Carl grew up in Detroit, Michigan, attended Michigan State University receiving a BA in Communications before moving to LA in 1980. Nine years later Carl co-founded Montana Artists Agency, the global industry leader that still today represents many of the world’s finest cinematographers, visual effects producers, line producers, production designers, costume designers and film editors. Carl started representing game designers in 1994, and was a pioneer in the area of representing new media artists in the entertainment arena. In 2004 Carl sold Montana Artists Agency. Carl acts as an angel investor in over a dozen start-ups. Currently, he is an investor as well as proudly serves on the advisory board of Transplant Connect. Additional early stage advisory board seats currently include MediaPass and CircleBuilder.
Carl has lectured in New York, Chicago, Detroit, Miami, London, Sydney and recently in Los Angeles at USC, Loyola Marymount and Pepperdine Universities on being on entrepreneurial subjects. Carl co-founded the Malibu Chapter of Young President’s Organization in 2000 and is a lifetime member of World President’s Organization.
Ron Burnett, (PhD) (RCA) is President, Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design; former Director, Graduate Program in Communications, McGill University; recipient of the Queen's Jubilee Medal for service to Canada and Canadians; Educator of the Year in 2005 (awarded by the Canadian New Media Association); member, Board of Governors, BCNet; former Board Member, NewMedia BC; former Chair of the Board of the Centre for Curriculum Transfer and Technology; founder and editor of Cine-Tracts Magazine; adjunct Professor at York University in New Media; Burda Scholar, Ben Gurion University and William Evans Fellow, University of Otago, New Zealand; Board member, Learning Development Institute.
Dr. Burnett is the author author of over 150 published articles and two books, How Images Think, published by MIT Press in 2004, and Cultures of Vision: Images, Media and the Imaginary published in 1995 by Indiana University Press.
Peter Dekom has over 25 years experience at the highest levels of entertainment law and investment banking. A recognized leader in his field, Mr. Dekom’s clients include numerous multinational corporations such as Pacific Telesis, Sears Roebuck, US West, Spelling Entertainment, Fujisankei Communications and others. Mr. Dekom’s entertainment clients have included such high profile people as George Lucas, Ron Howard, Rob Reiner, John Travolta, Joan Rivers, Robert Towne, Brian Grazer and Martin Bregman. Mr. Dekom has received many honors and awards during his career, including Entertainment Lawyer of the Year; Beverly Hills Bar Association was ranked among the top 50 Corporate Lawyers in America and as one of the 100 most powerful and influential people in Hollywood.
He is the author of Not on My Watch—Hollywood vs. the Future, in which he details the catastrophe that 21st century Hollywood faces in today’s broadband-Internet, easy-access world, and argues how Hollywood can react effectively, meet the entertainment needs of a dissatisfied public and still hold on to profits and market share.
Mr. Dekom graduated first in his class at UCLA Law School with a JD and Order of the Coif designation. He holds a Prentice Hall Award for the highest achievement in the field of tax law. He graduated from Yale University with a BA in Sociology.
Since the early nineties, Michael founded several technology and internet companies. The most recent was Enfolding Systems Corp., which was founded to develop a unique (and now patent-pending) XML-based collaboration technology. ESC was acquired by Blast Radius in 2002. In 2004, he helped Blast Radius acquire the XMetaL business (the company formerly known as SoftQuad) from Corel Corp., refresh the product line, multiply revenues, and put the business back on a profitable track. In spring of 2006, Michael helped Blast Radius to sell their Software Products business to Just Systems of Japan.
Since autumn of 2006, Michael has been working as Chief Products and Innovation Officer for Uniserve Communications Corp.
An entrepreneur, marketing executive and online pioneer, Stuart Halperin has an array of experience in the motion picture, television and Internet industries. He is currently president of StuartHalperin.com, a strategic marketing consultancy focusing on the intersection of entertainment and technology.
Stuart launched Hollywood Online (now Hollywood.com) with a partner in 1993, using limited seed financing, and operated the business from cash flow for the first two years. The company initiated and promoted the widespread use of interactive multimedia online as a marketing tool for entertainment companies and won a CLIO Award for its "Forrest Gump" interactive marketing campaign.
More recently, Stuart was the head of marketing at MovieTickets.com, a leading Internet movie ticketing service. Previously, Stuart worked in marketing roles for Universal Pictures, 20th Century Fox International and New Line Cinema, and was a newswriter for CNN. He received an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BFA from the NYU Film School.
As Senior Technical Evangelist for Adobe Systems, Duane Nickull is responsible for Adobe's messaging around enterprise solutions in the SOA and Web services spaces plus other forward looking aspects such as the Web 2.0. Previously, Mr. Nickull co-founded Yellow Dragon Software, acquired by Adobe in 2003. He previously served as CTO and President of XML Global Technologies.
Mr. Nickull has been called Mr. SOA by his peers due to his overwhelming experience writing and contributing to major Service Oriented Architectures. Between 1995 and 2006, he spoke at over 500 venues in various counties around the world. Duane has recently renewed his work in the theoretical fiend of computational intellegence.
Rowland Perkins has been an entertainment industry leader for more than 35 years as innovator, executive and pioneer with the world's two most successful theatrical agencies, the Creative Artists Agency, Inc, and the William Morris Agency, Inc—which during his 16-year tenure he established an unprecedented record of growth for the company's TV Talent Department, and helped introduce the then novel concept of “motion pictures for television”.
In 1975, Mr. Perkins became the founding President of the then upstart Creative Artists Agency, Inc. Throughout the duration of his 20 years at CAA, the company experienced historic growth emerging from its original five principals to more than 350 employees and the preeminent talent agency in the world. Mr. Perkins has been a long time member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and has served on its Board of Governors. In addition to serving on the Board of Directors of Netter Digital Inc and Mainframe, he has also been a long-time member of the Hollywood Radio and Television Society and served on its Board of Directors.
Since January 2001, Rowland Perkins has served as Chairman of NPOWR Digital Media, Inc., in Oxnard, California, which owns an array of patented database technologies and is currently developing innovative streaming technology to create the first truly personalized television-like viewing experience on the web.
Catherine Warren has led advances in mass media and new media since 1985, working in the United States, the United Kingdom, Western Europe and Canada. A prolific author, journalist and speaker, she is a trusted advisor to Fortune 500 corporations, major broadcasters, game corporations and advertising agencies, helping build new audiences and revenues through new technology and communications strategies.
Ms. Warren’s client work includes strategic initiatives for major broadcast and telecommunications companies such as CBC, PBS/KCTS and Bell Canada; computer corporations such as Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft. She has executive produced 20 websites and interactive broadcast initiatives, including the Gemini Award-winning CTVNews.com. As the Chief Operating Officer of a NASDAQ-traded broadcasting software company and the European Bureau Chief of a computer magazine publishing house, Ms. Warren’s earlier work contributed to Fan-centered technology and media innovations.
Ms. Warren has a degree in physics from Reed College in Portland, Oregon and a master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where she broke the story of multimedia on location at M.I.T.
Catherine is Creative Director of Switch Interactive, and one of three partners in Fleming Creative Group. A Certified Internet Strategist and seasoned corporate copywriter, Catherine is a strong conceptual thinker with more than two decades of corporate communications experience. Prior to joining Fleming Creative Group, she worked with a leading Western-based public relations company; as an advertising coordinator with a major resource company; in investor relations with a junior technology organization; as a production assistant for a TV production group; and as a freelance corporate copywriter for eight years, developing advertising and marketing strategies for corporate, academic, political, and not-for-profit clients.
