D: Dive Into Media will bring the media world’s most important and interesting figures together. We will have smart, serious and lively conversations with the heads of cable companies, movie studios, print publishers and music labels. We will also talk to some of the most interesting digital companies that pose big problems, and opportunities, for the established players.
D: Dive Into Media will take place February 11-12, 2013. Here is the current line-up of speakers for D: Dive Into Media.
Will Arnett
Actor
Will Arnett has a long list of TV and movie credits, but he’s best known for his role as G.O.B. Bluth on Arrested Development. G.O.B. will be back on the screen in May, when Netflix revives the Fox sitcom. You can also see Arnett on conventional TV, where he stars in NBC’s Up All Night. With Arrested Development co-star Jason Bateman, he co-founded DumbDumb, a multimedia comedic ad company.
Nikesh Arora
SVP and Chief Business Officer, Google Inc.
Nikesh Arora oversees all revenue and customer operations at Google, as well as marketing and partnerships. Put another way: Google generated nearly $40 billion in revenue last year, and Arora touched almost all of it. Since joining in 2004, he has held several positions at Google, most recently leading direct sales operations. His current challenge: Building out Google’s dominance in search ads into other areas, like display, mobile and video. Prior to joining Google, Arora was chief marketing officer at T-Mobile Europe.
David Carey
President, Hearst Magazines
David Carey oversees a publishing business that boasts more than 300 editions around the world, including 19 U.S. titles, 28 websites, 14 mobile sites, a slew of apps, and iCrossing, a marketing services company. At Hearst, Carey has been pushing aggressively into digital pursuits, and the company now has 800,000 digital subscribers for its magazines. Prior to joining Hearst, Carey was group president at Condé Nast, where he oversaw titles including Wired and Portfolio.
Charlie Ergen
Chairman and Co-Founder, Dish Network
Charlie Ergen co-founded Dish, formerly EchoStar Communications Corporation, more than 30 years ago, and currently acts as chairman of the board for both Dish and EchoStar. In May 2011, he stepped down from his role as president and CEO, but he’s still very hands- on, focusing on business development and acquisition tactics. And he has a very full agenda: Plans to move into the mobile business, via a proposed acquisition of Clearwire; constant battles with TV networks over everything from ad-skipping to programming fees; and an attempt to take on Netflix by reviving Blockbuster.
David Eun
EVP, Open Innovation Center, Samsung Electronics
As head of Samsung’s Open Innovation Center, David Eun is the electronics giant’s man in Silicon Valley, where he’s supposed to develop new digital content and services. That means everything from early stage investments to acquisitions to partnerships with media and technology companies. Prior to Samsung, he served as president of AOL Media and Studios; prior to that, he headed Google’s Content Partnerships, which meant hammering out key deals between YouTube and many media companies. His resume also includes stints at Time Warner and NBC Entertainment.
Brian Grazer
Chairman, Imagine Entertainment
Brian Grazer has been making movies and television programs for more than 25 years. Running total for that output: 43 Oscars, 149 Emmys, $13.7 billion in movie revenue, and a lot of happy television viewers; he also picked up his own Oscar in 2002 for producing A Beautiful Mind. Grazer got his start in producing TV projects, which is where he met longtime business partner Ron Howard; in 1986, the two men founded Imagine Entertainment. Projects in the pipeline include a new season of Arrested Development, which will debut on Netflix in May, and Rush, a Formula One film starring Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl.
Erik Huggers
Corporate VP & GM, Intel Media
Erik Huggers heads up the chipmaker’s newly created Intel Media unit, which the company says will work “with media and entertainment industry partners to deliver breakthrough media experiences on consumer devices.” Translation: If Intel launches a pay-TV service, he’ll be the one running it. Prior to Intel, Huggers was the director of BBC Future Media & Technology, where he launched and oversaw the BBC’s Online, iPlayer, Mobile and Red Button services. The Netherlands native has also worked with Microsoft, where he launched MSN portals in some European countries.
Chris Hughes
Publisher & Editor-in-Chief, The New Republic
In 2004, with college roommates Mark Zuckerberg and Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes co-founded Facebook. Perhaps you’ve heard of it. A few years later, Hughes applied his social media savvy for presidential candidate Barack Obama, and that worked out, too. Last year, he bought The New Republic, a beloved 98-year-old magazine with an august reputation but a relatively small number of readers. His challenge: Proving that there’s a business model for “narrative-driven, long-form journalism” in the Web age.
Mitch Hurwitz
Creator
Mitch Hurwitz is best known for creating and producing Arrested Development, the much-loved show that Netflix is reviving in May; he is writing, directing and producing the comedy’s comeback. Hurwitz has had a long career in TV that stretches back to The Golden Girls and includes many other sitcoms. Arrested Development ended up winning 18 Emmy nominations, and Hurwitz nabbed three awards himself.
Jimmy Iovine
Chairman, Interscope Geffen-A&M, Co-Founder, Beats by Dr. Dre
Starting out as a studio engineer working with the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Jimmy Iovine became a producer for acts like Tom Petty and U2, and founded a record label that signed artists ranging from Eminem to the Black Eyed Peas to Lady Gaga. In his spare time, he has co-created a best- selling line of headphones. For his next act, Iovine wants to convince the world to sign up for his new subscription music service, slated for launch later this year.
