Wednesday, April 29th, 2015

Track I: Salon II - Live Webcast from this Room

9:00 AM - 10:15 AM

Innovation in Video Advertising: Enhancing Brand Experience - Maximizing Revenue in Syndication, Ad Insertion and Live Streaming

Neerav Shah, Vice President & General Manager Multiscreen Video Infrastructure, ARRIS

Steven Harnsberger, Vice President, Global Business Development and Strategic, Partnerships, Imagine Communications

Alon Golan, Head of Strategic Accounts, Americas, INNERACTIVE

Ross McCray, co-founder and CEO, VideoAmp

Yuval Fisher, CTO MVPD, Imagine Communications

Lauren Cole, President, Cole Media, Moderator

Ross McCray, co-founder and CEO, VideoAmp; Ross has never done well with following standards and always preferred wandering off the beaten path. Starting from his elementary days, he remembers getting in fights with his teachers about wanting to do things differently. One of the reasons he fell in love with software development at a young age was because he viewed it as his canvas for imagination and creative freedom. Years later, after his parents told him they wouldn't buy every video game he wanted (reality check), he decided to sharpen his engineering skills and create an E-Commerce solution to power business's retail efforts online. After managing that company for a few years, he wound up at UCLA to study mathematics and astrophysics. He eventually dropped out to start a mobile app development agency in 2011. Tackling the new emerging mobile industry ultimately led him to learn about his passion in AdTech. Coming onboard at Channel Factory to lead its product and technology initiatives while headquartered out of an apartment in downtown LA taught Ross the ins and outs of AdTech. As one of the first YouTube seeding experts, he helped bootstrap and grew the business to a client base of over 350+ of the Fortune 500 brands and the rest is history.  In Ross's free time he enjoys being active, obsessing over life hacks, investing and advising StartUps.

Alon Golan is INNERACTIVE’s Head of Strategic Accounts and spearheads the company’s video efforts in N. America.  Mr. Golan has years of experience in the ad-tech industry, specializing in supply side mobile video innovations and technical implementations. Alon has previously worked in Information Security and has 4 years of experience leading software and hardware high-end technological projects. He is a technology geek and a basketball lover.

Steven Harnsberger, Vice President, Global Business Development and Strategic, Partnerships, Imagine Communications: Prior to Imagine Steve was a Co-Founder of Freestyle Digital Media, a leading Independent Film VOD aggregator, and VP at Sonic Solutions (acquired by Rovi), where he did early VOD deals with CinemaNow, Amazon, DirecTV, and Google. Steve currently consults thru OTT Digital Services Inc., a digital consulting business for the new multi-screen ecosystem doing OTT, VOD, studio content licensing and independent film distribution projects. Steve has also held senior level business development positions at Jaman and NetTV, two OTT VOD pioneers. Steve also heads KASA.com, a non-profit which runs a study abroad program in Lushan China. He holds a degree in Social Sciences from UC Berkeley.

Yuval Fisher, CTO MVPD, Imagine Communications: Yuval Fisher is the CTO, MVPD at Imagine Communications and provides the vision for MVPD solutions, including the ad insertion ecosystem, cDVR recording manager, and the cloud orchestration suite.  Fisher is a recognized authority in IP video with more than 20 years of experience in multimedia technology implementation.   Fisher chaired multiple subgroups and was one of the lead editors of the systems specification in MPEG, as well as serving as the chair of the Internet Streaming Media Alliance (ISMA) and participating on the board of the MPEG Industry Forum. He has authored numerous technical articles and regularly presented papers and conducted technical workshops at major industry and academic events.  Fisher holds a Ph.D. in Mathematics and a Master’s in Computer Science from Cornell University, and holds multiple patents in multimedia and image processing technologies.

Lauren Cole, President, Cole Media: Prior to establishing Cole Media, Ms. Cole spent many years at Sony Pictures Entertainment in the International Television division where she was responsible for launching, making investments in, and supervising Sony's cable channel investments in Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Australia. During her tenure at Sony, she helped launch or make investments in 35 channels, including several versions of the company's AXN and Sony Entertainment Television brands, premium movie channel partnerships, music channels, and other general entertainment and specialty channels. In addition to identifying opportunities and negotiating agreements to establish the channels, she also supervised the operations on an ongoing basis, either directly in the case of Sony-owned channels, or as an active Board Member for joint venture channels. Ms. Cole also headed up operations for Columbia TriStar International Television. Ms. Cole was also Chief Operating Officer of PacketVideo Corporation, the first company with technology and applications to stream video over wireless devices. At PacketVideo she oversaw all of the business activities of the company, both domestically and internationally. Under her supervision, PacketVideo established contractual relationships with over 200 global media and internet companies, including all of the major studios, and numerous major broadcasters, cable companies, and streaming media companies around the world. Ms. Cole also worked in Warner Bros.' Strategic Planning Dept, and was an Associate Consultant at Bain and Company. She graduated with honors in Applied Mathematics from Harvard College and has an M.B.A from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. She currently serves as a Mentor to start-up companies at Amplify LA, StartEngine, and MuckerLab.