VP of Marketplace Intelligence
Independent Board Member and Senior Advisor
Dave Pauk is the Country Manager/GM for Samsung Ads Canada where he leads the commercialization of connected TV, addressable advertising, and first-party TV data within Canada’s media ecosystem. Dave has over a decade of experience launching and scaling global advertising platforms in the Canadian market and works at the intersection of content, data, and technology – partnering with agency holding companies, trading desks, and advertisers to move TV beyond reach and into measurable data-led performance solutions. Dave has also held leadership roles with Tremor Video, CBC-Radio Canada, Quebecor Media, and Rogers Media. In addition to his involvement on the IAB Canada Ad Tech Council, he’s also a member of their Video & Programmatic Councils.
David Purdy was named chief revenue officer of Stingray in 2018. In this position, Mr. Purdy, who has years of experience managing multiple operating entities and steering them towards a single, unified vision, oversees all aspects of Stingray’s revenue expansion including advertising, and sales efforts.
David Purdy came to Stingray from VICE Media where, as Chief International Growth Officer he expanded VICE’s multiplatform partnership with Rogers in Canada, and helped VICE grow its global distribution network to deliver programming to all screens. Previously, David has held various senior roles over a 15-year career at Rogers Communications Inc. – most recently as Senior Vice President of Content and Video Product Management, where he oversaw content strategy for Rogers cable, broadband and wireless services, focusing on how content can drive differentiation for the company.
David has an extensive background in the TV industry and has helped launch several Canadian specialty channels throughout his career, including Sportsnet, OLN, Discovery Channel Canada, and The Comedy Network. In addition to his extensive content knowledge, David has been instrumental in launching a number of new products at Rogers, including VOD, HD, Rogers Anyplace TV, PVR, and Shomi. David combines a passion for content with a grasp of technology to forge a keen understanding of how the media business will be impacted by current and future technological innovations.
Mr. Purdy is a graduate of the University of Western Ontario (BA 1990) and holds a Bachelor of Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science (1993).
Julian Zilberbrand is a veteran media and technology leader with deep expertise across the entire advertising ecosystem. He currently serves as the Global Head of Data Solutions at LG Ad Solutions, where he drives data strategy, advanced advertising innovation, and partnerships that shape the future of connected TV.
Prior to LG, he spent nearly a decade at Paramount and Viacom as EVP of Advanced Media and Audience Science, leading major initiatives in programmatic, measurement, and addressable TV. Before entering the network world, he held senior roles at Zenith, Starcom, and Publicis, guiding global digital activation, insights, and technology transformation.
A tenured and curious advertising leader, Lauren embodies the rare modern C-suite mindset—blending strategic precision, creative innovation, and technological fluency. As Chief Client Officer at The Brand Power Company, she’s built a reputation for her consumer-centric approach and transforming complex business challenges into new engines for measurable growth for the world’s largest Tier-1 manufacturers, including P&G, L’Oréal, Nestlé, Kimberly-Clark +. Lauren is as fluent in technologies like XR and AI as she is in brand strategy and execution, thanks to her 20 years’ experience spanning radio, television, creative, production, advertising, tech, and media. A passionate advocate for accountable, results-driven marketing, Lauren helps brands harness Third-Party Advertising credibility and Zero-Party Data to achieve predictable, sustainable growth.
Tom Ziangas is charged with developing strategic research strategies and delivering data-informed insights that drive the company’s revenue objectives and growth initiatives across linear, SVOD and streaming platforms. His oversight includes the analysis and utilization of emerging qualitative and quantitative research methods to effectively communicate Hallmark Media’s marketplace strength delivering viewers to our brand. Tom is well known for his ability to translate data into actionable consumer insights that drive revenue and grow audience ,his critical thinking and creative approach to research will help leverage, channel, and maximize the power of our brand in exciting new ways. Ziangas has held leadership positions at AMC Networks, where he served as senior vice president of Research & Insights for over a decade. Previously, he was senior vice president expanded media services at Nielsen Media Research. He graduated from St. John’s University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing.
Rick Ducey helps clients develop and implement strategies to accelerate business growth and solve leadership problems creatively. Rick leads BIA’s strategy consulting practice and serves as an advisor to an affiliated investment banking group BIA Capital Strategies. Rick works with media, adtech and martech companies to see and evaluate opportunities and strategies in the market to achieve corporate goals.
