JURORS

Keith Boesky
Head of New Media & Videogames, International Creative Management (ICM)

In November of 2002, Keith Boesky formed the videogames department within International Creative Management. The department translates games to film, brings film and television talent to games and assists studios in maximizing the value of their intellectual property. From 1998 to 2002, Mr. Boesky was the principal of Boesky and Company. Clients included Universal Studios, Paramount Studios, Squaresoft and The Upper Deck Company, Apple Computer, Thomas Weisel Partners, LLC and Pacific Century Cyberworks. In 1996, Mr. Boesky joined Eidos as President. While at Eidos Mr. Boesky expanded Eidos properties, including Tomb Raider and 'Lara Croft' into film, toys and publishing and acquired new properties, such as Final Fantasy VII PC and Fear Effect. From 1992 to 1996 Mr. Boesky was an attorney with Cooley Godward.

Vince Broady
SVP, Consumer Media, CNET Networks, Co-Founder, GameSpot

Vince Broady, Senior Vice President of Consumer Media for CNET Networks, manages two major media properties for the company: GameSpot, the Web's leading online gaming site (which he also co-founded), and mySimon, the award-winning comparative shopping site.

Prior to his current role at CNET, Broady served as Vice President, Product Development at ZDNet, where he managed the company's overall strategic development efforts, and as General Manager, ZDNet Consumer where he developed online destinations for magazines including Yahoo! Internet Life and FamilyPC. He also wrote a regular column for Anchordesk, ZDNet's popular email newsletter.

Before beginning work on GameSpot in 1995, Broady had worked for several years at IDG's Multimedia World magazine, where he held the title of Executive Editor, with a focus on leading-edge multimedia technologies, software, and systems. Broady graduated from Brown University in 1990 with a degree in Religious Studies. A Texas native, he now lives in San Francisco with his wife and son.

Ted Cohen

SVP, D3 - Digital Development & Distribution, EMI Music

As SVP Digital Development & Distribution for EMI Music, Ted Cohen oversees worldwide digital business development for this “big five” record company, which includes labels such as Capitol, Virgin, Angel/Blue Note, Parlophone and Chrysalis. Under Cohen’s guidance, EMI has led the industry with its initiatives in new technologies and business models, such as digital downloads, online music subscriptions, custom compilations, wireless services, high-definition audio and Internet radio.

In addition to seeking out, evaluating and executing business opportunities for the company, Cohen serves as both a strategist and key decision-maker for EMI’s global digital ventures.

Marc Geiger
SVP & Agent, Contemporary Music Department, William Morris Agency

Geiger is the consummate music industry insider, having worn the hats over the years of concert promoter, talent agent, record executive and Internet pioneer. Geiger co-founded ArtistDirect in 1996 and served as the publicly-traded music entertainment company’s Chief Executive Officer until 2001, when he became Vice Chairman, a position he held until he left the company on June 1. At ArtistDirect, Geiger signed over 130 top artists and groups to e-commerce deals.

Geiger, who attended U.C. San Diego, began his career in Los Angeles as a talent agent at Regency Artists (which later, through a merger, became Triad Artists), where he launched the agency’s Alternative Division, representing such bands as The Pixies, Dead Can Dance, New Order, Jane’s Addiction and 60 other cutting edge artists. At Triad, Geiger was instrumental in the formation of the now legendary alternative music festival, LOLLAPALOOZA.

Just prior to WMA’s acquisition of Triad in 1992, Geiger joined Rick Rubin’s American Recordings, where he was Executive Vice President of marketing and A&R. During his time there Geiger signed 14 artists, bought online music search engine UBL.com and began his foray into online music.

David B. Goldberg
Vice President & General Manager, Music, Yahoo! Inc.

David B. Goldberg serves as the Vice President and General Manager of Music at Yahoo! Inc., since the acquisition of LAUNCH Media, Inc. by Yahoo! in August 2001. Before the acquisition, Mr. Goldberg was Co-founder and CEO of LAUNCH Media, Inc. In his new position, Mr. Goldberg is responsible for the growth and continued development of LAUNCH, the music destination on Yahoo! as a compelling, global music destination for consumers, marketers and record labels.

Since its inception in 1994, Mr. Goldberg spearheaded LAUNCH’s vision to help music fans connect with their favorite artists and discover new music through a variety of interactive mediums. Under his leadership, LAUNCH developed into one of the leading entertainment brands and LAUNCH.com became one of the web’s premier music sites.

