Rosie is a transmedia executive producer with 15 years experience in expanding stories across digital platforms. 

She is currently working with digital agencies in formulating branded content and is also a story architect for film and TV companies, helping them create transmedia franchises and experiences that really connect with audiences. Previous to this she was Multiplatform Commissioner for the BBC; responsible for delivering the next generation of connected TV, mobile, web and IPTV platforms for BBC Drama and Films. She has won numerous awards for her work, including a recent Webby for best online drama.

Poonacha Machaiah, a successful serial entrepreneur and intrapreneur, has nearly two decades of proven track record in building start-up businesses, leading Fortune 100 companies and forming strategic alliances.

Poonacha is currently the CEO of Qyuki (founded by Hollywood director Shekhar Kapur and Oscar award winning music composer AR Rahman), a new media initiative focused on ‘social expression platform’ targeted at the creative community. Prior to Qyuki, he founded ABOVE Solutions a leading technology and media platform solution provider. He has also founded a new media production company – Coorg Media, focused on creating transmedia content.

Prior to returning to India in 2007, he was in the US for close to two decades and has held senior leadership positions in the with companies such as Motorola, Visionael, Nortel, Dimension Enterprises, Iridium and Sprint.

Poonacha has been actively involved in the community in leading charities such as Joy of Sports and SCAN in Northern Virginia and as a volunteer firefighter in the Vienna Volunteer Fire Department. He is currently a business mentor for the entrepreneurship programs at St.Josephs University, Bangalore and Singapore Management University, Institute of Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
 

Before setting out to giving sustainable business direction to an African brand in new media for the mobile screen, Emma Kaye did much the same for African animation and entertainment.

In animation, her credentials as co-founder of Triggerfish Animation (one of the top animation companies producing award winning Sesame Street globally) and AnimationSA.org (the voice of the animation industry), and as founder of the animation festival for Sithengi (Africa’s largest film market), stand out. In the last few years, her experience has catapulted her into the field of new media; first as CEO of Breakdesign, and most recently as founder of Gate7 New Media, a mobile media, entertainment and content company. Breakdesign, became one of the top seven Flash Lite developers globally for Nokia and Adobe under Emma’s direction.

In 2008 Emma co-founded Mobfest - Africa’s first User Generated Mobile Content platform. The first channel was launched, fiction on phones, Novel Idea. It is South Africa’s first and channel text based entertainment mobile channel, serialized fiction written specifically for the phone. Emma Kaye is driving key projects and initiatives within the world of new media, content and entertainment in mobile telecommunications. Emma Kaye is active in mobile entertainment consulting and social development. Widely recognized as a thought-leading industry catalyst in animation and mobility, Emma is often invited to attend global initiatives forging her leadership role in this dynamic environment. Her recent election onto the board of the prestigious Mobile Entertainment Forum  as the first person in Africa to be nominated, is recognition for her thought leadership in the area as well as allowing her unprecedented access to strategic information and research across the entire range of global mobile entertainment activities. Emma has been elected as one of the top 50 women globally in the world of mobile entertainment, for the second year running, a significant accolade for her innovative thinking. More recently Emma has been selected by the Mail & Guardian as one of South Africa’s top business women in 2010.

Says Emma: “Mobility has huge socio-economic, educational, commercial, societal and individual significance. Emerging economies have been hugely resourceful in using mobility in socio-economically important ways, to empower micro enterprises. By embracing mobility as a content delivery platform, emerging countries or continents can leapfrog developed economies, establishing a unique societal brand in a vibrant new industry”.

Dominic Knight has worked on The Chaser's creative projects in all media, including print, online, stage, radio, television and tele-evangelism. He recently began writing fiction in the hope that it will lead to fewer arrests than his work with The Chaser, and his novels Disco Boy and Comrades have been published by Random House. He is currently adapting his life into a movie called The Antisocial Network.

Nicoletta Iacobacci is a seasoned multimedia and transmedia producer. Since 2006 she has been Head of Multiplatform at the EBU where she manages Eurovision TV and EBU’s transmedia activities and projects, co-ordinating and supporting the most interesting and innovative TV professionals in European public service media.

From 2002 until 2006 she spearheaded RAI’s Interactive Factory and the activities of experimental content for Digital Storytelling and Interactive TV productions at various universities in Roma (La Sapienza), Firenze (Master Multimedia), Milano (Brera, IULM), and Torino (IED).

Between 1993 and 2002 Nicoletta led the RAI New York Multimedia Factory, as well as produced and co-wrote multiple TV series, documentaries and live events. In 1993 she created and managed RAI’s first website: planetitaly.it

Nicoletta’s background comprises graphic design, television producer, costume and set design for theatre and TV. She holds a Master in Communication Arts (Computer Graphics) from NYIT.

