Tuesday, November 12th, 2019

3:45 PM - 5:00 PM

Track I: Haas Conference Center, Room 172 & 173, Live Webcast

Brand Partnerships in Sports - Wellness - Celebrity - Strategies with Media/Entertainment/Technology Partners

Beckley Mason, Executive Director Brand Partnerships, Bleacher Report

Autumn Nazarian, Senior Vice President Content+ // Sponsorship & Partnerships, Mindshare

Nam McGrail, Senior Vice President of Partnership Activation, LA Kings (NHL)

Sharad Devarajan, co-creator, with Cristiano Ronaldo, Striker Force 7 - Animated Series

Armando Yee Jr., Producer/Director, FOX Sports

Henry Watson, Vice President, Distribution and Partnership Marketing, Pac-12 Networks

Moderator, Mark Kapczynski, President, Storymill

Autumn Nazarian, Senior Vice President,Content+ // Sponsorship & Partnerships, Mindshare: Autumn has worked in partnership marketing for over 18 years, and brings both passion and expertise to the areas of sponsorship strategies and valuations, sports marketing, film/brand partnerships, celebrity endorsements, cause partnerships, and experiential platforms. Over the years, Autumn has worked with a wide range of blue chip clients across business

categories including CPG, healthcare, QSR, technology, media, spirits & liquor, automotive, financial, and more. In her current position Autumn is a senior member of Content+ leading the Sponsorship team, specializing in identifying, negotiating, and managing strategic partnerships for Mindshare clients with major sports leagues, talent agencies, film studios, B2B partners, national nonprofits and beyond. Autumn was picked as a finalist for Cynopsis Media’s 2016 Sports Marketer of the Year, and named one of their Top Women in Sports for 2019.

Henry Watson has 25+ years in the entertainment industry, beginning with multiple positions in sales, marketing, and international distribution during 8 years at MTV Networks. He moved on to DirecTV beginning with the startup of the International digital platform expansion; researching and securing platform partners in multiple territories around the globe and subsequently negotiating partnership and carriage agreements with content producers for Latin America and Japan. As Head of Programming for DirecTV Japan he was responsible for launching the first multichannel digital satellite platform to the country. DirecTV Japan launched with over 100 channels which included content from around the world along with iconic American brands such as the NBA, MLB, MTV, Nickelodeon, Discovery, and more. After a few entrepreneurial ventures and a stint in the music industry at Eleven Seven Music/10th Street entertainment as VP Business Development; developing brand partnerships with bands like Motley Crue, Blondie, Papa Roach, and Steven Tyler, he then moved into the sports realm, eventually landing at Pac-12 Networks where he is currently VP Distribution and Partner Marketing, responsible for domestic and international distribution and marketing, as well as digital licensing and syndication. Henry is a graduate of Arizona State University and a loyal Sun Devil alum and fan.

Beckley Mason, Executive Director Brand Partnerships, Bleacher Report: Beckley leads the Branded Content team at Bleacher Report, which is responsible for ideating and producing award-winning video for social distribution. His team specializes in creating branded video that activates B/R’s hyper-engaged young audience. Prior to joining Bleacher Report in 2016, Beckley got his start in media as a sportswriter. After blogging independently, he joined ESPN’s national NBA blog and contributed NBA analysis to the New York Times. He was on hand for Steph Curry’s breakout 54-point night at the Garden, and had the great honor of being made fun of by Greg Popovich in a media scrum. Beckley entered the marketing world at an events and social agency called Team Epiphany, writing copy and producing for the Nike Basketball account. Before merging marketing and editorial storytelling at Bleacher Report, he also worked on the Beats and Nike Digital Brand business at R/GA as a producer.

Nam McGrail is a senior vice president of partnership activation for the LA Kings (NHL), working within the Global Partnerships division of AEG, the largest sports and entertainment company in the world. Acting as an internal agency for AEG, Global Partnerships oversees worldwide sponsorship sales and activation for over 135 world-class platforms across five continents and numerous other assets including venues, sports franchises, events, tours, festivals and digital content among other AEG holdings. In just the last four seasons, McGrail has overseen more than $97 million in partnerships for the LA Kings, managing more than 90 partners across all categories for the two-time Stanley Cup-winning franchise. In her role, she is directly responsible for the renewal and maintenance of existing agreements as well as the identification of new sponsors. McGrail also leads a dedicated team that activates partnerships across the franchise at all levels.  As a key member of the Global Partnerships team, McGrail is an integral part of the group that has helped to triple sponsorship revenue for the LA Kings and has worked with a collection of high profile partners, including Bank of America, and California Tourism to name a few. McGrail has activated a number of topline agreements for the franchise, including partnerships with Staples, Inc. and Mercury Insurance. She continues to manage the naming rights partnership for STAPLES Center, which ultimately transitioned to the first lifetime naming rights extension for a major-market arena. Additionally, McGrail’s relationship with Mercury Insurance led the insurance company to increase its investment with AEG by more than 400 percent over the lifetime of its relationship.  McGrail joined AEG in 2008 as an account executive and was promoted to vice president in 2015. In addition to overseeing partnership activation for the LA Kings, she actively gives back to the community through a variety of charitable initiatives, serving as a board member for the Kings Care Foundation.  McGrail graduated with a B.A. in sociology from The University of California, Los Angeles, and obtained her graduate degree in early childhood education from The University of Southern California. She currently lives in Redondo Beach with her two children.