Prior to founding LAUNCH, Mr. Goldberg was Director of Marketing Strategy and New Business Development at Capitol Records in Los Angeles, California. While in this position, Mr. Goldberg was responsible for the development of new multimedia distribution methods and the development of alternative channels through which music and new artists could be effectively marketed to consumers.

Before Capitol, Mr. Goldberg worked as a management consultant at Bain & Co., a prominent strategic consulting firm. Mr. Goldberg graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with a B.A. in History and Government.

Mr. Goldberg currently serves on the board of directors for LivePlanet and is a member of N.A.R.A.S (National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences) and the Digital Coast Roundtable.

Jim Griffin
CEO, Cherry Lane Digital

Jim Griffin is CEO of Cherry Lane Digital. Cherry Lane is dedicated to the future of music and entertainment delivery, and works as a consultant to absorb uncertainty about the digital delivery of art.

In addition to serving as an agent for constructive change in media and technology, he is an author, serving as a columnist for magazines, and is on the boards of companies and associations. Before starting Cherry Lane Digital, he started and ran for five years the technology department at Geffen Records. Prior to Geffen he was an International Representative for The Newspaper Guild in Washington, D.C.

While at Geffen, Jim led a team that in June of 1994 distributed the first full-length commercial song on-line, by Aerosmith. Geffen was the first entertainment company to install a web server, and Geffen World was one of the first corporate intranet sites. Geffen was named by Network World in 1996 as one of the world's top 25 technology companies, and one of only seven in the United States.

Jim is co-founder of the Pho group. Named after a bowl of Vietnamese soup, Pho is an organization that meets for discussion-oriented meals in cities around the world, electronically linked by the Pho mailing list. Pho's many thousands of readers enjoy dialogue on the digital delivery of art and the new economy in music, movies, books and all media.

Jim testified in July 2000 before the Senate Judiciary Committee at its oversight hearing on file sharing and music licensing. He regularly moderates video and television shows on digital entertainment. He is often a keynote speaker or moderator at conferences (Internet Summit, Giga Conference, Comdex, CES, Webnoize, and many others) and lectures annually at business schools (Harvard, USC, UCLA, Berkeley). He also serves as an expert witness in digital entertainment, and has presented many Continuing Legal Education courses.

In addition to work with music, his expertise includes wireless work in Europe, including at Nokia's Research Center in Helsinki, Finland, and with numerous companies in Finland and throughout Europe. He's moderated numerous panels on wireless and given speeches on wireless issues around the world, ranging from music conferences to parliament meetings in Europe. He is a regular speaker at entertainment industry events and corporate and association meetings.

John Kilcullen
President & Publisher, Billboard Information Group

John joined VNU in March, 2003 and is responsible for its music, radio and literary publishing properties including Billboard, Airplay Monitor, Bookseller and Kirkus Reviews.

John Kilcullen graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in Communications from Fordham College in New York.  Before joining IDG Books Worldwide, he spent nine years in various sales and marketing management positions at publishing industry leaders Prentice-Hall, the Bantam/Doubleday/Dell Publishing Group and computer book publisher Que. Mr. Kilcullen has been profiled in the Investor's Business Daily, The New York Times, People Magazine, and USA Today and has been seen in CNBC, CNN, and CNNfn.  Most recently, John was named one of Irish American's Business 100 of 2003.

In 1987, over dinner with a friend, John was kicking around some new ideas for computer books.  He kept coming back to a remark made by a customer in a Software Etc. store who requested a book in the DOS operating system. The customer said that he needed a simple, basic book because he didn't know anything about computers. "Something," he suggested, "like DOS for dummies."   The rest, as they say, is history with more than 100 million Dummies® books in print and of 750 different For Dummies titles on technology and general reference topics.

By 1998, IDG Books had grown to sales of $200 million and Kilcullen took the venture public in a successful IPO.  Kilcullen used IPO proceeds to later acquire the company which published Cliff Notes, Macmillan General Reference, and Hungry Minds, an internet start-up which billed itself as a one-stop online learning marketplace for adults, students and companies. Hungry Minds offered courses on a variety of academic subjects, as well as for those simply looking for new skills or certification.  Kilcullen later rebranded IDG Books into Hungry Minds Inc.

Hungry Minds Inc. was acquired in 2001 by educational publisher John Wiley & Sons Inc. in a deal valued at $182.5 million, including assumed debt. 

Kilcullen is a frequent lecturer on corporate entrepreneurship at Babson College's School for Executive Education and on publishing at the Stanford Professional Publishing Course.  He is also a board member of Kindermusik International.

