panels & speakers
keynotes & fireside chats
Evan Shapiro, CEO, ESHAP
Evan Shapiro is an Emmy and Peabody Award winning producer of many funny things, including Portlandia and Harmonquest. He is also a professor at NYU and Fordham schools of business, as well as the co-host of the Cancel Culture Podcast.
Many in media know him as the official, unofficial cartographer of the media universe. Using his specific point of view, Shapiro has mapped the tech and entertainment ecosystem, and, for those who read his essays, he helps chart media's future.
Shapiro uses these insights to power his change agency, ESHAP, which offers partners and consumers media insight as a service.
MATT SCHNAARS, president, content distribution, nbcuniversal
Matt Schnaars is President, Content Distribution for NBCUniversal. In this role, Matt is responsible for overseeing distribution and monetization of NBCUniversal’s broadcast stations, cable and regional sports networks, direct-to-consumer apps, and FAST channels to the company’s distribution partners. He has had a critical role in NBCU’s growth over the past decade, including most recently the successful launch of NBCU’s direct-to-consumer service, Peacock. Prior to this role, Schnaars was SVP, Content Distribution, a position he started when he joined NBCUniversal in 2013.
Prior to joining NBCUniversal, Matt served as Vice President, National Accounts in the Disney and ESPN Media Networks division at The Walt Disney Company, where he worked for nine years. There he was responsible for distribution of the Disney and ESPN stable of networks to cable, telecom and technology companies, and played a key role in the successful launch of several national television networks, including ESPN3, ESPNU and the SEC Network.
Matt holds a MBA with a concentration in Finance from NYU’s Stern School of Business and a BA, Economics from the College of the Holy Cross. Matt is an active participant in several media industry organizations dedicated to mentorship and development.
Matt is heavily involved in coaching youth baseball, football and basketball in Westchester County (NY), where he lives with his three children.
Jonathan Knee, Co-Director of media & technology program, columbia business school
Jonathan Knee is a Michael T. Fries Professor of Professional Practice in Media and Technology and Co-Director of the Media and Technology Program at Columbia Business School where he has taught Media Mergers and Acquisitions and Strategic Management of Media. He also co-teaches Digital Investing with Jeremy Philips of Spark Capital, The Business of Sports with Sunil Gulati of the Columbia Economics Department, The Media Industries: Public Policy and Business Strategy with Professor Tim Wu of Columbia Law School and a Business Journalism seminar at the Columbia Journalism School with Professor James B. Stewart. Professor Knee serves as a Senior Advisor at Evercore. Before joining Evercore as a Senior Managing Director in 2003, he was a Managing Director and Co-head of Morgan Stanley’s Media Group and was previously Publishing Sector Head in the Communications, Media and Entertainment Group at Goldman Sachs.
His writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and The Atlantic. He writes the Book Entry column for the New York Times DealBook. Professor Knee is the author of Class Clowns: How the Smartest Investors Lost Billions in Education (Columbia: 2016) and The Accidental Investment Banker: Inside the Decade that Transformed Wall Street (Oxford: 2006) and co-author of The Curse of The Mogul: What’s Wrong With the World’s Leading Media Companies? (Portfolio: 2009). His next book, The Platform Delusion: Who Wins and Who Loses In the Age of Tech Titans will be released in September. Professor Knee serves on the boards of New Alternatives for Children, the National Women’s Law Center, and the Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York and is a Member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
paul hardart, director of entertainment, media & technology program, nyu stern school of business
Paul Hardart joined New York University Stern School of Business as a Clinical Professor of Marketing in July 2017.
Professor Hardart is a partner in the online storytelling platform Witnify, which captures and curates first-person accounts of important world events. He has produced a number of critically acclaimed feature films and documentaries, including Mary and Max, Annie Leibovitz: Life Through a Lens and Before the Rains. He is an active speaker at conferences and panels related to media and technology.
Before joining NYU Stern, Professor Hardart was the founding director of the Graduate Program in Media Management at The New School. He has guest lectured at the University of California Los Angeles, The American Film Institute, Columbia University, Temple University and the University of California at San Diego. He founded and ran Universal Focus, the independent film label of Universal Pictures. During his tenure there, he oversaw the release of such films as Being John Malkovich, Pitch Black, Nurse Betty and Billy Elliot. He also created Universal Pictures’ library management program, overseeing the restoration and re-issue of Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window and the re-edit of Orson Welles’s Touch of Evil. Prior to Universal Focus, he oversaw strategic planning for Universal Pictures, which included launching new businesses and helping shape the Studio’s long-term strategy. He has also held senior positions at Warner Brothers and Turner Broadcasting and began his career at ABC Sports, CNBC and The Newark Star-Ledger.
