Tuesday, October 21st

3:50 PM - 5:00 PM

Track I: Salon I - Live Webcast from this Room

Leveraging Content and Celebrity For Cross-Platform Success: Brands and Entertainers Collaborate

Jen O'Connell, Head of U.S. TV, CORE Media Group

Jon Housman, Chief Executive Officer, Ora.TV

Adam Smith, Regional Vice President & National Automotive Sales, Vevo

Jeff Rose, CEO, The Rose Group

Christina Martin, CEO, Backstage Artist Lounge

Steven Masur, Senior Partner, Cowan DeBaets Abrahams & Sheppard LLP, Moderator

production of original unscripted content and executive produced “The Real Housewives of New York City” (Bravo), Emmy-nominated “Who Do You Think You Are?” (NBC), “Bethenny Ever After” (Bravo), “It's a Brad, Brad World” (Bravo), “The Marriage Ref” (NBC) and “Dogs in the City” (CBS), among other programs. Prior to Shed Media, O'Connell spent seven years at NBC, where she oversaw several reality series, including the development and first four seasons of “The Biggest Loser,” and longform events such as “10.5,” “It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie” and the Emmy Award-winning “The Matthew Shepard Story.” Before her tenure at NBC, O'Connell was a creative executive at Disney Channel, where she worked on its slate of movies, including “Johnny Tsunami,” “Halloweentown” and the Emmy-nominated “The Color of Friendship.” Previous roles included positions at Family Channel and MTM Productions. O'Connell is a member of The Caucus for Producers, Writers and Directors and The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

 

Jon Housman is Chief Executive Officer of Ora Media, a venture formed in 2012 and backed by renowned investor Carlos Slim Helu. Ora’s mission is to build a digital television network by developing, producing, and marketing high quality and differentiated TV shows with top talent and producers. In July, Ora launched its first program, Larry King Now, which returned the legendary talk show host to a daily television interview show. The show, available in the US on Hulu and Ora.TV, has been seen by millions of viewers, has won praise from the LA Times and NY Times (among others), and has featured such guests as Seth MacFarlane, Josh Gad, Chris Colfer, Betty White, Bill Maher, Bob Woodward, Eric Stonestreet, Chris Hardwick, Jenny McCarthy, Susan Sarandon, Billy Crystal, Edward Norton, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, Colin Farrell, George Lopez, Nick Cannon, Craig Ferguson, and Matthew McConaughey. Ora Politics, which focuses on politics and the 2012 election, was launched in partnership with Google and YouTube in August, and has featured Larry King, Meghan McCain, Tanya Acker, Ben Stein, Dan Rather, Michael Ian Black, Howard Grabber, Senator John McCain, Nicole Lapin, Scott Rasmussen, and many other leading commentators, pollsters, and politicians. Previously, Mr. Housman worked for seven years with News Corporation, leading and growing media and marketing enterprises across several sectors, including Fox Entertainment Group, Fox Interactive Media, Dow Jones, and News Digital. Mostly recently, he served as President, Digital Journalism for News Corporation, directing operations and investments in the digital news and journalism arena. Among other accomplishments, he led a global team which designed and built a mobile / digital content platform for TV, Newspaper, and Magazine content. At Dow Jones, he led The Wall Street Journal Europe SPRL, heading up the European subsidiary, which publishes in nine countries and distributes in 30 countries across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Mr. Housman initiated a significant restructuring and turnaround of the company, launched several new products including its first ever glossy magazines, and led the company’s successful bid to acquire eFinancial News in the UK. Prior to Dow Jones, Mr. Housman was Co-founder and Chief Executive of Jungle Media Group, a New York-based media company targeted at the ‘Young Professional’ marketplace, with award-winning properties in digital, print magazines, conferences, and books. He served as the company’s CEO from its founding in 2000 until its sale to Universum in 2005. He is the coauthor of the book, The MBA Survival Guide (Basic Books). Previously, Mr. Housman did stints with McKinsey & Co., and at the private equity group Leedan, with both jobs taking him to Europe as well as the Middle East.

 

Adam Smith, Regional Vice President & National Automotive Sales, Vevo:  Adam Smith is Regional Vice President & National Automotive Sales at Vevo, the world’s leading all-premium music video and entertainment platform.   Based in Playa Vista, Smith, one of Vevo’s top individual sales performers, was promoted to his current role in 2014. Since joining Vevo in 2010, Smith, previously Vice President, West Coast & National Entertainment Sales, has helped guide the company’s west coast sales team. While at Vevo, he has established key partnerships with dozens of brands particularly in the theatrical and entertainment sector, including Sony, NBCU, WB, Disney and Fox, along with Toyota, Red Bull, Adidas, Sony Electronics, Hyundai, Nissan and Best Buy among others.  Prior to joining Vevo, Smith spent five years in the sales department at MySpace, where he was the digital company’s top grossing worldwide seller. While at MySpace, Smith developed and managed key business relationships with major entertainment marketers such as Universal Pictures, USHE, WDSHE, WB, WHV, NBC, ABC, CBS, HBO and others.  Smith began his career in the season ticket services department at Maloof Sports and Entertainment, owners of the Sacramento Kings NBA team and Sleep Train Arena.

