Speakers Full
Ken Abbe is a staff attorney in the Western Region-San Francisco office of the Federal Trade Commission. Since joining the Commission in 1999, Ken has focused primarily on litigating consumer protection matters in federal district court. He is also actively involved in the Commission’s community outreach efforts.
Ken graduated from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in 1991 and the University of Virginia School of Law in 1994. Ken is a member of the State Bar of California and the District of Columbia Bar. He and his wife, Esther, live in the East Bay with their daughter, Jazzy, and two unruly cats.
As the President of Zui, Inc., Ryan heads up the company's ongoing innovation around creating a kids internet. The company's award-winning KidZui browser is the most downloaded and used safe web browser for children and the company's Zui.com site is one of the fastest growing sites on the net. Ryan oversees the day-to-day operations of the company, with a specific focus on the product and marketing efforts. Ryan has been the head of a leading digital agency, owner of a successful clothing brand, director of a large consumer packaged goods business and entrepreneur in the digital media and e-commerce spaces. He has an MBA from Babson College.
Beth Blecherman is a techie turned authority/speaker on “Technology For Moms & Family”. She also consults with companies on beta testing and analyzing trends for family technology. She is active in twitter as TechMama and regularly speaks at conferences on parenting, social media and technology. Beth has a fabulous hubby “TechDad” and three amazing tech boys.
In 2006 she joined on as one of the Co-Founders to Silicon Valley Moms Group (a mom blog network that covered over 11 regions). In 2010 Silicon Valley Moms Group was sold to Technorati.
In 2009 she was chosen as one of the Nielson Power Mom 50 influencers. In 2010 a Parents Magazine Power Mom, Forbes 100 Best Websites for Women for 2010 & 2011 and @ForbesWoman Best Branded Women on Twitter. She was included in the PC Mag Top 100 on Twitter , Time 140 Best Twitter Feeds. Working Mother’s list of Most Powerful Moms in Social Media, and Babble Top Twitter Moms.
Beth was choosen BizTechDay’s 25 Influential Business Women in Bay Area to Follow on Twitter, by MomBloggerClub on the 25 Influential Moms to Follow on Twitter, American Express Open Forum’s 75 Top Twitter Tips From Today’s Small Business Moms, Advertising Age article on Diverse “Twilebrities, She Knows 20 Moms to Follow On Twitter and Parent’s Magazine’s Virtual Power Mom list.
Jess M. Brallier, SVP and Publisher of Pearson’s Family Education Network, is publisher of multiple web sits, including the virtual world Poptropica (www.Poptropica.com). He’s also been an award-winning book publisher and best-selling author of both adult and children’s books. His other sites include www.Funbrain.com, www.Infoplease.com, www.TeacherVision.com, www.FamilyEducation.com, and www.FactMonster.com.
Dr. J. Alison Bryant is Founder and President of PlayScience, a research, consulting, design, and innovation firm on a mission to break down the walls between industry innovators, academics, and consumers. Alison has spent her adult life moving seamlessly between the academic and industry worlds (and usually sitting inboth concurrently). She spent several years as Senior Research Director of Digital Research and Brand & Consumer Insights for the Nickelodeon/MTV Networks Kids & Family Group; and was Chief Strategy Officer for SmartyPants, a research and consulting firm focused on kids and families. She was also an assistant professor of communication at Indiana University.
Alison has published extensively on youth, families, media, and education, including three edited books –The Children's Television Community, Television and the American Family (2nd Ed), and Service-Learning in the University Classroom. She is presently associate editor for the Journal of Children & Media and Chair of the Children, Adolescents, & Media division of the International Communication Association. Her Ph.D. is from the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Southern California.
Based in New York City, Jon Paul Buchmeyer is the Vice President of Digital Engagement for Metaverse Mod Squad, the leader in managed digital services for social, gaming and online communities. With a diverse background in marketing, journalism, publicity, blogging and filmmaking, Jon Paul brings a unique perspective to helping brands grow through social media. He oversees a team servicing the firm’s marquee East Coast clients, including Carnegie Hall, Ecco Domani, HarperCollins, the NFL, Proctor & Gamble’s Wella Professionals, as well as work on projects for travel clients like Loews Hotels, Enchantment Group, and Sorrel River Ranch. Jon Paul has advised and created award-winning programs for some of the world’s most coveted brands including Absolut, The Advocate, Canyon Ranch, Condé Nast Traveler, The Economist, Hyatt Hotels, Johnnie Walker, Levi’s/Dockers, The New Yorker, Samsonite, Santa Margherita Wines,Tanqueray, Wells Fargo and Whole Foods Market.
Jon Paul is also an accomplished writer, with work published in Bon Appétit, Condé Nast Traveler, Afar, American Way, EnRoute, Food & Wine, as well as his internationally popular blog Poptimistic.com. He was a finalist for the 2010 Next Generation Indie Book Award for his humorous memoir Alphabet City: My So-Called Sitcom Life about life as a gay Mary Tyler Moore. He graduated from the University of Texas-Austin, and lives in New York City with his husband and little dog Frida.
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.
As Director of Global Community Relations at Sony Online Entertainment, Linda Carlson takes Community Management very seriously. Whether striding around a fan event in full Dwarven costume or developing outreach strategy for a new title with her team, she takes great pride in being part of a company of “gamers making games.” Her team oversees forums, articles, events, reports, volunteers, community groups, fan site outreach, player feedback and sentiment analysis for SOE’s broad portfolio of MMOGs, including EverQuest, EverQuest II, Free Realms, Clone Wars Adventures, DC Universe Online and the upcoming PlanetSide 2.
In her ninth year at Kidscreen, Editor Lana Castleman currently oversees all editorial and content planning for the global children’s entertainment industry’s leading information source, including Kidscreen and iKids magazines, e-pub Kidscreen Daily and premier annual event Kidscreen Summit. Career highlights so far include having Oscar the Grouch wish her “a rotten day” and getting early peeks at a number of kids series and products before they made it big. In February 2012, she also oversaw the launch of brand extension, iKids. This one-of-a-kind magazine is dedicated to covering the world of children’s digital entertainment. Lana joined Kidscreen in 2003 as Senior Writer, quickly moving up to the post of Managing Editor in 2005 and taking over as Editor in June 2009. Prior to joining Kidscreen, Lana served as Associate Editor at Canada’s trade magazine for the printing industry, Graphic Monthly, published by North Island Publishing. Lana holds an Honours B.A. and Master’s Degree from McMaster University.
