John Stevenson is one the world’s pre-eminent animation With more than three decades of experience in filmed entertainment, John Stevenson brings a full and varied skill set to every project, all of which bear the stamp of his keen eye and unending creativity. His journey as co-director of Kung Fu Panda began in May of 2003. 

Prior to that, Stevenson held the post of Head of Story at PDI/DreamWorks serving as story artist for the DreamWorks worldwide blockbusters Shrek,Shrek 2 and Madagascar.  He also created storyboards for the animated features Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, starring Matt Damon; and Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, starring Brad Pitt, Michelle Pfeiffer and Catherine Zeta-Jones.  A core member of PDI/DreamWorks’ creative review committee, John had input on a variety of projects and also taught classes on the story process to artists at PDI and the San Francisco-based Wild Brain Productions.

John was also storyboard artist and character designer for DreamWorks/PDI’s Antz, Pixar’s Toy Story 2, Nickelodeon’s Fathead, Wild Brain/Fox’s direct-to-video feature FernGully 2: The Magical Rescue, Jim Henson Production’s Brats of the Dark Nebula and the title design of Walt Disney’s George of the Jungle.  During this period, he also acted as an independent creative consultant to CBS, NBC, Walt Disney Productions, Colossal Pictures and Protozoa Pictures. 

His previous freelance career as an artist, illustrator, character designer and art director exposed him to myriad projects in nearly every medium, working on:  England’s Wonder World theme park and the Children’s Museum of Bogotá, Columbia; commercials for Pepsi, Kellogg’s Rice Krispies and Fosters Lager;  feature films The Great Muppet Caper, The Dark Crystal,Labyrinth, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Raggedy Rawney.

Stevenson’s entrée into entertainment began with character/product design, storyboarding, show concepts and background puppetry on the seminal The Muppet Show for Jim Henson Productions.

In 1991, Zareh co‐founded Animal Logic with the vision to build a creative environment allowing artists and technicians to harness the opportunities offered by digital technologies for visual effects and animation.

With Zareh’s acute business skills, energy and vision he has steered Animal Logic to continually innovate and to become one of the worlds most respected digital production companies. From the outset, Zareh has been a passionate advocate of emerging digital production processes and technologies and it is this vision that has helped Animal Logic gain its reputation for creative and technical innovation and excellence.

Since its inception, Animal Logic has produced award winning digital animation and visual effects for international television commercials, film and television visual effects, and animated features. Its credits include Matrix, Matrix: Reloaded, Babe, Moulin Rouge!, Harry Potter Goblet of Fire, Hero, House of Flying Daggers, 300, Australia, Knowing, Happy Feet, Legend of the Guardians and Sucker Punch.

Zareh served as Executive Producer on Academy Award wining Happy Feet, and this year as the Producer for the 3D animated feature adventure film Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole directed by Zack Snyder.

President of Marvel Animation (Los Angeles)

Eric Rollman is President of Marvel Animation.  In his current capacity as President, Eric is responsible for development, financing, production, co-productions, marketing and worldwide distribution to television and home entertainment of all animated television and film properties. 

Marvel Animation has an unprecedented slate of direct to video animated films including: Ultimate Avengers, Invincible Iron Man, Hulk VS. and the soon to be released Thor: Son of Asgard.  In addition, there is an unprecedented lineup of animated television series, which currently includes Iron Man Armored Adventures, Wolverine & The X Men, Spectacular Spider-Man, Super Hero Squad, Black Panther, The Avengers and Marvel Anime.  Under Rollman, Marvel Animation is now in the unique position of having current series on all major kids networks in the U.S. and in most international markets where he has secured significant on-air block commitments on both free and pay channels.

Prior to joining Marvel in 2004, Rollman headed the launch of the Global Gaming League, founded to organize competitive video gaming and manage the careers of the top players where he served as President & Chief Creative Officer.

Eric was a key executive from 1987-2002 for Haim Saban where he spearheaded worldwide production for Fox Family Worldwide/Saban Entertainment/International. In his role as President, Fox Family Productions, Rollman managed thousands of hours of programming as well as the internal production infrastructure that serviced the Fox Kids Networks, Fox Family Channel, and Saban International until its sale to ABC/Disney in 2001 for US$5.4 Billion. 

Rollman began his career in variety television as a casting director working for legendary producer Bob Banner on the television series Star Search as well as a myriad of series and specials.

Rollman is credited on over 5000 hours of animated and live action television series and films and is a graduate of Indiana University with a B.A. in Telecommunications.
 

Yaosh Ho is Director of Worldwide Digital Media at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. In his current role, Yaosh is responsible for the strategic analysis, business development, programming, and partner management of MGM’s Video and Mobile markets.

