Monday, October 20th

1:00 PM - 2:15 PM

Track III: Poolside Tent II

Big Media & Viral Experiences  - The Creativity Challenge - Social - Mobile – Web – Entertainment Content and Advertising – Aspiring to Greatness

Marcin Janowski, Head of Marketing and Publicity, International Film Trust

Chris Hewish, CEO, Bonanza Media, a DreamWorks joint venture

John Montgomery, CEO and Chief Innovation Officer, Threshold Interactive

Kirstin Benson, West Coast Editorial Director, WhoSay

Sophie Nicolaou, VP of Marketing and Communications, Main Street Films

Eric Moro, ‎Director of Programming, Entertainment, Wikia

Jennifer Cooper, Director, Media and Entertainment Strategy, Adobe

Sun Jen Yung, Managing Director, Headwaters MB, Moderator

Kirstin Benson is the West Coast Editorial Director at WhoSay. Having worked as a digital content creator as well as in front of the camera, Kirstin brings with her a unique perspective on the entertainment, celebrity, and tech worlds. Prior to joining WhoSay, Kirstin served as the Director of Entertainment and Engagement at ConnecTV. No stranger to start-ups, she was an instrumental member in launching Bonnie Fuller’s latest venture -- HollywoodLife.com -- at Penske Media Corporation. In addition to contributing to Parade Magazine and E! Online, Kirstin has produced the Primetime Emmys’ Backstage Live! show for the past two years.  A graduate of USC with majors in Communication and Theater, Kirstin also holds a Masters in Communication Management in the Entertainment Industry from USC Annenberg. Her hobbies include mixology, tap dancing and binge-watching TV.

Sophie Nicolaou, VP of Marketing and Communications, Main St Films: Sophie Nicolaou has over 20 years' experience working with some of the leading brands in entertainment. She was previously President of Marketing and Communications at Untitled Idea, overseeing content for promotional media campaigns for film properties including Miramax's THERE WILL BE BLOOD, Disney's NATIONAL TREASURE, and 20th Century Fox's MARLEY AND ME, as well as TV properties including ABC's 'Desperate Housewives', 'Grey's Anatomy' and 'Extreme Makeover Home Edition'. Nicolaou also served as the Director of International Publicity at 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment where she created and executed strategic publicity plans across international markets and licensees for 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight, Fox TV and MGM products. She led campaigns on such films as MINORITY REPORT, ROAD TO PERDITION, MOULIN ROUGE, NAPOLEON DYNAMITE, UNFAITHFUL, and TV series' '24', 'Buffy', 'Angel' and 'The X-Files'. Prior to Fox, she was Head of Press at Columbia Pictures, based in the London office, where she devised strategic publicity and corporate communication plans in the UK and Ireland. Campaigns she worked on include SNATCH, THE END OF THE AFFAIR, BIG DADDY, CHARLIE'S ANGELS, THE MASK OF ZORRO and THE PATRIOT. Established in 2007, Main Street Films is an independent filmed entertainment company and has emerged as one of the industry's most exciting production, acquisition, and distribution driven ensembles. On the distribution side, Main Street Films focuses on creating and distributing high quality films across multiple genres for diverse audiences within the entertainment space. Main Street Films will release Joe Manganiello's LA BARE on June 27; and the college comedy BANK$TAS starring Alan Thicke and Lara Vandervoort later this year. On the production side Main Street Films, along with RKO pictures, recently wrapped on the action comedy BARELY LETHAL, starring Oscar® nominee Hailee Steinfeld, Jessica Alba, Sophie Turner, and Oscar® nominee Samuel L. Jackson; and currently in post-production is Ami Canaan Mann's YOUR RIGHT MIND starring Katherine Hiegl and Ben Barnes.

Eric Moro, Director of Programming, Entertainment, Wikia; Eric joined Wikia in January 2012 as the Director of Programming for the company's Entertainment vertical. He leads the site's entertainment content strategy and development in the new editorial landscape of collaborative publishing. Thecollaborative environment connects community-generated content with marketers and industry members to create fresh, new editorial value. Prior to joining Wikia, Eric was the Editor in Chief of the Movies, TV, Blu-ray and DVD channels for the popular entertainment website IGN.com. Eric has extensive experience producing unique, compelling editorial content covering the entertainment industry, pop culture and movies. Prior to his work with IGN,Eric was Editor in Chief of both the print and online versions of Now Playing Magazine, as well as the executive editor for Midnight Productions, which covers the entertainment industry and independent film. In addition to his editorial expertise, Eric is a proven business strategist who has led the planning, publicity campaigns, and launch of these publications and severalother projects.

Jennifer Cooper, Director, Media and Entertainment Strategy, Adobe: Jennifer brings more than 20 years of experience in sales, business development and strategy management in technology and digital media industries. Her work with C-level digital media executives provides her with extensive knowledge of the media and entertainment industries, best business practices and solutions. Prior to joining Adobe, Jennifer was Founder and CEO of Mixercast, a social applications company. Before that, she served as Executive Director of Business Development for Yahoo! Inc., where she designed and launched Yahoo!'s first video subscription service and managed large media industry relationships including ABC/Disney, Viacom, Time Warner, Fox and NBC Universal. In addition, she was responsible for crafting and implementing broadband video content strategy, sourcing and acquisitions for co-branded portals such as ATT Yahoo! DSL, Verizon Yahoo! DSL, Rogers Yahoo! and BT Yahoo!. Jennifer began her career managing sales at enterprise technology companies such as Oracle, Xerox and IBM before advancing into strategic business development positions at VXtreme Inc. (now the Microsoft Windows media platform) and Microsoft. As founder and executive vice president of nCommand, Inc, Jennifer served on the board of directors and was responsible for securing initial rounds of Venture financing, as well as creating initial client relationships for nCommand's products. Jennifer holds a dual B.S. degree in computer science and marketing from San Francisco State University. She also participated in the MBA program at UC Davis and studied law at Golden Gate University.

Sun Jen Yung, Managing Director, Headwaters MB: Sun Jen Yung, Managing Director, joined Headwaters from Nightwood Capital LLC, a middle-market boutique advisory firm that she founded in 2009. Sun focuses on Digital Media & Internet and Media Growth companies. Her experience of 20 years in investment banking includes corporate finance coverage of Media (cable and entertainment), Digital Media, Internet and Software companies at Oppenheimer, Deutsche Bank , Lehman Brothers and J.P. Morgan. Sun also has experience in Equity Research at Lehman Brothers. She has completed over $38 billion in public (IPOs and follow-ons) and private equity, equity-linked and debt financings and M&A transactions. Sun serves on the Board of Directors for the YWCA of Greenwich (CT). She received B.A. degrees in Economics and International Studies at Macalester College in St. Paul, MN and an M.B.A. of Finance from Columbia Business School in New York.