Kathleen’s role is to manage and develop NPD’s KIDS business which is one of NPD’s newest businesses and was launched in 2011. She works with leading manufacturers and retailers to help them better understand how spending breaks down for children ages 0-14 across nineteen different industries with a significant focus on licensing. With solid data interpretation and analytical skills Kathleen is recognized as an expert within the industry. She has been with The NPD Group for over seventeen years in both client relationship and data management roles. Kathleen has worked with leading Manufacturers helping them apply market information to fact based Sales and Marketing decision-making. Kathleen plays a key role in product development efforts at NPD, working closely with clients and NPD’s internal product management team to enhance services to best fit the evolving marketplace. In her spare time Kathleen enjoys reading, walking her dog and spending time with friends and family. Kathleen resides in Commack, New York with her husband Jeff and her two children.
Jori is CEO of Circle 1 Network, which specializes in reaching children and families around the globe through innovative digital strategies that integrate with hands-on learning experiences. Launched in 1995, Circle 1 Network's Web site for kids, kidscom.com, has evolved to virtual world, mobile and location-based gaming, as the longest running online social community for kids.
J. Todd Coleman is an internationally recognized Director/Producer of virtual worlds. He is the creative lead behind Wizard101, KingsIsle's enormously popular online game. In 2011, he was named Massive Online Gamer Magazine’s #1 Most Influential Person in Online Gaming, and one of Game Developer Magazine's Top 50 Developers.
Prior to joining KingsIsle, Todd was co-founder of the online game company Wolfpack Studios, Inc., and acted as the creative director of the MMO title Shadowbane until the company was acquired by Ubisoft Entertainment in early 2004. Prior to Wolfpack Studios, Todd founded, grew and eventually sold Reliant Data, a technology company, to Compuware Corporation.
Anne Collier, M.A., is editor of NetFamilyNews.org and founder and executive director of its parent organization, Net Family News, Inc. With Larry Magid, she co-directs ConnectSafely.org, a Web-based forum and resource for teens, parents, educators, and everybody interested in the impact of the social Web on youth and vice versa. Anne is co-author of "A Parents' Guide to Facebook" (FBparents.org). In 2009-'10, she served as co-chair of President Obama's Online Safety & Technology Working Group, which in June 2010 delivered its report to Congress, "Youth Safety on a Living Internet." Anne currently serves on Facebook's Safety Advisory Board. She and her family live in San Jose, Calif.
Kate Connally has been building casual games businesses that develop brands and programming for focused demographic groups for over eleven years. She was instrumental in identifying the female casual gamer when she was running the first downloadable games business at Shockwave. Most recently, she built the AddictingGames business into one of the top media brands for teen-age boys. She has now teamed with veterans of LeapFrog and Nickelodeon to launch Tadami, a family communication platform based around the company's unique video creativity engine.
She began her career with Volpe, Welty & Company, and has held posts with Advent International, Macromedia, Inc. and Nickelodeon / MTV Networks. Connally graduated cum laude from Princeton University with a bachelor's degree in history. In 2010, she was named by “Fast Company” magazine among the “Most Influential Women in Games.”
bio coming soon.
Floris Jan currently leads the corporate and business development team, and the corporate communications team at Spil Games, focusing on strategy, company growth, strategic partnerships, and investor relations.
Prior to joining Spil Games in 2009, Floris Jan was responsible for Google’s advertiser marketing and brand activation programs in the Netherlands and Belgium, as well as integrated brand programs and business development projects for YouTube globally. He has also worked as a product marketeer for Philips and as a strategy consultant with the global consulting firm Monitor Group, where he worked throughout Europe and the United States in the FMCG, electronics, publishing, and energy industries. Floris Jan earned an MSc in applied physics with a minor in business administration from Delft University of Technology.
Co-founder of Everloop.com, Hilary is an award-winning entrepreneur, experienced in all aspects of launching and growing a business and is digital parenting expert. Hilary developed the Everloop platform to give kids under 13 a safe, online homebase to connect with friends, play games, share pictures and music, discover new talents and learn using the most powerful online privacy protection and technologies available.
A digital parenting expert and technology leader, Hilary was invited to The White House Conference on Bullying Prevention and is a frequent contributor on major news outlets. She has been a chapter director for Tweenangels, a division of WiredSafety that educates and empowers kids regarding Internet safety. She was recognized as one of AlwaysOn's “Top 25 Women in Tech to Watch" in both 2010 and 2011 and was honored with the prestigious 2010 DEMOgod Award.
Previously, Hilary co-founded White Space Ink, a management-consulting firm that specialized in technology start-ups. She also worked at Oracle Corporation, a multinational technology company, where she garnered more than 100 worldwide managerial sales awards.
Hilary is a mother of twin boy and girl teens and a tween. She is on the board of directors for the Max Cure Foundation, dedicated to finding medical cures that save children's lives. Hilary is graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder, with a B.A. in Psychology.
Bart Decrem is Senior Vice President and General Manager for Disney Mobile, the mobile content product group of Disney, and the unit behind the wildly successful 'Where's My Water? mobile gaming phenomenon.
A seasoned Silicon Valley entrepreneur and product visionary, Bart founded Tapulous in 2008. The company quickly became a leading app developer, with more than one billion games played among all Tapulous apps to-date. In July, 2010, Tapulous became a wholly owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, becoming part of Disney Interactive Media Group.
Before founding Tapulous, Bart headed marketing and business affairs for the Firefox 1.0 launch. He was also a co-founder of desktop Linux startup Eazel and the founding chief executive officer of Flock, the social web browser company.
Bart has been an Entrepreneur In Residence at Doll Capital Management and worked on a number of community projects. He was born and raised in Belgium, holds a JD from Stanford Law School.
Stuart Drexler is a kids product developer and innovator with over 20 years’ experience creating interactive content, games and toys for global brands including Club Penguin, Moshi Monsters, Barbie, Elmo and LEGO. Among his current portfolio of initiatives, he is advising on strategy, user experience and design of the Tykoon financial management platform for tweens. Tapping both online and mobile platforms, Tykoon enhances and incentivizes the way kids and their parents manage chores, allowance, saving, spending and charitable giving.
In previous roles, Stuart has been VP, Product Design & Production at Disney Online Studios, where he oversaw product development across all of Disney’s virtual worlds. There he guided teams to innovate Disney’s next generation gaming platform as well as a ground-breaking system that embeds, measures and reports back learning in online and mobile games. During 10 years in London, Stuart led the development team at VC-backed Mind Candy to create and launch Moshi Monsters, currently the fastest-growing MMO for tweens with over 60 million registered users. His initiatives while EVP, Brand Development for Polly Pocket strategically positioned Polly as the world’s number one small doll and facilitated its sale to Mattel in early 2007. He previously directed product development for LEGO MindStorms programmable robotics toys and originated the LEGO Knights Kingdom franchise, lauded 2005 Toy Of The Year for boys. Stuart studied under Seymour Papert and Mitchel Resnick at the MIT Media Lab and holds a Master of Technology, Innovation & Education degree from Harvard and a B.A. in Social Sciences from U.C. Berkeley.