Currently, Yaosh supervises the MGM Digital Media’s Long-Form Ad-Sponsored VOD operation, which includes agreements with Hulu, CBS (TV.com), Echostar (Sling.com), Comcast (Fancast), Google (YouTube), and Betawave. Yaosh also oversees MGM’s Short-Form content distribution, including partnerships with YouTube, the Sony Minisode Network, and Moderati.
 
Yaosh first came to MGM in 2007 and began his tenure managing MGM’s Electronic Sell-Through (EST) and Online Transactional VOD (T-VOD) markets, overseeing programming, marketing, and packaging. 
 
Prior to MGM, Yaosh was Manager of Business Planning at the Associated Press (AP) in New York. In that role, Yaosh managed the AP Podcasts, was a member of the launch team of AP’s Digital Cooperative initiative, helping to rationalize AP’s news gathering operations in South America and Asia. Yaosh projects resulted AP’s first ever direct-to-consumer revenue.
 
Prior to AP, Yaosh was a product manager for Amazon Unbox, an innovative effort to extend Amazon’s dominant position in the packaged home video media market to EST and Online T-VOD. Prior to Amazon, Yaosh held several software engineering and product management jobs in Silicon Valley startups. He started his career at Hewlett-Packard.

At Nokia, Mark is helping drive the next X-Media solutions strategy where his unit creates strategic consumer facing IPR in X-Media.  

He sits on the Global Management Team for Media & Games.  Previous to this Mark headed up  Nokia Games Publishing which released ten titles in 2008 and several in 2009 including the 2008 Meffys Winner, Hooked On: Creatures of the Deep.  He was also responsible for technology strategy and business development, industry relations and industry marketing, partnerships and Nokia internal collaboration and technology roadmapping. He then decided publishing games was much more fun!

Previous to joining Nokia, Mark was a well known entrepreneur and highly respected authority in media technology, frequently hosting lectures and publishing research on the sector. He has a PhD in Computer Vision and an MBA from London Business School.  He is also a Board Member of the EMEA chapter of the Mobile Entertainment Forum.

 

Highly respected, Emmy Award-winning entertainment executive Linda Steiner has led the development and production of iconic hit television series enjoyed by audiences in the U.S. and in more than 150 countries around the globe.

Steiner is Senior Vice President, Creative Affairs for Warner Bros. Worldwide Television where she seeks out, develops and produces innovative series, featuring some of the world’s most recognizable characters such as Batman, Superman and Looney Tunes. 

Prior to that, Steiner served as Senior Vice President, Creative Affairs and Creative Executive for Warner Bros. Animation, where her responsibilities included developing new television series, online animated product, cartoon shorts, television specials and direct-to-video projects for the studio.  Additionally, she served as the liaison between the producers and artists of Warner Bros. and Kids’ WB!, as well as Cartoon Network on behalf of the creative talent for both Warner Bros. Animation and Hanna-Barbera, which operates as a boutique house within the studio.

Before that, she headed ABC’s Children’s Entertainment, where she managed the creative development, marketing and scheduling of ABC’s Saturday morning children’s programming and ABC After-School Specials.  Before that, she served as Vice President, ABC Children’s Entertainment from 1993 to 1995.  Steiner became Associate Director in 1991 and in 1993 was named Director, ABC Children’s Entertainment.  She joined the ABC Television Network in 1985 holding various positions within ABC Entertainment and ABC News until she joined the children’s entertainment division in 1990, as Manager, Children’s Programs, ABC.

She has been nominated for five Emmy Awards, winning one.

Co Founder, CEO & Managing Editor of AnimationXpress.com (Mumbai)

AnimationXpress.com is the internationally acclaimed Animation, VFX, Gaming information portal and Business2Business company.

Anand is thoroughly networked with a 1000+ studios across India, China and the Asia Pacific and with an equal number of content buyers, distributors and outsourcing studios from the US & Western Europe. He also loves writing and traveling and is currently developing four children focused Intellectual Properties that will reach children across the globe in 2010.

Eric’s new company WILD BOAR MEDIA (WBM) was established to develop and produce new animated works and original concepts.

To date, WBM has worked with comic book companies, CG production studios, traditional 2D animation studios, and celebrities on the creation of new animation.  WBM’s first film was released exclusively in Japan in April of 2009.  WBM is currently working with world renowned singer Beyonce on a new animated project set to launch in 2010.

Previously, Eric worked at Japanese animation studio GONZO as the Creative Director for ‘fusion’ animation (combining east and west influences).  Rising to the position of Vice President under the International Division (GDH International) after a short two years, Eric worked to creatively brand manage the worldwide sales and distribution of over a dozen Japanese anime series (some of which have aired on US TV stations – like Samurai7 and Last Exile), as well as kick start original series and special projects. 