Peter Shiao is the founder and chief executive officer of Orb Media Group, an entertainment company based in Los Angeles and Beijing that produces, finances and markets entertainment franchises with transformational themes, led by films and on-line games that unite the international and Chinese markets.

Among Orb’s major initiatives is a comprehensive partnership with the 1500 year old Shaolin Temple to deliver films, games, television, animation, large scale live events, virtual worlds and merchandizing along its core transmedia methodology.

Formerly, Peter served as CEO of Ironpond, a US and Asia based finance/production company that specializes in Chinese-Hollywood co-productions and managed joint venture projects with the China Film Group and China Film Co-Production Corporation in film finance, digital media and co-productions. Peter also produced films under the Celestial Pictures banner that he co-founded, including RESTLESS – the first-ever official US-China film co-production.

In November of 2010, Peter reprised his role as Chairman of the US-China Film Summit and brought together key leaders from both Hollywood and China to strategize on the future of cooperation between the two spheres. He had chaired a similar summit in 1995 in association with China’s SARFT and the US Department of Commerce.

Before his career in media, Peter served as principal policy consultant in the California Legislature to the Special Committee on the Entertainment Industry, Select Committee on the Pacific Rim and the Special Task Force on A New Los Angeles,

As a translator and editor, Peter translated the Chinese/Tibetan book entitled “Dragons Dancing on the Rooftops” into English for the Philosophic Research Society, developed and edited “Merging” as a book, music and immersive art exhibition, and is currently at work on adapting classic Chinese martial arts literature for the Western world.

In 2010, Peter was named to the executive board and chairman of entertainment and media of the Asia Society in Southern California.

Peter graduated from UCLA with a degree in political science, and attended graduate school in public policy as a State Senate Fellow. He makes his permanent home in Los Angeles with his wife, Catherine and daughter Anneka.

Kaz Brecher is a senior interactive strategist with a focus on emerging platforms, user experience and creative business solutions.  

She is currently focused on cloud computing implementation and its implications as the VP of Business Solutions at Morphlabs.  With a broad background across media platforms, Kaz brings a unique creative perspective to her interactive work, combining film, print, broadcast, branding and new media. Beyond her role as an executive interactive producer at companies such as the award-winning WPP agency, Schematic, Kaz layers on strategic guidance to content and digital media development from years of user-centered design experience. Her primary areas of interest include cross-platform story-telling and development, blurring the boundaries of social media advertising, and pro-social or environmental engagement projects. She has worked with international interdisciplinary teams across technology platforms, and her clients include the NFL, Target, Disney, Logitech, and Microsoft, among others.  Her more personal projects include a political short film, a self-published mixed media book whose story unfolds through email exchange and spoken word poetry, and the flat-pack Baby Zaishu project with Tribewanted.com in Fiji.
 
A current member of the AIGA/LA Digital Vision committee, she holds a B.A. in Psychology from Stanford University.

Ed Lantz is an engineer, scientist, manager and entrepreneur with 24 years experience in aerospace engineering, photonics, virtual reality, immersive displays, science centers, themed entertainment, business development and P&L responsibilities.

Ed is President and CTO of Vortex Immersion Media, a Las Vegas-based designer of Virtual Reality Nightclubs, and Immersive Entertainment Venues for the Casino, Corporate Events and Tradeshow markets. He is founder of Harmony Channel, co-founder of IMERSA, and a partner in Spherical Media Group.

Ed has a background in Quantum Physics, Electromagnetics, and Computer Engineering. He spent 7 years leading photonic signal processing R&D at Harris Corp. in Melbourne, Florida. At the Astronaut Memorial Planetarium in Cocoa, Florida he led an engineering team in the development of hardware and software for planetariums and dome theaters.

In 1996 Mr. Lantz joined Spitz, Inc. as Product Development Manager. He pioneered Spitz’s large-format digital cinema products including the ImmersaVision® video format, the SciDome™ immersive classroom, and the ElectricSky® and ESky II theaters. He led over a dozen fulldome theater projects including the Library of Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt ($2M USD) and the Papalote Children’s Museum in Mexico City ($3M).

He published numerous articles on virtual reality, consciousness, and immersive theater design. For ACM SIGGRAPH he has chaired panels, presented papers, and taught three courses on computer graphics for large-scale immersive theaters. He founded the International Planetarium Society’s Fulldome Video Committee, and co-founded the IPS Fulldome Summit. He also co-organized the first Immersive Cinema Workshop in Espinho, Portugal in 2005. Mr. Lantz is on the boards of IMERSA (Denver, CO), the Center for Visual Music (Los Angeles), and Common Ground Interfaith Fellowship (Philadelphia, PA), and has two patents on Immersive Theater technologies.

Stephen is Founder and Executive Chairman of Quickflix Limited, Australia’s leading online movie subscription company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX:QFX).