Rick helps clients with strategic planning, developing partnership strategies, product planning, and achieving revenue growth and diversification. He helps marketers including brands and agencies with effective planning and use of digital media platforms. He also works on investment banking projects assisting buy-side and sell-side clients
Rick co-cofounded SpectraRep in 2000, a technology company that specializes in emergency alert and warning solutions. Prior to joining BIA, Rick headed the National Association of Broadcaster’s Research and Information Group overseeing all research and information technology initiatives.
In addition to his work at BIA, Rick serves on the ATSC Business Advisory Council. He is a member of the Journal of Media Economics the editorial board. He has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in strategy, entrepreneurship, and research and analysis at Michigan State University, University of Maryland, George Mason University, and The George Washington University.
Rick earned his Ph.D. from Michigan State University, his M.S. from Syracuse University and his B.A. from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Mr. Bergan holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications from Villanova University and a Master of Arts in Public Communication from American University.
Pete Scott is currently the Chief Strategy Advisor for Play Anywhere, an interactive monetization platform that is helping sports leagues and IP holders create new revenue streams across gaming, ecommerce and interactive ads. They are also leveraging Ai Agents and Gentic Ai to hyper personalize these new interactive experiences down to the individual consumer.
He was recently the Vice President of Emerging Media and Innovation for Warner Media Discovery
In this role, Scott advises internal teams on new tech, trends and helping the company remain relevant in the new media world. Additionally, he is helping lead the strategy and operationalization of LIVE Virtual Productions, Sportsbetting, Ecommerce, Name Image and Likeness ( NIL), and Next Generation viewing experiences across the Turner Sports portfolio; NHL, NBA, MLB, USA Soccer and March Madness. He also manages a portfolio of existing partnerships including but not limited to companies building next generation experiences including computer vision, AI, metaverse, NFT’s, Fan Tokens, etc.
As an Emmy award winning digital strategist and operator Pete has helped the company evolve and embrace a digital and direct to consumer mindset.
Prior to his current role, Scott served as the Vice-President of Emerging Media for Turner Studios. While in this role, Scott was responsible for working with colleagues at TNT, TBS, and Adult Swim to onboard and operationalize new technology across production, post-production, visual effects, and content generation. His unique hybrid background of TV and digital helped Studios digitally transform itself into viable resource for production on Twitter, FB, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
In 2014, Pete partnered with Coca Cola, and Mercedes to established a technology incubator in Tel Aviv , named the Bridge/Builder program. The program that finds the best Israel technology companies in ChatGPT Artificial Intelligence, VR/AR, Machine Learning and Blockchain. The program has been a great pipeline for Warner Media and ATT@T while providing validation for the Bridge/Builder companies and the Israel start- up ecosystem.
Scott began his Turner career as a sound tech and editor for CNN, covering such major events as the war in Bosnia and the U.S. invasion of Haiti while working with international correspondents Christiane Amanpour and Nic Robertson. In 2001, he transitioned to Turner Sports’ new media team where he laid the foundation for the development of Turner’s unique digital portfolio. He served as executive director of partnerships managing digital and mobile rights for NASCAR.com, PGA.com, NBA.com, and PGATour.com as well as of March Madness Live. Scott also guided the day-to-day programming of interactive content on each of the sites, which included live streaming, interactive TV and mobile platforms.
Additionally, he helped to create a digital media team with diverse expertise that attracted attention from other professional leagues and their peers throughout the digital media industry. In 2010, he helped launch NCAA March Madness Live, the successful live streaming video experience that is now available across twenty three platforms for the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship.
Before Turner, Scott served as a senior video producer for FoxSports.com where he produced and directed the first live college football game streamed online. Before Fox, he served as a senior production manager of remote operations for Turner Sports, coordinating logistics for the production of NBA, NFL and MLB telecasts
Scott earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in film and television, with a minor in business, from Boston University.
Pete Doe is Chief Research Officer at Nielsen. He has decades of experience in market research, audience measurement, big data and statistical modeling techniques.
In his current role he leads the Nielsen Data Science Organization’s development of audience measurement methodologies across video, digital and audio globally. This is his second stint at Nielsen: between 2004-2015 he was a primary architect of Nielsen’s data integration products and contributed to patented innovations in Set Top Box measurement, Digital and Outdoor Advertising Research
Between 2015-2022, Pete was Chief Research Officer at clypd, an advanced TV platform start-up acquired by Xandr in 2019, which in turn was acquired by Microsoft in 2022.