Third, Eric discovered, developed, and acts as a producer and brand manager for the breakthrough animated series and franchise Afro Samurai.  After airing the 5 part mini-series, Namco-Bandai then stepped-up to purchase the rights for next-generation console video game (released Jan 2009), and FUNimation agreed to distribute the DVDs as well as handle all merchandise and apparel rights.  The series recently completed it’s 2nd season (called Afro Samurai: Resurrection) which also aired in Jan 2009 of which Eric is co-producer and co-writer. 

Eric was also Executive in Charge of Development and Production for all animation at Atomfilms (recently purchased by Viacom) and from 1994 -1999, Eric acted as Director of Development for all of MTV Animation’s new series pitches and specials.
 

Heather Kenyon oversees new project initiatives for Starz Animation Toronto. Her extensive animation career includes serving as head of series development for Cartoon Network as well as monitoring the industry pulse as editor-in-chief for Animation World Network. There is nobody that Heather Kenyon doesn’t know.

Tatiana started her career working in production at TVOntario in Toronto, Canada.  After 6 years, she moved to Japan and began working on the business side of the industry at NHK.  There, she secured co productions in the HD Hi-Vision dept.

Later, she moved to England where she lived for 7 years and concentrated on the Children’s Animation market.  She worked in distribution and financing at BBC Worldwide and was later named the children’s genre specialist.  At Endemol UK she was brought in to spearhead Endemol’s thrust into the children’s market but left when she became the Managing Director of Egmont Imagination UK.  Egmont Imagination UK was a subsidiary of Egmont, the largest children’s publisher in Europe.  Here Tatiana lead the distribution team and built the catalogue.  The world market fell under her remit and she was instrumental in placing and financing series like Lizzie McGuire, Paz, the Penguin for Discovery Kids US, and The Fairytaler, a Hans Christian Andersen Fairytale anthology.

She founded Bejuba! Entertainment in 2004, specializing in the executive production, financing, co-production and international distribution of children’s and family entertainment. 
 

As Founder and CEO of The1stMovement, Ming understands digital media technology in a way rarely seen in the Advertising industry today. 

Named as one of the "Top 10 Asian Entrepreneurs"by Inc. Magazine, Ming has led the agency to numerous accolades including 2-time Inc. 500 fastest growing companies in America, 2-time Best Places to work in LA, Top 20 agencies in LA & Denver, Digital Media Firm of the Year, and 5000% growth in 5 years with his passion for innovation and company culture.

As the recipient of the prestigious Emmy® award in Interactive Media, Ming has created innovative digital assignments for some of the world's most renowned brands including 20th Century Fox, ABC, Adobe, Apple, AMD, Cisco, Disney, Microsoft, Nike, HP, Intel, Sun Microsystems, Sony Pictures and more.

A vocal member of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Entrepreneurs' Organization, Ming serves as a proactive advocate for entrepreneurs everywhere. He serves as a mentor in the AFI's Digital Content Lab, is an Interactive member for the National Academy of Television Arts & Science and is sought after as a thought-leader from his remarkable perspective of the digital advertising industry.

    "Fastest Growing Private Companies" - Los Angeles Business Journal - 2011
    "Digital Media Firm of the Year" - ABA Los Angeles - 2011
    "Top 10 Asian-run Companies in America" - Inc. Magazine - 2011
    
    "Inc. 500 Fastest Growing Private Companies in America" - Inc. Magazine - 2011
    "Best Places to Work" - Los Angeles Business Journal - 2011
    "Agency Person of the Year" - Finalist, thinkLA - 2011
    
    "Top 20 Ad Agencies" - Los Angeles Business Journal - 2011
    "Top 20 Minority-Owned Companies" - Denver Business Journal - 2011
    
    "Top 15 Ad Agencies" - Denver Business Journal - 2010
    "Inc. 500 Fastest Growing Private Companies in America" - Inc. Magazine - 2010
    "Best Places to Work" - Los Angeles Business Journal - 2010
    "Top 10 Asian Entrepreneurs in America" - Inc. Magazine - 2010

Specialties:

• Digital Brand Strategy

• Interactive Advertising

• Integrated Marketing

• Emerging Technologies

• Digital Media Innovation

Si-Bum Kim is one the most highly respected and influential people in Korean animation, combining both creative production and industry policy development.

Si-Bum is the Founder of  Characterline Inc. which creates, manages, and markets IP (Intellectual Property) including characters, animation, comic, cartoons, including licensing and merchandising across print, broadcasting, online, mobile, and theme parks.

Mr. Si-Bum KIM has been active in many areas. Besides of his own business, he was also a chairman of an internet company providing 3D animation creating software in online, and advisor of an IT company producing GPS golf rage finder.

