Got Change? Because actions speak louder than words...
BIOS: MAY 1-2
"There are no problems, only solutions...."
To register for the Next Gen Expo being held on Saturday and Sunday, May 1-2 and attend all events including Saturday night's VIP Party and Eco Fashion Show, "The Earth Rocks, PLEASE CLICK THE LINK HERE!
Some of the greatest minds and spirits, dedicated to empowering the greatness within you, will be attending this landmark event in Florida. Here are some of the people you will meet and be in touch with! Please check this page often as we are making additions weekly up to the days of the show!
THERE ARE NO PROBLEMS, ONLY SOLUTIONS
Some of the greatest minds and spirits, dedicated to empowering the greatness within you, will be attending this landmark event in Florida. Here are some of the people you will meet and be in touch with! Please check this page often as we are making additions weekly up to the days of the show!
Dr. Robert Zubrin
Dr. Robert Zubrin is president of Pioneer Astronautics and also president of the Mars Society. For many years he worked as a senior engineer for Lockheed Martin. He is the author of the critically acclaimed nonfiction books The Case for Mars, Entering Space, Mars on Earth; the science fiction novels The Holy Land and First Landing; and articles in Scientific American, The New Atlantis, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Mechanical Engineering, and The American Enterprise. He has appeared on major media including CNN, CSPAN, BBC, Discovery Channel, NBC, ABC, and NPR.
Les Garland, Co-Founder, MTV/ VH1
Les Garland’s success as a business executive has long been fueled by his love for music. Beginning his career as a radio and television personality, he went on to become one of the most influential radio programmers of the 70's, exerting even more influence on the 80's as co-founder/originator of both MTV: Music Television and VH-1. As MTV Network's senior executive vice president, Mr. Garland served as executive producer of the first six “MTV Video Music Award Shows” and the historic Live Aid Concert in 1985. Instrumental in the development of the famed “I Want My MTV” campaign, Mr. Garland also developed the weekly, “Basement Tapes” show featuring unsigned artists competing for a major recording contract. He launched “MTV Spring Break,” which remains a staple of the channel today and created the first “Making Of” and “MTV World Premiere” music videos. Mr. Garland accepted multiple achievement awards during the MTV years, including Cable Ace Awards and Billboard Magazine’s Innovator of the Year.
Following their years together at MTV, Mr. Garland and Robert Pittman co-founded Quantum Media, launching a music company and television properties such as, “The Morton Downey Jr. Show” and “Streets”, television’s first reality cop show. Mr. Garland executive produced the home video release of the classic bout between Marvin Hagler and Sugar Ray Leonard and produced a Pepsi Cola radio campaign in conjunction with BBDO in the early 90’s, enlisting acts such as Naughty by Nature, Luscious Jackson, Notorious B.I.G., PM Dawn, Digable Planets and The Rembrants to record the Pepsi Generation jingle.
From 1990-97, Mr. Garland played an essential role in the domestic and international launch of the interactive music channel, The Box, acting as senior executive vice president. Responsible for entertainment programming, promotion, ad sales and marketing, Mr. Garland oversaw the rollout of the channel from a base of 200,000 homes at its inception to more than 30 million U.S. households and 25 million households internationally. From there he went on to found sputnik7.com with Chris Blackwell, serving as the company’s president. The site was awarded the Invision Award of Excellence in Entertainment, a Gold Invision for Best Entertainment Streaming Media Site, the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award and was a Webby Award winner.
During the prime years of contemporary music radio Mr. Garland programmed WRKO/Boston, K-100/Los Angeles and CKLW/Detroit, the Motor City’s legendary Big 8, which could be heard in 38 U.S. states. Discovered by pop radio legends Bill Drake and Paul Drew, Mr. Garland’s career in radio led to recognition as one of America’s top radio programming executives. He was named one of Rolling Stone magazine’s, “Music Industry Heavy 100” and was an integral catalyst in the merging of radio’s freeform FM sound with contemporary music formats, leading to consecutive Radio Station of the Year and Programmer of the Year awards at RKO Radio's KFRC San Francisco. While at KFRC Mr. Garland won a Clio Award for an eerie promo that has became folklore in the business. .
On the heels of his distinguished career in radio, Mr. Garland was hand-picked by Doug Morris and Ahmet Ertegun to head up West Coast operations for Atlantic Records. During the 1980’s, record-setting revenues of more than $150 million dollars were achieved through sales by acts including Led Zeppellin, The Rolling Stones, Genesis, Abba, Aretha Franklin, Foreigner, The Spinners, Phil Collins and many other chart-topping recording artists.
Having held several positions at the forefront of the music industry, from radio, music television and new media, Mr. Garland is frequently sought out for speaking engagements. He has appeared at college symposia including an appearance at Brown University alongside Walter Cronkite, has keynoted at the Billboard International Music Confab, the Montreau Jazz Festival, the Australian Radio Broadcasters, the New Music Seminar, the International Music and Media Conference and was a keynote speaker at the ESPN Sports Radio Convention. In June 2003, Mr. Garland was invited to speak at the Electronic Arts worldwide marketing conference before 300 company executives from 48 states. Additionally, Mr. Garland is a founding member of both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and The Academy of Digital Music Arts and Sciences.
Profiles of Mr. Garland have appeared in numerous publications including Vanity Fair, Time, GQ, People, USA Today, The New York Times, Newsweek and Forbes. Television exposure has included “The Today Show,” “Good Morning America”, “CBS Morning News,” “Entertainment Tonight,” and even a humorous cameo with Eddie Murphy on the “Late Show with David Letterman.”
Mr. Garland is continuing to define his career by remaining on the front edge of popular mass entertainment through projects under his consulting company, AfterPlay Entertainment. Clients have included Cisneros Television, DreamWorks, MCA, AOL Latin America, Enigma Digital (acquired by Clear Channel), College Television Network (acquired by MTV Networks), the Dick Clark Company and RMS Networks, which designs and delivers point-of-sale television entertainment to over 4000 distribution points.
Mr. Garland launched and co-managed Bad Boy/Arista pop act Dream, taking the group to double-platinum sales success and securing various endorsement deals for companies including DKNY, AOL and Twix. He also signed actor Sylvester Stallone to BBDO/HBO for Clio-award winning television creative and consulted for Hill & Knowlton/Samcor, delivering Carson Daly as celebrity endorser for the 30th birthday campaign of Mr. Coffee. Currently under his management is U.K.-based rock band The Joneses, led by multiple award-winning musical composer, Peter Lawlor. He continues to perform a consulting role for Grammy Award-winning songwriter and Survivor founder, Jim Peterik, well-known for writing, “Eye of the Tiger”, and “High on You” other top-ten songs.
Mr. Garland's passion for music is equaled by his passion for golf. "He was into golf way before golf was cool", says PGA Tour Pro Tommy Armour III. Following his years at MTV, Mr. Garland briefly caddied on the PGA Pro circuit for Mr. Armour. “Some guys buy sailboats and sail around the planet”, said Mr. Garland. “I looped a golf bag and went in search of ‘The Secret’”! A 7.0 handicap, Garland was appointed by the City of Miami Beach to the commission overseeing the renovation of Miami Beach’s only two public golf courses, the Miami Beach Golf Club and Normandy Shores. An active member of the Miami Beach community, Mr. Garland was an owner/founder along with Gianni Versace Sylvester Stallone and Chris Blackwell in BARNONE, once named one of the country’s hottest nightspots.
Gustav Grob,President, International Clean Energy Consortium (ICEC)
Gustav R. Grob is expert on renewable and unfinite energy. He is the President of the International Clean Energy Consortium ICEC, which he co-founded. He is also Vice-President of Hymobil AG for the clean vehicles, Board Chairman of the Investment Fund, Inc. Blue Planet, and he advises Investment companies regarding these questions.
In 2002, as Executive-Secretary and initiator, he founded the International Sustainable Energy Organization (ISEO), which coordinates global efforts towards clean and renewable energies. ISEO combines the work of many UN and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and is a driving force towards a global energy legislation and standardization. He is presently President of CMDC.
Grob is the author of numerous publications on energy, sustainable development, standardization and business ethics and has participated in numerous environmental conferences, including the historic UN climate Conference in Rio de Janeiro (1992) and the International Conference for Renewable Energies in Bonn (2004).
Michael Belfiore: "The Department of Mad Scientists: How DARPA Is Remaking Our World, from the Internet to Artificial Limbs"
Michael Belfiore became a full-time writer in 1995, first working as a freelance technical writer and then moving into public relations writing for large corporations, still with a focus on technology.
He covered the launch of the first privately built spaceship for the New York Post and Reuters as a freelance journalist in 2004. Since then he has written about spaceflight and advanced technology for Popular Science, New Scientist, Wired.com, Air & Space, Financial Times, and other outlets.
He has appeared as a commentator on the Fox Business Network, CTV's Canada AM, NPR's Marketplace, Showtime's Penn & Teller: Bullshit!, and on radio programs across the United States.
Michael's book Rocketeers: How a Visionary Band of Business Leaders, Engineers, and Pilots Is Boldly Privatizing Space (Smithsonian Books/HarperCollins, 2007) is the first book to chronicle the birth of the commercial space age. His blog, Dispatches from the Final Frontier, is a well-regarded source of news and commentary about the industry.
His book The Department of Mad Scientists: How DARPA Is Remaking Our World, from the Internet to Artificial Limbs (Smithsonian Books, 2009) is the first book to go behind the scenes at the Pentagon agency that gave us the Internet, the Global Positioning System, and many other breakthrough technologies that have had a positive impact on society.
In addition to his work as a journalist, Michael provides marketing and public relations writing services to advanced technology companies.
He lives in Woodstock, New York with his wife, fellow writer Wendy Kagan, and their daughters Amelie and Jade.
Sydney W. Kitson, Kitson & Partners
Sydney W. Kitson is Chairman and CEO of Kitson & Partners, a Florida-based real estate company specializing in the creation, development and management of master-planned communities, commercial properties, resort properties and golf courses.
Kitson is a graduate of Wake Forest University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics. Kitson had a notable career in the National Football League playing offensive guard for both the Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys. Upon his retirement from professional football, he began his career in real estate by founding a company that from 1986 to 1992 was responsible for the development and sale of residential communities, commercial properties, retail stores, medical offices and senior housing units. In 1992 he helped create the residential division of Gale & Wentworth and became its President and Chief Operating Officer in 1996. From 1996 through 1999 he was responsible for overseeing the development of numerous successful master-planned communities including Cherry Valley (Montgomery Township, NJ) and Ibis Golf & Country Club (West Palm Beach, FL). He founded Kitson & Partners with Richard Brockway in 2000, locating the firm’s company headquarters in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
In 2006 Kitson completed the historic purchase of Babcock Ranch in Southwest Florida, encompassing more than 92,000 acres – an area five times the size of the island of Manhattan. Over 80% of the original land purchase, some 73,000 acres within Charlotte and Lee counties, has been preserved by the State of Florida and Lee County in the largest single land preservation agreement in the state’s history. On the remaining land Kitson & Partners will build an extraordinary, sustainable, environmentally-friendly green community where residents will live, work, learn and play amidst the natural splendor of Florida’s undeveloped wilderness. Babcock Ranch is an exceptional example of environmental preservation and responsible growth.
Kitson & Partners also currently owns and operates numerous retail shopping centers throughout Florida totaling more than 1.6 million square feet. In addition, Kitson & Partners is developing another 8.6 million square feet of retail, office and industrial space in the Daytona Beach, Orlando and Southwest Florida markets.
Syd Kitson is an active member of the Urban Land Institute, lectures at Princeton University, sits on the Policy Advisory Board for the Florida Solar Energy Center, and is a member of The Florida Council of 100. He is also on the Board of Directors of Florida Gulf Coast University Foundation, the Calusa Nature Center & Planetarium and the Grassy Waters Preserve, a 20-square mile wildlife sanctuary in West Palm Beach, Florida. Kitson is also a member of the NFL Alumni Association and the National Football League Players Association. In 2000, Syd received the Rainbow Award from the Adam Walsh Children’s Foundation.
John C. Mankins, Space Based Solar Power Steering Committee, Artemis Innovation
John C. Mankins, President of Artemis Innovation Management Solutions LLC is an internationally recognized leader in space systems and technology innovation, and as a highly effective manager of large-scale technology R&D programs.
Mr. Mankins' 25-year career at NASA and CalTech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) ranged from flight projects and space mission operations, to systems level innovation and advanced technology research & development management. He is also well known as an innovator in R&D management. For example, building on the original NASA “technology readiness level” (TRL) scale for technology assessment (defined first with 6 or 7 levels in the 1970s), he extended the scale to flight systems and operations in the late 1980s (TRLs 8 and 9), published the first detailed definitions of the TRLs in 1995, and promoted the use of the scale by the US Department of Defense in the late 1990s.
Before leaving NASA, Mr. Mankins was the manager of Exploration Systems Research and Technology within the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate with responsibility for an $800M annual budget, involving more than 100 individual projects and over 3,000 personnel. For 10 years, he was the manager of Advanced Concepts Studies at NASA, and the lead for critical studies of space solar power, highly reusable space transportation, affordable human exploration approaches, and other topics. He was the creator or co-creator of numerous novel concepts, including the "MagLifter' electromagnetic launch assist system, the Internet-based NASA “Virtual Research Center” the “Solar Clipper” interplanetary transport vehicle, the “SunTower” space solar power system, the “Hybrid Propellant Module” for in-space refueling, the “HabBot” mobile planetary outpost architecture, the Advanced Technology Life cycle Analysis System (ATLAS), and others. In recognition of his accomplishments, he has received numerous awards and honors, including the prestigious NASA Exceptional Technology Achievement Medal (of which he was the first recipient).
He holds undergraduate (Harvey Mudd College) and graduate (UCLA) degrees in Physics and an MBA in Public Policy Analysis (The Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University). Mr. Mankins is a member of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA), the International Astronautical Federation (IAF), the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), and the Sigma Xi Research Society.
Mr. Mankins is an accomplished communicator, including political, programmatic, technical and lay audiences. He has authored or co-authored more than 80 published papers, reports and other technical documents, and has testified before Congress on several occasions, and has been consulted on R&D management and space issues with organizations in the U.S. and internationally.
Lawrence W. Bell, VP of Marketing, Florida Syngas
Lawrence has more than 25 years experience in technical sales, product development, distribution and advertising in the automotive parts and remanufacturing industry. He has held corporate marketing and management positions and initiated several successful national distribution programs.
In 1987, Lawrence founded an engine remanufacturing and sales company, which became a primary supplier of rebuilt engines for the Florida School Board and the U.S. Postal Service. He has held Board positions with two Internet service provider companies and director positions with non-profit organizations. Lawrence has a BS/MBA in Marketing and Economics from Auburn University, holds a Private Pilots License, and is an Eagle Scout.
Barbara Logan, CEO of Lifestar Institute, and former President of Computerland Stores
Mitchell Joachim, Terraform One
Mitchell Joachim, [jo-ak-um] - earned; Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MAUD Harvard University, M.Arch. Columbia University, BPS SUNY at Buffalo with Honors. He is a Co-Founder at Terrefuge and Terreform ONE. Currently he is faculty at Columbia University and Parsons. Formerly an architect at Gehry Partners, and Pei Cobb Freed. He has been awarded the Moshe Safdie Research Fellowship, and the Martin Family Society Fellow for Sustainability at MIT. He won the History Channel and Infiniti Design Excellence Award for the City of the Future, and Time Magazine Best Invention of the Year 2007, Compacted Car w/ MIT Smart Cities. His project, Fab Tree Hab, has been exhibited at MoMA and widely published. He was selected by Wired magazine for "The 2008 Smart List: 15 People the Next President Should Listen To". Rolling Stone magazine honored Mitchell as an agent of change in "The 100 People Who Are Changing America".
Terreform ONE is a non-profit philanthropic design collaborative that integrates ecological principles in the urban environment. The group views ecology in design as not only a philosophy that inspires visions of sustainability and social justice but also a focused scientific endeavor. The mission is to ascertain the consequences of fitting a project within our natural world setting. Solutions range from; green master planning, urban self-sufficiency infrastructures, community development activities, climatic tall buildings, performative material technologies, and smart mobility vehicles for cities. These design iterations seek an activated ecology both as a progressive symbol and an evolved artifact.
Taryn Hipwell, Creator, Director, Educator, Environmental filmmaker, EcoDivas
Taryn went to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for fashion design. She’s worked for Anna Sui in NYC, styled celebs in LA, while developing a repurposed clothing line called T. Hipwell (she chops up vintage and designer dresses to makes them fantabulous again). She’s shown her collections in Moscow, NYC, Chicago and LA. Once a week she teaches sewing at Hollywood Media and Arts. (HM&A is a one-of-a-kind arts academy for homeless young people.) Taryn loves to show people how to repurpose everything...literally.
