The rapid transformation of the communications, technology, and content sectors has created unprecedented opportunity in Southern California for Hollywood studios, application and service providers, investors, and entrepreneurs. Silicon Beach @ USC will provide a unique forum where business and technology leaders can connect with creative visionaries and entrepreneurs.  Tickets: http://siliconbeachusc.eventbrite.com/

Silicon Beach Awards – Venture Competition -- Presenters Include:

• Andrew Stalbow, Rovio
• Paul Bricault, Amplify.LA
• Chris DeWolfe, SGN
• Mitch Singer, Sony Pictures Entertainment
• David Wertheimer, Fox Broadcasting Co.

What is Silicon Beach @ USC?

The rise of technology startups in the Los Angeles area, combined with unique access to Hollywood’s entertainment studios and creative talent, is creating a new hub for entrepreneurship. Industry leaders are increasingly referring to this intersection as ‘Silicon Beach’ and the University of Southern California will play a significant part in shaping a vision for its future.

Led by the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies and the Institute for Communication Technology Management (CTM), USC’s Marshall School of Business will host Silicon Beach @ USC, a two-day event highlighting innovation in digital media and technology, on September 12-13, 2012 on the USC campus.

Silicon Beach @ USC will consist of a two day forum: September 12 will feature a competition for new ventures pursuing opportunities in new media platforms and digital content and services. Organized by the Greif Center for Entrepreneurship, teams will compete for $50,000 in prize money. On September 13, CTM will convene an intimate conference for industry leaders, entrepreneurs, investors, faculty and students focused on the intersection of technology and digital content.

Silicon Beach Awards

For the first time ever, USC will be presenting a Silicon Beach Award for innovation in digital media and technology. New ventures comprised of students or alumni from USC will be welcome to compete, and submission details will be available on the USC website. The award will include a significant cash prize. The venture competition will culminate in a final round which will be held on the USC campus on September 12.

**To enter the venture competition, please follow this link. Deadline for applications was Aug 15. NOTE: Attendance at Silicon Beach Awards Venture Competition is by invitation. Please contact [email protected] if you are interested in receiving an invitation.

Silicon Beach @ USC Conference

The Silicon Beach @ USC conference will be a day-long event featuring rising leaders in entertainment, technology, new media platforms, entrepreneurship and investment. Sessions will explore the collision of the technology and entertainment businesses, the rise of new ventures taking advantage of traditional Hollywood content and new media platforms, and opportunities for innovation and new ventures in the industry. Presenters will also discuss the unique advantages of launching new initiatives in Southern California. Speakers for the event include Andrew Stalbow, North America GM for Rovio, and Paul Bricault, founder of Amplify.LA.

For more information on Silicon Beach @ USC, including attendee and press registration, venture competition details, criteria for judge and presenter selection, and sponsorship opportunities, please contact Jay Tucker at 213-740-0980 or by e-mail at [email protected]

Advisors
Espree Devora, aka “the Girl who Gets it Done” is a business development and marketing strategist. She helps Start Ups create business systems and gain customer traction. In her early 20s she founded ZexSports, a digital media company that connected brands to youth through local action sports events. Now, a decade later, she has given talks on interactive content and social media to organizations such as CBS, South by Southwest Interactive, International Association of Skateboard Companies and USC Executive MBA.Her secret personal hobby is taking pics of cool sneakers for her photo blog Sneaks Attack using the Posterous mobile app on her phone.You can send a tweet to Espree here @espreedevora

Avesta Rasouli is the founder of Coloft, a community based workspace for startups, entrepreneurs, and freelancers, and the unofficial tech hub of LA, located in Santa Monica, CA. He is also an advisor and mentor to several startups.

Beverly Macy is the CEO of Gravity Summit TV and a highly sought-after public speaker and thought leader in the power of social media on communication and business today. She contributes regularly to The Huffington Post, writing insightful articles about real-time social media, global branding, social learning architecture, communications and business process.   She is also the best-selling author of The Power of Real-Time Social Media Marketing.

She consults with corporate, academic, and governmental organizations on a variety of topics ranging from global marketing and branding to using real-time social media trends to generate top line growth. Her clients have included Toyota, The Walt Disney Company, Xerox Corporation, United Healthcare, Qualcomm, Boeing, ReachMD, Amgen, and Weber Shandwick.