Noemie is a founding partner Budge Studios. With over 15 years of experience in interactive and traditional media, Noemie drives the growth of Budge Studios. She has a strong record of success in both Business Development and Digital Marketing strategy. Within the last year, she solidified partnerships with Nickelodeon / MTV; Warner Bros, Disney Publishing Worldwide and Mega Brands. Prior to co-founding Wave Generation and Budge Studios Noemie amassed extensive experience in production working in Paris for MCM Euromusique, in NYC at ATC Management and as the Director of audio, video and localisation for the video game Publisher Ubisoft. She was nominated as Quebec's top 5 Women Entrepreneur of the year 2011.
Mr. Esplin is a member of the Intellectual Property Section and the lead associate on the Social Media, Entertainment & Technology Multidisciplinary Team. His practice spans many areas of intellectual property law, and his areas of technical focus include social media, video games, social networks, virtual worlds, mirror worlds, aug¬mented reality, media, computer software, computer graphics processing, mechanical devices, control systems, network infrastructure, security and maintenance, sound recording/reproduction, wireless communication and business methods.
The scope of Mr. Esplin’s practice covers a broad range of intellectual property matters, such as developing patent filing strategies, patent preparation, patent prosecution, transactional due diligence, and advising clients with respect to the validity, infringement and potential avoidance of third party patent rights. Mr. Esplin also has experience with intellectual property matters pertaining to video games and virtual worlds, and is actively involved in one of the foremost organizations involved in legal issues pertaining to virtual worlds, The SL Bar Association on SecondLife®.
Before joining the firm, Mr. Esplin was a patent law clerk at another prominent law firm, where he prepared and prosecuted patent applications, provided analyses pertaining to patentability, freedom to operate and due diligence opinions. Mr. Esplin also served as a patent examiner at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, where he examined patent applications pertaining to optical systems including film photography cameras, photolithographic apparatuses, projectors, photocopiers and printers.
Affiliations
The American Intellectual Property Law Association, The San Diego Intellectual Property Law Association, The American Bar Association, The SL Bar Association
Robert Ferrari serves as CEO and Founder of Bare Tree Media. Based in Boston MA the company connects consumers to their favorite brands, characters and celebrities through fun and engaging interactive entertainment. Through it's digital publishing platform Bare Tree Media creates and distributes branded digital content across mobile, social, online, connected console and i-TV platforms. The company's branded digital portfolio includes Hallmark's Hoops & Yoyo, Sanrio's Hello Kitty, Benton Art's It's Happy Bunny, Charuca, Skelanimals, Smiley World and Stoopid Monkey. Robert previously served as Global VP Publishing & Business Development at Sanrio Digital, driving the creation, marketing and publishing of interactive entertainment based on the Hello Kitty property. He also served as VP Global Business Development at Turbine (now part of WB Games) where he advanced the companies global partnerships related to the launch of Lord of the Rings Online, Dungeons & Dragons Online, and Asheron's Call titles within the companies portfolio of online game properties. Robert is a high profile speaker within the online games, social and mobile conference circuit, and currently serves on the advisory boards of MIT NE Game SIG, Mass Technology Leadership Counsel Games & Entertainment, and Mass Digi.
Mark is a serial entrepreneur, online games and media executive who has founded, grown and sold 4 companies. He founded IndustryGamers.com that was acquired in 2011. He started GameDaily.com and grew it to one of world’s largest video games websites and ad networks. It was acquired by TimeWarner AOL in 2006. He was an AOL executive until late 2007. Previously, he founded Internet businesses Gigex, the leading download service for game and software demos, and Internet content delivery leader VCast, Inc, which was acquired by Verizon Wireless. Previously he was VP Sales and Business Development for b2b Internet content company Reach Networks that was part of a Nasdaq IPO. He is currently a partner at Worlds and Games LLC and is consulting with several mobile, social and advertising companies.
He spent 6 years in Europe where he was Managing Director of Teleworld, a division of Philips Media, that operated voice response and interactive TV services with MTV. Mark’s first business introduced chocolate chip cookies to Sweden with its first chain of cookie stores, Marks Cookies.
Mark is a frequently invited speaker to leading business and technology conferences including Digital Media Wire, CES, EO, GDC, E3, VentureBeat, Digital Hollywood, MI6, OMMA, AdTech and IMedia.
He is a patented inventor, investor and a board member of several Internet games and commerce companies.
Marcus Gners joined Stardoll in 2009 after leaving his position as Head of Marketing for the Sweden’s largest youth website. Prior to that Gners worked in various positions within advertising, media and management consulting. He is currently Director, Business Development & Marketing at Stardoll responsible for running the global team for acquisition of new users and strategic partnerships. Marcus has an M.B.A. from Gothenburg University and a degree in Communication from Berghs SOC. He has also written a book about men’s fashion.
Anastasia currently leads the product development and marketing for Inspire USA's primary service, ReachOut.com, a digital space where teens and young adults can improve their understanding of mental health issues, develop resilience, build their coping-skills and increase help-seeking behavior. She has worked in media for the past 15+ years and helped launch youth oriented web and television properties for brands like Oxygen, AOL and Current TV before founding the influential youth marketing site Ypulse.com. Anastasia was one of the first graduates of the Medill School of Journalism's new media program at Northwestern University, where she earned an MSJ in 1999. Her first book about teens and technology called Totally Wired: What Teens & Tweens Are Really Doing Online was published by St. Martin's Press.
Mike Goslin has built innovative and award-winning entertainment experiences from virtual worlds to social games to interactive theme park attractions.
Mike is currently head of Rebel Entertainment, an IAC company, and is building and operating a portfolio of innovative social online games and virtual worlds.
Prior to joining IAC, Mike led a venture-backed startup and created Superstar City, a groundbreaking experience that combined the rich immersion of virtual worlds with the powerful community of social networks.
Before his stint as an entrepreneur, Mike was Vice President of Virtual World Design and Development at the Disney Interactive Media Group, where he founded an entirely new online business for Disney and built and operated a uniquely successful portfolio of virtual worlds including the award-winning Toontown Online, Pirates of the Caribbean Online, and Pixie Hollow.
Before he pioneered online games and virtual worlds at Disney, Mike led the Walt Disney Imagineering VR Studio in the development of several innovative virtual reality theme park attractions including Aladdin’s Magic Carpet Adventure, Hercules’ Adventure in the Underworld, and the award-winning Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for Buccaneer Gold.
Josef's extensive knowledge of the technical challenges relating to the development of massively multiplayer online games provides a valuable addition to the KingsIsle team. In addition to his technical background, he is integral in game design, and is the co-creator of Wizard101, KingsIsle's first online title. Mr. Hall has many years of experience in managing technical teams in entrepreneurial environments.