Inspired by David Zucker on the set of Scary Movie 3, Taryn went back to school at UCLA for screenwriting. Presently, she works at Warner Bros. and writes, directs and produces eco-webisodes, in conjunction with Environmental Initiatives and Emerging Professionals, about what Warner Bros. does as a studio to be environmental. Webisode topics include: recycling a grip building, solar expansion, LEED certified sounds stage and more. Taryn has been interviewed for the WB Impact Program and Folar (Friends of the Los Angeles River).
Taryn is very excited to combine her three passions (fashion, environment and media) to present a comedically original take on being Eco-Divalicious.
David Brudely Clean Tech Engineering
David Bruderly has over 30 years’ experience in project management and business planning on energy, environmental, and transportation projects. These include CNG, LNG, LCNG, hydrogen and electric vehicles and infrastructure; environmental permits for utility and industrial facilities; operation and maintenance of hybrid electric and electric vehicles; and expert testimony about related subjects. He holds a BS in marine engineering from the United States Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, NY, and an MS in ocean engineering from Columbia University. Past employers include the US Navy, Roy F. Weston, Inc., ESE, Inc. the Harbor Branch Foundation, and Lamont Geological Observatory.
Mr. Bruderly’s special interest is advocacy for establishment of the hydrogen economy. He has contributed the past eleven years to the effort, involving demonstration projects, training, public addresses, participation in international workshops and meetings, lobbying, establishment of the Florida Hydrogen Business Council, editorials, and availing himself of all opportunities to promote hydrogen as the fuel of choice for powering the future. He was a founding member of the US Delegation to ISO TC 197—Hydrogen Technologies, and has served on a variety of working groups since 1990.
He currently serves as a member of the Clean Fuel Florida Advisory Board and was a member of the Energy Advisory Committee of Governor Chiles’ Commission for a Sustainable South Florida. He is also a member of the Sound Science Initiative of the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Terence L. Martin, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Space Island Project
For over 8 years Mr. Martin has been involved in the development of the Space Island Project, where he coordinated its day to day operations.
With more than 20 years experience in project development and management, Mr. Martin has significant expertise in developing safety, environmental and training programs for many Fortune 500 companies. He owned and operated a very successful consulting firm creating management, productivity, quality control, environmental and safety programs for hundreds of companies and several major corporations.
He has had extensive experience in developing start-up projects from developing company programs including; planning, design, permitting, documentation and training. Included in these clients were several of the nation's largest aerospace corporations, where he developed a myriad of special projects.
His work for Space Island Group includes attracting the most talented professionals to the company and directly assisting in the development of the Space Island Business Model, which defines the creation of a new commercial space transportation system and space destinations. He has also assisted in the development of the SIG business plan and sponsorship program.
Mr. Martin coordinates the marketing efforts on behalf of Space Island Group, working to generate public awareness, acceptance and support of the space station project.
David Gobel, Methusaleh Foundation
David Gobel is Chief Executive Officer of Methuselah Foundation. He founded the original non-profit in 2000, which became Methuselah Foundation in an effort to reverse or preempt the damage of aging and the unimaginable suffering it continues to inflict. He is voraciously curious, a serial entrepreneur, an unrepentant do-gooder, and a technology visionary who has conceived many breakthrough technologies and then gone on to found or co-found private and venture capital backed companies and non-profits built for the purpose of delivering those same technologies. Examples are Knowledge Adventure, one of the earliest and most successful educational multimedia software developers to date; Worlds Inc., the inventor of shared virtual worlds over the internet; Starbright Foundation’s Starbright World, which was designed to allow hospital bound children to “go out and play” in a rich virtual world where they can communicate with friends and family; Methuselah Foundation.
Dr. Jack Tuszynski, Division of Experimental Oncology,Department of Oncology, University of Alberta
Professor Jack Tuszynski received his M.Sc. with distinction in Physics from the University of Poznan (Poland) in 1980. He received his Ph.D. in Condensed Matter Physics from the University of Calgary in 1983. He did a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the University of Calgary Chemistry Department in 1983. He was an Assistant Professor at the Department of Physics of the Memorial University of Newfoundland from 1983 to 1988, and at the University of Alberta Physics Department from 1988 to 1990. He joined the University of Alberta Physics Department in 1993 and the Division of Experimental Oncology within the Cross Cancer Institute as the Allard Chair in 2005. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Biological Physics.
The major thrust of the computational biophysics group is in silico drug design for cancer chemotherapy applications and in vitro testing. Dr. Tuszynski’sresearch interests are strongly linked to the protein tubulin and the microtubules assembled from it. These have been studied using methods ranging from simple stochastic models to detailed molecular dynamics computer simulations, as well as through laboratory manipulations of living cells. Due to its prominent role played in eukaryotic cell division, tubulin is an important target for anti-cancer cytotoxic treatments. Our on-going research aim is to identify variants of known compounds showing greater tubulin isotype-specifc effects. These could potentially lead to more efficacious chemotherapy treatments with lower side effects. Other studies in our group have examined microtubule electrical, structural, and mechanical properties; proteins that bind to microtubules (MAPs); and the motor proteins in cells that travel along microtubules and actin filaments. We are also developing physiologically-based models and simulations for pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic applications.
Remy Chevalier, Big Igloo Project
Remy Chevalier had his vision for Big Igloo experiencing Laserium in 1974 at Griffith Park in Hollywood, a traveling laser show using the latest interactive mind/body technology. He's assembled the best team in the world to make his dream reality, currently looking for the right investors. "Burning Man on wheels" he calls it.
In 1989 Remy founded the Eco-Saloon at the nightclub Wetlands, creating the innovative position of environmental director. He was civilian liason for the Defense & The Environment Initiative in 1992. Provided environmental audits to hotels in South Beach in 1994. After realizing the potential of the emerging Internet, Remy created a series of interlocking online projects to generate synergy between different industries, all in the green space.
In 2004 he co-hosted the ICI-nyc party, introducing the New York social scene to green design. He hosted the first Greendrinks in Connecticut. He's helped with the development, branding, promotion of hundreds of green projects and businesses, both commercial and non-profit. Remy helps guide the green careers of many actors, models and public figures. Most recently he co-hosted Project Green Search, a national green modeling competition with the Greenloop, and the Green Market Exposition at the Barnum Museum in Bridgeport, Connecticut with Conscious Decisions.
Remy leads the fight to shut down the Indian Point nuclear power plant on the Hudson river with his LED lighting organization Rock The Reactors, covers green events with his photography, while writing and producing a new kind of western. His book ELLE on Earth about his childhood growing up in the editorial offices of the fashion magazine in post-war Paris is published online.
Dr. Harsh W. Sharma, OMG Sustainability Group (Operation Management Group)
Previously, Harsh has worked as an Enterprise Architect Consultant for Tier 1 Financial Services/Brokerage/Insurance and Pharmaceuticals (in the US) promoting use of model driven approach to address the ‘Chasm’ between business and IT. His engagements frequently involved presenting the above approach to senior business and IT executives and help identify best of breed technology to address the business needs.
Harsh has a Ph.D. in Genetics from University of Leeds, England and later worked as a post-doctoral fellow at Yale University, School of Medicine.
Larry Namer, Founder, the E! Channel, Advisor, Eurocinema, President, Metan Entertainment
Larry Namer is an entertainment and media entrepreneur. The founder of E! Entertainment Television, Movies USA Magazine, Steeplechase Media and Comspan Communications, Inc, he began his career as an installer in 1971 at Time Incorporated video group (Manhattan Cable TV). He ultimately rose to Director of Corporate Development and from there established a number of successful businesses. Namer is credited as a pioneer in the use of cable for data communication.
After leaving Time, Inc., Namer helped establish Valley Cable Television (VCTV) in Los Angeles. In 1984, he co-founded Movietime Channel Inc. (later renamed E! Entertainment Television, Inc.) and raised the necessary capital for the channel's launch in 1987. As President and CEO, namer oversaw the network's expansion into fourteen international markets as well as the launch of a radio network that eventually reached 110 markets.
In 1989, Mr. Namer founded Comspan Communications, Inc., a producer of live entertainment events in the former Soviet Union. Under Namer, Comspan became the leading producer of live events in the countries of the former Soviet Union.
Mr. Namer has also served as the primary consultant for planning and strategy to Microsoft Interactive TV (MiTV) for several years.
Today namer runs LJN Media, which manages all North American operations for Eurocinema. Mr Namer also is CEO of Billboard Channel, a new multi-platform music service in development.
Laurence Gartel, The "Father of Digital Art"
Born and raised in New York City, Gartel had the opportunity to teach Andy Warhol how to use the Amiga Computer, went to School of Visual Arts[2], with fellow art student, graffiti artist Keith Haring, where he earned his BFA degree majoring in Graphics, and started his electronic career working side by side with Nam June Paik at Media Study/Buffalo in upstate New York. Gartel had many associations with musicians such as Debbie Harry (Blondie) Sid Vicious (Sex Pistols), Stiv Bators (Dead Boys) Johnny Thunders (New York Dolls), Ace Frehley (Kiss) and Wendy O Williams (Plasmatics). Gartel has created artwork for such Pop Culture stars such as Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears.
One of Gartel's most memorable campaigns was the one he designed for Absolut Vodka in 1990, joining world famous artists such as painter Andy Warhol and glass artist Hans Godo Frabel. ABSOLUT GARTEL is considered to be the first digital art ad ever created for the legendary Absolut Vodka advertising campaign which can be found in the publication ABSOLUT BOOK by Richard Lewis.[3] For more info, see the Absolut Vodka Artists website His biography is included in "Who's Who," "Who's Who in the East," "Who's Who in America," "Who's Who in American Art," and "Who's Who in the World."
Michael Masucci, Director, EZTV Media, Santa Monica
Michael Masucci is an award-winning video, stage and multimedia producer, director and artist. Throughout his full-time career as an artist, Masucci has also curated and produced hundreds of exhibitions, live performance events, lectures and film and video screenings. An arts activist as well, in the early 1980's, when many curators in Los Angeles continued to ignore the accomplishments of the emerging digital art scene, Masucci made a focused commitment to produce exhibition opportunities for other computer-based artists in the visual, literary and sound arts.
Masucci serves as co-founder and Artistic Director of EZTV, a 26 year-old digital media arts organization. EZTV is an arts organization-in-residence at the 18th Street Arts Center in Santa Monica, CA., Southern California's only international artist-in- residency program, recently profiled on PBS station KCET. In 1993, educational consultants for Adobe Software have started an ongoing project to create the EZTV Online Museum housing EZTV's extensive history and collection.
Masucci has produced work throughout the United States, as well as in China, the U.K., Croatia, Mexico, Finland and Thailand. Projects for which he has been a principal have been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art (New York), the Institute of Contemporary Art (London ), the American Film Institute, the Museum of Contemporary Art ( Los Angeles ), Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Bergamot Station, the Museum of the American West, the Los Angeles Center for Photographic Studies, Downtown Community Television ( New York ) KAOS TV, the Sam Francis Gallery, the 18th Street Gallery, LA FreeWaves, Beyond Baroque, California State University-Northridge and on
BRAVO, the BBC, PBS, and numerous galleries, festivals and conferences.
An acknowledged pioneer in the digital and desktop video movement, Masucci was clearly among the first film/video artists to discuss the emergence, adoption and adaptation of desktop computer tools in the making of broadcast quality video production and was among the first artists to migrate from analog to digital video. In the early 1980's, Masucci collaborated on early motion capture experiments with artist/engineer David Curlender in association with UCLA's Design and Science departments. In the late 1980's Masucci worked directly with Warner Bros. Animation president Greg Ford, in developing ways to update, adopt and evolve the production of animation for a new generation of Warner Bros. artists. In 1987, Masucci co-produced with radio station KPFK his first international internet event, long before the invention of the world wide web, connecting via computer modem writer/scientist Arthur C. Clark in Sri Lanka, with EZTV's live audience and KPFK's radio audience. This early experiment in computer-based two way international communication demonstrated in practice what would later would become known as a "chat room".
In the late 1980's and early 1990's, after numerous experiments with modem communication, electronic bulletin boards and videophone experiments (in collaboration with Electronic Cafe International), under Masucci's direction, EZTV became perm- anently online since 1994 and launched its on-line version of CyberSpace Gallery and the EZTV website in 1995. EZTV's website was an early Yahoo! "Site of the Day", and was included as one of a only handful of websites devoted to computer arts included in the pioneering book "Yahoo!-Way Cool Websites". Masucci had been introduced to the internet in the mid-1970's as an undergraduate, while serving an internship under Berl Bass,
M.D. at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
In addition to his on-going work in feature-length and short form video art and experimental documentary, Masucci has had num- erous collaborations with dance, theater, spoken word and performance artists since the early 1980's and his live-multimedia collaborations have been performed at venues including Pepperdine University, the Hollywood Palace, Highways Performance Space, USC, the Los Angeles Theater Center, California State University-Los Angeles, the Electric Lodge, Electronic Cafe International, Occidental College, the Ivar Theater, the Pasadena Convention Center, and Barnsdall Art Park. His seminal live multi-media dance collaboration at the CyberArts International Conference in 1992 was the first aevent to use ultra low-light video camcorder technology. In addition,
Masucci was one of only a few artists invited back to particiapte in all three years of these innovative conferences, and among a handful to serve as an exhibited artist, Master Class speaker and live performance producer.
His thoughts on the art, philosophy and practice of digital media have been published in his articles in Computer Graphics, the Independent Film & Video Monthly, Filmnik, the Music & Film Network and he has been interviewed, profiled and quoted in a variety of media including the Los Angeles Times, ArtWeek, Variety, KCRW, The Discovery Channel International, iFilm, Wired.com, Internet.com and TechTV. He has been a guest speaker at the Institute of Contemporary Art (London), the American Film Institute, UCLA, USC, the Long Beach Museum of Art, Global Entertainment and Media Summit, Claremont College, the School of Visual Arts ( New York), the University of Helsinki, Skirball Center, Bergamot Station, the Los Angeles Film Festival, Outfest, California Lawyers for the Arts, the California Arts Council, and the Los Angeles County Arts Commission.
Often sought out for opinions on film, art & technology. During the CyberArts International Conferences, the influencial series produced by Dominic Milano and Robert Gelman from 1990-2, Masucci was an exhibited artist, a lecturer and prodcer of a live-multimedia dance performance created in collaboration with Kim McKillip and Zina Bethune. Based on his lectures at the CyberArts International Conferences, he wrote the chapter on the emergence and his use
of desktop video production for the seminal 1992 textbook "CyberArts-Exploring Art & Technology" (edited L. Jacobson) in which he set out the major principles defining desktop digital video.
His words have been incorporated into various instructional works, including publication on video for performers by the distributed by the California Arts Council. He has served as a judge on a variety of grants, and his lectures, panel discussions, demonstrations and workshops include numerous professional conferences including SIGGRAPH, Internet World, DV Expo, the Global Entertainment & Media Summit, ShowBiz Expo, the California Arts Council, the Lo Angeles County Arts Commission and Dance Camera West.
Mark Lipsky, Gigantic Digital
Mark Lipsky has more than 25 years' experience in the film, cable television and technology industries where bold and innovative campaigns have been the hallmarks of his career. He currently serves as President of the newly launched Gigantic Digital (www.GiganticDigital.com,) a “broadband cinema” that changes the paradigm of independent film distribution and exhibition. Gigantic made film-industry history in February 2009 with “Must Read After My Death”: for the first time ever, a film opened in theaters in New York City and Los Angeles, but also received a day-and-date national release over the internet.
Gigantic Digital Cinema features high-quality, ad-free streaming video at a nominal “ticket” price and can be geographically targeted to avoid intruding on or cannibalizing concurrent bricks and mortar theatrical engagements. Gigantic Digital is part of the indie studio Gigantic Group, led by Brian Devine, which produces and distributes film and music.
Lipsky is also CEO of GabSight LLC, an internet applications company he co-founded in August 2006. Previously, as VP for Business Development at AronowCommunications, Lipsky developed and launched ChannelBlast, an online TV network, as well as the network’s first nightly broadcast, NewzViewz. Lipskyserved as Chief Strategy Officer for independent film company Lot 47, Inc where his primary responsibilities included business development and the strategic evolution of the company’s digital strategies. At Singingfish.com, (now an AOL company,) he served as the multimedia search company’s Vice President for Strategic Relations and Marketing. Lipsky has also served as Director of Consumer Marketing for cable TV networks Bravo and The Independent Film Channel; Executive Vice President, Sales and Marketing for Prestige, a division of Miramax Films; and Senior Vice President, Domestic Distribution and Marketing for Miramax Films.