Meet The Team

The Event Team for Silicon Beach @ USC represents three organizations at USC: The Institute for Communication Technology Management (CTM) and the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the Marshall School of Business, and the Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) at USC’s School for Cinematic Arts.

Lucy Hood | Executive Director, CTM

Lucy Hood, head of USC’s Institute for Communication Technology Management (CTM), is a highly respected industry expert in telecom strategy and innovator in digital content. CTM is the world’s leading Institute at the intersection of technology and content, offering its members cutting-edge global research and business strategy, executive education and leadership forums for the digital industry. CTM’s corporate partners include AT&T, Verizon, HP, Cisco, Qualcomm, Motorola, Alcatel-Lucent, Ogilvy, Intel, Adobe, Fox and Disney.

Prior to joining USC’s Marshall School of Business, Hood was founder and President of Fox Mobile Entertainment and Senior Vice President at News Corporation. Lucy Hood and her team led the groundbreaking “American Idol” mobile efforts, which introduced text messaging to mass media in the United States in 2001. Hood was a key executive in launching numerous technology businesses at Fox, including Fox.com and FX Cable.

Gene Miller | Director, Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies

Gene Miller is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Entrepreneurship at USC and the Director of the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies. He has been a general partner of Miller and LaHaye, L.P. as well as a general partner of private venture capital firms, Peregrine Ventures II, L.P and Peregrine Associates.

Prior to founding Peregrine, Mr. Miller was the founding principal of the venture capital program of Xerox Development Corporation. Mr. Miller is also a director of Somatogen, Inc. and Raytel Corporation, two publicly traded portfolio companies.

Ken Williams | CEO & Executive Director, Entertainment Technology Center (ETC)

Ken Williams is a longtime entertainment and media professional including an almost 20-year career at Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures, where he founded the Digital Studios Division and co-founded Sony Pictures Imageworks, the Academy Award winning visual effects, animation and multimedia company. For the past two years, he has been a private investor and consultant in the entertainment and media space.  Previously, Ken held C-level positions with Captive Media LLP, Ascent Media Group, and Technicolor Digital Cinema, LLC.

Jay Tucker | Associate Director, CTM

Jay Tucker oversees marketing at the Institute for Communication Technology Management. He is responsible for communicating CTM’s vision, thought leadership, educational offerings and major events to CTM members and the larger community. Jay also handles CTM’s forums and programs, including Silicon Beach @ USC, CTM’s executive education, and the Executive Roundtable. Since joining the Institute, Jay has re-launched CTM’s Advanced Management Program, the flagship five-day educational experience for rising leaders. Jay also helped to co-author the strategic plan for the Marshall School of Business.

Bob Lambert Chief Strategic Officer, Entertainment Technology Center

BOB LAMBERT is chief strategic officer and chairman emeritus of the USC Entertainment Technology Center, and has served in senior executive roles for The Walt Disney Company, Paramount Pictures, Western Technologies, and on boards of technology firms and industry consortia.  He is a SMPTE Fellow, a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the World Technology Network, and is an awards judges for emerging technologies for the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and the InventNow program.

Phil Lelyveld, Entertainment Technology Center

Phil Lelyveld manages projects and guides the strategy of the Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) within USC’s School of Cinimatic Arts.

He is leading a content hyper-personalized content offer project that is designed to be of mutual benefit to both ‘Silicon Valley’ and ‘Hollywood.’ The goal of the project is to offer appropriate, relevant content to an individual at the ‘monetizable moment’ when it is useful to them.

Phil launched and continues to manage the Consumer 3D Experience Lab at the USC ETC.  The Lab, which is funded by the CTOs of the major Hollywood studios and other companies, addresses stereoscopic 3D in the home, on personal devices, in public spaces, in advertising, and in theaters.  The Lab also covers 3D audio and 3D printers to its coverage.