Professor Hardart received his B.A. in English from the College of the Holy Cross and his M.B.A. from the J.L. Kellogg School of Graduate Management at Northwestern University.
MASTERS OF MARKETING: CUTTING THROUGH THE NOISE
With streaming services fighting to acquire new subscribers and traditional distributors striving for ticket sales, how do you market your next piece of content to cut through the noise? How do you make sure the consumer watches your content versus the rest? Come hear from the masters of marketing themselves at HBO Max and Paramount+, and get an exclusive look into their marketing strategies.
Eli Rivkin, Director of Growth Strategy, HBO Max
Eli Rivkin is the founder and leader of the Growth Strategy group at HBO Max. He leads the team in their mission to leverage consumer behavioral insights in order to acquire the most qualified subscribers for the service. To do this, the team measures each touchpoint along a consumer’s journey, develops audience-based, channel-level insights based on winning tactics, and works directly with the operational teams to execute against said insights at scale. His leadership and team output have contributed to the exponential growth HBO Max has seen since its launch in May 2020.
Rivkin draws on years of entrepreneurial experience growing companies from inception to maturity, rooting his growth strategies in consumer data and insights. His expertise ranges from leading new business ventures at early stage technology startups in New York City to launching two successful entertainment direct-to-consumer streaming services at WarnerMedia in Los Angeles. As founding members of both DC Universe and HBO Max, Rivkin used a sophisticated method of determining pre-demand interest in tentpole titles to build audience-based media campaigns aimed at increasing high life-time-value subscribers. His goal is to turn marketing from a cost center into a revenue center.
Jason Feirman, Senior Director, Program & Originals Marketing, Paramount+
Since graduating from NYU (CAS ’06) and Columbia Business School (‘13), Jason has worked as a marketer at a variety of tech and media companies. Currently, he is focused on driving user growth and engagement for Paramount+, managing 360 campaigns for the streaming service’s Unscripted, Reality and Music programming. He is also a big fan of pizza and maintains a variety of pizza-related ventures: a pizza blog (I Dream Of Pizza), an annual pizza-5K (NYC Pizza Run), and a pizza podcast (All Things Pizza).
Alexandra Vaccarino, Creative Marketing Lead, Netflix
Alex is a marketing executive with 10 years of global entertainment experience across Warner Bros, Nickelodeon, and Netflix, and with a passion for pop culture. She is the leader of strategy, creative & talent relations behind some of your favorite TV Series & fandoms including YOU, Emily in Paris, Maid, From Scratch, and Riverdale.
Lana Li, Senior Manager, Media & Entertainment marketing, Roku
From Hong Kong dramas to American music, Lana’s childhood was a fusion of cultural influences that led to her fascination of global media. Working at Pandora, ESPN and Roku, she has over a decade of experience building unique stories and solutions for Entertainment advertisers. As the leader of Roku’s Media & Entertainment Ad Marketing team, Lana and her team leverages streamer-first insights to tackle marketing challenges like acquiring users for binge vs. episodic releases, finding your magic moment to combat churn, and maximizing film lifecycle strategies. When Lana is not at work, she enjoys discovering new eateries and volunteering with underserved Asian-American youth at APEX.
Gary Faber, Professor of movie marketing, nyu stern school of business
Gary Faber is co-founder of Entertainment Research & Marketing (ERm), a market research and marketing strategy firm specializing in film, live theater, video games and all other forms of consumer entertainment. The five year-old company works closely with many major studios and producers, as well as independents of all sizes. Recent efforts include helping to spearhead the marketing on Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers and Sophia Coppola’s The Bling Ring. Prior to starting ERm, Gary Faber was the Executive Vice president of Marketing at The Weinstein Company, a position he held since the company’s inception in October of 2005. Faber and his team were responsible for all theatrical creative, strategic efforts, budgeting as well as the company’s premiere Academy Award initiatives. During his tenure at Weinstein, he marketed a diverse set of films, from ‘Hoodwinked,’ to ‘The Reader.’ Gary Faber started his film career at Allied Advertising in Washington, DC, and then transitioned to Miramax Films in the mid-1990s. While at Miramax, Faber worked in both publicity and marketing on some of the studios most prestigious and highest grossing films, including ‘Gangs of New York,’ ‘Chicago,’ and ‘City of God.’