Recognized as an advocate of artistic freedom, Mark Lipsky has rallied successfully against censorship in the motion picture industry, most notably against theMPAA's "X" and "NC-17" ratings. He has been a panelist and moderator for events sponsored by The American Film Institute, The Sundance Institute, the New York Bar Association, The Independent Feature Project, The New School for Social Research, New York Women and Film, the American Pavilion at the Cannes Film Festival and others.
Mark Wolfson, Producer/Songwriter/Developer/A&R/Music Supervisor
From the beginning of Mark’s career he could see the possibilities music presented to touch people and give back something people could take with them wherever they went. The spirit, along with opportunity, patience to persevere, the stamina to build skills, and the foresight to see the path ahead have brought Mark over 25 Gold, Platinum and 3x/6x Platinum record awards.
Since starting in music studying piano, cello, guitar and singing, Mark made his production debut in 1972 and worked with such Artists as: Smokey Robinson, Kim Carnes, Ice T and Talking Heads, and on such films as: That Thing You Do, Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Mamma Mia (the film) and Mi Vida Loca.
For the past 7 years Mark has been the Director of Production and Development for The Playtone Company (Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman) and in May of 2008 left, although still independently working with Playtone, to spend most of his time with the bigger site and his production company, Reel Entertainment. Mark has worked independently to develop unsigned bands like: Jane Child, Mighty Joe Young (Stone Temple Pilots), School of Fish and Lions and Ghosts, just to name a few. Mark has helped many a Band/Artist forge a solid career in entertainment maintaining the highest production standards and focusing on longevity, in Mark's words; "Getting there is one thing, but staying there is quite another".
Mark has also working with New Directions, a homeless Veterans organization to fund their ongoing efforts to help Vets incorporate themselves back into society, Tipitina’s Foundation to put music back in the schools in New Orleans and America’s Wounded Heroes/First Aid for our troops to help returning troop with injuries return to civilian life.
Jack Healey, Human Rights Action Center, Former Exec. Director of Amnesty International
The head of the Human Rights Action Center is Jack Healey, the world-renowned human rights activist and pioneer. An effective and innovative leader in the human rights movement for over 25 years, Jack helped move the topic of human rights from closed-door diplomatic negotiations to widespread awareness, public debate, and direct citizen action. Colleagues credit him with making human rights a major focus of governments, advocacy organizations, and individuals around the world.
Called "Mr. Human Rights" by U.S. News and World Report, Jack brought human rights to the global stage by his creative use of media and enlistment of world-class musical talent as advocates and spokesperson. As Executive Director of Amnesty International USA for 12 years, he pioneered new ways to reach youth - the next generation - to deliver the message of human rights. A few events he created include:
Conspiracy of Hope tour with U2, The Police, Peter Gabriel, and many others.
Human Rights Now! tour with Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Tracy Chapman, and Youssou N'Dour.
From a Hug to a Hope two-day concert in Chile with Peter Gabriel, Sting, Sinead O'Connor, Jackson Browne, Ruben Blades, and Wynton Marsalis. Free to Laugh two-hour show in honor of women's rights featuring Vanessa Williams, Anjelica Huston, Roseanne, and Lily Tomlin.
Today, Jack heads the Washington, D.C. based Human Rights Action Center (HRAC), a qualified non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. In addition to his public speaking engagements and support of fellow grassroots human rights organizations, Jack is an advisor to the U.S. government in regards to establishing sound human rights policies in other countries.
Howard Bloom
From 1968 to 1988, Howard Bloom did fieldwork in the world of business and mass media. As the founder and CEO first of Cloud Studio, Inc., then of The Howard Bloom Organization, Ltd., Bloom has worked with companies like Sony, NBC-TV, CBS, Warner Brothers, Paramount Pictures, EMI, ABC, Gulf and Western, MCA/Universal, Manesmann, Polygram, Coca Cola, Pepsi Cola, and Disney. Bloom helped Sony launch its first software operation in the U.S. (Sony Video), helped establish the three films that put the new Disney on the map (Down and Out in Beverly Hills, Ruthless People, and Outrageous Fortune), and advised the strategists putting together a new venture called MTV.
Bloom was introduced to contemporary music in 1971 when he was made editor of Circus Magazine and, in the words of a history of rock journalism by former Rolling Stone East Coast editor Chet Flippo, "created a new magazine genre--the heavy metal magazine." Bloom’s clients in public relations and career strategy included Michael Jackson, Prince, Bette Midler, John Mellencamp, Bob Marley, David Byrne, Peter Gabriel, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Billy Idol, Joan Jett, George Michael, Lionel Richie, Hall & Oates, Kool and the Gang, the Simon & Garfunkel Reunion Tour, the 25th Anniversary of the Beatles Invasion of the United States, Queen, AC/DC, Kiss, Aerosmith, Genesis, Phil Collins, Styx, Supertramp, REO Speedwagon, Joan Armatrading, ZZ Top, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Run DMC, Amnesty International, Farm Aid, and a small slew of major films from Paramount, Disney, Warner Brothers, and New Line Cinema.
A visiting scholar at NYU, Bloom is the author of two books: The Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition Into the Forces of History ("mesmerizing"—The Washington Post) and Global Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind From The Big Bang to the 21st Century ("reassuring and sobering"—The New Yorker). Bloom is the founder of three nascent fields that shatter disciplinary boundaries—paleopsychology, mass behavior, and omnology. Christopher Boehm, the director of the Jane Goodall Research Institute says, “Howard Bloom should be taking notes on what he’s doing every minute of the day. He is single-handedly creating a scientific revolution.” Gear Magazine has called Bloom "the next Stephen Hawking." Britain’s Channel4 TV has dubbed him the Darwin, Einstein, Isaac Newton, and Sigmund Freud of the 21st Century. And Joseph Chilton Pearce, author of Evolution's End and The Crack in the Cosmic Egg, concludes, "I have finished Howard Bloom's two books, The Lucifer Principle and Global Brain, in that order, and am seriously awed, near overwhelmed by the magnitude of what he has done. I never expected to see, in any form, from any sector, such an accomplishment. I doubt there is a stronger intellect than Bloom's on the planet."
Glen Robertson, President of the Institute for Advaned Studies in the Space, Propulsion & Energy Sciences
Glen Anthony Robertson "Tony" completed all coursework toward an MSE in Engineering Management at the University of Alabama in Huntsville in 2001. He received a MSE in Operations Research from the University of Alabama in Huntsville in 1993 and a double B.S. in Physics and Mathematics from the University of North Alabama in 1982. Mr. Robertson has authored 14 papers and coauthored 9 others.
Mr. Robertson is the President of the Institute for Advaned Studies in the Space, Propulsion & Energy Sciences and serves as the Technical, Editorial & Organizing Chair of the Space, Propulsion & Energy Sciences International Forum and is the Chair of the forum's Symposium on New Frontiers on Space Propulsion Sciences. From 2004-08, he severed as Co-chair of the Symposium on New Frontiers and Advance Concepts as part of the Space Technology Applications and International Forum (STAIF), and is the recipient of the following awards:
Recognition of Outstanding Dedication, Guidance and Leadership: 5th Symposium on New Frontiers and Future Concepts, Program Co-Chair, Space Technology and Applications International Forum, February 2008.
Recognition of Outstanding Dedication, Guidance and Leadership: 4th Symposium on New Frontiers and Future Concepts, Program Co-Chair, Space Technology and Applications International Forum, February 2007.
Outstanding Paper Award: For the paper titled "Manipulating the Vacuum Scalar Field with Superconductors: A Search for Exotic Material" presented at the Space Technology and Applications International Forum, February 2005.
Recognition of Outstanding Dedication and Guidance: For the formation of the 1st Symposium on New Frontiers and Future Concepts, Program Co-Chair, Space Technology and Applications International Forum, February 2004.
Mr. Robertson has 22+ years of sevice performing research and development tasks for NASA - Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama as an Aerospace engineer, and is the recipient of the following
Awards:
Directors Commendation: Exceptional technical expertise, dedication, and effectiveness in establishing the Advanced Concept Research Facility in response to advanced systems technology requirements and related concepts definition needs of Program Development, August 3, 1999.
Certificate of Appreciation: Exceptional dedication, innovation, and timely and effective definition of the Advanced Space Transportation Program, July 17, 1996.
Invention Disclosures Award, December 11, 1992.
Group Achievements Awards: Several
Certificates of Recognition: Several
Inventions:
Piezoelectrostatic Generator, US Patent # 4,952,836
Electromagnetic Meissner Effect Launcher, US Patent # 5,017,549
Bladder Operated Robotic Joint, US Patent # 5,245,885
Spiral Fluid Separator, US Patent # 5,248,421
Pressure-Driven Magnetically Coupled Conveyance, US Patent # 6,170,404 B1
NASA Tech Brief Articles:
Piezoelectric Power Generator - March 1989
Electromagnetic Meissner Effect Launcher - March 1989
Meissner Stepping Motor - February 1990
Meissner Bearing - October 1992
Spiral Fluid Separator - November 1992
Robotic Bladder Joint - Apr 1993
Permanent Magnet Launcher - Apr 1994
Five Channel Polychromator Head - Apr 1994
Collapsible Geostrut Structure - November 1994
Fabrication of Bulk High Temperature Superconductors using Ba(NO3)2 in the Precursor Mixture - May 2000
Pressure-Driven Magnetically-Coupled Conveyance - September 2000
From Jan 1984 - Jan 1987, Mr. Robertson was a Physicist working for the Naval Weapons Center, China Lake CA as a project engineer coordinating the testing of the solid rocket motor for the vertical launched ASROC. Previous to his university studies (from Dec 1974 to Dec 1978), Mr. Robertson severed in the US NAVY as a Jet Engine Technician on the F-14:TF30 engine.
Michael Caporale/Director of Photography
Michael Caporale was the first Director of Photography to embrace using the VariCam in feature film production. In September 2001 he DP’d “Tattered Angel” and since then has lensed a total of six independent feature films with VariCam, including several documentaries. In the year before VariCam’s release, Michael DP’d a 480P digital production, “Ball of Wax”, which won best digital film at Cinequest in 2003 and ultimately led to his use of the VariCam.
Michael has become something of an ambassador of 24P for Panasonic and has toured extensively to film festivals and trade shows educating through seminars and promoting the benefits of 24P production in all formats. He has been the subject of numerous articles on digital production in magazines such as “DV Magazine”, “Digital Cinema”, “American Cinematographer”, “TV Technology”, “HD.Org”, and writes for “Film Festival Reporter” and “Broadcast Engineering”.
As a consultant for Panasonic, he was the first to test the SDX900, Panasonic’s 24P broadcast camera follow-up to the VariCam. In the last year consulting with Robert Goodman on the writing of “Goodman’s Guides”, detailed manuals on the use of VariCam and the SDX900, he has contributed his technical experience as DP with those cameras to the writing of the manual and has captured the images used in the illustrations. Also while consulting, he devised over 20 color set-up files for each camera, creating looks that replicate popular telecine styles used in commercial and feature film production. The looks are being made available as a free download through Panasonic’s website.
With over thirty years experience as a commercial photographer and film-maker to draw from, Michael bridges both worlds in his explanation of the new technology and effortlessly defines the path for those who to desire to investigate the coming changes.
John D. Heinsen, Co-Chair Mobile Committeee, New Media Council, Producers Guild of America
Previously, John served for two years as Manager of Primetime Programming at the FOX Broadcasting Company and has worked in the Television Packaging and New Media/Branded Entertainment Divisions of International Creative Management (ICM). He began his career in 1992 as a producer at KVOA in Tucson, AZ.
John serves as Co-Chair of the Mobile Committee for the Producers Guild of America (PGA), New Media Council and has been an Adjunct Professor at California State University Los Angeles. Additionally, he is Contributing Producer to Viva Lundin Productions and the interactive platform company sevenEcho, LLC. Originally from Chicago,
John received his MFA in 1996 while a Producing Fellow at the American Film Institute (CAFTS) and in 1994 received a BFA from the School of Media Arts at the University of Arizona. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife Lisa and their three children.
Demian Lichtenstein, Filmmaker
Lichtenstein has over twenty motion picture projects, five television shows, multiple music acts, and a new video gaming division in active development, in addition to running a full service production and post-production company. Currently, he is preparing to produce and direct Relentless, a $25 million dollar 3-D action thriller starring Kiwi actor, Karl Urban. Lichtenstein has teamed up with writing partner M. Dooma Wendschuh on both the production and video game for Relentless, Wendschuh's video game Assasin's Creed has grossed 1/2 billion in revenue worldwide to date, and it is anticipated that returns will surpass those figures for Relentless. Relentless is currently being sold at the Cannes Film Festival by international sales agent, Velvet Octopus, a division of Spice Factory in London. Relentless is being produced in association with Baldwin Entertainment Group, the producers of Mystery Alaska starring Russell Crowe, Sahara featuring Matthew McConaughey and Academy Award winning Ray with Jamie Foxx.
Lichtenstein is a member of the Director's Guild of America, The Writer's Guild of America and the Screen Actor's Guild. As a founding member of the Senior Leadership Council of the Director's Guild of America, along with Steven Spielberg and Taylor Hackford, Mr. Lichtenstein works closely with award-winning directors to protect the rights of filmmakers worldwide by having a direct influence on domestic and global politics in the entertainment world.
Lichtenstein's motion picture & television credits include:
• Producer, Director & Writer – Relentless, a 3-D action thriller starring Karl Urban (2009) (pre-production)
• Producer, Director & Writer - Venus And Vegas (2007), starring Donald Faison, Eddie Kaye Thomas & Molly Simms
• Producer - The Unseen (2005)
• Producer, Director, Writer – 3000 Miles to Graceland (2001)
• Executive Producer - The Road to Graceland (2001)
• Producer and Director of Photography - Love & Suicide (aka Cuba's Love & Suicide) (2005)
• Producer, Director & Writer – Lowball for the Showtime Network (1997)
• Director - The Company (1989) TV series
Lichtenstein's History:
• Founder & CEO of Equilibrium Entertainment with partner Ric Wake (multiple Grammy Award winning record producer); a state-of-the-art independent motion picture and post production company formed to take advantage of the technological breakthroughs in motion picture, music, gaming, internet and television programming
• Writer, Producer, Director and responsible for raising $60 million dollars for 3000 Miles To Graceland (Warner Brothers), starring Kevin Costner, Kurt Russell, Christian Slater & Courtney Cox
• Chairman Emeritus of the New York Independent Film Coalition • Writer of several feature films for RKO pictures, Paramount Pictures/Crusader Entertainment, Constantine Films and Warner Brothers
• Founding partner and Executive Producer for Film Bond International; instrumental in securing financing on numerous feature productions, including the critically acclaimed O, produced by his partner Anthony Rhulen (Film Engine), distributed by Miramax and Lions Gate Entertainment
• Hired by Tommy Mottola, former Chairman of Sony Music as the in-house production company (Lightstone) for Sony Music Studios in New York City
• Founder of Lightstone Entertainment which partnered with Rebel Films, Psuedo Online Entertainment, and Film Inc. in NYC to produce a series of film and television projects
• Producer and director on over 250 music videos for Grammy Award winning artists that include Sting, Eric Clapton and artists Eric B and Rakim, Shabba Ranks, Queen Latifah, Cypress Hill, and Gloria Estefan
George Dassinger, Marketing
George W. Dassinger has been running his own public relations/marketing/media management company for over 15 years representing such clients as: FUENTE CIGARS, ZZ TOP (DELTA BLUES MUSEUM - Clarksdale, MS.), SYMBOLIC COLLECTION, supermodel NIKI TAYLOR (for 10 years-including her sponsors Cover Girl, Nokia, Liz Claiborne), TYRA BANKS, LIV TYLER, country group RESTLESS HEART, songstress PATTY LOVELESS, songwriter JOHN PRINE (Grammy winning campaign), IMG MODELS - NEW YORK (7 years) and THE COMPLETE LES MIZ (another Grammy winning campaign) with distinct "news" images, product launches and sales/marketing concepts. Dassinger's unique approach to "public relations and marketing" has provided him with a professional career of 25 years and positions with ROGERS & COWAN (VP - Entertainment/Corporate Division in New York), ELEKTRA RECORDS (VP) and then forming, DASSINGER CREATIVE SERVICES.
