The following luminaries took part in D8, June 1 to 3, 2010. Read and watch what they had to say at our D8 Conference Web site.
Tim Armstrong
Tim Armstrong Chairman and CEO
AOL
As chairman and CEO, Armstrong is responsible for setting strategy and overseeing the businesses and day-to-day operations of AOL. In December 2009, he took the company public with a listing on the New York Stock Exchange. Armstrong joined AOL in April 2009 from Google,where he oversaw the company's North American and Latin American advertising sales, marketing and operations teams as president of The Americas Operations. Prior to joining Google, he was vice president of sales and strategic partnerships for Snowball.com. He has also served as director of integrated sales and marketing at Starwave's and Disney's ABC/ESPN Internet Ventures. And at the start of his career, he co-founded and ran a newspaper based in Boston, Mass. Armstrong is on the boards of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), the Advertising Council and the Advertising Research Foundation. He does not resemble the AOL Running Man icon, unless he is running.
Steve Ballmer
CEO
Microsoft
Ballmer is CEO of Microsoft Corporation, the world's leading manufacturer of software for personal and business computing. He joined Microsoft in 1980, the first business manager hired by his former classmate at Harvard, Bill Gates. Variously described as ebullient, focused, hard-charging and energetic, Ballmer grew up near Detroit, where his father worked as a manager at Ford Motor Co. After Harvard, he worked for two years at Procter & Gamble, as an assistant product manager, after which he attended the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. He did not create a startup in his garage while there, but he has done well nonetheless.
Lloyd Braun
Co-owner
BermanBraun
Braun is co-owner, with Gail Berman, of the Santa Monica, Calif.-based media company BermanBraun. Founded in 2007, BermanBraun has three divisions–television, digital media and feature film. It has strategic alliances with NBC and Microsoft to create and distribute creative content for television and digital platforms. That includes MSN's Wonderwall, a celebrity site, as well as women's lifestyle destination Glo. On NBC, BermanBraun's "The Cape," just got picked up for the 2010/2011 television season. It also is making "Decoded" for the History Channel for this fall, as well as three new series to be produced with "Mythbusters" stars Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage for Discovery Channel. BermanBraun also makes "Swords for the Discovery Channel and "Is She Really Going Out With Him?" for MTV. Prior to BermanBraun, Braun served as head of the Yahoo! Media Group and, before that, was chairman of the ABC Entertainment Television Group. During his tenure with the ABC, Braun initiated and oversaw the development of such successful programs as "Alias," "Lost," "Desperate Housewives," "Grey's Anatomy," "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" and "The Bachelor." And, yes, Larry David named the crazy Lloyd Braun character in "Seinfeld" after Braun, who was once David's lawyer.
Steve Burke
COO
Comcast
Burke joined Comcast in 1998 as president of Comcast Cable. Under his leadership, Comcast has become the largest cable company, largest residential Internet service provider and third largest phone company in America. In addition to overseeing the company's products and services, Burke also oversees Comcast's programming networks, advertising and Comcast Interactive Media. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Colgate University with an MBA from the Harvard Business School, Burke joined The Walt Disney Company in 1986, rising to the position of President of ABC Broadcasting. If he doesn't have a lifetime pass to the theme parks, he should.
James Cameron
Director, Producer, Writer
Cameron is the King of the World. He is a writer, director and producer who has made some of the most beloved and highest-grossing films of all time, including Titanic, Avatar, The Terminator and Aliens. He is known as a fearless pioneer of filming techniques, using CGI and 3-D technology in innovative ways to produce effects never before seen on the screen. A native of Canada, Cameron worked as a truck driver before making his first film in 1978: the science fiction short Xenogenesis. He has won innumerable awards for his film work, including Oscars for Best Director, Best Film Editing and Best Picture.
Steve Case
Chairman and CEO
Revolution
Case launched Revolution, a company that seeks to drive transformative change by shifting power to consumers, in April 2005. Revolution's mission is to partner with entrepreneurs in building businesses that give people more choice, control and convenience in important areas of their lives such as health, wellness and recreation. Prior to starting Revolution, Case was the chairman and CEO of America Online, Inc., and later, the chairman of AOL Time Warner. He is the man who brought the world the immortal phrase "You've got mail."
Peter Chou
CEO
HTC
Chou is the CEO of HTC Corp. and has been with the organization since its establishment in 1997. Under his direction and leadership, HTC has emerged as a global market leader in wireless communications. Chou's expertise in the IT industry has been the driving force behind some of HTC's most cutting-edge converged devices, including the Nexus One, the HTC Hero, and the HTC HD2. He is a graduate of National Taiwan Ocean University, the National Chengchi University's Executive MBA Program, and Harvard Business School's Advanced Management Program. In his spare time, he enjoys reading, appreciating all forms of art, and listening to classical music.
John Donahoe
President and CEO
eBay
As president and CEO of eBay Inc. since March 2008, Donahoe has global responsibility for growing the company's e-commerce and payments businesses, which include eBay Marketplaces and PayPal. Donahoe joined eBay in February 2005 as president of eBay Marketplaces, overseeing a number of strategic acquisitions including Shopping.com and StubHub. Prior to eBay, he spent more than 20 years at Bain & Company, a worldwide consulting firm based in Boston. Donahoe received a BA in Economics from Dartmouth College and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, obviating the need to purchase any diplomas online.