REALITY REDEFINED: Tech Disruption in Immersive Entertainment
AR. VR. XR. Immersive and hybrid experiences. What are some of the businesses operating in the space and how are they changing and enhancing the way we experience entertainment? Hear from leaders at Niantic, Little Cinema, Warner Music Group, and Metaverse AI and get an insider take on how new and enhanced technologies along with the businesses that drive their adoption will make waves in the coming years.
Sarah Gilarsky, global Head of Telecom Partnerships, Niantic
Sarah Gilarsky is the Global Head of Telecom Partnerships at Niantic. Her role involves collaborating with leading tech and telecom companies to unlock the future of AR experiences as enabled by cutting edge networks and devices. In addition, she is focused on bringing telecom partners into Niantic's real world metaverse gaming communities, made up of Pokémon GO, NBA All World, Pikmin Bloom, Ingress, and soon to be released titles, Peridot and Marvel: World of Heroes. Prior to Niantic she led gaming content partnerships for Verizon's Next Gen Entertainment group, where she worked with game developers, publishers, and XR companies across consumer facing promotions, activations, and innovation to highlight the power of 5G and connectivity.
Sarah received her MBA from Columbia Business School.
Chris Schuett, COO, Little Cinema
Chris is a New York-based multi-disciplinary operator with twelve years of experience both in-house and freelance intentionally leading production, functional and creative teams while delivering over 500+ successful events, campaigns and experiences for the world's most recognizable and innovative brands. He has led business operations, strategy, project management and production for teams and organizations that have received awards and been recognized by the Emmys, Clios, Event Marketer, Ad Week, and Webbys.
Jillian Rothman, VP of New Business & Ventures, digital strategy, Warner Music Group
Jillian is the Vice President of New Business & Ventures at Warner Music Group where she leads partnerships, strategies and development across gaming, the metaverse, and Web3. Additionally, Jillian helps manage WMG’s corporate venture fund, which invests in early-stage companies that will drive the evolution of our industry. Prior to this role, Jillian served as an attorney at Ropes & Gray, LLP, and clerked on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. A graduate of the University of Michigan two-times-over, Jillian is a native of New York City, which she says is the world’s best place to escape, but also to return.
Henry Yan, Co-Founder, Metaverse AI
Henry is the CoFounder of Metaverse AI, a venture-backed AI company focused on AI digital humans & metaverse virtual beings. Metaverse AI has launched AI-powered virtual celebrity and digital fashion NFTs, and partnered with various industry leaders including NVIDIA, New York Digital Fashion Week, gaming giants and diamond companies. Metaverse AI is backed by Kleiner Perkins, Animoca Brands, Wharton Business School, LinkedIn Cofounder etc.
Dan Wang, Professor of Business, Columbia Business School
Dan Wang is the Lambert Family Associate Professor of Social Enterprise at Columbia Business School, where he also serves as Faculty Co-director of the Tamer Center for Social Enterprise. He teaches the MBA and PhD courses on Strategy Formulation, Technology Strategy, and Organizational Theory. He has been named to the Poets and Quants list of “Best 40 Business School Professors under 40” and has won the Singhvi Prize for Scholarship in the Classroom, Columbia Business School’s top teaching honor. He received his PhD from Stanford University and BA from Columbia University. His research analyzes how social networks can create change in organizations and society through innovation and entrepreneurship. His main research agenda focuses on how overseas work experiences impact the career success and rate of new venture formation among skilled professionals. In other work, he has analyzed how venture capital investment syndication affects the innovation and exit performance of high-tech start-ups. His recent research aims to understand how entrepreneurial ideas emerge from group interactions. His work has been recognized with awards from the Kauffman Foundation and the Academy of Management. He frequently contributes to the news media about topics at the intersection of technology, business, and society.
MARCH MADNESS: the future of sports entertainment
How are traditional programming outlets leaning into sports betting? How are consumers responding to fragmentation in sports streaming? What are some of the tactics used in social media marketing? Come hear from industry experts and get their take on the hottest issues in sports today.