Prior to joining KingsIsle, Josef followed a long-time dream and co-founded the online game company Wolfpack Studios, Inc. While at Wolfpack, he functioned in many roles, including acting executive producer of Shadowbane, and was instrumental in creating a technology platform used in the development of the MMOG title Shadowbane. Josef was involved in all aspects of product design, development, and business operations up until the acquisition of the company by Ubisoft Entertainment. Prior to Wolfpack, Josef developed a Data Migration Engine technology and led a team of technical consultants as Director of Professional Services at Reliant Data Systems.
Holly Hawkins has more than 15 years of experience in online child safety. In her role as Director of Global Consumer Policy and Child Safety, Ms. Hawkins works closely with both domestic and international child protection and Internet safety organizations. She is the co-creator and frequent contributor of Safetyclicks.com, a safety blog designed to support and inform parents as they teach their kids to navigate the Internet.
Adam is the CEO of Crisp Thinking. A serial entrepreneur having previously founded Dubit the first virtual world for kids and teens in 1999. Adam sits on the UK Council for Child Internet Safety and has won numerous awards including the CBI Young Entrepreneur of the Year, Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year and BT’s Young Entrepreneur of the Year.
Björn Jeffery is the CEO and founder of Toca Boca, a play studio that makes digital toys for touchscreen devices. Toca Boca has had 6 million downloads since March, 2011 and has won multiple awards during their first year including NAPPA Gold, Telenor Digital Prize 2011 and Mobile Innovation of the Year in Sweden. It is also part of the digital arm 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 30 billion SEK.
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. Other projects include founding and being the CEO of the strategic web agency Good Old, founding Manolo.se - the first blog to be sold in Northern Europe, and Discobelle.net - one of the most influential music blogs in the club music scene. Previous employers include the Swedish dailies Göteborgs-Posten and Sydsvenskan, and SVT - Swedish National Television.
Nicole Lazzaro has studied emotion and player experiences in video games for 20 years and is the designer of Tilt, the first iPhone accelerometer game. Her firm helps the likes of Sega and Ubisoft create games that resonate with iPhone users.
Arseny Lebedev co-founded Signus Labs, where he manages marketing and partnership strategies. Since its founding in 2009, Signus Labs grew organically to a 31-person full development studio that delivers on multiple platforms to millions of players. Arseny follows a balanced development philosophy -- gameplay and profitability are fundamental to a successful project. Signus develops social games on Web and Mobile Platforms. Prior to Signus, Arseny worked in marketing at Large Animal Games. Look out for Signus interactive children's story Lola and Lucy's Big Adventure coming in Q2 2012.
Travis LeBlanc is Special Assistant Attorney General of California. In this capacity, he oversees the California Department of Justice's work on technology, high tech crime, privacy, antitrust, and health care issues. He also advises California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris on significant appellate and constitutional matters. From 2009-2011, LeBlanc was an attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel, which advises the President, Attorney General, and general counsels of executive branch agencies on the constitutionality and legality of the programs and activities of the United States government. LeBlanc previously worked at Williams & Connolly LLP in Washington, DC and Keker & Van Nest LLP in San Francisco. LeBlanc clerked for the Hon. Stephen Reinhardt on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He has an A.B. from Princeton University, M.P.A. from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, J.D. from Yale Law School, and an LL.M. in International Law from the University of Cambridge.
Paul is Managing Director of Vector Media, a global advisory and services group that works with established and early stage companies across the media, entertainment, digital, mobile and consumer product industries. Vector works collaboratively with clients to identify, evaluate, build, integrate and accelerate new business, product and brand growth opportunities. Vector also invests in early stage companies and assists in general fund raising activities. An avid mentor and advisor, Paul serves on a number of boards.
Vector is currently working with a broad range of clients innovating across the kids & family ecosystem in the areas of transmedia content and platform development; games, interactive entertainment and education; distribution; digital commerce across online, virtual, mobile, social and retail channels; gamification and social loyalty; digital publishing and consumer products.
Prior to Vector, Paul was an Executive Vice President at National Geographic where he established and led Nat Geo’s Interactive Platforms Group, with global responsibility for the organization’s games, mobile, digital publishing, home entertainment and cartographic businesses, three of which he founded. Under his leadership, the division grew into a top profit contributor. Paul also oversaw corporate strategy, business development, product development and distribution for Nat Geo’s Global Media Group encompassing the organization’s Publishing, Entertainment, Online, Interactive and Nat Geo Channel businesses. His teams drove 20x growth in new revenue and spearheaded the development, launch and distribution of more than 150 digital products, applications, services and consumer products globally.
Prior to Nat Geo, Paul spent a number of years at AOL leading strategic development, alliances and product strategy efforts for AOL Mobile, Web Properties, Digital Services and Technology. Earlier in his career, Paul worked as an intellectual property, licensing and technology attorney, and for Morgan Stanley and GE. Paul lives in Bethesda, MD, and is the proud father of three, including twin toddlers whose mischievous ways are truly to be admired.
Nancy is CEO and founder of Fingerprint, the first mobile learning and play network for kids and their grown ups. Launched in December 2011, Fingerprint kids have played nearly 10MM minutes! Previously 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. Obsessed with the possibilities presented by touch screen devices, she left in 2010 to seek her fortunes in Mobile. 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 Scrabble Online to Roller Coaster Tycoon. All told, Nancy has launched over 100 games, 11 #1 titles, and over $2 billion in revenue. Why she has a Finance and Accounting degree from Drexel University, we’ll never know.
Michael Maher is Director of Business Development, Enterprise Growth, at American Express. Prior to its acquisition by American Express, Maher held a similar position at Sometrics, where he worked with online game publishers to implement in-game payments and optimization platforms. Leading the business development team, Maher executed agreements with direct payment partners, closed advertising and licensing deals, and was directly responsible for exponential revenue increases annually.
Maher’s professional background spans a variety of industries including IT, medical, real estate, aerospace, and finance. An expert on social media utilities, micro-transactions, gaming and advertising, he graduated from the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business with an MBA in 2008.
Kelly is a Senior Digital Strategy Manager for The LEGO Group in Denmark, and is responsible for planning and executing digital marketing initiatives for 20+ countries on LEGO.com. Some of the product lines he's brought to web for LEGO include Hero Factory, Ninjago, BIONICLE, Technic, and Mindstorms, and he is currently planning future web sites for exciting new LEGO toys.
Donna Friedman Meir is the owner and founder of LEMONADE Creative Consulting, a strategic consulting firm focused on building cross-media experiences for kids and families. An accomplished brand builder, producer, programmer and marketer of children’s media content, her career has been dedicated to creating inspiring entertainment experiences for children across multiple platforms and for a global audience.
Prior to launching Lemonade, Donna was President of National Geographic Kids Entertainment and held senior executive positions with the WB Television Network and Nickelodeon. Her career accomplishments include leading Kids’ WB! to the #1 ratings position on Saturday mornings for four straight years and ten consecutive sweeps victories, helping to build the first transmedia megabrand, Pokemon, and its successor, Yu-gi-oh!, producing several critically acclaimed and Emmy- nominated TV series for National Geographic, and successfully leading brand strategy, marketing, and early new business efforts for Nickelodeon’s first international channels.