Julius Genachowski
Chairman of the FCC
Genachowski has been the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission since June 2009. Prior to his appointment, he spent more than 10 years working in the technology industry, co-founding LaunchBox Digital and Rock Creek Ventures. From 1997-2005, he was a senior executive at IAC/ InterActiveCorp. Genachowski has two decades of experience in public service and the private sector. Among other positions, he has served as chief counsel at the FCC, as a law clerk at the U.S. Supreme Court for Justices David Souter and William J. Brennan, and on the staff of the House select committee investigating Iran-Contra. He is also a certified Emergency Medical Technician, in the event you find yourself feeling very unwell at the conference.
Paul Jacobs
CEO
Qualcomm
Jacobs is chairman of Qualcomm's board of directors and the company's chief executive officer. He has been at the company full time since 1990. Important developments which began under Jacobs include: the first Palm OS®-based smartphone, inclusion of GPS capabilities in mobile phones, the Brew® system of over-the-air downloading of applications, and MediaFLO™ technology for mobile TV. Jacobs has been granted more than 35 patents for his inventions in the areas of wireless technology and devices. He also chairs the World Economic Forum's Future of Mobile Communications council.
Jeffrey Katzenberg
CEO
Dreamworks Animation SKG
Katzenberg runs DreamWorks, the largest animation studio in the world, which he co-founded with famed director Steven Spielberg and Hollywood megamogul David Geffen in October 1994. It has released a total of 18 animated feature films so far, including "Shrek," "Madagascar" and "Kung Fu Panda." Prior to co-founding DreamWorks, Katzenberg served as chairman of Disney Studios. He also previously served as president of Paramount Studios, where he was involved in such now-classic films as "Raiders of the Lost Ark," "Saturday Night Fever," and "Grease." In other words, he brought you all your favorite movies in high school, and now he's making them for your kids.
Alan Mulally
CEO
Ford
Mulally runs a car company with one of the most storied histories in the world–its founder Henry Ford began the automotive revolution. Prior to joining Ford in September 2006, he worked in another transportation business, serving as executive vice president of Boeing, and president and chief executive officer of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, having joined the company in 1969. He has served on the advisory boards of NASA and MIT, as well as the U.S. Air Force Scientific Advisory Board. Not surprisingly, he flies planes and drives fast cars.
Ray Ozzie
Chief Software Architect
Microsoft
Ozzie, an industry pioneer in computer-supported cooperative work, is Microsoft's chief software architect. He assumed the role in June 2006, when chairman Bill Gates announced his intent to relinquish his day-to-day Microsoft responsibilities in 2008. Ozzie came to Microsoft in April 2005 when the company acquired Groove Networks, a next-generation collaboration software company he founded in 1997. Prior to Groove, Ozzie was a founder and president of Iris Associates, where he created and led the development of Lotus Notes.
Richard Rosenblatt
Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO
Demand Media
Rosenblatt, who co-founded Demand Media in May 2006, has built, operated and sold numerous Internet media companies with a combined value of more than $1.3 billion. Most recently, he served as chief executive officer of Intermix Media, and chairman of MySpace. He was part of a team that helped grow MySpace from an unknown Web site until its acquisition by News Corporation in October 2005 for $650 million. A Southern California native, Rosenblatt holds a BA from UCLA and a JD from USC Law School.
Vivian Schiller
President and CEO
NPR
A media executive and journalist with 25 years of experience in the industry, Schiller joined NPR in January 2009. She leads all of NPR's worldwide media operations, including the organization's partnerships with a network of more than 900 public radio stations, and their service to the nearly 30 million people who listen to NPR programming. Prior to joining NPR, she served at The New York Times as senior vice president and general manager of NYTimes.com. She also served as senior vice president of CNN Productions. Schiller began her career as a simultaneous Russian interpreter in the former Soviet Union, which led her to documentary production work for Turner Broadcasting.
Paul Steiger
Editor-in-Chief, President and Chief Executive
ProPublica
Steiger is the editor-in-chief, president and chief executive of ProPublica, an innovative nonprofit organization that produces investigative journalism. He is also the chairman of the Committee to Protect Journalists and a trustee of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, based in Miami, which supports transformative programs in areas including journalism and community development. Steiger began his journalism career in 1966 as a reporter in the San Francisco bureau of The Wall Street Journal. He held numerous positions at the paper, culminating in his appointment as managing editor in 1991, a position he held until 2007. Under his leadership, The Wall Street Journal's reporters and editors won 16 Pulitzer Prizes. Most importantly, he was once the boss of Walt and Kara and we always listened to him.
Mark Zuckerberg
Founder and CEO
Facebook
Zuckerberg leads Facebook, which he founded in 2004. As such, Zuckerberg is responsible for setting the overall direction and product strategy for the company, leading the design of Facebook's service and development of its core technology and infrastructure. It's worked out well so far for the young entrepreneur. After founding the social networking site as an undergraduate at Harvard University, where he studied computer science before moving the company to Silicon Valley, he has seen it grow to 500 million users worldwide and a private-market valuation of $25 billion. We'll admit it: We're impressed.