Phil is an Entertainment Technology research, strategy, and product development consultant who advises clients on emerging business opportunities.  His recent work includes alternative uses for movie theaters, transmedia trends and opportunities, two annual reports on future business opportunities for the Post Production Industry, and the future of museums in the digital age.   He has significant expertise in the technical, legal, and business issues associated with the production, distribution, and monetization of content and services, which he acquired during his 10 years as the VP Digital Industry Relations within Disney’s corporate New Technology and New Media strategy group.

Learn more about Philip at www.PhilipLelyveld.com

Carolyn M. Cohen serves as assistant director of budgets and operations for the USC Marshall School of Business Institute for Communication Technology Management (CTM). She began working with CTM in May of 2012. Prior to this, she worked at the USCTRIO Programs and the School of Cinematic Arts.

Carolyn graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater with a bachelor’s degree in International Relations and a minor in Spanish. She attended the USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development, and graduated with a Master of Public Administration in 2007. She enjoys being a resident of the University Park neighborhood in South Los Angeles, where she and her husband have resided since 2001.

Silicon Beach @ USC
Tutor Campus Center | University of Southern California | Sept 12-13, 2012

Andrew Stalbow, Rovio	Andrew Stalbow is General Manager of North America for Rovio Entertainment, where he is responsible for growing Rovio’s entertainment franchises ‘Angry Birds’ and ‘Amazing Alex’. Andrew is focused on developing new revenue streams for the company by building partnerships with the entertainment industry, growing the company’s burgeoning video animation business, and working with the biggest consumer brands, retailers and digital distribution platforms.In his previous role as Senior Vice President of Mobile at Fox Digital Entertainment, Andrew was responsible for app publishing and video licensing for 20th Century Fox properties such as ‘Glee’, ‘Avatar’ and ‘The Simpsons’, and worked with Rovio on the development of the Angry Birds Rio game, a unique integration between ‘Angry Birds’ and the Fox film ‘Rio’.Prior to this, Andrew served as Vice President, International for Fox Mobile Entertainment based in London. Before Fox, Andrew was in business development at Vodafone Group, where he negotiated international content and marketing agreements for 29 operating companies around the world.Andrew lives in Los Angeles with his wife and three children.
Chris DeWolfe, Social Games Network	Digital entrepreneur Chris DeWolfe is best known as co-founder and former CEO of MySpace from 2003 to 2009, the social network that redefined the concept of socializing around shared interests. Under DeWolfe’s leadership, MySpace grew exponentially. At launch in 2003, MySpace attracted an average of 300,000 new members daily, and when he left the company in 2009, it had more than 125 million monthly active users globally.DeWolfe continues his entrepreneurial mission at SGN. As CEO, DeWolfe led the acquisitions and rollup of MindJolt, SGN and HallPass Media, creating a leading independent multiplatform game developer and publisher. Responsible for more than 12 top 10 titles on the iTunes Store and three number one titles on the Amazon Appstore, SGN has 35 million monthly active users, 45 million mobile downloads and more than 80 million installs on Facebook. DeWolfe has been featured on the cover of Fortune magazine twice, was named one of TIME’s 100 most influential people in the world (2007), and chosen by Barbara Walters as one of her 10 most fascinating people (2007).DeWolfe has a B.A. degree in Finance from the University of Washington and an MBA from the University of Southern California and was honored by the latter as Alumni Entrepreneur of the Year (2006). DeWolfe served on the board of directors of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; he lives in Los Angeles.
Paul Bricault, Amplify.LA	Paul Bricault is a Venture Partner at Greycroft Partners in the firm’s West Coast Office. He currently sits on the board of directors of LIveFyre and is a board observer at Klout.He is also the founder of a tech accelerator in SoCal — Amplify.la which launched in November 2011.  