Before moving to the United States, Pete was a board director at RSMB TV Research in the UK, where he worked primarily on the BARB TV audience measurement currency as well as data fusion projects. He started his career at NOP Market Research in London.
Pete is a graduate of King’s College, London University.
Natasha Hritzuk serves as Head of Corporate Research for Warner Bros. Discovery. In this role, Natasha focuses on delivering studies that optimize the current business across all our enterprise assets, as well as identifying new consumer opportunities that reflect shifts in the entertainment ecosystem. Additionally, she supports WBD’s CSR and Government Affairs teams.
Prior to this role, Natasha served as VP, Global Consumer Insights, HBO Max at WarnerMedia, where she was responsible for delivering research that deepens understanding of the HBO Max consumer experience. During her time in this role, she launched HBO Max Insiders, a members-only online community of subscribers who participate in surveys and other activities led by her team to gain deeper consumer insights to inform business strategy. Prior to that role, Natasha served as VP, Consumer Insights at Turner where she led the Future of Advertising initiative including heading up AdLab, an industry consortium tasked with building digital advertising experiences optimized for both consumers and marketers. She also provided a roadmap for a consumer-centric data acquisition strategy to support the development of the WarnerMedia Consumer Privacy Center.
Before WarnerMedia, Natasha served as Microsoft’s Global Consumer Insights Lead of Advertising and Consumer Monetization where she delivered foundational research to inform business strategy and new digital products. She launched the group’s thought leadership program, which led to her co-authoring a Wylie published book, “Multi Screen Marketing: The seven things you need to know to reach your customers across TVs, computers, tablets, and mobile phones.” Prior to her role at Microsoft, Natasha worked for General Mills UK & Ireland and was responsible for the end-to-end brand experience across five product categories. During this time, she won three International Champion Awards for delivering research excellence. Natasha has also served as the Branding and Communications Director for WirthlinWorldwide.
Natasha holds a doctorate in political psychology and political behavior from Columbia University and bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Calgary.
Mike Bloxham has worked in media and tech research and consulting for over 30 years, advising multi-national corporations, media owners and government agencies on strategic marketing and communications issues on an international basis. A recognized innovator and thought leader in the media and marketing space, he has extensive experience in attitudinal and behavioural research across all channels with an emphasis on the integration of emerging and traditional media among all audiences from children to seniors.
At Magid, Mike works with colleagues to provide research and consulting solutions to clients across the ecosystem seeking to make the right decisions regarding all aspects of the business lifecycle; from programming, marketing, advertising and distribution, through strategy, product development and pricing to consumer insights, user experience and more.
In the last five years Mike has helped pioneered thinking in the streaming space on projects ranging from concept and service development through user experience, satisfaction and business growth. He is Practice Lead of Magid’s Subscriber Science practice which provides ongoing data on services across the streaming ecosystem and consults on value creation and subscriber acquisition and retention.
Prior to joining Magid, Mike led the Insight & Research team at Ball State University’s Center for Media Design where he and his colleagues became known for their large-scale observational research studies including the Middletown Media Studies and the Video Consumer Mapping Study for Neilsen’s Council for Research Excellence.
mbloxham@magid.com
Founder
Bill Harvey, who won an Emmy® Award in 2022 for his invention of set top box data, has spent over 35 years leading the way in media research with pioneer thinking in New Media, set top box data, optimizers, measurement standards, privacy standards, the ARF Model; and inventions such as ADI/DMA, addressable commercials, passive peoplemeters, media/purchase singlesource by Big Data matching (4 U.S. patents assigned to TRA, Inc.). Bill’s latest invention is an EEG-trained AI method, marketed by his company RMT (Resonance Mapping Technologies), of customizing media to creative, which has been proven by ARF Cognition Council, Wharton Neuroscience, NCS, Simmons, Neustar and others, to efficiently increase sales and branding effects per ad dollar. His latest big project is to make all of television one big superplatform which he calls UltiMedia.