Donna is a Phi Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude graduate of Harvard University, and was named one of top 25 most powerful women in television by Electronic Media Magazine in 2002.
Donna currently serves on the board of Children Now and Women in Children’s Media.
A bit of a globetrotter, who has lived and worked in many places around the world, Donna currently resides in Montclair, NJ with her husband and two children.
LEMONADE Creative Consulting’s current and former clients include Zumba, Insight Strategy Group, a research-driven strategy firm that inspires its clients to build innovative and impactful experiences for consumers, Zumba, Sega, and Juilliard Discoveries among others.
Hanna Miranda oversees Evolve’s Youthology brand—a leading provider of kid, tween and teen focused digital marketing programs. Hanna has driven the growth of the Youthology properties and partnerships that now reach almost 10 million kids and teens a month (Comscore Dec. 2011). As part of Hanna’s day-to-day responsibilities operating Youthology’s owned and operated websites, she recently led the award winning redesign of the premier content and social networking site for teens, TeenSpot.com. Additionally, Hanna manages Evolve’s Momtastic.com family of sites giving Hanna unique insights into reaching and connecting with both kids and their parents in the digital space.
Prior to Evolve Media, Hanna served as a Business Development Manager at Game Fly Media, and managed strategic partnerships at Dave Brown Entertainment. Hanna graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Southern California
Nic Mitham is founder and CEO of KZero Worldswide SA. Launched in 2006, KZero is the leading consulting and analytics company serving the virtual world/MMO and virtual goods sectors.
Best known for creating the Universe Chart (the de-facto visualisation tool for growth in the VW market), KZero provides business planning, strategic consulting and user analysis for a diverse range of companies. Clients include EA, Ubisoft, Mattel, Stardoll, Turner, L'Oreal Paris and Moshi Monsters.
Michelle Neyland is an online communications specialist with expertise in cross-cultural relationship-building and educational applications. She currently works at the U.S. Department of State and manages ExchangesConnect (http://connect.state.gov), the 37,500-member community connecting potential, current, and former educational and cultural exchange program participants so that they can discuss application processes, programs, and living abroad. As Community Manager, she encourages people around the world to join and become active contributors, highlights user-generated content, and organizes regular contests and initiatives to keep members engaged. In addition to her work on ExchangesConnect, Michelle develops holistic web-based public outreach campaigns for her Bureau, using web metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of these initiatives. She has presented at international education and travel conferences on best practices in community management. Prior to joining the State Department, Michelle worked for a number of NGOs focused on international education and online cross-cultural collaboration. Michelle received her MA in Media, Peace, & Conflict Studies from the United Nations-mandated University for Peace and her BA in Hispanic Studies from the College of William & Mary.
Joby is VP, Art and Technology for Activision and a Creative Director for Product and Brand for the Skylanders franchise. Joby is a 20 year game industry veteran and was Chief Creative Officer of Luxoflux – developers of the multi-million-selling Shrek 2, True Crime and Vigilante 8 videogames. Joby oversees creative development at Luxoflux and co-manages the studio.
Prior to joining Activision, Joby was an employee and Advisory Board member at Shiny Entertainment and a Partner at Neversoft. At Shiny, where he was the Art Director and Co-Project Lead on Sacrifice – one of the highest rated PC games ever. For his work on that game, Joby was nominated by his industry peers in the 1st annual Game Developers Choice Awards for Excellence in Visual Arts.
As chief strategy officer, Matt Palmer spearheads business development and strategic growth at Sweety High. Palmer is the former executive vice president and general manager for Stardoll, where he oversaw the company’s North American business and strategy.
Palmer was named Advertising Age’s 2006 Entertainment Marketer of the Year while serving as senior vice president, marketing, Disney Channel, at the Disney ABC Cable Networks Group. In this capacity, Palmer led all ad sales marketing initiatives while managing the creative direction of on-air promotion, online content and off-channel marketing for Disney Channel, Jetix, Toon Disney and its critically acclaimed learning-based programming block for preschoolers, Playhouse Disney.
During his Disney tenure, the channel experienced unprecedented success in both ratings growth and in the successful establishment of hit franchise properties. Reaching across multiple media platforms, Palmer delivered some of Disney Channel’s most popular shows including “The Suite Life of Zack & Cody,” “Hannah Montana,” “The Cheetah Girls,” “Jump!” and “High School Musical.” His digital media efforts tripled website traffic in 2006 with the relaunch of disneychannel.com.
In addition, from July 2002 to June 2004, Palmer served as vice president, strategic marketing at Discovery Communications, Inc. From 2002 to 2004, he was vice president, marketing, Blue Man Productions, Inc. At the innovative New York City-based theatrical company, Palmer secured a multi-million dollar strategic marketing partnership with the Intel Corporation.
Working with Nickelodeon from 1992 to 2000, Palmer oversaw business, creative and marketing strategies for several Nickelodeon film and television franchises including “Rugrats,” “The Wild Thornberrys,” and he helped launch “Spongebob Squarepants.”
Palmer earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Eastern Illinois University and a Master’s in Business Administration from Rollins College. He is also a member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
Marty Poulin is the founder and CEO of ShadyLogic, a cutting edge creative and development studio headquartered in Los Angeles. The ShadyLogic team's wide-ranging experience bridges Casual, Kids, TV, Movies, Toys as well as Virtual Worlds, Console Games and iPhone. This diverse background enables ShadyLogic to deliver worlds and games that bring brands to life.
Marty has consulted on social game design, business and technology analysis, and planning for numerous projects for clients including Spin Master, and Activision for its Skylanders franchise.
Marty’s has also developed online social platforms for market leaders such as Disney's Interactive Studios (Director of Online) and Sony (SCE-RT online) and was CTO of the MMOG "World War II Online". He is responsible for the design and development of Disney's DGamer social game platform and worked on many titles including Turok, Spectrobes, SOCOM 3, and NBA 06.
Under her leadership, the company has grown from a handful of remote moderators to an industry leader in worldwide managed services for digital spaces. Previously, Amy was the director of after school programs at an elementary school in Santa Barbara, and later worked as a commercial litigator in Los Angeles and Silicon Valley. She is a regular speaker and voice for online safety and engagement for kids, and she serves on the Advisory Board for the
kidSAFE Program and the Association of Virtual Worlds. Amy has been featured in the New York Times for her work in the online kids space and clients include The NFL, HarperCollins, NBC, The State Department, PBS Kids, and
Nickolodeon. She has a BA in Sociology from University of California at Santa Barbara and a JD from PCU School of Law. She resides in Northern California with her husband, daughter, and Newman, the worthless labrador.