Paul has been an active angel investor and advisor in start-ups such as Beach Mint (LA), Bre.ad (NYC), Burstly (LA), ContextLogic (SF), Fivestar (Seattle), Gamesalad (Austin), Kickback (SF), LaunchRock (Philadephia), Needly (LA), OpenBucks (SF), Playdek (LA), Pose (LA), and Wide Orbit (SF).Previously, Paul was the founder of The Mailroom Fund (MRF) – a venture fund in partnership with Accel Partners, Venrock and AT&T that focused on early stage investments in Southern California-based digital media firms. He founded MRF during his 16 year tenure at the William Morris Agency (WMA) where he served as a member of the Board of Directors in his role as Executive Vice President and head of both the Global Marketing Practice and the Digital Media Group. Prior to WMA, Paul worked at Paul Kagan Associates where he ran the Los Angeles office for the Carmel-based media valuation and consulting firm and was responsible for covering the worldwide film, television and new media industries from 1989-1994.Paul is currently an Adjunct Professor at the Graduate School of Cinema-Television at the University of Southern California where he has taught a course for the last 17 years on the Impact of Technology on Media.He has an M.A. in Communications Management from the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Southern California and a combined Honors B.A. in English Literature and International Relations from the University of Western Ontario in Canada (where he grew up).
Evan & Gregg Spiridellis, co-founders, JibJab & Storybots	Evan Spiridellis is the co-founder and one of the CEO Guys at JibJab. He studied drawing and painting but after school got into photography and puppet making. “I started JibJab in ’99 with my brother and everyday since has been an adventure. I love making stuff for the interweb.”Gregg Spiridellis co-founded JibJab with his brother Evan in 1999, back in an era when it was cool to turn down lucrative job opportunities after getting your Wharton MBA to purse dot com glory. Five years later, Gregg and his brother achieved “overnight success” when their election parody of George Bush and John Kerry singing ‘This Land is Your Land’ became a global sensation, leading Peter Jennings to name the brothers ‘People of the Year’. Since then, Gregg and Evan have established JibJab as a leading innovator in online entertainment, not only for their viral satires, but also for their eCards and personalized entertainment product, Starring You!®.Today, JibJab is backed by Polaris Venture Partners, Overbrook Entertainment, Sony Pictures, and 37 artists, technologists and business people working hard to reinvent the way entertainment is created, produced, and distributed in a digital world. Prior to JibJab, Gregg worked for investment banks Goldman Sachs and Bear Stearns.
Mitch Singer, Sony Pictures Entertainment	Mitch Singer is Chief Digital Strategy Officer for Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) and Executive Vice President of New Media and Technology.Singer is responsible for coordinating digital policy across all Sony Pictures’ businesses. He focuses on emerging and disruptive technologies and evaluates and develops adaptive business models to stay ahead of the technological curve.In addition to developing new consumer usage models, Singer plays a central role in Sony Pictures’ worldwide anti-piracy and digital rights management efforts.Singer represents the studio in numerous standards setting activities, including serving as President of DECE (www.decellc.org), which is a nearly 50-member, cross-industry consortium dedicated to creating open standards for digital entertainment distribution with a goal of enabling consumers to acquire and play content across a wide range of services and devices. Singer also sits on the boards of MovieLab, DVD CCA, Entertainment Technology Center USC, and the HDBaseT Alliance.Mr. Singer received both his JD and MBA from the University of San Diego.
David Wertheimer, Fox Broadcasting Co.	Mr. David B. Wertheimer has been President of Digital at FOX Broadcasting Company, Inc. since October 2011. Mr. Wertheimer is responsible for FOX Broadcasting’s strategy, operations and ventures in digital entertainment and emerging media platforms, including online viewing, websites, apps, games, digital network incubation and audience engagement through social networks. He serves as the Managing Director of Institute for Creative Technologies.Mr. Wertheimer is a Computer Scientist/ Technologist and the former President of Paramount Digital Entertainment division of Paramount Pictures. He served as the Chief Executive Officer of Entertainment Technology Center@USC. He has over 15 years experience in developing new technologies and managing businesses (ranging from start-ups to divisions within publicly traded companies).Since 2001, Mr. Wertheimer has run GreenCap Investments & Consulting, which has helped clients develop new products and new strategic marketing, sales and technology plans, and has overseen execution – including technology development efforts, bringing products from concept stage to market.Prior to GreenCap, Mr. Wertheimer founded WireBreak Entertainment and served as its the Chief Executive Officer. Before WireBreak, he served as President of the Digital Entertainment division of Paramount Pictures, where he was recruited by the 83-year old, multi-national studio to help develop and build a digital distribution business. Before joining Paramount, Mr. Wertheimer helped Larry Ellison and team at Oracle define a product and strategy for client/server, distributed media-related databases and developed