At ROGERS & COWAN (1978-83) Dassinger rose to a VP position representing a host of entertainment and corporate clients including: BEACH BOYS, ASHFORD & SIMPSON, PINK FLOYD's "The Wall", AEROSMITH, VAN HALEN, WINGS, KENNY ROGERS (music and TV specials), RICK JAMES, TED NUGENT, KEN NORTON, CHICAGO, TAVARES, BEE GEES, CARLIN MUSIC, PAUL WILLIAMS, VICTOR KIAM/REMINGTON PRODUCTS COMPANY, RJR, MOET, TEAM AMERICA, GEORGE FOSTER, AMF's "Heavyhands", TEXAS INSTRUMENTS, GRACELAND's opening, 1982 WORLD'S FAIR/Knoxville, KRONENBORG BEER, MASTER CARD's launch of their "hologram card" and late '70's movie version of "FLASH GORDON".
Joining ELEKTRA RECORDS (WEA) as their VP/National Information (1983-86), Dassinger orchestrated the campaigns for the following artists/groups: ANITA BAKER, THE CARS, MOTLEY CRUE, METALLICA, JACKSON BROWNE, SIMPLY RED, THE CURE, THE DOORS, TEDDY PENDERGRASS, LINDA RONSTADT, KEITH SWEAT and the specialized Elektra lp boxed sets (ie. BLEEKER & MacDOUGAL) and their long form videos (ie. DOORS LIVE AT THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL) releases. Most of the above-mentioned projects became multi-platinum releases. Dassinger is also an adjunct professor at WILLIAM PATERSON UNIVERSITY teaching a self-styled/hands-on course for 10 years. Aside from developing a hands-on trendsetting public relations class, Dassinger has succeeded in securing features on "the class" and the university in the NEW YORK TIMES, HERALD NEWS, THE RECORD, MONTCLAIR TIMES and local NJ televised news programs.
"I've had quite an on-going career and it's provided me with visits to the White House, extensive travel, celebrity friendships, career accomplishments, awards, a university teaching position, corporate campaign successes and the ability to (give back) assist "fundraising" for charities like: UNICEF, Starlight Foundation, Save The Children, MS, Cystic Fibrosis, CFCF (Cigar Family Charitable Foundation) and United Negro College Fund," Dassinger stated.
In the year 2004, DC has broadened its corporate client base and with the downsized music industry, "other client businesses" are being pursued for representation. Currently representing Fuente Cigars, the company's charity for the Dominican Republic, "the Lennon 2005 documentary" and the two independent NJ record companies, DC is developing media avenues, collaborating with other "outside" vendor companies, marketing projects and creating newsworthy media concepts for its clients.
Danny Schecter, Media Channel, Global Vision
Danny Schechter is a television producer and independent filmmaker who also writes and speaks about media issues.
He is the author of “Embedded: Weapons of Mass Deception: How the Media Failed to Cover the Iraq War” (Prometheus Books, October 2003); “Media Wars: News At A Time of Terror” (Rowman & Littlefield, 2003); “The More You Watch, The Less You Know” (Seven Stories Press) and “News Dissector: Passions, Pieces and Polemics” (Akashic Books and Electron Press). He is the executive editor of MediaChannel.org, the world’s largest online media issues network, and recipient of the Society of Professional Journalists’ 2001 Award for Excellence in Documentary Journalism.
He has produced and directed many TV specials and documentary films, including “Counting on Democracy” about the electoral fiasco in Florida narrated by Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee; the post 9-11 film We Are Family” (2002) shown at the Sundance Film Festival; “Nkosi: A Voice of Africa’s AIDS Orphans” (2001) narrated by Danny Glover; “A Hero for All: Nelson Mandela’s Farewell” (1999); “Beyond Life: Timothy Leary Lives” (1997); “Sowing Seeds/Reaping Peace: The World of Seeds of Peace” (1996); “Prisoners of Hope: Reunion on Robben Island” (1995, co-directed by Barbara Kopple); “Countdown to Freedom: Ten Days that Changed South Africa” (1994), narrated by James Earl Jones and Alfre Woodard; “Sarajevo Ground Zero” (1993); “The Living Canvas” (1992), narrated by Billy Dee Williams; “Beyond JFK: The Question of Conspiracy” (1992, co-directed by Marc Levin and Barbara Kopple); “Give Peace a Chance” (1991); “Mandela in America” (1990); “The Making of Sun City” (1987); and “Student Power” (1968).
Schechter is co-founder and executive producer of Globalvision, a New York-based television and film production company now in its 16th year. He founded and exec-produced the series “South Africa Now” and co-produced “Rights & Wrongs: Human Rights Television. He has specialized in investigative reporting and producing programming about the interface between human rights, journalism, popular music and society. His career began as the “News Dissector” at Boston’s leading rock station, WBCN. Later, Schechter was a producer for ABC NEWS 20/20. He produced 50 segments for ABC and won two national Emmys and was nominated or two others.
A Cornell University graduate, he received his Master’s degree from the London School of Economics, and an honorary doctorate from Fitchburg College. He was a Neiman Fellow in Journalism at Harvard, where he also taught in 1969. After college, he was a full time civil rights worker and then communications director of the Northern Student Movement, and worked as a community organizer in a Saul Alinsky-style War on Poverty program. Then, moving from the streets to the suites, Schechter served as an assistant to the Mayor of Detroit in 1966 on a Ford Foundation grant.
Schechter joined the start-up staff at CNN as a producer based in Atlanta. He then moved to ABC as a producer for 20/20. Schechter has reported from 49 countries and lectured at many schools and universities. He was an adjunct professor at the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University. Schechter’s writing has appeared in leading newspapers and magazines including the The Nation, Newsday, Boston Globe, Columbia Journalism Review, Media Studies Journal, Detroit Free Press, Village Voice, Tikkun, Z, and many others.
Edward Summer, Producer
Edward Summer is President and Co-founder of Carefelly Considered Productions and has worked as a screenwriter, producer, promotional consultant for most of his life.
He is the originator of the "Conan the Barbarian" motion picture project and wrote its original screenplay. He has worked for LucasFilm where he served as a script and marketing consultant for Stars Wars Episode 4: New Hope. His intererest in science-related documentary productions as well as other related topics has led him to create and supervise How Science Works: The Film and Video Competition, an important international contest for the best videos about science and how it works. It is established as an activity of Buffalo International Film Festival, Inc., a 501c3 not for profit charity in 2005. The outreach of the activity is worldwide and will reach millions of
school children and educators. Founder, Acting Chair, Digital Nitrate Prize and The Buffalo International Film Festival. Additionally, Mr. Summer was the screenwriter of the Tokyo Movie "Shinsha," as well as Screenwriter Screenwriter, Storyboarding Supervisor: Nemo (aka Little Nemo, Adventures in Slumberland) in Tokyo, Japan (Producer Gary Kurtz) and Hollywood, California and has worked as a producer for Universal Pictures (now NBC Universal.)
Mr. Summer is the Founder, Acting Chair, Digital Nitrate Prize, which was founded as a not for profit to award a cash prize for the first individual, company or group to transfer from high silver nitrate film and digitally project the result in a side-by-side test so that the images and sound are indistinguishable from the original. The goal is to find a way to exactly preserve the original beauty of nitrate film in the digital age. Screenwriter, Walt Disney Pictures: Screenwriter: Walt Disney Pictures. Animated shorts: Mickey Mouse's Merry Pranks, The Devil and Donald Duck President,Summerfilm Productions, and he is a contributing writer for Skeptical Inquirer Magazine and Time Magazine.
Michael Brown, Serac Action Films
When asked what separates Michael Brown from other adventure filmmakers, Erik Weihenmayer (the first blind person to summit Mount Everest) remarks that the award-winning director has an incomparable level of focus, skill and commitment. “There are only a handful of candidates with the athletic ability and tireless drive to pull off what Michael accomplishes routinely,” says Weihenmayer. “The pool of candidates narrows even further when you consider Michael's eye for assembling the subtle pieces of a story.”
Brown’s tenacity and upbeat attitude have brought him to the summit of Mount Everest four times—once while shooting and directing Farther Than the Eye Can See which documented Weihenmayer’s historic ascent. The acclaimed film marked the first time a high-definition (HD) video camera was brought to the mountain’s peak. On Brown’s most recent summit in 2007 he co-directed MacGillivray Freeman Films' Return to Everest in 3D IMAX. Outside the Himalaya, he’s made first kayak descents of wild rivers in places like Bhutan and Chile and summited remote peaks on all seven continents, all with the camera rolling.
Brown, a pioneer of adventure filmmaking, founded Serac Adventure Films in 1992 both to make original documentaries and to lend his production and adventuring skills to filmmakers like MacGillivray Freeman Films, for whom he was Director of Mountain Photography on the award-winning IMAX film Alps: Giants of Nature. Brown was also a specialty cameraman on the critically-acclaimed film BLINDSIGHT; on A&E’s show “Touch the Top;” and on a number of feature films.
Since starting Serac, Brown has received over 40 international film festival and industry awards, including three national Emmys from five nominations. But making films is about more than winning awards and exploring uncharted territories. Serac is committed to “giving back” to their subjects in some profound way while capturing the intense emotion that make their films so powerful. Few who have seen them forget the poignant moment in Light of the Himalaya after the bandages are removed from the eyes of a Nepalese woman once blind with cataracts; or the elated exhaustion of 10 women in 3 Peaks 3 Weeks as they push beyond pain to achieve their goal.
While Brown has always loved telling stories (he grew up in family of adventure filmmakers), he also has a passion for science–especially climate, weather and geography, all of which he studied at the University of Colorado at Boulder while working at the National Snow and Ice Data Center. He’s put that knowledge into practice during productions for National Geographic Television, NBC, CBS, ABC, ESPN, OLN, the BBC, Rush HD, and the Discovery Channel.
With camera in hand, Brown goes into some of the world’s most hostile environments—where there’s little room for error—and comes away with stunning visual footage and stirring stories that remind us of our shared humanity. He believes that if you can imagine a goal, you can achieve it, and he brings that spirit, intensity, and invaluable expertise, to every project that Serac takes on.
“He's the only guy I know who can tell a funny joke at 26,000 feet, beat all of his teammates in chess, carry a 25-pound camera to the summit of Mount Everest, create an award-winning documentary, and through it all, remain just one of the guys, pouring every bit of his heart and soul into getting his team to the top,” says Weihenmayer. “[He] is the most accomplished filmmaker with whom I've ever worked.”
Vanessa Arteaga, Executive Producer, Jaman
Vanessa Arteaga is a ten-year film industry veteran working in content development and distribution. Vanessa is currently the Executive Producer for Jaman - an online film community for people passionate about world cinema - where she is charged with strategic acquisitions for the company and plays a role in online audience development, marketing and community outreach.
Prior to Jaman, Vanessa served as a senior development executive with Wellspring Media, formerly known as a leading theatrical film, television and video distribution company with an acclaimed independent film library. Following the 2006 acquisition of Wellspring by The Weinstein Co., Vanessa was the acquisitions and development consultant for LIME Media, a Revolution Company.
Vanessa has been invited to speak at major conferences and institutions such as Hot Docs, The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam [IDFA], True/False Film Festival, The Tribeca Film Festival, National Association of Latino Independent Producers, The New York Latino International Film Festival, The Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival, SilverDocs Film Festival, The RealScreen Summit, The Global Entertainment and Media Summit, The Caribbean Media Summit, The Institute of Spiritual Entertainment, The Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers, New York University, San Francisco Latino International Film Festival, The Bay Area Women In Film and Television organization, the New York and Chicago Chapters of the Independent Feature Project [IFP], The Los Angeles Film Festival, and Festival Do Rio.
She served as Executive Producer on such projects as the documentary Unknown White Male (theatrically released in 2006), a film that chronicles the mesmerizing journey of a man who spontaneously loses his memory and has no recollection of his past. The film was chosen as one of the fifteen Academy Award finalists for Best Documentary with coverage in the New York Times, which hailed it as a ‘thought-stirring documentary… that gets you to thinking about how our lives are built from wisps of memory and markers of memory like photographs.’ She also served as an Executive Producer on the feature-length documentary film Tarnation and secured it as a co-production for Wellspring. The film went on to receive worldwide acclaim, including the award for Best Documentary by the National Society of Film Critics; the award for Best Documentary at the Los Angeles Film Festival; the Sutherland Trophy at the London Film Festival, and the Emerging Filmmaker Award by the International Documentary Association. Tarnation was also nominated for Best Documentary of the year for both the IFP Gotham Awards and the IFP Spirit Awards. Vanessa managed the company’s content development strand, tracking documentaries and lifestyle programming in the production/post-production phase, ultimately securing and packaging them as a co-production property for distribution through Wellspring’s theatrical, television and home entertainment channels.
Prior projects include Devil’s Playground, and Fashion Victim: The Killing of Gianni Versace for Cinemax, Mama Africa for PBS, Muddy Waters: Can’t Be Satisfied for American Masters, Who is Alan Smithee? for AMC, Howard Hughes: His Movies and His Women for TCM and several pledge programs for PBS.
Arteaga served as a judge on this year’s News & Documentary Awards and currently sits on the Board of Women Make Movies as well as on the Advisory Board of the Florida Media Market. She is an active member of the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP), the International Documentary Association (IDA), and has served on the selection committee for Tribeca All Access - a program of the Tribeca Film Festival specifically designed to promote industry resources to filmmakers and producers of color.
Michael L. Weiner, Science and Health Innovator, Founder and former CEO of Biophan Technologies
Michael L. Weiner began his career at Xerox Corporation in 1975, where he served in a variety of capacities in sales and marketing, including manager of software market expansion and manager of sales compensation planning. In 1982, he received the President's Award, the top honor at Xerox for an invention benefiting a major product line. In 1985, he founded Microlytics, a Xerox spin-off company which developed technology from the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) into a suite of products, including the award winning Word Finder thesaurus, with licenses out to over 150 companies, including Apple, Microsoft, and Sony. Microlytics was acquired by a merger with a public company in 1990, which he then headed up through 1993.
In January 1993, Mike cofounded TextWise, a company developing natural language search technologies for the intelligence community. In 1995, he cofounded and served as CEO of Manning & Napier Information Services (MNIS), a Rochester-based company providing parent analytics, prior art searches, and other services, for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and many large corporations, and which subsequently acquired TextWise. He held this position until January 1999. MNIS remains private, and has generated several spin-off companies (Talavara and IP.COM). TextWise won the Department of Commerce Tibbetts Award for SBIR research in 1998.
In February 1999, Mike founded Technology Innovations, LLC, to develop intellectual property assets. In August 2000, Technology Innovations created a subsidiary, Biomed Solutions, LLC, to pursue biomedical and nanotechnology opportunities, investing in embryonic-to-seed stage innovations which generate new ventures and/or licenses. These companies are holding companies for intellectual property assets and equities in other ventures.
He has been CEO of Biophan Technologies, Inc. (Ray Kurzweil is on its Scientific Advisory Board!) since cofounding the company in December 2000, with Wilson Greatbatch, P.E., the inventor of the first successful implantable cardiac pacemaker, which Greatbatch licensed to Medtronic in 1960. Biophan's primary mission is to develop and commercially exploit technologies for providing competitive advantage to biomedical device companies, including technology for enabling biomedical devices to be safe and compatible with MRI diagnostics. Biophan spun out of Biomed Solutions in December 2000, through a merger with a public company, trading under the symbol BIPH. Biophan recently acquired a majority interest in TE-Bio, LLC, which is developing with NASA a patented biothermal battery for powering implantable devices based on thermal deltas in body heat, taking advantage of advances in nanomaterials.
Mike serves on the Boards of Biophan, Biomed Solutions, LLC, Technology Innovations, LLC, Speech Compression Technologies, LP, Nanoset, LLC, Myotech, LLC, TE-Bio, LLC, and OncoVista, Inc. These companies, all founded or cofounded by him, hold over 200 patents pending, issued, allowed, and/or licensed in (Biophan alone currently has over 150).
He has been a member of the Licensing Executives Society (LES) since 1984, and is a member of IEEE, AAAS, AFIO, and the NY Inventor's Club. He believes that society can benefit by improving the methods by which innovation moves from idea to application and commercialization.
Mike wrote the KurzweilAI.net article Simulating Reality. Read his interview in View From The Top. Listen to Mike's interview at the Milken Institute Global Conference. Listen to him talk about developments at Biophan. Read his interview with IEEE Spectrum.
***Schedule and bios subject to change. Please see website for details and updates!
To register for the Next Gen Expo being held on Saturday and Sunday, May 1-2 and attend all events including Saturday night's VIP Party and Eco Fashion Show, "The Earth Rocks, PLEASE CLICK THE LINK HERE!