Jennifer Puckett is Production Manager, USA, for the social media management agency eModeration (www.emoderation.com). She oversees the US Moderation team whilst continuing to support online kid and user safety initiatives, training and education. She has 13 years’ experience in managing online communities, and is a firm believer in providing knowledge and empowering digital citizens of all ages in order to make the use of social media a truly enjoyable experience.
Jennifer has worked to improve the online experiences of children, teens and parents worldwide - most notably working with the Disney Internet Group, SmartBomb Interactive and Sulake, Inc.; ensuring each player is not only having a great time, but also learning proper online behavior.
While at Disney, Jennifer served as the Senior Manager, Community Policy for Disney Online Studios, creating policies and procedures to ensure the Disney philosophy on moderation and safety were effectively translated and implemented. As a member of the Disney Safety Group, Jennifer worked with both Public Relations and Legal representatives to ensure all Disney Interactive guests received a well-rounded understanding of online safety.
Tiffany Qiang has been the vice president in charge of corporate strategy and development of Taomee Holdings Limited (NYSE: TAOM) since June 2010. Prior to joining the Company, Tiffany worked as a vice president of Qiming Venture Partners from 2007 to 2010. She is responsible for early-stage investments of internet/consumer area in China and portfolio management. Prior to that, Ms. Qiang was a financial analyst in both industrial and capital divisions at General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) from 2005 to 2007. Ms. Qiang received her bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Tsinghua University in 2001 and her master's degree in management science and engineering from Stanford University in 2005.
Chris Rettstatt is a published children's book author who has spent the past 12+ years as a specialist in youth-focused virtual community and the past 5+ years as a transmedia storyteller. He is Director of Digital Content at Highlights for Children, where he oversees digital products and kids’ web content.
As Moderation Manager, Tiffany works to develop a fun, safe, and engaging community across all Gazillion Entertainment titles. Additionally, she oversees a well-trained team of moderators and customer service representatives, is responsible for managing all moderation and customer service toolsets, and acts as the primary point of contact for all moderation and customer service issues. In her role as Premium Account Manager, Tiffany is also responsible for the analysis of high value account metrics used in the development and implementation of premium account benefits designed to increase revenue and customer retention.
Tiffany holds a B.A . in Sociology and a B.A. Anthropology from Colorado State University, as well as a M.A. in Education with a Credential in School Counseling from San Jose State University. Prior to working in the gaming industry, Tiffany held various roles in the education field.
Jason Robar joined Microsoft in 1994 to make Windows a better gaming platform. In the Developer Relations Group, he was responsible for establishing relationships for Microsoft with almost all game publishers and developers worldwide. In 1999 he joined Microsoft’s game division and worked towards expanding the role of Zone.com in supporting online gaming. In 2000, he joined Go2Net to help lead Playsite.com to be a cross-device gaming platform for mobile and online PC gaming. In 2001, he started an independent game industry consulting group working on outsourcing in Asia, game design, technology, and business development with a focus on online, MMOGs, advergaming, Asian markets, and the convergence between the game industry and the government modeling, simulation and training industry. In 2004, he led the development of a major training game for DARPA called DARWARS Ambush! to help in the training of convoy personnel.
In 2005, he founded Secret Lair Studios/Studio Ch’in, an independent development group with teams in Seattle, Washington, USA, and Shanghai, China. The group was working on PC MMORPG technology and content for western and Chinese markets, and also secured rights to develop on Xbox360 Live Arcade, including projects like Carcassonne for XBLA. In 2006, Sierra Online (a Vivendi Games Studio) acquired the group to form their internal development team. In 2008, Jason co-founded The Amazing Society, now a studio of Gazillion Entertainment. The Amazing Society focused on making online games for kids and families with Marvel Super Hero Squad Online (www.heroup.com) as their first project.
In 2012, he is running his independent consulting group once again as the market evolves rapidly across the globe.
Art Roche is a creative consultant working with Peanuts Worldwide to develop new digital products featuring Snoopy and the PEANUTS gang. In 2010, Roche helped to create Animal Jam, a virtual world created in partnership with National Geographic Kids. Prior to that, Art served as creative director for CartoonNetwork.com from 2000 until 2009.
Shai Samet is an experienced and award-winning privacy consultant and entrepreneur.
Samet is founder and president of the kidSAFE® Seal Program, a new independent safety certification service and seal program designed exclusively for children-friendly websites and applications, including kid-targeted game sites, virtual worlds, social networks, PC and mobile apps, web-connected devices, and other similar online and interactive services. Several large kids' brands, including Cartoon Network, National Geographic, and Fantage, are participating members in the program. The program was developed by Samet Privacy, an experienced and award-winning privacy services company based in Los Angeles, and contains an advisory board of some of the world’s leading Internet safety experts.
Samet is also founder and president of Samet Privacy, a boutique privacy consulting firm specializing in advising and assisting companies with their compliance obligations for information privacy, safety, and security, both online and off. Samet is an experienced consultant, Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP), and former attorney with over ten years of exclusive experience in developing and implementing compliant privacy and data protection programs and procedures for large consumer-facing organizations, including many Fortune 500 companies. Samet has been voted repeatedly as a “Best Privacy Adviser” (2007, 2008, and 2009-2010) and his consulting firm has been listed among “Eight Privacy Firms to Watch.”
Samet started his privacy career with the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) in 1999 at the height of the information explosion and when consumer concerns over online privacy and safety first began to surface. Samet served as director of the ESRB's Privacy Online Program, where he assisted more than 35 gaming companies develop and implement enterprise-wide privacy programs and consulted on such laws as the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Samet was responsible for developing the ESRB's "Safe Harbor" application under COPPA, which enabled the ESRB to become the first privacy seal provider to obtain safe harbor status from the Federal Trade Commission.
Samet is a frequent writer and speaker on topics related to children's safety and privacy, online social networking and virtual gaming, behavioral marketing and targeted advertising, online privacy, and many other cutting-edge privacy issues. Samet is also the creator of the popular COPPA Training Workshop, the only comprehensive COPPA training course of its kind.
For the past seven years, Nate has worked tirelessly to help improve and enrich online play experiences for children and families around the world.
When Disney Club Penguin, the number one virtual world for children, launched in 2005, Nate was brought in to build a team that would ultimately span six countries and five languages. Through customer service, live moderation, online safety initiatives and community management, Nate and his team provided support to millions of children around the world, and peace of mind to their parents.
Nate’s role also involved advocating for better policy and legislation to protect kids online, and representing The Walt Disney Company as a trusted provider of quality family entertainment.
Since leaving Disney in 2011, Nate has worked with Tiny Speck as Director of Player Support for Glitch.com, and more recently has taken a role with Sleepy Giant Entertainment as the Director of Player Relations.
