Speakers

David Gandler is co-founder and CEO of fuboTV, the live TV streaming platform that is transforming how people watch sports, news and entertainment. Under David’s leadership, fuboTV has quickly evolved into a leading virtual MVPD with a focus on innovation.

fuboTV launched in 2015 as a streaming soccer service and today is a sports-first cable TV replacement for the entire family. The company listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol “FUBO” in October 2020.

Popular with cord-cutters, fuboTV is consistently first to market across a number of areas including product and technology (“firsts” include 4K streams, Multiview on Apple TV and live TV recommendations), advertising (launched dynamic ad insertion in January 2018 ahead of most competitors) and content (distribution agreements with 100+ channels and 770+ local network stations in 99% of the U.S.; its own fubo Sports Network with original programming). Forbes named fuboTV to its Next Billion-Dollar Startups list in 2019.

Prior to founding fuboTV, David had a prolific advertising career with more than 15 years of video sales in local broadcast and cable TV within both the general and Hispanic market, including at Scripps Networks Interactive, Time Warner Cable Media Sales and NBCUniversal’s Telemundo Media.

David has been named among Goldman Sachs’ 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs (2019), Variety’s Dealmakers (2020, 2019) and Broadcasting & Cable’s Power 100 (2017).  He is frequently quoted in major publications and has been a featured speaker at leading industry and banking conferences.

Nicolina O’Rorke was named Senior Vice President, NBC Sports Enterprises and General Manager, Sports Betting and Gaming, NBC Sports Group, in October 2020. She is responsible for the day-to-day sports betting operations for NBC Sports Group, including Rotoworld and the NBC Sports Predictor app, and develops and executes the division’s betting strategy. O’Rorke was named SVP, NBC Sports Enterprises, in December 2019, which is comprised of the division’s new business initiatives, including sports betting, audio and esports. During that time, she led the team working on the deal that established PointsBet as the official sports betting partner of NBC Sports Group.

Prior to her current role, O’Rorke also served as Chief Financial Officer, NBC Sports Regional Networks, since July 2015. The NBC Sports Regional Networks are comprised of nine regional sports networks in top markets across the country. During that time, she was an integral leader on the RSN management team and served as a board member at five of the RSNs, which are joint ventures with team owners from the NBA, MLB and NHL.

O’Rorke joined NBC Sports from NBC News where she served in a variety of senior finance roles since 2009, most recently as Chief Financial Officer, NBC News from 2013 – 2015. There she oversaw finance for all NBC News broadcasts and platforms and was a key member of the leadership team. Prior to joining the News Group, O’Rorke served in various finance positions within the NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment Group, most notably working on the acquisition and integration of Oxygen Media. In 2010, she completed General Electric’s Experienced Financial Leadership Program. O’Rorke began her career in investment banking at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (ultimately acquired by Credit Suisse First Boston).

O’Rorke co-leads the NBC Sports Group Women’s Network @ NBCUniversal, an employee resource group dedicated to fostering women’s professional and personal development within the company.  In 2019, she was named a Game Changer by SportsBusiness Journal, was named one of CableFAX’s Most Influential Minorities in Cable.

O’Rorke graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University and received her MBA from Columbia University. She resides in Larchmont, N.Y., with her husband and their two sons.

Ezra Kucharz joined DraftKings as chief business officer in October 2017. In this role, Kucharz is responsible for DraftKings’ business and corporate development functions, business strategy, international growth, ad sales, strategic partnerships, live events and digital media, further solidifying the company’s position at the intersection of sports, tech and media.  He is an award-winning innovator, leader and entrepreneur bringing transformational growth and scale to numerous organizations.

Prior to DraftKings, Kucharz served as President of CBS Local Digital Media and Special Advisor to CBS CEO leading large scale organizations throughout his tenure. In this role, Kucharz oversaw online and mobile business across CBS Radio’s 115 stations nationwide and concert business and more than two dozen CBS Television stations. During his tenure, Kucharz’s leadership elevated CBS Local to the number one digital organization in broadcast TV and radio. Kucharz has also held several senior-level positions at NBC Universal, founded one of the first online digital sports media companies, Total Sports, and worked for NASA in their Space Shuttle and International Space Station Medical Operations divisions after serving as an Army Officer assigned to the Armor Branch.

Kucharz holds degrees from Boston University, University of Houston and Duke University. Kucharz resides in New Jersey with his wife and kids.

Burke Magnus was named executive vice president, programming and scheduling, in May 2015, having served as senior vice president, programming and acquisitions since January 2014, and senior vice president, college sports programming, since March 2008. In this role, Magnus oversees all of the company’s program acquisitions and rights holder relations, content strategy and scheduling across professional and college and amateur sports. In addition, in June 2017, he and his team assumed direct oversight of ESPN’s relationship with BAMTech.