high-level relationships with the largest entertainment entities around the globe. Prior to Oracle, Mr. Wertheimer helped Steve Jobs and team launch NeXT’s first series of products and expanded its reach into new areas – performing high-level sales and business development and setting up new sales, marketing & distribution channels both domestically and abroad. Mr. Wertheimer serves as a Director of Infostreet, Inc. He has been a Director of Entertainment Technology Center@USC since March 2012. He served as an Executive Director of Entertainment Technology Center@USC. Mr. Wertheimer is widely regarded as a thought leader in the world of interactive entertainment and digital content distribution, and has been profiled in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, CNN, and numerous other publications. Mr. Wertheimer holds a degree in Computer Science and Business from Duke University, where he graduated Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa.
Mitch Feinman, YouTube	A leading voice in digital entertainment with over 20 years experience in online, mobile and other new forms of media, Mitch Feinman’s accomplishments have ranged from running the American Idol text-messaging program to launching the first websites for The Oprah Winfrey Show and The Academy Awards.Currently, Mitch oversees partnerships with mobile operators globally for Google’s YouTube division, including distribution of YouTube’s mobile and TV products/versions with Apple, France Telecom, Verizon, Virgin Media and SK (Korea), among others.Previously, Mitch was a Senior Vice President at News Corp., including founding and running Fox Mobile Entertainment, which grew to over $15 million in revenue in 2 ½ years. During a five year tenure Mitch also managed the hugely successful American Idol program (for which he won a Guinness Book of World Records award for nearly 100 million votes in the show’s seventh season) – and developed new content and distribution channels worldwide, including the FOX InFlight Channel on JetBlue. In addition, Mitch accomplished numerous industry firsts such as the development of a made-for-mobile original series and coining the term to describe it – Mobisode®. Based on the television show 24, the first Mobisode Series launched in 25 countries and seven languages in a partnership with Vodafone – the world’s largest wireless provider – and was followed by seven other Mobisode Series. His work earned him an Emmy nomination for best original entertainment programming created for non-traditional viewing platforms.In addition to his pioneering efforts in mobile video, Mitch also spearheaded – in partnership with Sprint – the industry’s first ad-supported Mobisode Series, “Prison Break: Proof of Innocence,” sponsored by Toyota Yaris. Mitch also negotiated licensing and distribution deals for FOX properties that are still best-selling mobile content and games globally, including The Simpsons, Family Guy and Ice Age.Prior to FOX, Mitch headed ABC’s online business development and marketing at The Walt Disney Company, where during his five-year tenure helped to launch ABCNEWS.com as well as OSCARS.com and Oprah.com in conjunction with The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and Harpo Productions, respectively. He has also held positions at Regis McKenna, a marketing strategy consulting firm based in Silicon Valley for over 35 years, and Prodigy, the country’s first consumer online service founded by IBM and Sears. Mitch frequently guest lectures at both UCLA’s prestigious Anderson School of Business as well as USC’s Communications & Technology Management Institute. He is also a regular speaker/moderator at industry events and conferences, including CTIA WIRELESS, Digital Hollywood and the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) where he was a member of the Executive Board for 3 years. Mitch graduated magna cum laude with a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and also earned an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Liz Gasser, Qualcomm Labs	Liz Gasser is senior director of business development for Qualcomm. Gasser is responsible for developing business strategies and managing operations for new technologies and platforms that Qualcomm is seeking to commercialize through its Qualcomm Labs group.Prior to this role, Gasser led Strategic Business Development for Qualcomm Internet Services, where she focused on new business, partnership, and innovation opportunities. She drove the acquisition of Xiam Technologies in 2008, reinforcing the group’s ability to deliver more engaging mobile experiences that are contextual and relevant to consumers.Before coming to Qualcomm in 2006, Gasser spent five years at Openwave Systems, where she held a variety of roles in business strategy, product marketing and product management. Prior to Openwave, Gasser worked as a management consultant in both San Francisco and London engaging with companies on go-to-market strategy, deregulation, and market due diligence.Gasser holds Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees in economics from Cambridge University.