Mark is a well-known pioneer of the children's multimedia and interactive design industry. He is an expert in children’s interactive design with over 30 years of design, publishing, and creative management experience, and over 100 awards for excellence in entertainment and education. Mark is probably best known as the creator of Broderbund's Living Books CD-ROM series. The highly animated and multilingual Living Books set the benchmark for truly engaging and educational multimedia in the 90’s. Mark’s first Living Books title “Just Grandma and me” sold over 2.5 million copies in seven languages and helped launched the category we now eBooks.
In 2000 Mark founded NoodleWorks Interactive, a creative design consulting and production company specializing in children’s interactive design. In November 2011, Mark’s first iPad app for children, Noodle Words – Action Set 1, was released. Since then it has won the KAPi Award for Best Educational Product of The Year, and was a Holiday recommended app by the New York Times and Parent’s Choice, and featured by Apple’s App Store in New & Noteworthy and What’s Hot under Education.
Besides producing a pack of new apps Mark is also just completing a book on the psychology and art form of computer interaction titled "Understanding Kids – Designing Award Winning Interactive Media for Children”.
Brad Schultz is the head of Moshi TV, an in-development online platform that hosts a combination of video content including animated Moshi Monsters shorts, moderated user-generated content and programming from third-party producers. Moshi TV also features a social layer through which kids can comment, rate and recommend shows to their network of friends.
Prior to Mind Candy, Brad led digital content across multiple platforms for MoonScoop’s kids’ network, Kabillion. Brad also worked on the launch of several new shows including Hero: 108, Rob Dyrdek’s Wild Grinders and Chloe’s Closet alongside all of the major kids’ TV networks. In addition to his work at Kabillion, Brad founded the company Flying Penguin, and launched multiple iPhone/iPad applications currently on the market.
Mike Seamons is an executive producer for Microsoft Studios in the Kids and Lifestyle Entertainment group. In this capacity, Seamons has led both game and film production teams to create “Kinect Nat Geo TV,” a new kind of two-way television experience that takes you inside your favorite Nat Geo television shows and allows you to engage, interact and learn in an entirely new way. “Kinect Nat Geo TV” is filmed in conjunction with popular Nat Geo WILD TV programs and layers in exclusive, interactive game-play that encourages kids and their families to learn and become part of the experience. The first season, based “America the Wild” featuring naturalist Casey Anderson, will premier in September 2012.
Before joining Microsoft Corp. in 2008, Seamons was a founding partner in multiple startup companies focused on interactive entertainment and automation experiences. His most recent startup was Lifeware, manufacturer of software and hardware that powers commercial and residential systems across the world including the “The Innoventions Dream Home” in Tomorrowland at Disneyland.
Seamons was selected as one of the “Digital Dozen” by Digital Connect magazine in 2006 and “40 Under 40” by Dealerscope magazine in 2007 for his leadership in the consumer electronics industry. He is widely regarded as a digital entertainment specialist and has served as a guest editor for multiple industry magazines and a featured speaker at the Big Builder Conference, Kitchen/Bath Industry Show and Conference, International Consumer Electronics Show, Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association Expo, and Electronic House Expo.
Seamons holds a bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University and runs one of the largest interactive entertainment consumer research labs at home with his wife and six children.
Woody’s knowledge of the consumer and mobile technology industries has proven essential to the growth of the company’s digital publishing platform. After co-founding FrogDogMedia with fellow entrepreneur Graham Farrar, the company’s iStoryTime digital publishing grew tremendously leading to a merger with Germany-based zuuka GmbH, resulting in the world’s largest publisher of mobile children’s books. Under the name zuuka, the newly formed company utilizes the largely successful iStoryTime name as its flagship label and joint brand.
Prior to zuuka, Woody Sears served as an experienced and entrepreneurial technology sales and marketing executive. He worked as a successful regional sales manager for Vettro Corp. where he was responsible for selling a SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) based integrated suite of mobile enterprise applications to Global 2000 companies. Previously, Woody was a Global Account Manager and top performer with AT&T Mobility where he was responsible for consultative sales of wireless solutions to Fortune 500 companies. Woody earned an M.B.A. from Pepperdine University and a B.A. from the University of Colorado. Woody spends his weekends playing with his three kids on the playground, sand or snow… and changing diapers.
Tonda Bunge Sellers oversees all aspects of Engage Digital's productions, from small seminars to large multi-track industry conferences. She and her team of advisors set strategic and tactical direction, and structure events acclaimed for their cutting-edge content and diverse array of renowned experts.
Ms. Sellers joined Engage Digital in 2006 as conference director of the industry-leading Austin Game Conference and has more than 10 years of professional experience in government affairs, community development and political fund raising.
Active in the community, Sellers is a sustaining member of the National Junior Leagues and certified to teach in the State of Texas. She holds a Masters of Education with an emphasis in early childhood development from Southwest Texas State University and a Bachelors of Science in Psychology and Counseling from East Texas State University.
Sellers resides in her native state of Texas with her husband and their two children.
I am an Entrepreneur, traveler and photodabbler. I currently run Engage Digital, a conference business that has produced events in New York, San Francisco, London, Seattle, Austin and elsewhere. I've hosted events on social media, games, toys, youth marketing, apps, small business, angel investing, entrepreneurship, digital learning, 3D virtual environments, mobile business strategies and more.
Clark Stacey is the President and CEO of Smart Bomb Interactive, a videogame development studio based in Salt Lake City, Utah.
In October 2010, his company launched National Geographic Animal Jam, the online virtual world for kids who love animals and the natural world. With millions of kids worldwide now playing in the world of Jamaa, Smart Bomb is preparing to launch extensions of the Animal Jam experience in mobile games and consumer products. Smart Bomb is also known for the forthcoming Sky Legends, a radical browser-based flight combat MMO.
Clark was pursuing an academic career when his passion for blowing things up drew him to videogames in 1995. He began his career in interactive entertainment with Beyond Games, where he contributed to the design and development of successful titles across a variety of platforms -- all of which centered around blowing things up.
Before co-founding Smart Bomb in 2003, Clark was the CEO of Cobalt Interactive, a pioneering studio in interactive marketing and advergaming, whose clients included St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Quaker Oats
Clark grew up in a town called Ogden, where animals can still talk. He graduated from the University of Utah with a degree in English literature and philosophy, and is now evidently doing what one does with those qualifications.
Roman Stanek is a technology visionary who has spent the past 20 years building world-class technology companies. Currently Founder & CEO of GoodData, which provides disruptive analytical platform in the cloud, he previously co-founded fi NetBeans, now a part of Sun Microsystems and one of the leading Java IDEs, and Systinet, now owned by Hewlett-Packard and the leading SOA Governance platform on the market.
Michelle Sullivan leads National Geographic’s kids and family digital initiatives including the Webby award-winning website kids.nationalgeographic.com and its preschool sibling site littlekids.nationalgeographic.com. She is a content and product strategist with an ability to “think like a 10-year-old” and brings that consumer focus to a wide array of National Geographic Kids apps, games, video programming on multiple platforms.