Kilcullen resides in New York City with his wife, Jessica, and is father to two sons: Sean and new arrival, Conor.

Don Levy
SVP, Marketing & Communications, Sony Pictures Digital

Don Levy is senior vice president of marketing and communications for Sony Pictures Digital which oversees the digital production and online assets of Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) and consists of four key operating business units: Sony Pictures Animation, Sony Pictures Imageworks, Sony Online Entertainment and Sony Pictures Digital Networks which includes SoapCity, Screenblast, Sony Pictures mobile and wireless services, the studio's online promotional arm SPiN, and the UK interactive television service GoPlayTV.

By making information and entertainment available anywhere, anytime on any connected device, Sony Pictures Digital is exploring new technology that links hardware with software in ways that advance the current boundaries of the entertainment landscape. He is responsible for Sony Pictures Digital’s corporate communications, media and public relations for the division’s operating businesses, and coordination of marketing strategy between its business units.

Levy, a seven-year veteran of Sony Pictures Entertainment, came to Sony Picture Digital from Sony Pictures Digital Studios Division, where he served in a similar capacity in support of the studio’s technology driven businesses.  He joined Sony Pictures in 1995 as the studio’s Awards campaign consultant working on the Oscar-winning campaign for "Sense and Sensibility," and, in 1996, became Executive Director of Advertising, Publicity and Promotion for Sony Pictures award-winning visual effects and digital character animation company, Imageworks.  

During his tenure with Imageworks, Mr. Levy oversaw the publicity  efforts for the visual effects and character animation facility,  which included five Academy Award campaigns for "Starship Troopers, " Hollow Man," Stuart Little," "Spider-Man" and "The ChubbChubbs."  This past year, Imageworks received its first Academy Award for "The ChubbChubbs", in the category of Best Animated Short Film.  Prior to joining SPE, Levy held   a six-year post at Paramount Pictures, where he was in charge of production publicity for that studio’s motion picture group.  Freelance credits as a production publicist include numerous films in which visual effects played a significant role, including  “The Lost World: Jurassic Park,” “The Flintstones,” “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” “The Witches of Eastwick,” “2010,” “Brainstorm,” “Poltergeist”  and "Coming Home."   Levy is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and received the Publicists Guild of America’s highest honor, The Les Mason Award.

Al Lieberman
Executive Director, EMT Program, NYU Stern School of Business

Al Lieberman is the Clinical Associate Professor of Marketing Entrepreneurship and Innovation and the Executive Director of the Entertainment Media and Technology Program at New York University’s Stern School of Business. In his current position, Professor Lieberman teaches several courses including in The Marketing of Entertainment Industries. Global Impact of Entertainment, The Business of Producing, Sports Marketing, and a Los Angeles based course called The Craft & Commerce of Cinema.

Professor Lieberman has been with NYU Stern for more than six years. His primary research areas of interest include film festivals and entertainment globalization.

Before joining NYU Stern, Professor Lieberman served as the executive vice president of Young and Rubicam Direct Response Division and managed the advertising accounts of Fortune 500 companies. He then joined Simon and Schuster as World-Wide Director of Marketing and became Executive Vice President of the company’s Silhouette Books division. Professor Lieberman was also the founder and CEO of Grey Entertainment, an advertising and marketing company whose client roster included Warner Brothers Studios, ABC Entertainment, News American Corp., Harper Collins Publishers and a variety of theater and arts companies.

Professor Lieberman received his Bachelor of Science in labor relations from Cornell University and his master’s degree in marketing from NYU Stern.

Rick Mandler
VP & General Manager, Walt Disney Internet Group & ABC Enhanced TV

Rick Mandler is responsible for all business development, production, technical, and integrated sales for Enhanced TV fare produced for all Disney-owned broadcast and cable network programming. WDIG & ABC’s Enhanced TV programming is delivered via an Internet-connected computer and is controlled by the user while watching the show simultaneously on television. It is neither a television experience nor an Internet computer experience, but truly both at the same time -- the first step towards in-home convergence programming. Prior to assuming his current position in March of 2001, Mandler had been vice president of WDIG Local and Broadcasting. In that position, he was responsible for developing and managing the Internet efforts of the ABC Broadcasting properties, including ABC-owned television and radio stations across the country, ABC Radio Networks, and the localization of WDIG’s Internet businesses. Earlier, Mandler was vice president, new media for ABC Broadcasting after serving as general manager, new media for ABC Radio Networks, where he had operational and strategic responsibility for the ABC Radio division's Internet efforts. Mandler joined Capital Cities/ABC, Inc. (now ABC, Inc.) in 1992 as a general attorney. He was named director of business affairs for ABC News in 1994, where he was responsible for negotiating talent and business agreements. Prior to coming to ABC, Mandler was an associate at the New York law firm of Patterson, Belknap, Webb and Tyler from 1989 to 1992, and a law clerk for the Honorable Leonard I. Garth, United States Circuit Judge for the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, from 1987 to 1989. Mandler is a graduate of Wesleyan University and New York University Law School.