David Wolf, Accenture	David Wolfis a senior executive in Accenture’s Media & Entertainment industry group where he is responsible for Accenture’s North American, Media and Entertainment Practice.  He has over 22 years experience leading and delivering large innovative technology programs.  With David’s deep entertainment industry expertise, he has been on the forefront of technology changes, including Digital Content Services and eCommerce.David has been instrumental in helping define and build Accenture’s digital content services practice, including authoring points of view, developing capabilities, establishing and managing relationships with emerging technology companies and delivering strategic engagements.David has been responsible for leading engagements that pioneered new technologies or applied existing technologies in new and innovative ways, including helping a leading global entertainment company define its vision for becoming a high performance media company in the new digital age, deliver leading edge digital content services capabilities for content creation through distribution, helping a leading interactive entertainment company launch a new interactive gaming business, and helping a startup technology company pioneer eCommerce.David graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles with a BS in Computer Science.
Kevin Winston, founder, Digital.LA	Kevin Winston(@kevinwinston) is the founder of Digital LA, the LA-based networking group of professionals in digital entertainment (movies, TV, web series, music, games, VFX), start-ups, social media, marketing, and advertising, reaching more than 30,000 members across its newsletter, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn groups. He recently spearheaded the Silicon Beach Fest, the first-ever tech, startup and entertainment conference in LA. http://digitalla.net, @DigitalLA.Previously, Kevin worked at Fox Interactive Media, MySpace, and IGN where he created social media marketing campaigns for movies, TV shows, web series and video games.Prior to that, he worked at Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment and McKinsey & Company, the top management consulting firm. Kevin graduated from Yale University, and has a masters from Harvard University. He was named in a recent Forbes article as one of “12 Entrepreneurs That Are Changing LA Forever.” He also co-founded both Yale in Hollywood and IVY Entertainment..
Lori Kozlowski, Forbes	Lori Kozlowskiis a writer, journalist, and editor. Currently, she writes a column for Forbes about entrepreneurs, start-ups, and technology in Los Angeles.Previously, she served as senior digital editor at the Los Angeles Times, where she headed mobile technology and emerging platforms. She also served as a staff writer, writing about science, technology, books, and business. Previously, she was on staff at Entrepreneur Magazine, and has freelanced for various national publications.
Diego Berdakin, President, BeachMint	Diego Berdakinis the President of BeachMint, the Santa Monica based social commerce company he co-founded in July 2010 with Josh Berman. Backed by New Enterprise Associates, Trinity Ventures, Accel, Anthem, Scale & Goldman Sachs, BeachMint operates four direct to consumer sites that each offer exclusive product designed and curated by a celebrity and a style expert through a subscription shopping model.BeachMint launched their first brand, JewelMint, with Kate Bosworth and celebrity stylist, Cher Coulter, in October 2010, StyleMint with Mary-Kate Olsen and AshleyOlsen in July 2011, BeautyMint with Jessica Simpson and celebrity skincare expert, Nerida Joy, in October 2011, ShoeMint with Rachel Bilson and celebrity stylist, Nicole Chavez, in collaboration with Steve Madden, HomeMint with Justin Timberlake and interior designer Estee Stanley in May 2012, and intiMINT with Brooke Burke-Charvet in June 2012.Previously Diego was the Executive Vice President of Strategy and Product at Slingshot Labs. Slingshot Labs, a division of News Corporation, is a web incubator dedicated to building new Internet companies. In this role, Diego was co-head of the incubator responsible for Product, Strategy and Marketing.Diego is a serial entrepreneur who specializes in building business from the ground up. He has taken an innovative approach to many established business ideas, adapting them to shifting technological paradigms. Diego co-founded a Los Angeles based internet incubator, MD Capital, where he helped incubate successful start ups – notably serving as president of iEscrow.com and Chairman of Bzzing, inc. Berdakin holds a Bachelors of Science from Northwestern University in Political Science with a specific interest in campaigning on the social web.
