO Group, Barnes and Noble, Stardoll, NASA, KidzBop and Everloop to name a few.

Scott Traylor is the Chief KID, CEO, and founder of 360KID, a kid-focused content and technology company dedicated to creating a love for learning through products that educate as well as entertain. 360KID provides turnkey development services to the education, broadcast, and toy industries.

Scott started his business over 19 years ago. His company has emerged as a recognized leader in the development of fun and engaging learning products. His clients include Crayola, Disney, Pokemon, Girl Scouts, Sesame Workshop, LeapFrog, Discovery Channel, Hasbro, Highlights for Children, Nickelodeon, and many others. 360KID is a multi-award winning and three-time Emmy nominated company.

Scott is also a teacher, a life-long learner, a parent, an artist, and a kid at heart. Scott has degrees in Graphic Design, Industrial Design, and Photography from Rochester Institute of Technology. Harvard University’s Extension School has invited Scott to be a computer science teacher for over 12 years, teaching graduate students about the business of interactive development. Scott is continually reading, analyzing, and synthesizing research covering all aspects of kids and learning including new technologies, gaming, and different consumer-based delivery systems. He’s fascinated by electronic learning aids and technology instruction that is non-PC based. Learning from others is important to Scott and he’s an active participant in business organizations in Los Angeles and Boston.