Wednesday, October 22nd

2:15 PM - 3:30 PM

Track IV: Salon III

Content for the New Platforms: Custom Programming and Branded Advertising

Adam Graves, EVP of Client Service, Threshold Interactive

Larry Laboe, President of Production, SXM

Ryan McConville, SVP, Business Development & Partnerships, Kargo

Stacy Wormser, Sales Lead for the West Coast, Stumbleupon

Paul Frank, Executive Vice President, Series Development & Acquisitions, BabyFirst

Anthony Layser, Head of US Content Development, Dailymotion

Greg Letourneau, CEO, Knowlera Media

Bob Gold, Principal, Bob Gold & Associates, Moderator

Larry Laboe, President of Production, SXM: A member of the Producers Guild of America (PGA), Larry has contributed to marketing campaigns by some of the world's most prestigious advertising firms, including McCann-Erickson Worldwide, Publicis Groupe, Cheil, J. Walter Thompson (JWT) and Arnold Advertising Worldwide. After producing numerous short and feature film productions, Larry began producing television and new media projects with international digital production house SXM. The first network series was NBC's 'Ctrl' starring Tony Hale and Steve Howey. Since, Larry has produced for top networks and brands including Disney, NBC, CBS, VEVO, Dailymotion, MTV, Break Media (now DEFY Media), Comedy Central, IKEA, Samsung, Coca-Cola and Smuckers. These series have been viewed more than 1 billion times over both traditional and new media, and have garnered multiple awards at BANFF, SXSW, NATPE, MIPTV, Cannes and the Webbys. The series have been covered in publications worldwide and SXM has been profiled by publications such as Fast Company. Titles produced by SXM include CTRL, Fact Checkers Unit, Easy to Assemble, Armed Response, SOS Island, Matumbo Goldberg, The Comment Show, Kitchen Jam, Diagnosis Stories, Jump Outs and Extreme Retreat among others.

Stacy Wormser, Senior Partnership Executive, StumbleUpon: Stacy Wormser is responsible for west coast partnerships on the StumbleUpon platform. Most recently, Stacy led sales with the Brand Partnership and Media Sales team at Collective Digital Studios. Stacy has over a decade of digital and emerging media sales experience. Stacy was West Coast Manager of Digital Ad Sales for NBCUniversal, concentrating on the digital properties for E!, Style Network and G4. Stacy focused primarily on larger integrated packages with on-air and extended partners' brand reach across emerging platforms; digital, broadband video, mobile, iPad and VOD. Stacy is a graduate of Indiana University, Bloomington.

Paul Frank, Executive Vice President, Series Development & Acquisitions, BabyFirst: Paul Frank has been working in the entertainment industry for over 25 years. A seasoned executive with experience on both the creative and business side. Frank has worked as an Agent, Studio Executive, Independent Producer, and Head of Programming for a cable network. Frank’s current position is EVP Series Development & Acquisitions for BabyFirst. Baby First is carried in over 40 million homes in the U.S., and is the leading provider of kids educational programming, spanning the baby and toddler years. Prior to BabyFirst, Frank was Head of Television for Prospect Park, a leading Hollywood music, television and film management and production company. Frank served as Executive Producer on all projects. Paul still currently Executive Produces, USA Networks #1 show, Royal Pains, as well as the quirky comedy Wilfred, starring Elijah Wood for FX.   Frank also ran the TV department at The Firm, and produced such quality projects as the Emmy nominated CBS mini-series Comanche Moon from Oscar & Pulitzer prize winning author Larry McMurtry. This prequel to the immensely popular Lonesome Dove, was a six-hour television event that starred Val Kilmer, Elizabeth Banks, Karl Urban and Steve Zahn.   Frank has also held positions earlier in his career at Columbia/Tri-Star TV, and The William Morris Agency.   Frank is a graduate from Northwestern University (Class of 1989), and currently resides in the Los Angeles area with his wife Ashley, and his two sons Lewis and Benjamin.

Anthony Layser, Head of US Content Development, Dailymotion: Anthony Layser serves as Head of US Content Development for Dailymotion, the second most trafficked video sharing site in the world and the 31st most visited web site in the world. Prior to Dailymotion, Anthony led video strategy initiatives for AOL’s men’s and women’s lifestyle groups and produced thousands of video segments for AOL-Huffington Post, ranging from news and lifestyle to fashion and comedy.

Greg Letourneau, CEO, Knowlera Media: Greg has more than 20 years of traditional and digital media experience. He is the co-founder and CEO of Knowlera Media, the leading creator and distributor of branded video content. Knowlera's multiple channels of original video content receive more than 2 billion web views annually, and can be viewed on network-affiliated TV stations in more than 30 markets. Prior to Knowlera, Greg served in multiple executive positions at Anystream, the top supplier of digital media automation software. His early career included 3 years as Executive Producer of MCI-TV, and a number of years writing, producing and directing hundreds of film and videos for a variety of media companies and corporations around the country.

Bob Gold, Principal, Bob Gold & Associates:  During his more than 30 years in public relations and marketing, Bob Gold has helped launch a dozen companies, re-branded many others, and created successful campaigns for numerous start-ups. He has also helped raise millions of dollars for charities, taught hundreds of students and helped further strategic business plans for numerous businesses and associations.  Gold founded and manages Bob Gold & Associates, one of the country’s premiere independent integrated communications PR agencies. The agency earned widespread recognition for its successes in the cable industry representing such diverse clients as ESPN, Bravo, Bloomberg Television, Comcast, Charter (where among other achievements, Gold produced a one-hour music special starring Dan Aykroyd and Jim Belushi, Have Love Will Travel)  EchoStar, Deluxe Entertainment and Sprint, among others.  He has produced numerous television campaigns.  Gold is a sought-after moderator at key cable and digital content events, interviewing industry luminaries at Digital Hollywood, Media Innovations Summit, Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM) and more.   His agency is the sole North American affiliate in the Whiteoaks International Network, an international public relations agency organization that includes 17 tech-focused PR companies across four continents, in 25 countries, thereby increasing client visibility in the global marketplace.  He serves on the Board of Directors for the (SCTE) Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers Foundation where he is the only non-engineer to serve on the board. In 2007 Gold was inducted into the Cable TV Pioneers Hall of Fame and has served on numerous committees and boards that range from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences to the Alzheimer’s Association.  Gold holds a master’s degree in communications management from the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Southern California.

Internet Summit - Branding Day