Sandy Gould, VP, Recruitment, Disney-ABC Television Group	Sanford “Sandy” Gouldis Vice President, Recruitment, Disney ABC Television Group.In this position, Sandy’s primary responsibilities focus on achieving HR’s mission – to partner with clients to make DATG the destination for talented people with a passion for creating compelling content that engages consumer around the world. He also focuses on aligning business strategies with recruitment strategies to proactively build diverse talent pipelines for key positions and skill sets.Sandy has more than 20 years of experience in recruiting and human resources with a deep commitment to finding and developing top talent. His mission is to help people achieve their creative destiny while concurrently helping companies leverage that creativity to build their future.Most recently he was vice president, Human Resources at Linden Lab/Second Life where he led the charge in rebuilding the executive team and evolving the culture. Before moving to Second Life, Sandy led executive recruitment at Real Networks, Inc. where he led competitive recruiting strategies against Yahoo, EBay, Adobe and more in the war for hard to find technical talent that hadn’t existed before. Sandy started his career at a boutique search firm in Seattle – an executive search firm where he was a top producer four years in a row for major clients such as Microsoft, Amazon and Aon. Sandy earned his Secondary Rabbinical Degree from Yeshiva B’nei Torah and remains a life-long student as he believes there is something to learn from the unique array of human perception.
Zach James, co-founder, ZEFR	Zach Jamesis co-founder of ZEFR. In this role, he is responsible for leading ZEFR’s overall strategy and operations, as well as overseeing the company’s product development and technology strategy.Zach started his career at the VC-funded startup Omniture in various operations roles.During his tenure, he watched the company grow to become the fastest growing publicly-traded software company with over 1,000 employees. Zach has worked in the venture capital industry with Hummer Winblad Venture Partners in San Francisco.Prior to ZEFR, Zach worked as an investment banker at Credit Suisse. He was responsible for tracking and recognizing up-and-coming Internet startups and bringing them to potential acquirers. While there, he was involved in Google’s acquisition of YouTube for $1.65 billion.Zach is a graduate of Brigham Young University where he founded and ran the school’s chapter of the largest student-run venture fund in the nation – the University Venture Fund. He serves on the board of LA-based startup AwesomenessTV.
Scott Lenet, Managing Partner, DFJ Frontier	Scott Lenetis a founder and Managing Director of DFJ Frontier, a Draper Fisher Jurvetson Network partner fund and early stage technology venture capital firm focused on investments on the west coast. At Frontier, he leads fund management, fundraising and portfolio management efforts.Scott began his venture capital career in 1992 with Geocapital Partners, where his successful investments included Netcom and Logic Works. He also has entrepreneurial experience in the technology industry as the founder and CEO of SmartFrog.com, acquired by Cybergold in 1999, and in product marketing at Trilogy Software.In addition to his board roles as a Director for DFJ Frontier portfolio companies, Scott serves on the emeritus board of the Sacramento Philharmonic, the board of directors of SARTA, and the advisory board of the Entrepreneurship Center at the UC Davis Graduate School of Management, where he was an adjunct professor from 2003 to 2010.Scott began teaching entrepreneurship and venture capital at the University of Southern California in 2010. He received his MBA in Entrepreneurial Management from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and an AB in Comparative Literature from Princeton University.
Ben Kuo, socalTECH.com	Benjamin F. Kuois the founder of SOCALTECH LLC, and the publisher of socalTECH.com. Kuo initially started socalTECH.com as a hobby, looking to highlight Southern California’s diverse and growing high tech industry.Kuo has been active in supporting Southern California’s high tech industry, and hasserved on the selection committee of the Los Angeles Venture Association’s Annual Venture Capital awards, served as a judge on the Software Council of Southern California’s Software Industry Awards, and is active in many other efforts promoting Southern California’s technology industry.Outside of his efforts with socalTECH, Kuo has served in a number of technical and marketing positions in the high tech industry. Most recently, he was a Product Manager at QLogic, Inc. in Westlake Village, and has served in a wide variety of roles at Troika Networks, Inc., a venture-backed startup which was successfully acquired by QLogic in 2005.At Troika, Kuo served as a Senior Product Marketing Manager, Software Development Manager, Standards Representative to T11 and other industry groups, and was instrumental in the company’s storage area networking product development. Prior to QLogic and Troika, he worked at IBM San Jose, Micropolis Corp, Echelon Corp. in Palo Alto, and Paracel Inc. in Pasadena.Kuo has a degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California.