Some of the greatest minds and spirits, dedicated to empowering the greatness within you, will be attending this landmark event in Florida. Here are some of the people you will meet and be in touch with! Please check this page often as we are making additions weekly up to the days of the show!
THERE ARE NO PROBLEMS, ONLY SOLUTIONS
Some of the greatest minds and spirits, dedicated to empowering the greatness within you, will be attending this landmark event in Florida. Here are some of the people you will meet and be in touch with! Please check this page often as we are making additions weekly up to the days of the show!
Dr. Robert Zubrin
Dr. Robert Zubrin is president of Pioneer Astronautics and also president of the Mars Society. For many years he worked as a senior engineer for Lockheed Martin. He is the author of the critically acclaimed nonfiction books The Case for Mars, Entering Space, Mars on Earth; the science fiction novels The Holy Land and First Landing; and articles in Scientific American, The New Atlantis, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Mechanical Engineering, and The American Enterprise. He has appeared on major media including CNN, CSPAN, BBC, Discovery Channel, NBC, ABC, and NPR.
Les Garland, Co-Founder, MTV/ VH1
Les Garland’s success as a business executive has long been fueled by his love for music. Beginning his career as a radio and television personality, he went on to become one of the most influential radio programmers of the 70's, exerting even more influence on the 80's as co-founder/originator of both MTV: Music Television and VH-1. As MTV Network's senior executive vice president, Mr. Garland served as executive producer of the first six “MTV Video Music Award Shows” and the historic Live Aid Concert in 1985. Instrumental in the development of the famed “I Want My MTV” campaign, Mr. Garland also developed the weekly, “Basement Tapes” show featuring unsigned artists competing for a major recording contract. He launched “MTV Spring Break,” which remains a staple of the channel today and created the first “Making Of” and “MTV World Premiere” music videos. Mr. Garland accepted multiple achievement awards during the MTV years, including Cable Ace Awards and Billboard Magazine’s Innovator of the Year.
Following their years together at MTV, Mr. Garland and Robert Pittman co-founded Quantum Media, launching a music company and television properties such as, “The Morton Downey Jr. Show” and “Streets”, television’s first reality cop show. Mr. Garland executive produced the home video release of the classic bout between Marvin Hagler and Sugar Ray Leonard and produced a Pepsi Cola radio campaign in conjunction with BBDO in the early 90’s, enlisting acts such as Naughty by Nature, Luscious Jackson, Notorious B.I.G., PM Dawn, Digable Planets and The Rembrants to record the Pepsi Generation jingle.
From 1990-97, Mr. Garland played an essential role in the domestic and international launch of the interactive music channel, The Box, acting as senior executive vice president. Responsible for entertainment programming, promotion, ad sales and marketing, Mr. Garland oversaw the rollout of the channel from a base of 200,000 homes at its inception to more than 30 million U.S. households and 25 million households internationally. From there he went on to found sputnik7.com with Chris Blackwell, serving as the company’s president. The site was awarded the Invision Award of Excellence in Entertainment, a Gold Invision for Best Entertainment Streaming Media Site, the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award and was a Webby Award winner.
During the prime years of contemporary music radio Mr. Garland programmed WRKO/Boston, K-100/Los Angeles and CKLW/Detroit, the Motor City’s legendary Big 8, which could be heard in 38 U.S. states. Discovered by pop radio legends Bill Drake and Paul Drew, Mr. Garland’s career in radio led to recognition as one of America’s top radio programming executives. He was named one of Rolling Stone magazine’s, “Music Industry Heavy 100” and was an integral catalyst in the merging of radio’s freeform FM sound with contemporary music formats, leading to consecutive Radio Station of the Year and Programmer of the Year awards at RKO Radio's KFRC San Francisco. While at KFRC Mr. Garland won a Clio Award for an eerie promo that has became folklore in the business. .
On the heels of his distinguished career in radio, Mr. Garland was hand-picked by Doug Morris and Ahmet Ertegun to head up West Coast operations for Atlantic Records. During the 1980’s, record-setting revenues of more than $150 million dollars were achieved through sales by acts including Led Zeppellin, The Rolling Stones, Genesis, Abba, Aretha Franklin, Foreigner, The Spinners, Phil Collins and many other chart-topping recording artists.
Having held several positions at the forefront of the music industry, from radio, music television and new media, Mr. Garland is frequently sought out for speaking engagements. He has appeared at college symposia including an appearance at Brown University alongside Walter Cronkite, has keynoted at the Billboard International Music Confab, the Montreau Jazz Festival, the Australian Radio Broadcasters, the New Music Seminar, the International Music and Media Conference and was a keynote speaker at the ESPN Sports Radio Convention. In June 2003, Mr. Garland was invited to speak at the Electronic Arts worldwide marketing conference before 300 company executives from 48 states. Additionally, Mr. Garland is a founding member of both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and The Academy of Digital Music Arts and Sciences.
Profiles of Mr. Garland have appeared in numerous publications including Vanity Fair, Time, GQ, People, USA Today, The New York Times, Newsweek and Forbes. Television exposure has included “The Today Show,” “Good Morning America”, “CBS Morning News,” “Entertainment Tonight,” and even a humorous cameo with Eddie Murphy on the “Late Show with David Letterman.”
Mr. Garland is continuing to define his career by remaining on the front edge of popular mass entertainment through projects under his consulting company, AfterPlay Entertainment. Clients have included Cisneros Television, DreamWorks, MCA, AOL Latin America, Enigma Digital (acquired by Clear Channel), College Television Network (acquired by MTV Networks), the Dick Clark Company and RMS Networks, which designs and delivers point-of-sale television entertainment to over 4000 distribution points.
Mr. Garland launched and co-managed Bad Boy/Arista pop act Dream, taking the group to double-platinum sales success and securing various endorsement deals for companies including DKNY, AOL and Twix. He also signed actor Sylvester Stallone to BBDO/HBO for Clio-award winning television creative and consulted for Hill & Knowlton/Samcor, delivering Carson Daly as celebrity endorser for the 30th birthday campaign of Mr. Coffee. Currently under his management is U.K.-based rock band The Joneses, led by multiple award-winning musical composer, Peter Lawlor. He continues to perform a consulting role for Grammy Award-winning songwriter and Survivor founder, Jim Peterik, well-known for writing, “Eye of the Tiger”, and “High on You” other top-ten songs.
Mr. Garland's passion for music is equaled by his passion for golf. "He was into golf way before golf was cool", says PGA Tour Pro Tommy Armour III. Following his years at MTV, Mr. Garland briefly caddied on the PGA Pro circuit for Mr. Armour. “Some guys buy sailboats and sail around the planet”, said Mr. Garland. “I looped a golf bag and went in search of ‘The Secret’”! A 7.0 handicap, Garland was appointed by the City of Miami Beach to the commission overseeing the renovation of Miami Beach’s only two public golf courses, the Miami Beach Golf Club and Normandy Shores. An active member of the Miami Beach community, Mr. Garland was an owner/founder along with Gianni Versace Sylvester Stallone and Chris Blackwell in BARNONE, once named one of the country’s hottest nightspots.
Gustav Grob,President, International Clean Energy Consortium (ICEC)
Gustav R. Grob is expert on renewable and unfinite energy. He is the President of the International Clean Energy Consortium ICEC, which he co-founded. He is also Vice-President of Hymobil AG for the clean vehicles, Board Chairman of the Investment Fund, Inc. Blue Planet, and he advises Investment companies regarding these questions.
In 2002, as Executive-Secretary and initiator, he founded the International Sustainable Energy Organization (ISEO), which coordinates global efforts towards clean and renewable energies. ISEO combines the work of many UN and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and is a driving force towards a global energy legislation and standardization. He is presently President of CMDC.
Grob is the author of numerous publications on energy, sustainable development, standardization and business ethics and has participated in numerous environmental conferences, including the historic UN climate Conference in Rio de Janeiro (1992) and the International Conference for Renewable Energies in Bonn (2004).
Michael Belfiore: "The Department of Mad Scientists: How DARPA Is Remaking Our World, from the Internet to Artificial Limbs"
Michael Belfiore became a full-time writer in 1995, first working as a freelance technical writer and then moving into public relations writing for large corporations, still with a focus on technology.
He covered the launch of the first privately built spaceship for the New York Post and Reuters as a freelance journalist in 2004. Since then he has written about spaceflight and advanced technology for Popular Science, New Scientist, Wired.com, Air & Space, Financial Times, and other outlets.
He has appeared as a commentator on the Fox Business Network, CTV's Canada AM, NPR's Marketplace, Showtime's Penn & Teller: Bullshit!, and on radio programs across the United States.
Michael's book Rocketeers: How a Visionary Band of Business Leaders, Engineers, and Pilots Is Boldly Privatizing Space (Smithsonian Books/HarperCollins, 2007) is the first book to chronicle the birth of the commercial space age. His blog, Dispatches from the Final Frontier, is a well-regarded source of news and commentary about the industry.
His book The Department of Mad Scientists: How DARPA Is Remaking Our World, from the Internet to Artificial Limbs (Smithsonian Books, 2009) is the first book to go behind the scenes at the Pentagon agency that gave us the Internet, the Global Positioning System, and many other breakthrough technologies that have had a positive impact on society.
In addition to his work as a journalist, Michael provides marketing and public relations writing services to advanced technology companies.
He lives in Woodstock, New York with his wife, fellow writer Wendy Kagan, and their daughters Amelie and Jade.
Sydney W. Kitson, Kitson & Partners
Sydney W. Kitson is Chairman and CEO of Kitson & Partners, a Florida-based real estate company specializing in the creation, development and management of master-planned communities, commercial properties, resort properties and golf courses.
Kitson is a graduate of Wake Forest University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics. Kitson had a notable career in the National Football League playing offensive guard for both the Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys. Upon his retirement from professional football, he began his career in real estate by founding a company that from 1986 to 1992 was responsible for the development and sale of residential communities, commercial properties, retail stores, medical offices and senior housing units. In 1992 he helped create the residential division of Gale & Wentworth and became its President and Chief Operating Officer in 1996. From 1996 through 1999 he was responsible for overseeing the development of numerous successful master-planned communities including Cherry Valley (Montgomery Township, NJ) and Ibis Golf & Country Club (West Palm Beach, FL). He founded Kitson & Partners with Richard Brockway in 2000, locating the firm’s company headquarters in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
In 2006 Kitson completed the historic purchase of Babcock Ranch in Southwest Florida, encompassing more than 92,000 acres – an area five times the size of the island of Manhattan. Over 80% of the original land purchase, some 73,000 acres within Charlotte and Lee counties, has been preserved by the State of Florida and Lee County in the largest single land preservation agreement in the state’s history. On the remaining land Kitson & Partners will build an extraordinary, sustainable, environmentally-friendly green community where residents will live, work, learn and play amidst the natural splendor of Florida’s undeveloped wilderness. Babcock Ranch is an exceptional example of environmental preservation and responsible growth.
Kitson & Partners also currently owns and operates numerous retail shopping centers throughout Florida totaling more than 1.6 million square feet. In addition, Kitson & Partners is developing another 8.6 million square feet of retail, office and industrial space in the Daytona Beach, Orlando and Southwest Florida markets.
Syd Kitson is an active member of the Urban Land Institute, lectures at Princeton University, sits on the Policy Advisory Board for the Florida Solar Energy Center, and is a member of The Florida Council of 100. He is also on the Board of Directors of Florida Gulf Coast University Foundation, the Calusa Nature Center & Planetarium and the Grassy Waters Preserve, a 20-square mile wildlife sanctuary in West Palm Beach, Florida. Kitson is also a member of the NFL Alumni Association and the National Football League Players Association. In 2000, Syd received the Rainbow Award from the Adam Walsh Children’s Foundation.
John C. Mankins, Space Based Solar Power Steering Committee, Artemis Innovation
John C. Mankins, President of Artemis Innovation Management Solutions LLC is an internationally recognized leader in space systems and technology innovation, and as a highly effective manager of large-scale technology R&D programs.
Mr. Mankins' 25-year career at NASA and CalTech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) ranged from flight projects and space mission operations, to systems level innovation and advanced technology research & development management. He is also well known as an innovator in R&D management. For example, building on the original NASA “technology readiness level” (TRL) scale for technology assessment (defined first with 6 or 7 levels in the 1970s), he extended the scale to flight systems and operations in the late 1980s (TRLs 8 and 9), published the first detailed definitions of the TRLs in 1995, and promoted the use of the scale by the US Department of Defense in the late 1990s.
Before leaving NASA, Mr. Mankins was the manager of Exploration Systems Research and Technology within the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate with responsibility for an $800M annual budget, involving more than 100 individual projects and over 3,000 personnel. For 10 years, he was the manager of Advanced Concepts Studies at NASA, and the lead for critical studies of space solar power, highly reusable space transportation, affordable human exploration approaches, and other topics. He was the creator or co-creator of numerous novel concepts, including the "MagLifter' electromagnetic launch assist system, the Internet-based NASA “Virtual Research Center” the “Solar Clipper” interplanetary transport vehicle, the “SunTower” space solar power system, the “Hybrid Propellant Module” for in-space refueling, the “HabBot” mobile planetary outpost architecture, the Advanced Technology Life cycle Analysis System (ATLAS), and others. In recognition of his accomplishments, he has received numerous awards and honors, including the prestigious NASA Exceptional Technology Achievement Medal (of which he was the first recipient).
He holds undergraduate (Harvey Mudd College) and graduate (UCLA) degrees in Physics and an MBA in Public Policy Analysis (The Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University). Mr. Mankins is a member of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA), the International Astronautical Federation (IAF), the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), and the Sigma Xi Research Society.
Mr. Mankins is an accomplished communicator, including political, programmatic, technical and lay audiences. He has authored or co-authored more than 80 published papers, reports and other technical documents, and has testified before Congress on several occasions, and has been consulted on R&D management and space issues with organizations in the U.S. and internationally.
Lawrence W. Bell, VP of Marketing, Florida Syngas
Lawrence has more than 25 years experience in technical sales, product development, distribution and advertising in the automotive parts and remanufacturing industry. He has held corporate marketing and management positions and initiated several successful national distribution programs.
In 1987, Lawrence founded an engine remanufacturing and sales company, which became a primary supplier of rebuilt engines for the Florida School Board and the U.S. Postal Service. He has held Board positions with two Internet service provider companies and director positions with non-profit organizations. Lawrence has a BS/MBA in Marketing and Economics from Auburn University, holds a Private Pilots License, and is an Eagle Scout.
Barbara Logan, CEO of Lifestar Institute, and former President of Computerland Stores
Mitchell Joachim, Terraform One
Mitchell Joachim, [jo-ak-um] - earned; Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MAUD Harvard University, M.Arch. Columbia University, BPS SUNY at Buffalo with Honors. He is a Co-Founder at Terrefuge and Terreform ONE. Currently he is faculty at Columbia University and Parsons. Formerly an architect at Gehry Partners, and Pei Cobb Freed. He has been awarded the Moshe Safdie Research Fellowship, and the Martin Family Society Fellow for Sustainability at MIT. He won the History Channel and Infiniti Design Excellence Award for the City of the Future, and Time Magazine Best Invention of the Year 2007, Compacted Car w/ MIT Smart Cities. His project, Fab Tree Hab, has been exhibited at MoMA and widely published. He was selected by Wired magazine for "The 2008 Smart List: 15 People the Next President Should Listen To". Rolling Stone magazine honored Mitchell as an agent of change in "The 100 People Who Are Changing America".
Terreform ONE is a non-profit philanthropic design collaborative that integrates ecological principles in the urban environment. The group views ecology in design as not only a philosophy that inspires visions of sustainability and social justice but also a focused scientific endeavor. The mission is to ascertain the consequences of fitting a project within our natural world setting. Solutions range from; green master planning, urban self-sufficiency infrastructures, community development activities, climatic tall buildings, performative material technologies, and smart mobility vehicles for cities. These design iterations seek an activated ecology both as a progressive symbol and an evolved artifact.
Taryn Hipwell, Creator, Director, Educator, Environmental filmmaker, EcoDivas
Taryn went to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for fashion design. She’s worked for Anna Sui in NYC, styled celebs in LA, while developing a repurposed clothing line called T. Hipwell (she chops up vintage and designer dresses to makes them fantabulous again). She’s shown her collections in Moscow, NYC, Chicago and LA. Once a week she teaches sewing at Hollywood Media and Arts. (HM&A is a one-of-a-kind arts academy for homeless young people.) Taryn loves to show people how to repurpose everything...literally.