Stephen lives in Perth Western Australia and over the past 20 years has founded a number of successful businesses in high growth sectors including information technology, new media and entertainment. Stephen started his career with an international accounting firm before moving into investment funds management. 

In 1998 Stephen founded Method + Madness, a pioneering internet and web development  group which was later acquired by ASX listed Sausage Software (later renamed SMS Management & Technology ASX: SMX). Stephen was a member of the Executive Committee of SMS Management & Technology until 2002. In 2002 Stephen founded Change Corporation a consulting, information technology and venturing group of which he was Executive Chairman until it was acquired by ASX listed CSG Limited (ASX: CSV) in December 2007.  In 2004 Stephen founded Quickflix and listed the company in 2005.
 
Stephen is also on the board of ScreenWest, the Western Australian Government film and TV funding agency.

Ana is the founding Director of CFC Media Lab, a world-renowned new media research, training and production think tank environment created in 1997 at the Canadian Film Centre (CFC).  

As director of CFC Media Lab, she provides strategic and creative leadership for all of the Centre’s new media initiatives, including the development and production of a diverse range of critically acclaimed interactive narrative projects.

In 2000, Ana produced Canada’s first user-generated personal storytelling project – the Great Canadian Story Engine, which has since influenced the development of other large-scale digital storytelling projects around the world.

A three-time Canadian New Media Award-winner, including Visionary of the Year, Ana recently produced Late Fragment, North America’s first interactive dramatic feature film which premiered in September 2007 at the 32nd Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

In the Fall 2010, Ana launched a variety of projects including “What is Your Essential Cinema?” an interactive visualization for TIFF that premiered at the opening of the Bell Lightbox, and is currently developing properties for the i-platforms in collaboration with brands such as NBC Universal.

Ana is an advisor in the digital media practice at MarS and is active on the boards of Artscape, Kapisanan, and several start-up companies focused on interactive entertainment. She adjudicates awards for the Webby, CNMA, and others, and frequently speaks at new media and film festivals throughout the world about the future of storytelling and entertainment.

Esther Lim is a well respected Digital Marketing Leader, Transmedia Producer, Social Media Strategist, and Game Analyst. She has over fifteen years of combined interactive agency and consulting experience creating digital, social media and transmedia storytelling programs for Fortune 500 brands.

Her expertise includes gaming industry market monitoring, trending and analysis, social media marketing and analytics, community development and outreach, transmedia narrative, game design, mechanics and production, web development, e-commerce, user interaction and experience design, online advertising, direct marketing and brand development programs.

Esther writes for Girls in Tech on the creation of immersive experiences, interactive narrative, social integration of games, digital content and emerging technology and has been quoted by Forbes in articles on Women in Gaming.

She also speaks on a number of topics including building advocacy and influencer programs within communities, social media analytics and interactive narrative. Her speaking experience includes moderating and speaking on Social Media Analytics and Building Community Advocacy and Influencer Programs at Online Market World and upcoming appearances at South by Southwest as a panelist on Interactive Narrative: The Future of Storytelling, and as moderator and panelist at The LA Web Series Festival in Los Angeles on Community Building for Over the Top Content and The Creation of Interactive Narrative.

Esther is also actively involved with ACM Siggraph and Siggraph Asia serving as a Unified Jury Member for Siggraph 2010 and Siggraph Dailies! 2010, and as an advisory board member and juror for Siggraph Asia 2008 and 2009.

Marshall Vandruff has worked as a writer, illustrator, voice-over artist and consultant for thirty years.

His clients include MAD Magazine, Warner Brothers, Hanna-Barbera, Dark Horse Comics, Nickelodeon, Insomniac Games, Disneyland, LeapFrog, Rockstar, Blizzard Entertainment, AutoDesk, The Gnomon Workshop, ImagineFX, and over forty advertising agencies. Since 1984, He has taught over 200 Drawing, Anatomy, and Storytelling courses at colleges, universities, and corporations in southern California, and is featured in the 10th Edition of Whos Who Among America's Teachers.

Kate McCallum is a storyteller with a diverse and dynamic 30 year professional background in the arts and entertainment industry. 

A Writer/Producer and Consultant, Kate founded Bridge Arts Media, LLC, a transmedia development and production company based in Los Angeles, which specializes in both traditional and new emergent media.  In addition to an active slate of film and television projects, Bridge Arts has recently launched a publishing line and an innovative arts and music label called THE ART OF SOUND.  Her career ranges from positions in arts administration, television and feature film production and writing, to development, content programming and journalism. 