Liza falk Berger, Director, Sports Brand solutions, Disney advertising, the walt disney company
As a Director on the Sports Brand Solutions team at Disney Advertising, Liza oversees all sponsorship strategy and execution across ESPN’s College Football portfolio in addition to managing the team’s overall growth and development. She leads a group responsible for cross platform marketing sponsorships across all of ESPN’s College Football content, inclusive of ESPN’s College GameDay and the College Football Playoff. In her 9 years at the Walt Disney Company, she has played a critical role in the successful launch of the College Football Playoff and continues to work with ESPN’s production teams to drive innovation through sponsorship.
russell fink, senior director of programming & content analytics, sny
Russell Fink is an insight-driven, multi-faceted, award-winning professional with a 360-degree overview of the entertainment and media industries and a proven track record of continually developing an optimal digital/linear programming mix that drives sustained viewership growth. Currently, he is the Senior Director of Programming & Content Analytics for SNY, the official television home of the New York Mets, New York Jets, and all things New York sports, where he in charge of sourcing, acquiring, and budgeting all original programming as well as establishing and monitoring all KPIs within the network to guide content strategy. Before that, he spent time in programming at Networks like Showtime and A&E. He also spent time in TV production, serving as Coordinator Producer for such Networks as MTV, VH1, The WE Network, and Comedy Central. Additionally, he serves as an Adjunct Professor at both Fordham’s Graduate Gabelli School of business as well as NYU’s Preston Robert Tisch Institute for Global Sport. He lives in Long Island with his wife and two kids.
emily kless, senior manager, social media, major league baseball players association
Emily Kless is a Social Media and Content professional who currently oversees the social presence at the Major League Baseball Players Association. She attended Penn State University, receiving her BA in Public Relations. Emily went on to pursue a career at the intersection of baseball and content for the Topps Company, the industry leader in Sports and Entertainment trading card production. At Topps, she began in Community Management for the digital collectibles apps and ended her Topps tenure as the Communications Marketing Manager. She has conducted interviews with the top names in baseball, current and past, and has also covered NHL, Formula 1, and WWE. She brings 8 years of experience in building social media pages, and content creation and optimization for the social space.
Howard Mittman, President, 888 U.S.
Howard Mittman is the President of 888 U.S. Mittman oversees the launch of Sports Illustrated Sportsbook and strategic B2B partnerships with Caesars and the World Series of Poker. Sports Illustrated Sportsbook operates in Virginia, Colorado, and Michigan and has aggressive expansion plans which lean on the power of the iconic Sports Illustrated brand and the globally-recognized experience 888 Holdings brings in technology and iGaming.
Prior to 888, Mittman was the Chief Executive Officer for Bleacher Report, a premiere digital destination for millennial and Gen Z sports fans. Bleacher Report doubled in size during Mittman’s tenure and launched or built out a variety of external brand signs, including House of Highlights, B/R Betting, and B/R Gridiron. Prior to this position, Mittman served as Chief Business Officer of GQ, GQ Style, Golf Digest, Golf World, Pitchfork, and the Wired Media Group, including Ars Technica, Backchannel, and WIRED. Mittman successfully launched the luxury quarterly print publication GQ Style, created the coveted GQ Grammy Awards party in Los Angeles, and established the invitation-only private club, “The Gent,” in New York City.
Before taking over at GQ, Mittman was Vice President and Publisher of WIRED, which under his leadership became the first Conde Nast brand to derive half of its revenue from digital means. Mittman is a graduate of The Ohio State University. He currently resides in New York City with his wife and two sons.
STEPHEN MASTER, PROFESSOR OF SPORTS MARKETING, NYU STERN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
Stephen has spent the last 25 years in a variety of leadership roles across the sports marketing and media industry. In early 2020, he Co-Founded Amaze Media Labs, a media company focused on the rapidly emerging podcast space which has a sports podcast network of 150+ leading podcasts around hockey, basketball & football and creates branded podcasts and immersive experiences for clients such as Draftkings, BetMGM, Ford and Facebook. As the head of Master Media Advisors, he also works closely with start-ups across sports, entertainment and gaming on business plans & fundraising and advises financial and VC firms on evaluating media and sports betting investments. Prior to forming Master Media Advisors, Stephen spent ten years as the Global Head of the Sports Group at the Nielsen Company and was the co-founder of the Nielsen eSports practice. At Nielsen, Stephen developed the "FANALYTICS" platform, providing major sports properties and brands intelligence into how fans are consuming and engaging with sports content. His insights & analysis from the "FANANLYTICS" platform were regularly quoted and featured in the NY Times, Wall Street Journal, CNN, ESPN, Bloomberg and the SBJ. Before joining Nielsen, Stephen was the VP of Business Development at the National Football League where he worked on activating corporate sponsorships for the league. Stephen also spent 8 years in the agency space working at Octagon Worldwide as the VP of Business Development and at TSE Sports & Entertainment where he worked with leading brands to incorporate sports, music & entertainment into their marketing portfolios. Stephen launched his career in sports at the National Basketball Association, where he served as the Director of Business Development in the International Group and helped build the NBA’s global presence and brand. Stephen graduated from the University of Michigan, received an MBA from Northwestern and currently is an adjunct Professor at NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches a sports marketing & media class.