Inspired by David Zucker on the set of Scary Movie 3, Taryn went back to school at UCLA for screenwriting. Presently, she works at Warner Bros. and writes, directs and produces eco-webisodes, in conjunction with Environmental Initiatives and Emerging Professionals, about what Warner Bros. does as a studio to be environmental. Webisode topics include: recycling a grip building, solar expansion, LEED certified sounds stage and more. Taryn has been interviewed for the WB Impact Program and Folar (Friends of the Los Angeles River).
Taryn is very excited to combine her three passions (fashion, environment and media) to present a comedically original take on being Eco-Divalicious.
David Brudely Clean Tech Engineering
David Bruderly has over 30 years’ experience in project management and business planning on energy, environmental, and transportation projects. These include CNG, LNG, LCNG, hydrogen and electric vehicles and infrastructure; environmental permits for utility and industrial facilities; operation and maintenance of hybrid electric and electric vehicles; and expert testimony about related subjects. He holds a BS in marine engineering from the United States Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, NY, and an MS in ocean engineering from Columbia University. Past employers include the US Navy, Roy F. Weston, Inc., ESE, Inc. the Harbor Branch Foundation, and Lamont Geological Observatory.
Mr. Bruderly’s special interest is advocacy for establishment of the hydrogen economy. He has contributed the past eleven years to the effort, involving demonstration projects, training, public addresses, participation in international workshops and meetings, lobbying, establishment of the Florida Hydrogen Business Council, editorials, and availing himself of all opportunities to promote hydrogen as the fuel of choice for powering the future. He was a founding member of the US Delegation to ISO TC 197—Hydrogen Technologies, and has served on a variety of working groups since 1990.
He currently serves as a member of the Clean Fuel Florida Advisory Board and was a member of the Energy Advisory Committee of Governor Chiles’ Commission for a Sustainable South Florida. He is also a member of the Sound Science Initiative of the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Terence L. Martin, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Space Island Project
For over 8 years Mr. Martin has been involved in the development of the Space Island Project, where he coordinated its day to day operations.
With more than 20 years experience in project development and management, Mr. Martin has significant expertise in developing safety, environmental and training programs for many Fortune 500 companies. He owned and operated a very successful consulting firm creating management, productivity, quality control, environmental and safety programs for hundreds of companies and several major corporations.
He has had extensive experience in developing start-up projects from developing company programs including; planning, design, permitting, documentation and training. Included in these clients were several of the nation's largest aerospace corporations, where he developed a myriad of special projects.
His work for Space Island Group includes attracting the most talented professionals to the company and directly assisting in the development of the Space Island Business Model, which defines the creation of a new commercial space transportation system and space destinations. He has also assisted in the development of the SIG business plan and sponsorship program.
Mr. Martin coordinates the marketing efforts on behalf of Space Island Group, working to generate public awareness, acceptance and support of the space station project.
David Gobel, Methusaleh Foundation
David Gobel is Chief Executive Officer of Methuselah Foundation. He founded the original non-profit in 2000, which became Methuselah Foundation in an effort to reverse or preempt the damage of aging and the unimaginable suffering it continues to inflict. He is voraciously curious, a serial entrepreneur, an unrepentant do-gooder, and a technology visionary who has conceived many breakthrough technologies and then gone on to found or co-found private and venture capital backed companies and non-profits built for the purpose of delivering those same technologies. Examples are Knowledge Adventure, one of the earliest and most successful educational multimedia software developers to date; Worlds Inc., the inventor of shared virtual worlds over the internet; Starbright Foundation’s Starbright World, which was designed to allow hospital bound children to “go out and play” in a rich virtual world where they can communicate with friends and family; Methuselah Foundation.
Dr. Jack Tuszynski, Division of Experimental Oncology,Department of Oncology, University of Alberta
Professor Jack Tuszynski received his M.Sc. with distinction in Physics from the University of Poznan (Poland) in 1980. He received his Ph.D. in Condensed Matter Physics from the University of Calgary in 1983. He did a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the University of Calgary Chemistry Department in 1983. He was an Assistant Professor at the Department of Physics of the Memorial University of Newfoundland from 1983 to 1988, and at the University of Alberta Physics Department from 1988 to 1990. He joined the University of Alberta Physics Department in 1993 and the Division of Experimental Oncology within the Cross Cancer Institute as the Allard Chair in 2005. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Biological Physics.
The major thrust of the computational biophysics group is in silico drug design for cancer chemotherapy applications and in vitro testing. Dr. Tuszynski’sresearch interests are strongly linked to the protein tubulin and the microtubules assembled from it. These have been studied using methods ranging from simple stochastic models to detailed molecular dynamics computer simulations, as well as through laboratory manipulations of living cells. Due to its prominent role played in eukaryotic cell division, tubulin is an important target for anti-cancer cytotoxic treatments. Our on-going research aim is to identify variants of known compounds showing greater tubulin isotype-specifc effects. These could potentially lead to more efficacious chemotherapy treatments with lower side effects. Other studies in our group have examined microtubule electrical, structural, and mechanical properties; proteins that bind to microtubules (MAPs); and the motor proteins in cells that travel along microtubules and actin filaments. We are also developing physiologically-based models and simulations for pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic applications.
Remy Chevalier, Big Igloo Project
Remy Chevalier had his vision for Big Igloo experiencing Laserium in 1974 at Griffith Park in Hollywood, a traveling laser show using the latest interactive mind/body technology. He's assembled the best team in the world to make his dream reality, currently looking for the right investors. "Burning Man on wheels" he calls it.
In 1989 Remy founded the Eco-Saloon at the nightclub Wetlands, creating the innovative position of environmental director. He was civilian liason for the Defense & The Environment Initiative in 1992. Provided environmental audits to hotels in South Beach in 1994. After realizing the potential of the emerging Internet, Remy created a series of interlocking online projects to generate synergy between different industries, all in the green space.
In 2004 he co-hosted the ICI-nyc party, introducing the New York social scene to green design. He hosted the first Greendrinks in Connecticut. He's helped with the development, branding, promotion of hundreds of green projects and businesses, both commercial and non-profit. Remy helps guide the green careers of many actors, models and public figures. Most recently he co-hosted Project Green Search, a national green modeling competition with the Greenloop, and the Green Market Exposition at the Barnum Museum in Bridgeport, Connecticut with Conscious Decisions.
Remy leads the fight to shut down the Indian Point nuclear power plant on the Hudson river with his LED lighting organization Rock The Reactors, covers green events with his photography, while writing and producing a new kind of western. His book ELLE on Earth about his childhood growing up in the editorial offices of the fashion magazine in post-war Paris is published online.
Dr. Harsh W. Sharma, OMG Sustainability Group (Operation Management Group)
Previously, Harsh has worked as an Enterprise Architect Consultant for Tier 1 Financial Services/Brokerage/Insurance and Pharmaceuticals (in the US) promoting use of model driven approach to address the ‘Chasm’ between business and IT. His engagements frequently involved presenting the above approach to senior business and IT executives and help identify best of breed technology to address the business needs.
Harsh has a Ph.D. in Genetics from University of Leeds, England and later worked as a post-doctoral fellow at Yale University, School of Medicine.
Larry Namer, Founder, the E! Channel, Advisor, Eurocinema, President, Metan Entertainment
Larry Namer is an entertainment and media entrepreneur. The founder of E! Entertainment Television, Movies USA Magazine, Steeplechase Media and Comspan Communications, Inc, he began his career as an installer in 1971 at Time Incorporated video group (Manhattan Cable TV). He ultimately rose to Director of Corporate Development and from there established a number of successful businesses. Namer is credited as a pioneer in the use of cable for data communication.
After leaving Time, Inc., Namer helped establish Valley Cable Television (VCTV) in Los Angeles. In 1984, he co-founded Movietime Channel Inc. (later renamed E! Entertainment Television, Inc.) and raised the necessary capital for the channel's launch in 1987. As President and CEO, namer oversaw the network's expansion into fourteen international markets as well as the launch of a radio network that eventually reached 110 markets.
In 1989, Mr. Namer founded Comspan Communications, Inc., a producer of live entertainment events in the former Soviet Union. Under Namer, Comspan became the leading producer of live events in the countries of the former Soviet Union.
Mr. Namer has also served as the primary consultant for planning and strategy to Microsoft Interactive TV (MiTV) for several years.
Today namer runs LJN Media, which manages all North American operations for Eurocinema. Mr Namer also is CEO of Billboard Channel, a new multi-platform music service in development.
Laurence Gartel, The "Father of Digital Art"
Born and raised in New York City, Gartel had the opportunity to teach Andy Warhol how to use the Amiga Computer, went to School of Visual Arts[2], with fellow art student, graffiti artist Keith Haring, where he earned his BFA degree majoring in Graphics, and started his electronic career working side by side with Nam June Paik at Media Study/Buffalo in upstate New York. Gartel had many associations with musicians such as Debbie Harry (Blondie) Sid Vicious (Sex Pistols), Stiv Bators (Dead Boys) Johnny Thunders (New York Dolls), Ace Frehley (Kiss) and Wendy O Williams (Plasmatics). Gartel has created artwork for such Pop Culture stars such as Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears.
One of Gartel's most memorable campaigns was the one he designed for Absolut Vodka in 1990, joining world famous artists such as painter Andy Warhol and glass artist Hans Godo Frabel. ABSOLUT GARTEL is considered to be the first digital art ad ever created for the legendary Absolut Vodka advertising campaign which can be found in the publication ABSOLUT BOOK by Richard Lewis.[3] For more info, see the Absolut Vodka Artists website His biography is included in "Who's Who," "Who's Who in the East," "Who's Who in America," "Who's Who in American Art," and "Who's Who in the World."
Michael Masucci, Director, EZTV Media, Santa Monica
Michael Masucci is an award-winning video, stage and multimedia producer, director and artist. Throughout his full-time career as an artist, Masucci has also curated and produced hundreds of exhibitions, live performance events, lectures and film and video screenings. An arts activist as well, in the early 1980's, when many curators in Los Angeles continued to ignore the accomplishments of the emerging digital art scene, Masucci made a focused commitment to produce exhibition opportunities for other computer-based artists in the visual, literary and sound arts.
Masucci serves as co-founder and Artistic Director of EZTV, a 26 year-old digital media arts organization. EZTV is an arts organization-in-residence at the 18th Street Arts Center in Santa Monica, CA., Southern California's only international artist-in- residency program, recently profiled on PBS station KCET. In 1993, educational consultants for Adobe Software have started an ongoing project to create the EZTV Online Museum housing EZTV's extensive history and collection.
Masucci has produced work throughout the United States, as well as in China, the U.K., Croatia, Mexico, Finland and Thailand. Projects for which he has been a principal have been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art (New York), the Institute of Contemporary Art (London ), the American Film Institute, the Museum of Contemporary Art ( Los Angeles ), Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Bergamot Station, the Museum of the American West, the Los Angeles Center for Photographic Studies, Downtown Community Television ( New York ) KAOS TV, the Sam Francis Gallery, the 18th Street Gallery, LA FreeWaves, Beyond Baroque, California State University-Northridge and on
BRAVO, the BBC, PBS, and numerous galleries, festivals and conferences.
An acknowledged pioneer in the digital and desktop video movement, Masucci was clearly among the first film/video artists to discuss the emergence, adoption and adaptation of desktop computer tools in the making of broadcast quality video production and was among the first artists to migrate from analog to digital video. In the early 1980's, Masucci collaborated on early motion capture experiments with artist/engineer David Curlender in association with UCLA's Design and Science departments. In the late 1980's Masucci worked directly with Warner Bros. Animation president Greg Ford, in developing ways to update, adopt and evolve the production of animation for a new generation of Warner Bros. artists. In 1987, Masucci co-produced with radio station KPFK his first international internet event, long before the invention of the world wide web, connecting via computer modem writer/scientist Arthur C. Clark in Sri Lanka, with EZTV's live audience and KPFK's radio audience. This early experiment in computer-based two way international communication demonstrated in practice what would later would become known as a "chat room".
In the late 1980's and early 1990's, after numerous experiments with modem communication, electronic bulletin boards and videophone experiments (in collaboration with Electronic Cafe International), under Masucci's direction, EZTV became perm- anently online since 1994 and launched its on-line version of CyberSpace Gallery and the EZTV website in 1995. EZTV's website was an early Yahoo! "Site of the Day", and was included as one of a only handful of websites devoted to computer arts included in the pioneering book "Yahoo!-Way Cool Websites". Masucci had been introduced to the internet in the mid-1970's as an undergraduate, while serving an internship under Berl Bass,
M.D. at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
In addition to his on-going work in feature-length and short form video art and experimental documentary, Masucci has had num- erous collaborations with dance, theater, spoken word and performance artists since the early 1980's and his live-multimedia collaborations have been performed at venues including Pepperdine University, the Hollywood Palace, Highways Performance Space, USC, the Los Angeles Theater Center, California State University-Los Angeles, the Electric Lodge, Electronic Cafe International, Occidental College, the Ivar Theater, the Pasadena Convention Center, and Barnsdall Art Park. His seminal live multi-media dance collaboration at the CyberArts International Conference in 1992 was the first aevent to use ultra low-light video camcorder technology. In addition,
Masucci was one of only a few artists invited back to particiapte in all three years of these innovative conferences, and among a handful to serve as an exhibited artist, Master Class speaker and live performance producer.
His thoughts on the art, philosophy and practice of digital media have been published in his articles in Computer Graphics, the Independent Film & Video Monthly, Filmnik, the Music & Film Network and he has been interviewed, profiled and quoted in a variety of media including the Los Angeles Times, ArtWeek, Variety, KCRW, The Discovery Channel International, iFilm, Wired.com, Internet.com and TechTV. He has been a guest speaker at the Institute of Contemporary Art (London), the American Film Institute, UCLA, USC, the Long Beach Museum of Art, Global Entertainment and Media Summit, Claremont College, the School of Visual Arts ( New York), the University of Helsinki, Skirball Center, Bergamot Station, the Los Angeles Film Festival, Outfest, California Lawyers for the Arts, the California Arts Council, and the Los Angeles County Arts Commission.
Often sought out for opinions on film, art & technology. During the CyberArts International Conferences, the influencial series produced by Dominic Milano and Robert Gelman from 1990-2, Masucci was an exhibited artist, a lecturer and prodcer of a live-multimedia dance performance created in collaboration with Kim McKillip and Zina Bethune. Based on his lectures at the CyberArts International Conferences, he wrote the chapter on the emergence and his use
of desktop video production for the seminal 1992 textbook "CyberArts-Exploring Art & Technology" (edited L. Jacobson) in which he set out the major principles defining desktop digital video.
His words have been incorporated into various instructional works, including publication on video for performers by the distributed by the California Arts Council. He has served as a judge on a variety of grants, and his lectures, panel discussions, demonstrations and workshops include numerous professional conferences including SIGGRAPH, Internet World, DV Expo, the Global Entertainment & Media Summit, ShowBiz Expo, the California Arts Council, the Lo Angeles County Arts Commission and Dance Camera West.
Mark Lipsky, Gigantic Digital
Mark Lipsky has more than 25 years' experience in the film, cable television and technology industries where bold and innovative campaigns have been the hallmarks of his career. He currently serves as President of the newly launched Gigantic Digital (www.GiganticDigital.com,) a “broadband cinema” that changes the paradigm of independent film distribution and exhibition. Gigantic made film-industry history in February 2009 with “Must Read After My Death”: for the first time ever, a film opened in theaters in New York City and Los Angeles, but also received a day-and-date national release over the internet.
Gigantic Digital Cinema features high-quality, ad-free streaming video at a nominal “ticket” price and can be geographically targeted to avoid intruding on or cannibalizing concurrent bricks and mortar theatrical engagements. Gigantic Digital is part of the indie studio Gigantic Group, led by Brian Devine, which produces and distributes film and music.
Lipsky is also CEO of GabSight LLC, an internet applications company he co-founded in August 2006. Previously, as VP for Business Development at AronowCommunications, Lipsky developed and launched ChannelBlast, an online TV network, as well as the network’s first nightly broadcast, NewzViewz. Lipskyserved as Chief Strategy Officer for independent film company Lot 47, Inc where his primary responsibilities included business development and the strategic evolution of the company’s digital strategies. At Singingfish.com, (now an AOL company,) he served as the multimedia search company’s Vice President for Strategic Relations and Marketing. Lipsky has also served as Director of Consumer Marketing for cable TV networks Bravo and The Independent Film Channel; Executive Vice President, Sales and Marketing for Prestige, a division of Miramax Films; and Senior Vice President, Domestic Distribution and Marketing for Miramax Films.