Kate spent 20 years at Universal Studios and Paramount Studios working with some of the top screenwriters and creators of feature films and prime time commercial television on series such as; THE EQUALIZER, CRIME STORY, CHARLES IN CHARGE, MIAMI VICE, THE HUMAN FACTOR, and LAW AND ORDER, and produced a TV movie for NBC called "What Kind of Mother Are You."  As VP of Creative Development with Western Sandblast at Paramount TV, Kate developed, optioned and sold series and long form content to Showtime, UPN, NBC and Paramount.  



Kate left the studios to join the Harmony Channel executive team as VP of Programming and launched this innovative visual music VoD cable channel on Comcast to over 11 million homes.  From 2006-2009 she returned to her roots in classical music and held the position of Board Liaison at Los Angeles Opera and acted as Executive Administrator to General Director and Singer, Plácido Domingo.  Kate has written and collaborated on several original screenplays, TV concepts and a TV pilot, and created and wrote THE GREAT IDEA column, for the popular scr(i)pt magazine featuring interviews with top film and TV screenwriters about the creative process from concept to screen from the writer's perspective.  



Kate is a voting member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Television Executive peer group and has served as a judge for the Emmy Awards, the ATAS College Television awards and for the USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center 's Hollywood, Health and Society Sentinel for Health Awards.  She is often invited to speak on future trends in media and storytelling.

Robyn is one of Australia's most well respected film, television and theatre producers.

She recently produced Bran Nue Dae directed by Rachel Perkins. In 2009 Bran Nue Dae premiered at the Melbourne International Film Festival(winning the Audience Award), the Toronto International Film Festival, the Dubai International Film Festival, and in 2010 the Sundance Film Festival.  In Competition at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival, the London Australian Film Festival (winning the Audience Award), the Cannes Cinephile, the Seattle International Film Festival, the Zanzibar International Film Festival and the Taipei Film Festival.  It is the highest grossing Australian film this year - $7.5 million theatrically.

Robyn’s first feature, Looking For Alibrandi (dir. Kate Woods, 2000) starring Anthony LaPaglia, Greta Scacchi and Pia Miranda was a box office hit in Australia grossing A$8.3 million and won five AFI Awards, including Best Film and Best Actress.

She was Head of Drama and Narrative Comedy for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) from 2001 to 2004 during which time she commissioned and executive produced series such as the International Emmy-nominated MDA and Kath & Kim (series I, II & III) which is the highest rating narrative comedy in Australian history. For SBS Kershaw produced award winning Bondi Banquet and Effie: Just Quietly. She has also worked extensively in live performing arts throughout Australia including six years as General Manager for the acclaimed Belvoir St Theatre. Kershaw has served on the board of the Australian Film Finance Corporation (now Screen Australia) and is currently on the Board of ScreenWest.

Prof. Duane Varan is the Executive Director of Audience Research Labs (formerly the Interactive Television Research Institute) at Murdoch University; a role he holds concurrently with his appointment as Chief Research Officer of the Disney Media and Advertising Lab in the United States.

Prof Varan is the recipient of numerous awards including the Australian Prime Minister’s Award for University Teacher of the Year. Prof Varan leads Beyond Thirty Seconds (Beyond:30), a $10 million research project exploring the changing media landscape with sponsors including many of the world’s leading television networks, advertising brands, media agencies and technology enablers. Prof Varan’s research is published in top tier journals including the Journal of Communication; the Journal of Advertising; the Journal of Advertising Research; Critical Studies in Mass Communication; the Journal of Marketing Communication; the Journal of Interactive Advertising; the International Journal of Market Research; the Journal of Business Research and others.

Chris Winter comes from a long background in new media: as the establishing manager of the ABC’s digital TV service ABC2, interactive TV and multi-platform projects, datacasting and mobile TV trials, and digital TV and iTV free-to-air industry policy groups. His previous life was in radio, on-air and off, and included several years as international marketing manager for an ABC-developed non-linear, multi-user audio editing system sold to some of the biggest radio newsrooms in the world.

In his current role, Chris has been working on projects to deploy ABC current and archive content on a number of platforms including off-deck mobile portals, Google Earth and Google Maps, and developing and managing new relationships with third party content providers, technology research bodies, government agencies and media organisations.

Chris is also managing the ABC’s involvement in a joint venture planning the development of a NSW test bed for Australia’s National Broadband Network, whose establishment was announced earlier this year.

He is a member of the Australian Interactive Media Industry Association (AIMIA), the Music Council of Australia, and the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences; has contributed to the annual conferences of the Screen Producers Association of Australia since 1999 and been a X|Media|Lab participant since they began in 2003.

In 2004 Chris was the joint recipient of an Australian Recording Industry Association Award for Best Music DVD for his production work on Midnight Oil’s Best of Both Worlds, and was presented with AIMIA’s 2007 Outstanding Contribution Award.

He became a board member of screen development body Metro Screen Ltd early in 2009, and joined the Australian Government’s Information Technology Industry Innovation Council in May.