Prior to this role, Magnus set the strategic direction of the company’s college sports content which included acquiring, scheduling and programming college football, college basketball and NCAA Championship across the ESPN Networks. He was an integral part of securing long-term rights to the new College Football Playoff, the Rose, Sugar and Orange Bowls, the NCAA and some of the nation’s top college athletics conferences in the ACC, the Pac-12, the Big 12 and the SEC.

Danita Johnson, President of Business Operations for D.C. United

Danita Johnson recently joined Major League Soccer club, D.C. United, as their President of Business Operations, making her the first Black President of an MLS Club and only the third woman in league history to serve in this role.

Johnson joins D.C. United with 15 years of experience in the sports industry, including several roles in the WNBA, NBA, and NBA G League, specializing in revenue generation, community programs, and digital media and marketing. Most recently, during her time with the Los Angeles Sparks, Johnson led the organization to a league-best in corporate sponsorship dollars earned and launched the annual #WeAreWomen campaign, which drew a historic attendance of 19,000 to Staples Center for a WNBA game. Additionally, under her leadership, the organization saw a 50% increase in ticket sales from 2014-2017 and led the WNBA in attendance in 2017 and 2019, including a 17.8% increase in fans per game in the 2017 season, her first as President and COO.

Prior to her time in Los Angeles, Johnson developed and led the Ticket Sales and Service department for the Washington Mystics while with Monumental Sports & Entertainment. Johnson also boasts NBA experience with the Los Angeles Clippers and played a pivotal role in launching professional basketball franchises, the Bakersfield Jam.

A native of Fayetteville, North Carolina and a graduate of Western Carolina University, Johnson sits on the board of the Share Winter Foundation, is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and is a WISE Within Mentor.

Will Funk is executive vice president of sports partnerships and branded content for Turner Sports. Within this role, Funk oversees sponsorship sales development and integration across Turner Sports’ portfolio of leading brands and league partnerships, which include Bleacher Report, ELEAGUE, the NBA, NCAA, and MLB. He leads a team responsible for driving revenue growth through alternate marketing channels that include licensing, branded content, marketing rights, experiential fan events, and in-store opportunities. With multi-platform coverage spanning NBA All-Star Weekend, the NBA Playoffs, MLB Playoffs, NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship, esports championships and other Turner Sports franchises, he is devoted to building out thoughtful marketing activations that deeply engage fans at all touchpoints of their experience.

Since joining Turner Sports in 2002, Funk has spent his time within various sponsorship leadership positions with a keen focus on building out robust activations for partners that drive valuable ROI. He has played a critical role in expanding the suite of brands that make up the NCAA Corporate Champion and Partnership program, with nearly double the number of brands on board since Turner aligned with the NCAA and CBS in 2010. He also led the way with building out new multi-platform environments for brand activations around NBA marquee tentpoles like All-Star Weekend and Opening Week.

Prior to joining Turner, Funk was Senior Director of Global Media Programs at the NBA, where he was responsible for all domestic media sales as well as marketing partner business development. He also worked at Madison Square Garden as an account manager where he was responsible for ad sales and marketing partnerships across MSG, Fox Sports New York, Knicks, Rangers and Radio City Music Hall.

TJ leads all U.S. Sports Partnerships at Twitter, after spending the previous few years managing Twitter’s partnerships with major U.S. sports leagues, including the NFL, NBA, and MLB. He is responsible for helping Twitter’s sports partners amplify their global content strategies. TJ has been recognized for his diverse experience and expertise on sports trends across the industry and digital landscape. He is recognized as an authority on digital sports media, with appearances on ESPN, NBA TV, and in the Washington Post. Before joining Twitter in 2012, TJ worked on digital sales and marketing at ESPN where he supported the company’s digital properties, including ESPN.com and WatchESPN. TJ is the chair of Blackbirds (@Blackbirds), Twitter’s employee resource group that celebrates and encourages diverse perspectives, and also a member of Minorities in Sports (MIS). He is also passionate about serving community programs supporting underrepresented youth, including DreamWakers and Harlem R.B.I. TJ is a graduate of the University of Georgia. Follow him on Twitter at @tjay.

Chris leads Strategy, Technology, and Operations for Major League Baseball. In that role, he is responsible for managing MLB’s technology organization including all on-field baseball systems such as Statcast and Instant Replay and digital consumer products including MLB.tv and At Bat. Chris also leads departments focused on digital content and fan engagement including Marketing and Social Media, Web Content, Special Events, and Design Services.

He is also responsible for MLB’s Strategy and Analytics functions working across all MLB business operations and growing the game on the field with MLB’s Competition Committee.

The former pitcher and team captain at the University of Virginia attended Harvard Business School. Chris is a member of the SportsBusiness Journal Forty Under 40 Hall of Fame as a three-time award recipient.

As Chief Revenue Officer, Wachtel leads the NHL’s global corporate sponsorship as well as digital and NHL Network advertising sales efforts. Since 2007, Wachtel has consistently delivered tangible results that not only have had a direct positive effect on the League’s fiscal health, but also have elevated the NHL brand to business partners and fans alike.