Ben Mendelson
President, Interactive Television Alliance

Ben Mendelson is the founder and president of the Interactive Television Alliance, an independent trade association representing the broad interests of the entire iTV industry. He is also the co-founder and sr. partner in 2degree Partners, a management consultancy involved in iTV, Direct Response TV, and integrated online services. Ben has been an innovator in developing interactive Òt-commerceÓ applications and has been involved in New Media technology from its earliest days.

In January 1994, he started one of the first commercial Internet companies, where his clients included Sony Pictures, HBO, House of Blues, Philips Media, and Graham Nash. In 1996, Ben created the Internet Services Division for Curtco Freedom Publishing. In 1999, he developed the Internet division for Williams Direct, a full service Direct Response TV (DRTV) advertising agency. Later that year, Ben was hired to head the Internet program for the Electronic Retailing Association, the primary trade organization for the DRTV industry. Most recently, Ben was VP of Business Development for the Winterberry Group.

Prior to his Internet experience (from 1982 - 1991), Ben was the owner and director of LAPA (L.A. Art Photographers Association), an art gallery and resource center for commercial and fine art photography. In 1992, he founded PhotoSource, a showcase, service bureau, and training center for digital imaging. He has taught at the American Film Institute( AFI), UCLA Extension, and the So. CA Institute of Architecture (SCIArch). Ben writes a regular column for Response Magazine and has been published in numerous magazines and trade journals. He is on the advisory board of the American Film Institute Enhanced TV Program and is a familiar speaker at many iTV, Internet, and Direct Marketing conferences.

Julia Miller
Director, Xbox Live, Microsoft

As director of Xbox Live, Julia Miller is responsible for the worldwide marketing and sales programs for Xbox Live, the world's first broadband only online gaming arena. Miller's two-and-a-half-year experience with Xbox Live has been packed with excitement. Utilizing her more than fifteen years of consumer sales and marketing background, including extensive experience with SegaNet, the first online console gaming service, Miller has been influential in the branding and successful launch of Xbox Live. Prior to joining Microsoft, Miller spent five years with Pepsi Co., leading strategic initiatives and major branding campaigns for Pepsi and Pizza Hut. She also led the initial launch strategy of the POS technology in the grocery store environment for Citicorp, providing flexible payments and efficient marketing tactics such as the Safeway- Preferred Card.

Ned Sherman
Co-Founder & CEO, Digital Media Wire, Inc. 

Ned Sherman is Co-Founder and CEO of Digital Media Wire, Inc. Under his leadership, Digital Media Wire has three revenue channels and communicates daily with 30,000+ executives and professionals at entertainment, media and technology companies throughout the world.

Ned is a frequent speaker at media and entertainment industry events. He has been quoted in publications including American Lawyer and Crain's Mermigas on Media, and interviewed on National Public Radio (NPR), the NY1 Evening News and nationally syndicated radio show, Online Tonight with David Lawrence. He also writes for and is editor of Digital Media Law & Policy Report.

Before joining Digital Media Wire, Ned was a corporate and entertainment attorney with an international client base across industries including high technology, Internet, media and entertainment.  While practicing at Loeb & Loeb LLP in Los Angeles, he represented media, entertainment and Internet clients including Universal Studios, actor George Hamilton, Internet Studios, and MGM.

In 2001, he was an Adjunct Lecturer of Law at Tulane University Law School where he taught an entertainment law seminar. From 1997 to 1999, he was a lawyer in the Los Angeles office of Mayer, Brown & Platt. From 1995 to 1997, he was a foreign lawyer at Nishimura & Partners in Tokyo, Japan. Ned is a graduate of Brown University (AB, with honors, 1990) and the University of Texas School of Law (JD, 1994) where he was Chief Articles & Notes Editor of the Texas International Law Journal.