Prior to joining National Geographic, Michelle was director of editorial programming for AOL’s teen service, RED, which she helped develop and launch in 2003. Additionally, she served as principal product manager for AOL’s premium educational products and StudyBuddy.com homework help site.
With more than 15 years combined experience in print and digital media, Michelle is a creative and passionate advocate for the youth audience. In her pre-digital life, she was an editor at Teen and MoxieGirl magazines and published in several publications including Marie Claire, Teen People, TeenStyle, YM and Cosmogirl. She also authored a self-empowering help book for tween girls, “Check Him Out: Your Ultimate Guide to Guys.”
Michelle’s commitment to youth extends offline. She served as workshop director and is currently working on web and social media efforts for the Nebraska Association of Student Councils (NASC) in her home state. NASC is a volunteer organization that aims to develop leadership skills in middle and high school students. For one week each summer, Michelle moves into college dorms with 400 high school students and eats, sleeps and functions as a teen (as best she can!) to help groom tomorrow’s leaders.
Michelle is an experienced speaker and panelist on kids’ online behavior and emerging digital and technology trends in children’s media. She also enjoys DVR’d cartoons, singing into the iPhone “Glee” app, tap dancing, peanut butter, playing on the swings and pretending she’s famous. Michelle is a graduate of Pepperdine University.
Scott Traylor defines the vision behind the Boston-based digital development and consulting firm 360KID, which helps businesses discover how best to engage kids through a variety of digital media platforms. A former computer science professor and working in the kids industry for over 21 years, Scott is actively involved in research, writing, and speaking about kids, consumer products, virtual worlds and social media. Scott is a Board of Director and Trustee member to two youth-focused organizations and advises a small number of venture backed startups and virtual worlds for kids.
Margaret Wallace is an entrepreneur focusing on the gaming, tech and media sectors.
Margaret is Founder/ CEO of Playmatics (www.playmatics.com), a company dedicated to bringing rich games and applications to the Internet, in social media networks, and on a variety of connected gaming & transmedia platforms. Located in the heart of Chelsea, Manhattan, Playmatics focuses both on branded and original IP.
In April 2011, she also became CEO of Shadow Government, Inc., an angel-funded social mobile gaming company, headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland and New York City, NY.
Prior to forming Playmatics, Margaret was Founder/CEO of Rebel Monkey, a venture-backed company focused on creating a free-to-play cooperative game world and community platform utilizing virtual goods and micro-transactions. Before Rebel Monkey, Margaret was a founding member and CEO of Skunk Studios in San Francisco, CA, one of the first-ever casual game companies and game portals (www.skunkstudios.com).
Margaret also spent time at Shockwave.com, PF.Magic (Dogz/Catz), Mattel and Mindscape and has worked on numerous brands, licensed products, gaming portals and original IP. She also worked with AMCTV, A&E Television Networks (AETN) Game Division, which includes Lifetime Television, The History Channel, A&E, and The Biography Channel on brand, business, portal and online/social media strategy.
Margaret is on the advisory board of the annual Casual Connect Conference in Seattle and a frequent speaker on the topics of gaming, gamification, entrepreneurship and transmedia. She is also an adviser to YetiZen, a gaming incubator organization located in San Francisco, CA. She also advises the social gaming start-up, RealLifePlus, also based in San Francisco, CA
Margaret holds an MA and BS in Communication from the University of Massachusetts/Amherst and Boston University, respectively. She is a State Department Alumni, having participated in the Congress-Bundestag Exchange Program to Germany in the first year of its inception.
Katharine Wang is the Child Safety and Digital Literacy lead for the Global Public Policy Team and works from Google HQ, located in Mountain View, California. She graduated in 2008 from Stanford University with a bachelor's degree in Political Science and English.
Dr. Jo Webber is an experienced software company CEO. She served as the CEO of InnaPhase Inc., and led the company to become a world-leading supplier of scientific software and management solutions. She directed the acquisition of a division of a public company and led the sale of InnaPhase to Thermo Electron (NYSE:TMO) in 2004. She then became CEO of Energy Solutions International, a supplier of software for the management of oil and gas pipelines, and directed two strategic acquisitions and the successful sale of the company. She has a Ph.D. in Quantum Physics from the University of Nottingham Trent/Manchester University and serves on the boards of Maxwell Systems and Octagon Research Solutions. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and a Chartered Chemist.
Rich Weil is the Vice President of Client Services at Metaverse Mod Squad, where he is responsible for project startup and management, client services and business development. Prior to joining Metaverse, Rich held positions building and managing Community Relations and Customer Service teams at NCsoft, Kaneva and Cartoon Network. A long-time MMO enthusiast, Rich is a consistent advocate of new ways to engage online communities that blend Community Relations and Customer Support. He is a frequent speaker at major industry events, including the Game Developers Conference, SXSW, LOGIN Conference, and Engage! Prior to joining the game industry in 2004, Rich obtained a degree in Military History from the University of Texas and worked in Human Resources and Management, including as HR Director for a software development consultancy in Austin, TX.
Dan Wilmer is the Senior Vice President of Digital Media at KIDZ BOP, the #1 music brand for kids, ages 5-12 in the U.S. He oversees the management and strategic development of KIDZ BOP.com, a leading safe social network for kids and tweens. The site allows kids to create video-based web shows and contests, as well as chat with friends, play games, and build fan pages – with parental permission and expert moderation for all social activities. To date, more than 1.2MM kids have become registered users.
Currently consumed with his work in an online safety and privacy for young audiences, Daniel is a veteran of the New Media industry. Having cut his teeth in the late 90s developing online media solutions for a variety of studios and clients in Europe, Australia and the US, Daniel moved to Sulake Ltd in 2005 to develop and operate a Virtual World for Disney Online.
Subsequently, Daniel consulted on social and online game designs for AAA media and entertainment companies like Marvel, Lucasfilm, and National Geographic, and headed up Tweehouse, a Finnish company that created a customizable and rapidly deployable web based multiplayer game engine.
Recent notable placements include a two and half year stint at LEGO's Playwell studios, working on the tween-oriented AAA MMO, LEGO Universe, and with the Angry Birds Web team at the HQ of the creator of that franchise, Rovio.
Right now, Daniel consults to a number of social digital businesses, and is a founder at Kidzcert, a company dedicated to developing the future of online safety and privacy for kids and families.
Jake acts as the COO of Schell Games, keeping everyone happy and snagging the best and brightest projects for the studio. Jake brings 15 years of experience to the Schell Games team, having worked with founding, managing, advising, and investing companies, not the least of these being M Park (which he co-founded), Netspoke, Inc., and iMeet, Inc., among others.
Jake holds a BA in Economics from Tufts University and an MBA from the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University. When not managing Schell Games, Jake enjoys spending time with his family, including his three young children.
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