He has been a senior advisor of KOTRA (Korea Trade and Investment Promotion Agency) which is the government agency to promote international business between Korea and other countries. Now he is an advisor of KOCCA (Korea Culture Contents Agency) which is the Korean government agency charged with the promotion of Korean culture business including character, animation, movie, music, game, etc. He has conducted trainings in many countries including Japan, Taiwan, Denmark, Bangladesh, Uzbekistan, Mongolia as well as Korea.

Professor Kim has also served as an adjunct professor of business in Hanyang Business Graduate School and now teaches International E-Commerce, International Marketing for Culture Business, Character Planning & Creating at Hanyang University.

He has developed a training program, Leadership Academy; conducts ‘Intellectual Property Marketing’ courses at KOCCA; and is a co-author of two books: Introduction of Cultural Contents and Becoming CEO with Idea and Guts at Twenties.
 

A key figure in the development of Finnish 3D animation scene, Antti Haikala is one of the founders of Anima Vitae, the biggest animation studio in Finland.

 He has been working with project both big and small: commercials, TV-series and feature films. Antti is currently directing a feature length animation The Magic Crystal.

Antti's main interest in 3D animation is finding new ways of executing projects but at the same time understanding the important parts of the tradition. This has led to many interesting collaborations such as Niko & The Way To The Stars, Anima Vitae's latest feature production.

Co-productions and collaborations have been an important part of Antti's career since most of the big European animations are still co-productions. Finding new interesting combinations and possibilities in the 3D animation field has been Antti's ongoing mission for many years.

Dr. Leon Xiao is a Professor and Vice Dean of the School of the Art & Communication at Beijing Normal University in Beijing, China.

He is the creator of the digital media curricula at BNU and founded the Institute of Digital Media, a pioneer platform equipped with state-of-the-art technology, which serves as the model for excellence in digital media curricula for all of China. Dr Xiao is also the Head of the BNU Jingshi Institute of Cultural & Creative Industry supported by the government of Beijing.

Dr. Xiao is a member of the Multi-Ministry Committee for Promoting Animation & Comics Industry, an executive member of New Media Arts Curricular Development Committee under the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council, PRC, and a member of other expert committees for the Minister of Education, Minister of Information Industry, etc.

Dr. Xiao lived in the United States for almost 20 years, where he earned his MA and PhD there and continued his postdoctoral work.  Dr Xiao was Systems Chief at Blue Sky Studios of 20th Century Fox for 5 years, where he and his team produced special effects for films including Joe's Apartment (1996), Simple Wish (1997), Titanic (1997), Alien: Resurrection (1997), Lulu on the Bridge (1998), Star Trek: Insurrection (1998), as well as the Academy Award winning films Bunny (1998), Jesus' Son (1999) Fight Club (1999), and Ice Age (2002).  Dr Xiao also taught at both New York University and Tisch School of the Arts.

Professor Xiao returned to China to research and promote the digital media, digital arts, cultural & creative industry sectors.  He has published over 20 books, is the Chairman of ACM SIGGRAPH Beijing Chapter, a judge of the China TV Golden Eagle Award, China Academy Award, and Student Film Festival.

Mike has been a Development Manager with Screen Australia (formerly Australian Film Commission) since 2005, with responsibilities across animation, digital media, feature film, television series, and documentary.

Projects funded and managed have included comedy series Wilfred andBogan Pride, feature film Black Water, documentary features Words from the City and Bastardy, cross-platform projects First Australians Onlineand Girl Friday, and many others. He has managed a number of award-winning short animations, including Mutt, (Winner Yoram Gross Animation Award at Sydney Film Festival, selected for Annecy, and AFI-nominated for Best Animation) and Ephemeral (Most Innovative Film, Sydney Film Festival, and selected for Palm Springs and Stuttgart). Mike has also managed special animation initiatives in partnership with Australian broadcasters.

Prior to joining the AFC, Mike worked with animation studio Monkeystack, where he produced 2D/3D animation and VFX for television commercials and shorts, and mobile phone content, websites, and games. Projects included Dots & Diamond, an AIMIA-Award winning online animated game for ABC and La Musica Fantastica, an interstitial mini-series for mobile phone for ABC, SAFC and mNet.

Previously, Mike was Manager of Industry Development at the South Australian Film Corporation.  His remit covered all programs and initiatives designed to help nurture and strengthen the film, television and digital media industries in the State.

Prior to emigrating from the UK in early 2003, Mike was co-ordinator of the short film initiatives and related training at the UK Film Council, the British government's strategic film body.  Prior to this, Mike worked in independent feature film and television production in the UK.  During his time as Development Exec at Picture Palace North he was involved in the feature films Large and The Acid House, both for FilmFour.
Mike has also worked extensively in script evaluation, with clients including the Danish Film Institute, North by Northwest screenwriting initiative, the First Film Foundation (UK) and Yorkshire Media Production Agency (UK).