Carol Hinnant is a seasoned media executive with more than two decades of leadership at companies including Comscore, Rentrak, HBO, and GAC Networks. She has built a reputation for driving innovation in media measurement, accelerating revenue growth, and forging trusted partnerships across the evolving media landscape. At Comscore, she played a pivotal role in advancing cross-platform currency, securing key client relationships with leading media and technology companies, and guiding the organization toward major accreditation milestones such as MRC and U.S. JIC certification. Her work consistently bridges the needs of advertisers and publishers, delivering accurate, independent measurement solutions that fuel industry growth.
Beyond her executive leadership, Carol has been recognized by CableFax, Multichannel News, and CTAM for her contributions to media, advertising, and innovation. She currently advises multiple organizations at the intersection of media, technology, and investment, serving or has served as a board member and executive advisor to MediaBrain, Rave Me Away, and as Executive in Residence at Progress Partners. Passionate about the continued evolution of audience measurement, she combines strategic vision with operational expertise to help shape the future of how media is valued and monetized.
Kym Frank serves as Senior Vice President, Ad Sales Research, Fox Corporation. In this capacity, she leads the centralized, cross-platform research and measurement team developing attribution models and analytics that inform and shape future ad innovation.
Before joining FOX, Frank served as Global Chief Experience Officer at Motionworks where she led customer-facing functions, including insights, enterprise and partnership sales, marketing, business development, product research, international, and thought-leadership for this mobile population intelligence provider to the media industry and other sectors.
Prior to that, she served as President of Geopath where she led all aspects of the non-profit audience measurement organization for the out-of-home (OOH) media industry serving nearly 400 members and thousands of users.
Earlier in her career Frank has held a number of senior-level leadership positions in the research industry including Senior Vice President, Client Solutions for Symphony Advanced Media, a cross-platform measurement start-up, and Senior Vice President, Strategic Insights, ZenithOptimedia.
Frank earned a Master of Arts degree in Speech and Communications from Montclair State University and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications from the University of Pennsylvania.
Industry awards include the 2025 She Runs It “Changing the Game” award, Cynposis’ “Top Women in Media” and “Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs, Intrapreneurs, & Brand Builders.”
Frank’s volunteer work includes serving on the Media Ratings Council, Market Research Council, and the Digital Signage Federation.
Melva Goffney Benoit is an accomplished Executive Media Strategist and a recognized leader in audience research, analytics, and data-driven strategy. With a career spanning major media brands and innovative startups, she is renowned for her ability to translate complex consumer insights into actionable business growth.
Currently, Melva is the Founder and President of The Marian Dupree Group, Inc., a strategic advisory firm she established in 2014, specializing in consumer insights, content, and product development for start-ups and Fortune 500 companies. She is also an Executive Professor of Digital Media & Innovation at Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business, where she focuses on the intersection of audience analytics and media innovation.
Drawing on over 20 years of executive experience at major media companies, including Viacom, Disney, Turner, NBC Universal, and Fox, Melva has driven strategic direction in content creation, product strategy, marketing, and advertising. Known for her ability to synthesize trends and anticipate market shifts, she brings both analytical precision and human-centered thinking to her work.
Beyond her advisory roles, Melva is a partner in Band of Vices, an art and culture company providing a platform for the creative community through curated exhibitions and mission-driven community programming.
Melva holds a BA in Communications from Howard University and completed the Executive Leadership Program at the Institute for Communication Technology Management (CTM), USC Marshall School of Business. She currently serves as a Board Member for Neighborhood Partners, Inc., supporting affordable housing and economic development initiatives.
When she’s not diving deep into insights, you’ll find her mentoring emerging insights leaders, exploring new cities, or deep in a great book.
Jon Watts is Managing Director of CIMM, the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement. He has 25 years of professional experience in media and advertising, in the US and internationally, working as an advisor and consultant to major media and technology enterprises, investors, policy makers and regulators.
At CIMM, Jon is leading a range of initiatives, including work on the future of cross-platform measurement, the transition to a multi-currency market, and the use of data across the TV ecosystem. Jon is also Executive Director at The Project X Institute and Editorial Director of Beet.TV’s events and industry retreats.
Prior to moving to the US from the UK, Jon founded and led MTM, an international research and strategy consultancy. He graduated from Cambridge University with a top first in Social and Political Science and has an MPhil in Social and Political Theory.
Brandon Pankey is CEO of Artist Presented Experiences (APEX), a new AVOD streaming network focused on creating and distributing scripted, unscripted, and licensed content exclusively by and for artists. Content and strategic partnerships for the network include Radio, Mercury Studios, Complex, and more. The network has distribution across Roku, Amazon Fire, Xfinity (Comcast) as well as live shopping for artists launching in 2026.