Armando Yee Jr is a LIVE TV Sports Producer/Director for FOX Deportes (FOX Sports in Spanish; the #1 Spanish Sports Network in America reaching over 21 million households) and TVG, the #1 Wagering Website & Horse Racing Network in the USA. On any given production he interacts with broadcast sponsors such as McDonalds, Subway, Little Caesars, Verizon, Valvoline, Snickers, and more. Most recently he has been producing for the FOX Sports App and all of TVG’s OTT services. He is a National Active Member of the TV Academy (Director’s Peer Group) and a Magician Member of the Magic Castle™ in Hollywood, CA.

Sharad Devarajan is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Graphic India Pte. Ltd. since 2011. For Sharad, Graphic India is the culmination of his lifelong dream to launch characters, heroes and stories that tap into the unique creativity and culture of India but appeal to audiences worldwide. In the same way the West has created superheroes or Japan launched anime, Graphic India is transforming the perception of India in animation from being an ‘outsourcer” to being ‘the source.’ Sharad overseas all aspects of the business and has had nearly two decades of experience in the character entertainment industry. Sharad is the Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Liquid Comics, an entertainment company that uses the medium of graphic novel storytelling to develop original content for various media platforms. Sharad was previously the Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Publisher of Virgin Comics LLC a company he co-founded, with Sir Richard Branson, authors Deepak Chopra, Gotham Chopra and filmmaker Shekhar Kapur. Sharad is also a Producer / Executive Producer on a number of theatrical live-action film and television projects in development including The Leaves with Summit Entertainment; Ramayan 3392AD with Mandalay Entertainment; The Sadhu with producer Mark Canton (‘300’ ‘Immortals’); Dominion: Dinosaurs Versus Aliens with filmmaker Barry Sonnenfeld (‘Men in Black’ trilogy); Coming of Rage, with filmmaker Wes Craven (‘Scream’); Gamekeeper, with filmmaker Guy Ritchie (‘Sherlock Holmes’); and Marked, with Emmy-Award Winning writer James Manos Jr. (Sopranos, Dexter); Devarajan also worked with filmmaker John Woo (Mission Impossible 2; Face Off) as Executive Producer on the animated web series, “John Woo Presents: 7 Brothers. In 2010, Sharad led a project with the Open Hands Initiative, to bring together a group of American and Middle Eastern students with disabilities to work together and create a new superhero that reflected their shared challenges & values. The superhero, “Silver Scorpion,” received worldwide acclaim for promoting advocacy for the rights of people with disabilities in the Middle East. President Clinton honored the students at the Clinton Global Initiative, stating that the comic book “will help to establish trust and understanding between cultures, to empower young people with disabilities.” In 2004, Sharad worked with Marvel as the creator of a new reinvention of Spider-Man as an Indian boy growing up in Mumbai, transforming “Peter Parker” into “Pavitr Prabhakar”. Unlike traditional translations of western characters into foreign markets, the new series, “Spider-Man: India” was heralded as one of the industry’s first “trans-creations.” For his activities, Sharad was featured as CNNfn’s ‘Maverick in The Morning’ and covered in numerous media including WSJ, Time, Newsweek, New York Times, Fox News, CNN, and NPR’s Fresh Air. He has been a speaker at various events including, TEDX Gateway, Fortune Magazine’s Global Forum, FICCI and Harvard Business School. Sharad holds a BFA from Syracuse University and an MBA from Columbia University where he is an Adjunct Professor at Columbia Business School teaching, Media Marketing and Entrepreneurship; Transmedia & Transcreation; and Just Capital & Cause Driven Marketing.

Mark Kapczynski has a successful track record as a serial entrepreneur, chief executive, and cross-industry expert.  He serves as an Executive Director of the UCLA Venture Capital Fund, helping to foster innovation connected to the university.  Programs include early stage investing, mentoring, and access to Intellectual Property from university patents. Mr. Kapczynski advises startup businesses as part of the LA Chamber of Commerce’s Bixel Exchange.  In this role, Mr. Kapczynski assists technology startups in Southern California to design their businesses, build out their teams and raise capital to fuel their growth. He also serves as a Venture Partner for Arrowroot Capital in Santa Monica, CA. At Arrowroot, Mr. Kapczynski focuses on investments in the SaaS market in need of growth capital to further develop their businesses.  The areas that Mr. Kapczynski addresses are Big Data & Analytics, Financial Services, and Consumer Internet. Mr. Kapczynski last served as VP of Corporate Development and Strategy for Experian's consumer businesses which include leading consumer brands: Experian, FreeCreditReport.com, and ProtectMyID. Through executing on over 8 M&A transactions, Mr. Kapczynski helped to facilitate Experian’s under-lying growth and profitability. Mr. Kapczynski graduated from UCLA film school and continues to be active in multiple industry associations that span media, mobile telecom, technology, and consumer internet.  He has 12 patents to his name and an additional 40 patents pending.