Recognized as an advocate of artistic freedom, Mark Lipsky has rallied successfully against censorship in the motion picture industry, most notably against theMPAA's "X" and "NC-17" ratings. He has been a panelist and moderator for events sponsored by The American Film Institute, The Sundance Institute, the New York Bar Association, The Independent Feature Project, The New School for Social Research, New York Women and Film, the American Pavilion at the Cannes Film Festival and others.
Mark Wolfson, Producer/Songwriter/Developer/A&R/Music Supervisor
From the beginning of Mark’s career he could see the possibilities music presented to touch people and give back something people could take with them wherever they went. The spirit, along with opportunity, patience to persevere, the stamina to build skills, and the foresight to see the path ahead have brought Mark over 25 Gold, Platinum and 3x/6x Platinum record awards.
Since starting in music studying piano, cello, guitar and singing, Mark made his production debut in 1972 and worked with such Artists as: Smokey Robinson, Kim Carnes, Ice T and Talking Heads, and on such films as: That Thing You Do, Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Mamma Mia (the film) and Mi Vida Loca.
For the past 7 years Mark has been the Director of Production and Development for The Playtone Company (Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman) and in May of 2008 left, although still independently working with Playtone, to spend most of his time with the bigger site and his production company, Reel Entertainment. Mark has worked independently to develop unsigned bands like: Jane Child, Mighty Joe Young (Stone Temple Pilots), School of Fish and Lions and Ghosts, just to name a few. Mark has helped many a Band/Artist forge a solid career in entertainment maintaining the highest production standards and focusing on longevity, in Mark's words; "Getting there is one thing, but staying there is quite another".
Mark has also working with New Directions, a homeless Veterans organization to fund their ongoing efforts to help Vets incorporate themselves back into society, Tipitina’s Foundation to put music back in the schools in New Orleans and America’s Wounded Heroes/First Aid for our troops to help returning troop with injuries return to civilian life.
Jack Healey, Human Rights Action Center, Former Exec. Director of Amnesty International
The head of the Human Rights Action Center is Jack Healey, the world-renowned human rights activist and pioneer. An effective and innovative leader in the human rights movement for over 25 years, Jack helped move the topic of human rights from closed-door diplomatic negotiations to widespread awareness, public debate, and direct citizen action. Colleagues credit him with making human rights a major focus of governments, advocacy organizations, and individuals around the world.
Called "Mr. Human Rights" by U.S. News and World Report, Jack brought human rights to the global stage by his creative use of media and enlistment of world-class musical talent as advocates and spokesperson. As Executive Director of Amnesty International USA for 12 years, he pioneered new ways to reach youth - the next generation - to deliver the message of human rights. A few events he created include:
Conspiracy of Hope tour with U2, The Police, Peter Gabriel, and many others.
Human Rights Now! tour with Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Tracy Chapman, and Youssou N'Dour.
From a Hug to a Hope two-day concert in Chile with Peter Gabriel, Sting, Sinead O'Connor, Jackson Browne, Ruben Blades, and Wynton Marsalis. Free to Laugh two-hour show in honor of women's rights featuring Vanessa Williams, Anjelica Huston, Roseanne, and Lily Tomlin.
Today, Jack heads the Washington, D.C. based Human Rights Action Center (HRAC), a qualified non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. In addition to his public speaking engagements and support of fellow grassroots human rights organizations, Jack is an advisor to the U.S. government in regards to establishing sound human rights policies in other countries.
Howard Bloom
From 1968 to 1988, Howard Bloom did fieldwork in the world of business and mass media. As the founder and CEO first of Cloud Studio, Inc., then of The Howard Bloom Organization, Ltd., Bloom has worked with companies like Sony, NBC-TV, CBS, Warner Brothers, Paramount Pictures, EMI, ABC, Gulf and Western, MCA/Universal, Manesmann, Polygram, Coca Cola, Pepsi Cola, and Disney. Bloom helped Sony launch its first software operation in the U.S. (Sony Video), helped establish the three films that put the new Disney on the map (Down and Out in Beverly Hills, Ruthless People, and Outrageous Fortune), and advised the strategists putting together a new venture called MTV.
Bloom was introduced to contemporary music in 1971 when he was made editor of Circus Magazine and, in the words of a history of rock journalism by former Rolling Stone East Coast editor Chet Flippo, "created a new magazine genre--the heavy metal magazine." Bloom’s clients in public relations and career strategy included Michael Jackson, Prince, Bette Midler, John Mellencamp, Bob Marley, David Byrne, Peter Gabriel, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Billy Idol, Joan Jett, George Michael, Lionel Richie, Hall & Oates, Kool and the Gang, the Simon & Garfunkel Reunion Tour, the 25th Anniversary of the Beatles Invasion of the United States, Queen, AC/DC, Kiss, Aerosmith, Genesis, Phil Collins, Styx, Supertramp, REO Speedwagon, Joan Armatrading, ZZ Top, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Run DMC, Amnesty International, Farm Aid, and a small slew of major films from Paramount, Disney, Warner Brothers, and New Line Cinema.
A visiting scholar at NYU, Bloom is the author of two books: The Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition Into the Forces of History ("mesmerizing"—The Washington Post) and Global Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind From The Big Bang to the 21st Century ("reassuring and sobering"—The New Yorker). Bloom is the founder of three nascent fields that shatter disciplinary boundaries—paleopsychology, mass behavior, and omnology. Christopher Boehm, the director of the Jane Goodall Research Institute says, “Howard Bloom should be taking notes on what he’s doing every minute of the day. He is single-handedly creating a scientific revolution.” Gear Magazine has called Bloom "the next Stephen Hawking." Britain’s Channel4 TV has dubbed him the Darwin, Einstein, Isaac Newton, and Sigmund Freud of the 21st Century. And Joseph Chilton Pearce, author of Evolution's End and The Crack in the Cosmic Egg, concludes, "I have finished Howard Bloom's two books, The Lucifer Principle and Global Brain, in that order, and am seriously awed, near overwhelmed by the magnitude of what he has done. I never expected to see, in any form, from any sector, such an accomplishment. I doubt there is a stronger intellect than Bloom's on the planet."
Glen Robertson, President of the Institute for Advaned Studies in the Space, Propulsion & Energy Sciences
Glen Anthony Robertson "Tony" completed all coursework toward an MSE in Engineering Management at the University of Alabama in Huntsville in 2001. He received a MSE in Operations Research from the University of Alabama in Huntsville in 1993 and a double B.S. in Physics and Mathematics from the University of North Alabama in 1982. Mr. Robertson has authored 14 papers and coauthored 9 others.
Mr. Robertson is the President of the Institute for Advaned Studies in the Space, Propulsion & Energy Sciences and serves as the Technical, Editorial & Organizing Chair of the Space, Propulsion & Energy Sciences International Forum and is the Chair of the forum's Symposium on New Frontiers on Space Propulsion Sciences. From 2004-08, he severed as Co-chair of the Symposium on New Frontiers and Advance Concepts as part of the Space Technology Applications and International Forum (STAIF), and is the recipient of the following awards:
Recognition of Outstanding Dedication, Guidance and Leadership: 5th Symposium on New Frontiers and Future Concepts, Program Co-Chair, Space Technology and Applications International Forum, February 2008.
Recognition of Outstanding Dedication, Guidance and Leadership: 4th Symposium on New Frontiers and Future Concepts, Program Co-Chair, Space Technology and Applications International Forum, February 2007.
Outstanding Paper Award: For the paper titled "Manipulating the Vacuum Scalar Field with Superconductors: A Search for Exotic Material" presented at the Space Technology and Applications International Forum, February 2005.
Recognition of Outstanding Dedication and Guidance: For the formation of the 1st Symposium on New Frontiers and Future Concepts, Program Co-Chair, Space Technology and Applications International Forum, February 2004.
Mr. Robertson has 22+ years of sevice performing research and development tasks for NASA - Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama as an Aerospace engineer, and is the recipient of the following
Awards:
Directors Commendation: Exceptional technical expertise, dedication, and effectiveness in establishing the Advanced Concept Research Facility in response to advanced systems technology requirements and related concepts definition needs of Program Development, August 3, 1999.
Certificate of Appreciation: Exceptional dedication, innovation, and timely and effective definition of the Advanced Space Transportation Program, July 17, 1996.
Invention Disclosures Award, December 11, 1992.
Group Achievements Awards: Several
Certificates of Recognition: Several
Inventions:
Piezoelectrostatic Generator, US Patent # 4,952,836
Electromagnetic Meissner Effect Launcher, US Patent # 5,017,549
Bladder Operated Robotic Joint, US Patent # 5,245,885
Spiral Fluid Separator, US Patent # 5,248,421
Pressure-Driven Magnetically Coupled Conveyance, US Patent # 6,170,404 B1
NASA Tech Brief Articles:
Piezoelectric Power Generator - March 1989
Electromagnetic Meissner Effect Launcher - March 1989
Meissner Stepping Motor - February 1990
Meissner Bearing - October 1992
Spiral Fluid Separator - November 1992
Robotic Bladder Joint - Apr 1993
Permanent Magnet Launcher - Apr 1994
Five Channel Polychromator Head - Apr 1994
Collapsible Geostrut Structure - November 1994
Fabrication of Bulk High Temperature Superconductors using Ba(NO3)2 in the Precursor Mixture - May 2000
Pressure-Driven Magnetically-Coupled Conveyance - September 2000
From Jan 1984 - Jan 1987, Mr. Robertson was a Physicist working for the Naval Weapons Center, China Lake CA as a project engineer coordinating the testing of the solid rocket motor for the vertical launched ASROC. Previous to his university studies (from Dec 1974 to Dec 1978), Mr. Robertson severed in the US NAVY as a Jet Engine Technician on the F-14:TF30 engine.
Michael Caporale/Director of Photography
Michael Caporale was the first Director of Photography to embrace using the VariCam in feature film production. In September 2001 he DP’d “Tattered Angel” and since then has lensed a total of six independent feature films with VariCam, including several documentaries. In the year before VariCam’s release, Michael DP’d a 480P digital production, “Ball of Wax”, which won best digital film at Cinequest in 2003 and ultimately led to his use of the VariCam.
Michael has become something of an ambassador of 24P for Panasonic and has toured extensively to film festivals and trade shows educating through seminars and promoting the benefits of 24P production in all formats. He has been the subject of numerous articles on digital production in magazines such as “DV Magazine”, “Digital Cinema”, “American Cinematographer”, “TV Technology”, “HD.Org”, and writes for “Film Festival Reporter” and “Broadcast Engineering”.
As a consultant for Panasonic, he was the first to test the SDX900, Panasonic’s 24P broadcast camera follow-up to the VariCam. In the last year consulting with Robert Goodman on the writing of “Goodman’s Guides”, detailed manuals on the use of VariCam and the SDX900, he has contributed his technical experience as DP with those cameras to the writing of the manual and has captured the images used in the illustrations. Also while consulting, he devised over 20 color set-up files for each camera, creating looks that replicate popular telecine styles used in commercial and feature film production. The looks are being made available as a free download through Panasonic’s website.
With over thirty years experience as a commercial photographer and film-maker to draw from, Michael bridges both worlds in his explanation of the new technology and effortlessly defines the path for those who to desire to investigate the coming changes.
John D. Heinsen, Co-Chair Mobile Committeee, New Media Council, Producers Guild of America
Previously, John served for two years as Manager of Primetime Programming at the FOX Broadcasting Company and has worked in the Television Packaging and New Media/Branded Entertainment Divisions of International Creative Management (ICM). He began his career in 1992 as a producer at KVOA in Tucson, AZ.
John serves as Co-Chair of the Mobile Committee for the Producers Guild of America (PGA), New Media Council and has been an Adjunct Professor at California State University Los Angeles. Additionally, he is Contributing Producer to Viva Lundin Productions and the interactive platform company sevenEcho, LLC. Originally from Chicago,
John received his MFA in 1996 while a Producing Fellow at the American Film Institute (CAFTS) and in 1994 received a BFA from the School of Media Arts at the University of Arizona. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife Lisa and their three children.
Demian Lichtenstein, Filmmaker
Lichtenstein has over twenty motion picture projects, five television shows, multiple music acts, and a new video gaming division in active development, in addition to running a full service production and post-production company. Currently, he is preparing to produce and direct Relentless, a $25 million dollar 3-D action thriller starring Kiwi actor, Karl Urban. Lichtenstein has teamed up with writing partner M. Dooma Wendschuh on both the production and video game for Relentless, Wendschuh's video game Assasin's Creed has grossed 1/2 billion in revenue worldwide to date, and it is anticipated that returns will surpass those figures for Relentless. Relentless is currently being sold at the Cannes Film Festival by international sales agent, Velvet Octopus, a division of Spice Factory in London. Relentless is being produced in association with Baldwin Entertainment Group, the producers of Mystery Alaska starring Russell Crowe, Sahara featuring Matthew McConaughey and Academy Award winning Ray with Jamie Foxx.
Lichtenstein is a member of the Director's Guild of America, The Writer's Guild of America and the Screen Actor's Guild. As a founding member of the Senior Leadership Council of the Director's Guild of America, along with Steven Spielberg and Taylor Hackford, Mr. Lichtenstein works closely with award-winning directors to protect the rights of filmmakers worldwide by having a direct influence on domestic and global politics in the entertainment world.
Lichtenstein's motion picture & television credits include:
• Producer, Director & Writer – Relentless, a 3-D action thriller starring Karl Urban (2009) (pre-production)
• Producer, Director & Writer - Venus And Vegas (2007), starring Donald Faison, Eddie Kaye Thomas & Molly Simms
• Producer - The Unseen (2005)
• Producer, Director, Writer – 3000 Miles to Graceland (2001)
• Executive Producer - The Road to Graceland (2001)
• Producer and Director of Photography - Love & Suicide (aka Cuba's Love & Suicide) (2005)
• Producer, Director & Writer – Lowball for the Showtime Network (1997)
• Director - The Company (1989) TV series
Lichtenstein's History:
• Founder & CEO of Equilibrium Entertainment with partner Ric Wake (multiple Grammy Award winning record producer); a state-of-the-art independent motion picture and post production company formed to take advantage of the technological breakthroughs in motion picture, music, gaming, internet and television programming
• Writer, Producer, Director and responsible for raising $60 million dollars for 3000 Miles To Graceland (Warner Brothers), starring Kevin Costner, Kurt Russell, Christian Slater & Courtney Cox
• Chairman Emeritus of the New York Independent Film Coalition • Writer of several feature films for RKO pictures, Paramount Pictures/Crusader Entertainment, Constantine Films and Warner Brothers
• Founding partner and Executive Producer for Film Bond International; instrumental in securing financing on numerous feature productions, including the critically acclaimed O, produced by his partner Anthony Rhulen (Film Engine), distributed by Miramax and Lions Gate Entertainment
• Hired by Tommy Mottola, former Chairman of Sony Music as the in-house production company (Lightstone) for Sony Music Studios in New York City
• Founder of Lightstone Entertainment which partnered with Rebel Films, Psuedo Online Entertainment, and Film Inc. in NYC to produce a series of film and television projects
• Producer and director on over 250 music videos for Grammy Award winning artists that include Sting, Eric Clapton and artists Eric B and Rakim, Shabba Ranks, Queen Latifah, Cypress Hill, and Gloria Estefan
George Dassinger, Marketing
George W. Dassinger has been running his own public relations/marketing/media management company for over 15 years representing such clients as: FUENTE CIGARS, ZZ TOP (DELTA BLUES MUSEUM - Clarksdale, MS.), SYMBOLIC COLLECTION, supermodel NIKI TAYLOR (for 10 years-including her sponsors Cover Girl, Nokia, Liz Claiborne), TYRA BANKS, LIV TYLER, country group RESTLESS HEART, songstress PATTY LOVELESS, songwriter JOHN PRINE (Grammy winning campaign), IMG MODELS - NEW YORK (7 years) and THE COMPLETE LES MIZ (another Grammy winning campaign) with distinct "news" images, product launches and sales/marketing concepts. Dassinger's unique approach to "public relations and marketing" has provided him with a professional career of 25 years and positions with ROGERS & COWAN (VP - Entertainment/Corporate Division in New York), ELEKTRA RECORDS (VP) and then forming, DASSINGER CREATIVE SERVICES.