 

Christina Martin, CEO, Backstage Artist Lounge: Adventurous and independent, Christina grew up dancing and riding horses in the rural aryland suburbs of Washington D.C. The eldest of four, Christina was the “trail blazer” in the family, always leading the way and excited to discover new experiences. At age 19, she enrolled in an Adventure Sports Institute to train in wilderness survival, rock climbing, military orienteering and snowboarding. Following that, Christina attended the University of Colorado at Boulder, earning a B.A. in International Affairs. CU studies abroad took her to Spain: Granada, Madrid, Barcelona and a tiny village of Cabra de Santo Cristo. Christina's professional career began with an assignment to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, launching her into the finance industry. Conducting research under Greenspan's head of International Finance, Christina was recruited to trade derivatives for Charles Schwab headquarters, where she learned the ropes in equity markets and hedging strategies. September 11th came and so did the dot com crash in the bay area. Christina headed down to Santa Barbara to work for a $200 million hedge fund, but was quickly scooped up by the $10 billion fixed income fund from Bermuda, Starbuck Tisdale & Williams. At STW, Christina led investor relations across Ireland, Scotland, England, France, Monaco, Canada and all US territories. She became the firm's international ambassador, raising $2 billion in new assets before she was even old enough to rent a car. Also during this time, Christina earned her VFR Private Pilot License from Red Baron Aviation at Santa Barbara Airport. During a stint in the UK, Christina founded Equity Strategic Relations with senior studio execs at Pinewood Studios, where Christina's love interest at the time, Gerry Butler, was busy shooting the film, “Phantom.” From there, Christina's new company became a central force at Sundance, Toronto and other film festivals. Front row to LA and NY fashion weeks, Christina was swept into the world of Emmys, Oscars, Globes, VMAS and Grammys. In 2007, Christina traveled to Venice with Emilio Estevez, Lindsay Lohan, Freddy Rodriguez and Christian Slater. To date, Christina's philanthropic work has included Make a Wish, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Covenant House of California, Clothes Off Our Back, LACMA, Sound Art and City Of Hope, which funds translational research in the battle to find cures for cancer. Christina's emphasis on giving back is the reason Backstage Artist Lounge benefits multiple charities every tour date. Also a leading California fundraiser for Senator Hillary Clinton during the primaries, Christina co-hosted Clinton's young Hollywood events with Christina Aguilera, Penelope Cruz, Will I Am, Ben Silverman, Bret Ratner, Jeremy Piven and Ron Burkle. Christina has been featured in L.A. Business Journal, Cosmo, Wealth TV, Entertainment Tonight, Celebrity Justice, 944 Magazine, Ego Magazine, Free Magazine, Revolver Magazine, Skinnie Magazine, VH1, L.A. Confidential, Metal Assault, various newspapers and Variety. In 2009, Christina hosted the monthly Beverly Hills Luncheon Circle at the Peninsula of Beverly Hills, and her business leadership also landed her a seat at the table of Forbes Women of Power dinner. Christina is currently completing her 2011 Backstage Artist Lounge™ Tour.

 

Steven Masur, Senior Partner, Cowan DeBaets Abrahams & Sheppard, LLP: focuses his practice on corporate finance, M&A, intellectual property, strategic transactions, entertainment and new business concepts. He has over 20 years of experience advising digital media and entertainment clients on their corporate and intellectual property transactions and day-to-day business issues. Mr. Masur brings unique strategic business experience to CDAS. He has counseled enterprise level clients including Shazam, Virgin Mobile, Liberty Media, Yamaha, Nielsen Buzzmetrics, Bob Vila and Conde Nast Publications in corporate, digital media, and new business matters. He has also helped clients in a wide variety of early stage businesses, including mobile, games, digital music, film, publishing, advertising, retail sales, software and hardware to achieve breakthrough results. Mr. Masur's transactional experience includes a wide variety of deals in angel and venture capital finance, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and other strategic transactions in the US and abroad. He is passionate about helping new businesses break through to the mass market, and frequently assists clients with identifying and formalizing partnership opportunities with Fortune 500 and celebrity brands. Mr. Masur is especially knowledgeable about mobile, internet, social media, emerging content distribution models, e-commerce, games and mobile payments. Mr. Masur serves a variety of corporate and nonprofit boards and industry associations, lectures and regularly writes about major issues in venture capital, emerging businesses, entertainment law, technology and corporate strategy.

Day Two - SuperSession Day

Jen O'Connell, Head of U.S. TV, CORE Media Group: As Head of U.S. Television for CORE Media Group, Jennifer O'Connell launched and continues to build the company's in-house television team. She is responsible for the day-to-day operations of all CORE Media Group television activity in the U.S. and for developing and producing scripted and unscripted programming for cable and broadcast networks. Included in the diverse mix of programming that O'Connell oversees for CORE Media Group is “Love in the City” (OWN), for which she serves as executive producer, as well as two greenlit documentary series for Lifetime and Bravo. Also on the CORE Media Group production slate is an upcoming TruTV game show with partners Sean Hayes and Todd Milliner (Hazy Mills Productions). Prior to joining CORE Media Group, O'Connell was the Executive Vice President of Shed Media U.S., where she led the development and