He sits on the Board of Directors of International Education Foundation, a non-profit which provides scholarships for abroad to college students with financial need and demonstrated talent in the arts, and Wild Way, a non-profit dedicated to cultivating environmental awareness and developing educational programs for inner-city and “at risk” kids.  Mr. Sherman is married and lives in Hollywood Hills, California.

Mika Salmi
Founder & CEO, AtomFilms/Shockwave (AtomShockwave Corp.)

Mika founded AtomFilms in 1998 with the vision that the creation and distribution of entertainment was rapidly changing due to the rise of new digital technologies. After establishing itself as a leading next-generation entertainment company, AtomFilms merged with Shockwave.com in early 2001 to form AtomShockwave Corp. Today, the company's consumer services (Shockwave.com, GameBlast, and AtomFilms) attract over 20 million unique users per month, comprising one of the largest entertainment audiences on the Internet. Prior to AtomShockwave, Mika led business development for the media and entertainment industries at RealNetworks. He also spent seven years in the music industry working for TVT Records, Sony Music and EMI Music, discovering bands such as Nine Inch Nails and Presidents of the United States of America. Mika was born in Finland and he graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Wisconsin and earned his MBA from INSEAD in Fountainebleau, France.

Howie Singer, PhD
Vice President of Technology, Warner Music Group

As the Vice President of Technology for Warner Music, he leads the recently created Digital Technology Group, which supports technical aspects of WMG's on-line music and new media initiatives. In addition, he oversees systems, networks, and other infrastructure related technology for WMG's global information technology team. Singer joined WMG from Rightscom, Limited, where he served as a senior consultant, providing business strategy and technical expertise to major media companies, technology providers, and other enterprises working with e-commerce and digital rights management. Prior to his work at Rightscom, Limited, from 1999 to 2001, he served as senior vice president, marketing and product strategy at Reciprocal, where he was involved in the implementation of services for secure digital distribution of media. During his tenure at Reciprocal, the company served more than 100 clients and processed millions of transactions for the sale and distribution of protected content. In 1997, he co-founded a2b music and held the position of CTO, where he led the development of a secure digital distribution service for the music industry. Before a2b music, Singer spent 20 years at AT&T, where he held technical and business positions on product development teams responsible for the production of speakerphones, cellular phones, smart cards and videogame peripherals. He is a frequent speaker at music industry and Internet related conferences. Singer holds more than a dozen U.S. patents in video processing, consumer electronics and multimedia. He holds a BS degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and a PhD in operations research from Cornell University.

John Welch
President & CEO, PlayFirst Inc. 

Prior to launching PlayFirst, John Welch was Vice President of Games and Product Development at AtomShockwave Corp., where he was responsible for acquiring, developing and promoting interactive games and entertainment for the Shockwave.com brand. John is driven by the purpose of raising online gaming to greater mass-market appeal and commercial success. He has been with Shockwave.com since 1999. Prior to Shockwave.com, John spent time at Sega and with a consulting company that he co-founded. He holds Bachelor's and Masters degrees in Computer Science, the former from MIT and the latter from the University of Massachusetts.

Neil Young
VP and Executive in Charge of Production, Electronic Arts

Neil Young is currently leading development on The Lord of the Rings games based on the New Line Cinema license. The first game from the series, The Two Towers, has seen sales of over 4 million units worldwide and was one of the top 10 best-selling games of 2002. The second game, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, is set to release in early November 2003. British-born Young began is career in the interactive entertainment industry in 1988, when he was a programmer and producer at Imagitec, a small British development company. He joined the staff at Probe Software in 1990 as a senior producer, working on a wide variety of titles for Acclaim, Sega, Hudson, USGold and Virgin Interactive. Young moved to the United States in 1992, where he went to join Virgin Interactive, where he produced or executive produced Disney's Aladdin, Jungle Book, Toonstruck, 11th Hour, among many others. He was quickly promoted to Vice President for Product Development. In April of 1997, Young was named Vice President and General Manager of ORIGIN Systems, a subsidiary of Electronic Arts based in Austin, Texas. During this time, Young supervised the launch of the highly successful Ultima Online. In 1999, Young left ORIGIN to become Vice President and Executive in Charge of Production at Electronic Arts, where he founded Synthetic, an internal Studio creating next-generation products. With Synthetic, Neil was the creator and driving force behind Majestic, the first Internet-based interactive game that places players in the center of an unfolding conspiracy-thriller. Majestic blurred the line between fiction and reality by engaging players through non-traditional gaming mediums such as the telephone, email and fax.

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