Brandon has also served at as Vice President of Business Development & Operations for Live Nation Urban and proved integral to the planning, positioning, and execution of marquee annual events and initiatives, ensuring the ultimate audience experience along the way. These include The Roots Picnic where he serves as an official producer and offers his expertise firsthand for Lil Wayne’s Weezyana Festival, Mary J Blige’s Strength of a Woman Festival, and many more.
Brandon was recognized as one of Essence Magazine’s Power Players 2025 among other previous recognitions for his accomplishments and impact including Variety Magazine’s Hollywood’s New Leaders of 2022, EBONY’s 2021 Power 100 List, Billboard magazine’s prestigious “30 under 30” music executives list and also a Billboard “Power Player” Executive in 2019, 2020, 2022 & 2025. Additionally, he has been featured in national publications such as the Wall Street Journal, Black Enterprise, Ad Age, and Pollstar.
He has also been a guest lecturer at several top institutions in the United States including Harvard University, New York University and the University of North Carolina. Brandon earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Annenberg School of Communications at University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA.
Chris Pfaff is a leading new media and technology producer and strategist. He is renowned for integrating leading-edge technology into the media and entertainment community. He was the first to use IRC for an interactive corporate webcast; produced one of the first DVDs, in March, 1997; produced the first HD animated logo; produced numerous multipoint broadband events in the late-1990s; produced some of the first mobile short films in 2002-2003, and produced the first Twitter Wall in 2011.
His company, Chris Pfaff Tech/Media LLC, provides strategy and marketing services for leading technology service providers, technology firms, and new media companies worldwide. Since founding Chris Pfaff Tech/Media LLC in 2002, Chris has represented a wide range of clients, including strategic ventures from the likes of Eastman Kodak, PRIMEDIA, Cantor Telecom, and ASCAP, and firms ranging from mobile content distributor Thumbplay, video encoding firm On2 Technologies (sold to Google), and 3D face and body animation production studio face2face animation. He leads a global team that works with a large, and growing, number of North American and European ventures.
Chris was one of the founders of the Producers Guild of America (PGA) New Media Council East, and served as chairman of the group from 2007-2013. He served as the vice chairman of the national PGA New Media Council from 2011-2013, for which he served as a delegate from 2006-2013, and also served as a delegate on the PGA Board of Directors from 2008-2013. Chris is also a founder of the New York chapter of the
VR AR Association, for which he currently serves as vice-chairman of the Storytelling Committee.
Prior to launching Chris Pfaff Tech/Media, Chris was involved with the early-stage ventures GeoVideo Networks and MobileQ, and previously had helped launch more than 16 ventures with the Lucent New Ventures Group and Bell Labs, including Lucent Digital Radio (later iBiquity Digital, sold to Xperi), SyChip (sold to Murata), e-Ink, Flarion (sold to Qualcomm), and savaJe (sold to Sun Microsystems), among many others. While at AT&T Corp., he helped launch AT&T WorldNet Service and the AT&T NetWare Connect Service, and also helped launch the AT&T Personal Online Services division. Prior to this, he represented such clients as Sony Electronics; Viacom New Media, Sharp Electronics, and Kyocera, among others. He began his career in the music industry, representing clients including Yamaha Corporation; Hal Leonard Publishing, and working with a wide range of musical artists and producers, including such notable figures as Walter Becker, Chick Corea, Wynton Marsalis, and Phil Ramone.
Braden Blacker is the Co-Founder of “Creators vs. Greats” and the Global Head of Content, Talent, and Growth for Galactic Markets, after formerly being a top manager in the creator space working with globally recognized creators and overseeing a roster generating over 3 billion views per month.
Braden started managing top content creators at the age of 16 and has worked with creators and talent such as Sketch, FaZe Clan, Yung Gravy, and Ty Dolla $ign across both representation and brand partnership campaigns. He led the full influencer strategy and development of Sports Illustrated’s SI Predict campaign.
The first episode of his co-founded show “Creators vs. Greats” has surpassed 100 million views across social media and featured stars like FaZe Clan and Dwight Howard. Currently producing the next “Creators vs. Greats” events focused around Soccer, Football and racing to bring “Creators vs. Greats” to new fields, markets and audiences in the US and globally.