At ROGERS & COWAN (1978-83) Dassinger rose to a VP position representing a host of entertainment and corporate clients including: BEACH BOYS, ASHFORD & SIMPSON, PINK FLOYD's "The Wall", AEROSMITH, VAN HALEN, WINGS, KENNY ROGERS (music and TV specials), RICK JAMES, TED NUGENT, KEN NORTON, CHICAGO, TAVARES, BEE GEES, CARLIN MUSIC, PAUL WILLIAMS, VICTOR KIAM/REMINGTON PRODUCTS COMPANY, RJR, MOET, TEAM AMERICA, GEORGE FOSTER, AMF's "Heavyhands", TEXAS INSTRUMENTS, GRACELAND's opening, 1982 WORLD'S FAIR/Knoxville, KRONENBORG BEER, MASTER CARD's launch of their "hologram card" and late '70's movie version of "FLASH GORDON".
Joining ELEKTRA RECORDS (WEA) as their VP/National Information (1983-86), Dassinger orchestrated the campaigns for the following artists/groups: ANITA BAKER, THE CARS, MOTLEY CRUE, METALLICA, JACKSON BROWNE, SIMPLY RED, THE CURE, THE DOORS, TEDDY PENDERGRASS, LINDA RONSTADT, KEITH SWEAT and the specialized Elektra lp boxed sets (ie. BLEEKER & MacDOUGAL) and their long form videos (ie. DOORS LIVE AT THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL) releases. Most of the above-mentioned projects became multi-platinum releases. Dassinger is also an adjunct professor at WILLIAM PATERSON UNIVERSITY teaching a self-styled/hands-on course for 10 years. Aside from developing a hands-on trendsetting public relations class, Dassinger has succeeded in securing features on "the class" and the university in the NEW YORK TIMES, HERALD NEWS, THE RECORD, MONTCLAIR TIMES and local NJ televised news programs.
"I've had quite an on-going career and it's provided me with visits to the White House, extensive travel, celebrity friendships, career accomplishments, awards, a university teaching position, corporate campaign successes and the ability to (give back) assist "fundraising" for charities like: UNICEF, Starlight Foundation, Save The Children, MS, Cystic Fibrosis, CFCF (Cigar Family Charitable Foundation) and United Negro College Fund," Dassinger stated.
In the year 2004, DC has broadened its corporate client base and with the downsized music industry, "other client businesses" are being pursued for representation. Currently representing Fuente Cigars, the company's charity for the Dominican Republic, "the Lennon 2005 documentary" and the two independent NJ record companies, DC is developing media avenues, collaborating with other "outside" vendor companies, marketing projects and creating newsworthy media concepts for its clients.
Danny Schecter, Media Channel, Global Vision
Danny Schechter is a television producer and independent filmmaker who also writes and speaks about media issues.
He is the author of “Embedded: Weapons of Mass Deception: How the Media Failed to Cover the Iraq War” (Prometheus Books, October 2003); “Media Wars: News At A Time of Terror” (Rowman & Littlefield, 2003); “The More You Watch, The Less You Know” (Seven Stories Press) and “News Dissector: Passions, Pieces and Polemics” (Akashic Books and Electron Press). He is the executive editor of MediaChannel.org, the world’s largest online media issues network, and recipient of the Society of Professional Journalists’ 2001 Award for Excellence in Documentary Journalism.
He has produced and directed many TV specials and documentary films, including “Counting on Democracy” about the electoral fiasco in Florida narrated by Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee; the post 9-11 film We Are Family” (2002) shown at the Sundance Film Festival; “Nkosi: A Voice of Africa’s AIDS Orphans” (2001) narrated by Danny Glover; “A Hero for All: Nelson Mandela’s Farewell” (1999); “Beyond Life: Timothy Leary Lives” (1997); “Sowing Seeds/Reaping Peace: The World of Seeds of Peace” (1996); “Prisoners of Hope: Reunion on Robben Island” (1995, co-directed by Barbara Kopple); “Countdown to Freedom: Ten Days that Changed South Africa” (1994), narrated by James Earl Jones and Alfre Woodard; “Sarajevo Ground Zero” (1993); “The Living Canvas” (1992), narrated by Billy Dee Williams; “Beyond JFK: The Question of Conspiracy” (1992, co-directed by Marc Levin and Barbara Kopple); “Give Peace a Chance” (1991); “Mandela in America” (1990); “The Making of Sun City” (1987); and “Student Power” (1968).
Schechter is co-founder and executive producer of Globalvision, a New York-based television and film production company now in its 16th year. He founded and exec-produced the series “South Africa Now” and co-produced “Rights & Wrongs: Human Rights Television. He has specialized in investigative reporting and producing programming about the interface between human rights, journalism, popular music and society. His career began as the “News Dissector” at Boston’s leading rock station, WBCN. Later, Schechter was a producer for ABC NEWS 20/20. He produced 50 segments for ABC and won two national Emmys and was nominated or two others.
A Cornell University graduate, he received his Master’s degree from the London School of Economics, and an honorary doctorate from Fitchburg College. He was a Neiman Fellow in Journalism at Harvard, where he also taught in 1969. After college, he was a full time civil rights worker and then communications director of the Northern Student Movement, and worked as a community organizer in a Saul Alinsky-style War on Poverty program. Then, moving from the streets to the suites, Schechter served as an assistant to the Mayor of Detroit in 1966 on a Ford Foundation grant.
Schechter joined the start-up staff at CNN as a producer based in Atlanta. He then moved to ABC as a producer for 20/20. Schechter has reported from 49 countries and lectured at many schools and universities. He was an adjunct professor at the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University. Schechter’s writing has appeared in leading newspapers and magazines including the The Nation, Newsday, Boston Globe, Columbia Journalism Review, Media Studies Journal, Detroit Free Press, Village Voice, Tikkun, Z, and many others.
Edward Summer, Producer
Edward Summer is President and Co-founder of Carefelly Considered Productions and has worked as a screenwriter, producer, promotional consultant for most of his life.
He is the originator of the "Conan the Barbarian" motion picture project and wrote its original screenplay. He has worked for LucasFilm where he served as a script and marketing consultant for Stars Wars Episode 4: New Hope. His intererest in science-related documentary productions as well as other related topics has led him to create and supervise How Science Works: The Film and Video Competition, an important international contest for the best videos about science and how it works. It is established as an activity of Buffalo International Film Festival, Inc., a 501c3 not for profit charity in 2005. The outreach of the activity is worldwide and will reach millions of
school children and educators. Founder, Acting Chair, Digital Nitrate Prize and The Buffalo International Film Festival. Additionally, Mr. Summer was the screenwriter of the Tokyo Movie "Shinsha," as well as Screenwriter Screenwriter, Storyboarding Supervisor: Nemo (aka Little Nemo, Adventures in Slumberland) in Tokyo, Japan (Producer Gary Kurtz) and Hollywood, California and has worked as a producer for Universal Pictures (now NBC Universal.)
Mr. Summer is the Founder, Acting Chair, Digital Nitrate Prize, which was founded as a not for profit to award a cash prize for the first individual, company or group to transfer from high silver nitrate film and digitally project the result in a side-by-side test so that the images and sound are indistinguishable from the original. The goal is to find a way to exactly preserve the original beauty of nitrate film in the digital age. Screenwriter, Walt Disney Pictures: Screenwriter: Walt Disney Pictures. Animated shorts: Mickey Mouse's Merry Pranks, The Devil and Donald Duck President,Summerfilm Productions, and he is a contributing writer for Skeptical Inquirer Magazine and Time Magazine.
Michael Brown, Serac Action Films
When asked what separates Michael Brown from other adventure filmmakers, Erik Weihenmayer (the first blind person to summit Mount Everest) remarks that the award-winning director has an incomparable level of focus, skill and commitment. “There are only a handful of candidates with the athletic ability and tireless drive to pull off what Michael accomplishes routinely,” says Weihenmayer. “The pool of candidates narrows even further when you consider Michael's eye for assembling the subtle pieces of a story.”
Brown’s tenacity and upbeat attitude have brought him to the summit of Mount Everest four times—once while shooting and directing Farther Than the Eye Can See which documented Weihenmayer’s historic ascent. The acclaimed film marked the first time a high-definition (HD) video camera was brought to the mountain’s peak. On Brown’s most recent summit in 2007 he co-directed MacGillivray Freeman Films' Return to Everest in 3D IMAX. Outside the Himalaya, he’s made first kayak descents of wild rivers in places like Bhutan and Chile and summited remote peaks on all seven continents, all with the camera rolling.
Brown, a pioneer of adventure filmmaking, founded Serac Adventure Films in 1992 both to make original documentaries and to lend his production and adventuring skills to filmmakers like MacGillivray Freeman Films, for whom he was Director of Mountain Photography on the award-winning IMAX film Alps: Giants of Nature. Brown was also a specialty cameraman on the critically-acclaimed film BLINDSIGHT; on A&E’s show “Touch the Top;” and on a number of feature films.
Since starting Serac, Brown has received over 40 international film festival and industry awards, including three national Emmys from five nominations. But making films is about more than winning awards and exploring uncharted territories. Serac is committed to “giving back” to their subjects in some profound way while capturing the intense emotion that make their films so powerful. Few who have seen them forget the poignant moment in Light of the Himalaya after the bandages are removed from the eyes of a Nepalese woman once blind with cataracts; or the elated exhaustion of 10 women in 3 Peaks 3 Weeks as they push beyond pain to achieve their goal.
While Brown has always loved telling stories (he grew up in family of adventure filmmakers), he also has a passion for science–especially climate, weather and geography, all of which he studied at the University of Colorado at Boulder while working at the National Snow and Ice Data Center. He’s put that knowledge into practice during productions for National Geographic Television, NBC, CBS, ABC, ESPN, OLN, the BBC, Rush HD, and the Discovery Channel.
With camera in hand, Brown goes into some of the world’s most hostile environments—where there’s little room for error—and comes away with stunning visual footage and stirring stories that remind us of our shared humanity. He believes that if you can imagine a goal, you can achieve it, and he brings that spirit, intensity, and invaluable expertise, to every project that Serac takes on.
“He's the only guy I know who can tell a funny joke at 26,000 feet, beat all of his teammates in chess, carry a 25-pound camera to the summit of Mount Everest, create an award-winning documentary, and through it all, remain just one of the guys, pouring every bit of his heart and soul into getting his team to the top,” says Weihenmayer. “[He] is the most accomplished filmmaker with whom I've ever worked.”
Vanessa Arteaga, Executive Producer, Jaman
Vanessa Arteaga is a ten-year film industry veteran working in content development and distribution. Vanessa is currently the Executive Producer for Jaman - an online film community for people passionate about world cinema - where she is charged with strategic acquisitions for the company and plays a role in online audience development, marketing and community outreach.
Prior to Jaman, Vanessa served as a senior development executive with Wellspring Media, formerly known as a leading theatrical film, television and video distribution company with an acclaimed independent film library. Following the 2006 acquisition of Wellspring by The Weinstein Co., Vanessa was the acquisitions and development consultant for LIME Media, a Revolution Company.
Vanessa has been invited to speak at major conferences and institutions such as Hot Docs, The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam [IDFA], True/False Film Festival, The Tribeca Film Festival, National Association of Latino Independent Producers, The New York Latino International Film Festival, The Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival, SilverDocs Film Festival, The RealScreen Summit, The Global Entertainment and Media Summit, The Caribbean Media Summit, The Institute of Spiritual Entertainment, The Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers, New York University, San Francisco Latino International Film Festival, The Bay Area Women In Film and Television organization, the New York and Chicago Chapters of the Independent Feature Project [IFP], The Los Angeles Film Festival, and Festival Do Rio.
She served as Executive Producer on such projects as the documentary Unknown White Male (theatrically released in 2006), a film that chronicles the mesmerizing journey of a man who spontaneously loses his memory and has no recollection of his past. The film was chosen as one of the fifteen Academy Award finalists for Best Documentary with coverage in the New York Times, which hailed it as a ‘thought-stirring documentary… that gets you to thinking about how our lives are built from wisps of memory and markers of memory like photographs.’ She also served as an Executive Producer on the feature-length documentary film Tarnation and secured it as a co-production for Wellspring. The film went on to receive worldwide acclaim, including the award for Best Documentary by the National Society of Film Critics; the award for Best Documentary at the Los Angeles Film Festival; the Sutherland Trophy at the London Film Festival, and the Emerging Filmmaker Award by the International Documentary Association. Tarnation was also nominated for Best Documentary of the year for both the IFP Gotham Awards and the IFP Spirit Awards. Vanessa managed the company’s content development strand, tracking documentaries and lifestyle programming in the production/post-production phase, ultimately securing and packaging them as a co-production property for distribution through Wellspring’s theatrical, television and home entertainment channels.
Prior projects include Devil’s Playground, and Fashion Victim: The Killing of Gianni Versace for Cinemax, Mama Africa for PBS, Muddy Waters: Can’t Be Satisfied for American Masters, Who is Alan Smithee? for AMC, Howard Hughes: His Movies and His Women for TCM and several pledge programs for PBS.
Arteaga served as a judge on this year’s News & Documentary Awards and currently sits on the Board of Women Make Movies as well as on the Advisory Board of the Florida Media Market. She is an active member of the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP), the International Documentary Association (IDA), and has served on the selection committee for Tribeca All Access - a program of the Tribeca Film Festival specifically designed to promote industry resources to filmmakers and producers of color.
Michael L. Weiner, Science and Health Innovator, Founder and former CEO of Biophan Technologies
Michael L. Weiner began his career at Xerox Corporation in 1975, where he served in a variety of capacities in sales and marketing, including manager of software market expansion and manager of sales compensation planning. In 1982, he received the President's Award, the top honor at Xerox for an invention benefiting a major product line. In 1985, he founded Microlytics, a Xerox spin-off company which developed technology from the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) into a suite of products, including the award winning Word Finder thesaurus, with licenses out to over 150 companies, including Apple, Microsoft, and Sony. Microlytics was acquired by a merger with a public company in 1990, which he then headed up through 1993.
In January 1993, Mike cofounded TextWise, a company developing natural language search technologies for the intelligence community. In 1995, he cofounded and served as CEO of Manning & Napier Information Services (MNIS), a Rochester-based company providing parent analytics, prior art searches, and other services, for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and many large corporations, and which subsequently acquired TextWise. He held this position until January 1999. MNIS remains private, and has generated several spin-off companies (Talavara and IP.COM). TextWise won the Department of Commerce Tibbetts Award for SBIR research in 1998.
In February 1999, Mike founded Technology Innovations, LLC, to develop intellectual property assets. In August 2000, Technology Innovations created a subsidiary, Biomed Solutions, LLC, to pursue biomedical and nanotechnology opportunities, investing in embryonic-to-seed stage innovations which generate new ventures and/or licenses. These companies are holding companies for intellectual property assets and equities in other ventures.
He has been CEO of Biophan Technologies, Inc. (Ray Kurzweil is on its Scientific Advisory Board!) since cofounding the company in December 2000, with Wilson Greatbatch, P.E., the inventor of the first successful implantable cardiac pacemaker, which Greatbatch licensed to Medtronic in 1960. Biophan's primary mission is to develop and commercially exploit technologies for providing competitive advantage to biomedical device companies, including technology for enabling biomedical devices to be safe and compatible with MRI diagnostics. Biophan spun out of Biomed Solutions in December 2000, through a merger with a public company, trading under the symbol BIPH. Biophan recently acquired a majority interest in TE-Bio, LLC, which is developing with NASA a patented biothermal battery for powering implantable devices based on thermal deltas in body heat, taking advantage of advances in nanomaterials.
Mike serves on the Boards of Biophan, Biomed Solutions, LLC, Technology Innovations, LLC, Speech Compression Technologies, LP, Nanoset, LLC, Myotech, LLC, TE-Bio, LLC, and OncoVista, Inc. These companies, all founded or cofounded by him, hold over 200 patents pending, issued, allowed, and/or licensed in (Biophan alone currently has over 150).
He has been a member of the Licensing Executives Society (LES) since 1984, and is a member of IEEE, AAAS, AFIO, and the NY Inventor's Club. He believes that society can benefit by improving the methods by which innovation moves from idea to application and commercialization.
Mike wrote the KurzweilAI.net article Simulating Reality. Read his interview in View From The Top. Listen to Mike's interview at the Milken Institute Global Conference. Listen to him talk about developments at Biophan. Read his interview with IEEE Spectrum.
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Seminars
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Films and Videos
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Event Schedule
Speaker Videos
Artists alley
Hotels
Contact Producers
Next-Gen is a Media Production and will be filmed for Broadcast and Distribution through a vast array of global partnerships. Attendance to Next-Gen-Expo is by invitation only. The broadcast and on-demand streaming of the events will be made available to the general public.
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