Eric Kessler
President & COO, HBO
Eric Kessler doesn’t green-light HBO’s iconic shows like Girls and Game of Thrones. But he’s the one in charge of getting them in front of viewers, by heading up distribution in both the U.S. and abroad. That includes HBO Go, HBO’s authenticated streaming service — the one many people say they’d like to pay for without getting a pay-TV subscription. Kessler joined HBO in 1986 as a marketing manager, and eventually launched the “It’s Not TV. It’s HBO.” campaign, which won the very first Emmy Award for a commercial.
Larry Kramer
President & Publisher, USA Today
USA Today is America’s largest print newspaper. What does that mean in the digital era? That’s the question Larry Kramer is grappling with as he works on a strategic vision for the paper and its related platforms, the USA Today Sports Media Group, the Travel Media Group, Reviewed.com and USA Weekend. Kramer came to the paper in 2012; prior to that, his digital bona fides include a position as the first president of CBS Digital Media, and as CEO and founder of CBS MarketWatch. He started his journalism career as a reporter for the San Francisco Examiner.
Michael Lynton
CEO, Sony Entertainment
Turns out people are still willing to pay money to watch films in a theater. For evidence, see Sony’s Skyfall, which has grossed more than $1 billion worldwide in the last few months. That’s good news for Michael Lynton, but the head of Sony’s film and music units has lots of challenges on his plate. Among his newest priorities: Trying to kick- start the new “4K” digital format for ultra-high-definition TVs, a job that involves both creating and distributing titles in the new format.
Yusuf Mehdi
SVP, Interactive Entertainment Business, Microsoft
Microsoft’s Xbox has been a bona fide hit for a company that needs one, and Yusuf Mehdi’s job is to build on that success, both by bringing new games to the hardware, and by turning it into a multimedia entertainment hub, via distribution deals with the likes of ESPN, HBO, and Netflix. Mehdi is a longtime Microsoft vet whose previous job was running its Online Services Division, where he led the company’s foray into search and online advertising. Before that, he was responsible for the product management and marketing of Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 1.0 through 5.0.
Michael Rapino
CEO, Live Nation Entertainment
If you went to a show last year, there’s a very good chance you ended up paying Michael Rapino. His conglomerate includes both Ticketmaster, the world’s biggest ticketing company, and Live Nation, the biggest concert and event promoter. All in, it’s a $5 billion company. His newest focus: Overhauling the company’s digital presence, and giving concertgoers and ticket buyers a reason to visit him more than a couple times a year. Prior to the entertainment business, Rapino made his money in beer, as a marketer at Canada’s Labatt Breweries.
Dan Rose
VP of Partnerships, Facebook
Facebook has a billion users, and Dan Rose is in charge of connecting all those people with outsiders who want to reach them: That’s a wide-ranging group that includes everyone from gaming companies to publishers to mobile networks. Facebook’s “Read. Watch. Listen.” plan for “frictionless sharing” is a road map for interactions with media companies, and it’s Rose’s job to steer the social networking giant. Rose joined Facebook in 2006 after seven years at Amazon.com, where his jobs included launching the Amazon Kindle.
Ted Sarandos
Chief Content Officer & VP of Content, Netflix
Netflix is a Silicon Valley company that depends on Hollywood for its content; Ted Sarandos is the guy in the middle, and has handled content acquisition for Netflix since 2000. Now he’s heading up the company’s efforts to create its own programming, by brokering deals to produce original series like House of Cards and a new season of Arrested Development. Before Netflix, Sarandos was an executive at video distributor ETD and Video City/West Coast Video.
Shane Smith
Founder & CEO, Vice Media
Shane Smith co-founded Vice in 1994, when it was an intentionally rough-edged magazine. Since then, he’s kept the same ethos, but the company has evolved: It’s now part ad agency, part production company, with a heavy emphasis on Web video. The Brooklyn-based company has also branched out into TV in the past, and is trying it again this year for HBO, via a show Smith will co-host.
Nancy Tellem
Corporate VP, Microsoft LA Studios
Nancy Tellem spent 15 years creating and distributing TV programs as a top CBS executive. Now she’s using that experience to help Microsoft break into the production business: She’s building a new studio for the company’s Xbox group in Los Angeles, which is supposed to make new “interactive and linear content” for the gaming device and other gadgets. Prior to CBS, she was executive vice president of business and financial affairs for Warner Bros. Television, and was part of the team that launched programs like Friends and ER.
Ricky Van Veen
Co-Founder, CollegeHumor
Ricky Van Veen co-founded CollegeHumor.com from his Wake Forest University dorm room in 1999, and built it into one of the Web’s breakout comedy sites. In 2006, he sold control of the company to IAC, and since then he has been focused on video, both for his original site and for Notional, a production company that creates hit shows like Food Network’s Chopped. Coffee Town, his first movie, is slated for release this year.