He is also the owner of The Content Code, a premier social media marketing agency where he has worked with companies such as Walmart and Sports Illustrated Predict.
As an 18 year old Gen Z social first entrepreneur Braden can speak authentically to his generation’s consumption, engagement and use of social media across all platforms.
While carrying the “ethos” of a Marketing Technologist, as the Managing Director, Digital Innovation at Walton Isaacson Albert Thompson has always possessed a firm understanding of how technology has continued to transform the discipline of Marketing while disrupting today’s conventional consumer engagement models. Over that past 20+ years his cross-cultural communications experience ranges from African American, Hispanic, LGBTQ, AAPI, Arab American, South Asian, Boomers, Millennials, Urban, GM to International.
His work involves Digital Marketing for Lexus, Home Depot, Morgan Stanley, AMAZON, NYPD, Medline, State Fair, Spalding, HBO, MCD, LA Sparks, Game Show Network, Verizon Wireless, Unilever, Ford Division, Lincoln Mercury, Burger King, Toyota, Colgate, HSBC, Time Warner Cable, AstraZeneca, US Marines, Pfizer, Novartis, Merck, and Hyatt Resorts.
Beyond the agency realm, Albert serves as an Advisor to early stages companies on a series of topics related to Market Positioning, Go-to Market Strategy, Brand Identity, Consumer Psychology, and Growth Marketing. As a member of the advisory board to enterprises such as Cache.ai, BrandMentality.ai, Sosani, Retailwire, MyBalbo, Real Juice Media, and Adskate he serves as a Marketing Technologist to help organizations visualize and “operationalize” the use of their offering.
Albert has participated in numerous speaking engagements for the 4A’s, AdAge, the ANA, Meltwater, MediaPost, Digiday, ThinkLA, PUBMATIC, TVOT, CYNOPSIS, Admonsters, AdExchanger, Adweek, and VAB. This type of industry prowess resulted in him being named one of ADWEEK’s 2022 Media Allstars. Albert is also the host of The Transient Identiti podcast which chronicles the Voice of the Consumer. Albert’s greatest accomplishment is marrying his college sweat-heart and being the father of twin girls. He holds an MBA from Florida A&M University.
Howard Shimmel is a television research and insights veteran with over 30 years of change-making thought leadership under his belt. As the President of Janus Strategy & Insights, he is transforming how companies around the world strategize and position their television marketing offerings, from linear methods to addressable and connected TV. Howard also serves as a Board Member and Head of Strategy for datafuelX, an advanced analytics firm focused on developing best in class decision science models to fuel the next generation of media capabilities, specifically focused on forecasting and optimization.
From attribution to advertising, data to ROI, Howard is carving the path to address the changing trends in the audience landscape, as well as shape emerging platforms and industry innovations. He leverages this knowledge to lead organizations through strategy, planning, buying, measurement, and stewardship.
Beyond his role at Janus, Howard is co-founder of datafuelX, an advanced analytics firm focused on developing best in class decision science models to fuel the next generation of media capabilities.
Howard also serves as an advisor and investor in many emerging new age research companies, including Hyphametrics, Adelaide, WeAre8, and Humantel.
Prior to starting this company, Howard was Chief Research Officer Turner, where he oversaw all multi-screen entertainment, news, kids and sports research, as well as corporate analysis and insight-led efforts.
Shimmel played a critical role in driving the company’s efforts around the consumer journey and insights to better capture measurement for both Turner and its partners. In 2016, in partnership with Turner Ad Sales’ Turner Ignite team, Shimmel oversaw the launch of Turner Ad Lab, an initiative whose goal was to make recommendations about linear and digital video ad experience in light of the changing TV landscape.
Prior to be promoted to his role in 2014, Shimmel was senior vice president of ad sales and sports research for Turner, where he oversaw television and digital research analysis and strategy support for the company’s news, entertainment, animation, young adults & kids and sports advertising sales units. He joined Turner from Nielsen Media & Advertising Analytics where he served as executive vice president responsible for building out an advanced analytic business focused on issues like cross-platform analytics, advanced media targeting, promotion effectiveness and ROI measurement, for media companies, agencies and advertisers. Shimmel’s industry-rich experience includes other leadership roles at The Nielsen Company, America Online, WBIS and MTV Networks. He also served as president of Symmetric Resources, Inc. Over the span of his career, Shimmel has developed research expertise related to technology adoption, methodology and advertising’s impact on sales.