getting creative: reimagining THE SUBSCRIPTION economy IN DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT
Come hear about the evolving ways in which entertainment and media companies are monetizing their content and IP. We'll be discussing the industry's partial shift away from pure subscriber models, as companies search for additional ways to maximize content value across channels.
Douglas Anmuth, Managing Director, Internet Analyst, J.P. Morgan
Doug Anmuth is a Managing Director and Head of J.P. Morgan's U.S. Internet team. His Internet coverage universe spans public companies in online advertising, social media, e-commerce, streaming, mobility & food, online travel, and various other sub-sectors. He has been consistently ranked as a leading Internet analyst by Institutional Investor since 2005. He has also been ranked multiple times in the Thomson Reuters/StarMine analyst awards. Prior to joining J.P. Morgan in 2011, Doug was the senior Internet analyst at Barclays Capital and Lehman Brothers since 2003. He holds an MBA in Finance and Accounting from NYU’s Stern School of Business and a B.A. from the University of Michigan.
Danny Breslauer, director of business development & distribution partnerships, frequency
Danny Breslauer is Director of Business Development and Distribution Partnerships for Frequency, which builds the software platform Frequency Studio for the origination and distribution of virtual linear channels. Before entering the world of FAST channels, Danny worked at iNDEMAND for 3.5 years in content partnerships, brokering 10M+ in PPV, VOD & out-of-market sports package deals for MVPDs and major content providers. Danny's career has taken him from business development at that joint venture of Comcast, Charter and Cox to marketing strategy at Univision's Fusion Media Group to content strategy and sports broadcasting for top brands such as Rutgers University, Greater Media, Verizon FiOS, IMG & the Northeast Conference. A native of Highland Park, NJ and a resident of New York City, Danny holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism/Media Studies from Rutgers University and an MBA from NYU Stern School of Business.
Joost van dreunen, professor, business of videos games, nyu stern school of business
Considered “the top academic” in interactive entertainment, Joost teaches at NYU’s Stern School of Business and is the author of One Up, a book on the business of video games. Joost is also an accomplished serial entrepreneur focused on data companies and an investor. Currently, he’s the co-founder and CEO of Aldora.io. Previously Joost was CEO of SuperData Research, a games data provider Nielsen acquired, and advisor to Parsec (acquired by Unity). He publishes a newsletter on gaming, tech, and entertainment called SuperJoost Playlist, and co-hosts the UNBOXING podcast.
Shyra Smart, Chief Development and Strategy Officer, Vox Media
Shyra Smart is Vox Media’s Chief Development and Strategy Officer, overseeing business development, corporate development, strategic planning and brand licensing across all networks and business units. In her role, she focuses on business partnerships that help Vox Media’s editorial teams achieve increased audience, revenue, or brand exposure, licensing the company’s brands for products, content syndication, and evaluating possible mergers or acquisitions.
Smart joined Vox Media by way of the company’s merger with New York Media in 2019. At New York Media, she was head of business development, overseeing the establishment and management of ancillary businesses and strategic partnerships with a focus on multi-platform distribution, content syndication and brand licensing. Prior to joining New York Media, she worked for media brands The Daily Beast, Viacom, HBO, and Fox Searchlight Pictures in business development and strategy roles. She received a bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A. from NYU Stern School of Business.
Michael Diaz, President & COO, Palm Tree Crew Holdings
Michael Diaz is the President & COO of Palm Tree Crew Holdings which owns and operates the Palm Tree Crew brand with ventures across live entertainment, hospitality, talent management, philanthropy, and Palm Tree Crew Investments. Palm Tree Crew Investments partners with early-stage businesses and entrepreneurs across the consumer, technology and entertainment sectors. Prior to joining the Palm Tree Crew team, Michael started his career as an investment banker at UBS in the Technology, Media, and Telecommunications group before joining LionTree in 2013. Michael holds a B.A. from Duke University.