Holly Leff-Pressman is the Chief Client Engagement Officer at Screen Engine/ASI (SEA), where she leads client service teams and has been instrumental in expanding the company’s business and client base across its offices in Los Angeles, San Diego, New York, and London.She began her career as an entertainment attorney before transitioning into the OTT space, where she held key roles in distribution and acquisitions at NBCUniversal and In Demand. Prior to joining SEA, she also worked at The Nielsen Company in a similar client-focused capacity, bringing a wealth of experience in media, data, and strategic partnerships.
Tracy Swedlow is the CEO, publisher, and editor-in-chief of InteractiveTV Today (ITVT), which she founded in 1998, and is also the executive producer and director of the TV of Tomorrow Show (TVOT) conferences.
Her writing has appeared in many leading newspapers and trade publications, including the New York Times, the San Francisco Examiner, PC World, Multimedia World and VR World. Topics she has covered in the past include virtual reality, email communities, privacy and technology, online gravesite memorials, and, of course, interactive television.
Prior to founding ITVT, she was chief evangelist at eGroups.com (now Yahoo! Groups); new media editor at PC World; a producer and director for Telemorphix, a pioneering interactive TV company, and a video producer at Steve Michelson Productions in San Francisco.
A regular presenter at ITV industry conferences and panels, and a frequent guest on television and radio shows, she actively communicates her understanding of the history of interactive TV; its current trends, technologies, content innovations and applications; the complexities of executive leadership and industrial dynamics; and where she thinks the medium and the ITV industry will and must go in the future to audiences around the world. She has served as the founding chairperson and judge of the “Television” and the “Broadband” categories respectively for The Webby Awards since its inception and regularly produce editorial events and awards programs benefiting the ITV industry (e.g. The annual TV of Tomorrow Show).
Other experiences include voiceovers on many feature films while at Sound One in New York City (e.g. “Hannah and Her Sisters” and “9 1/2 Weeks”); participation in the Director/Playwright Workshop at Playwright’s Horizons in New York City with founder, Bob Moss; participation on various experimental technology multimedia theater showcases directed by the visionary George Coates in San Francisco; conceiving, producing, directing the first 3 fashion shows (as interactive theater) on the Black Rock Desert in the early years of the Burning Man project, and directing an episode of the Twlight Zone called “The Obsolete Man” at the Dark Room in San Francisco. In August 2005, she created and directed a politically-charged multimedia “blogtheater” (my word) piece that focused on post-election America called “Fuck That!: The Political Science Show.” In her non-spare time, she produces and edits the occasional book such as “Desert to Dream” (a photography book) and “Train of Thought” (a children’s book), trains as a traditional boxer, and paints http://tracyswedlow.work. She also recently published her first collection of poems in “No Visiting ‘Till My Show Is Over” published on Amazon. She is also a mother to a wonderful little girl named Hannah and wife to Richard Washbourne, the co-owner and co-producer of ITVT/TVOT.
Her education includes a Ph.D fellowship in directing at the University of California, Berkeley; a Masters degree in Dramatic Criticism from Northwestern University; a certificate in French and French Literature from the Université de Cannes; a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theater History from Tulane University; studies in Drama at the Royal Holloway College at the University of London; as well as a high school degree from Culver Military Academy in Indiana.
Originally from Columbus, Ohio, she witnessed the birth of QUBE, the first commercially deployed interactive television platform, and CompuServe, the first commercial online service. She is also the proud creator of an artcar.
Jon Giegengack is the founder and principal at Hub Entertainment Research. He launched Hub in 2013, as the convergence of technology and entertainment began to gain speed. Jon recognized the need for real-time insight about the changing world of digital entertainment: from how people discover new content, to how they consume it, to how they pay for it (if they pay at all).
Jon works with leading entertainment brands including ABC, Comcast, Netflix, Sony, AMC and AT&T. Jon has more than 20 years of experience in research for the entertainment industry. He is a regular speaker at industry events organized by Streaming Media, NYC TV Week, TVOT, SubSummit, the Advertising Research Foundation, to name a few; and has been quoted in publications like Variety, TheWrap, Forbes, Bloomberg, and more. For the latest insights, subscribe at hubintel.substack.com.