With the development of new and exciting League assets such as the NHL Winter Classic, NHL Stadium Series, NHL Heritage Classic, NHL All-Star, NHL Awards and NHL Face-Off, Wachtel and his team are challenged with a significantly increased amount of inventory to sell. Wachtel not only rose to this challenge by supporting these newly created assets, but has developed a more creative approach to sales by aggregating inventory across businesses units such as licensing, sponsorship, events, wireless, new media and NHL Clubs.

Since arriving at the NHL, Wachtel has driven more than $500 million to the League and an additional $800 million to NHL Clubs and broadcast rightsholders through new NHL partnerships, including MillerCoors, Molson, Scotiabank, Honda, Bridgestone, Visa, Discover, Canadian Tire, Tim Hortons and Enterprise, while successfully completing renewals with long-term partners. The tremendous success of the U.S. partnership business helped in securing broadcast agreements with NBC/Comcast in the U.S. and Rogers in Canada. As part of these agreements, Wachtel spearheaded North American digital sales partnerships with NBC Sports and Rogers for all NHL.com, NHL Network and NHL Mobile ad sales to non-League partners.

Melissa Lawton is responsible for Live Sports Production Strategy at Facebook. She’s charged with helping Facebook’s partners redefine the live sports viewing experience to foster deeper and more meaningful connections between fans and the broadcasters, teams, leagues and athletes they follow. In this role, Melissa will design production strategies that inspire partners to fully leverage the interactive and social potential of video on Facebook. She’ll also work closely with the Facebook product team to develop the tools partners need to deliver sports broadcasts for the next generation of fans.

Melissa joined Facebook after five years as the Head of Live Content at Red Bull Media House, working specifically on the creation and expansion of Red Bull’s media network, Red Bull TV. In this capacity, she oversaw a global production team that produced premium, live third-party sports, music and culture events and many ‘beyond the ordinary’ Red Bull competitions across the globe.

Peter Murray, a senior sports executive is the Chief Executive Officer and Board Member of the Professional Fighters League (PFL). Murray oversees all business strategy and operations, fighter roster, event management, production, content, and marketing for the mixed martial arts league.

The PFL is the first organization ever to present MMA in a true sport format with individual fighters competing in a Regular Season, Playoffs, and World Championship. PFL is distributed on ESPN and additionally on 160+ countries worldwide.

Before joining PFL, Murray served as VP Global Brand and Sports Marketing at Under Armour. In this role, he was responsible for category management of football, baseball, basketball, soccer, combat, and Olympic Sports. Prior to Under Armour, he was Co-Founder and CEO of Insignia Sports Agency and EVP Marketing & New Business at William Morris Endeavor. For the previous 13 years, Peter was also a senior executive at the National Football League, including roles as SVP of Business & Content Development, SVP of Global Brand Partnerships.

Rachel Jacobson is the President of the Drone Racing League (DRL), the global, professional drone racing property. She spearheads global partnerships and media rights deals, and leads the marketing and business development teams, bringing to DRL her legacy of creating transformative partnerships with leading sports and technology brands. Prior to DRL, Rachel spent 21 years at the NBA as their SVP of Global Partnerships, where she closed nearly $1 billion in partnership sales and earned numerous accolades including Sports Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 Award. Most recently, she served as the Chief Business Development Officer at Landit, the market leader in personalized career pathing technology to increase the success and engagement of women and diverse groups in the workplace.

Lawrence Epstein serves as Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of UFC, the world’s leading mixed martial arts (MMA) organization and one of the fastest growing sports brands in the world.

Epstein is responsible for all global business operations and for managing the company’s overall performance and growth. Over the years, he has spearheaded the regulatory efforts for UFC, gaining approval in countries around the world, including most recently France.

Epstein has also played a leadership role in negotiating UFC’s most significant business deals, including the company’s landmark media rights agreements with ESPN and FOX Sports and the sale of UFC to Endeavor, recognized as the largest sale of a sports property in history.

A life-long resident of Nevada, Epstein has been involved in numerous civic and charitable organizations. In 2016, he was named to the board of directors of the National Fitness Foundation, the official charity of the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition, which develops corporate partnerships to expand youth sport participation in America. In January 2017, he was named a charter member and Vice Chair of the Las Vegas Stadium Authority board of directors, which owns and oversees the city’s new 65,000-seat, $1.9 billion dollar-stadium, home to the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders.

Epstein holds a Juris Doctorate and a Bachelor of Arts from Vanderbilt University and serves on the Vanderbilt University Board of Trust and the Vanderbilt Law School Board of Advisors.

Grant Best is a BAFTA and Sports EMMY winning TV producer and director. At DAZN, he is responsible for driving the global sport destination’s original content strategy which includes; ‘The Making Of’ featuring Cristiano Ronaldo, Jose Mourinho, Neymar Jr, Marc Marquez and Anthony Joshua, ‘One Night: Joshua vs. Ruiz’, ‘Parallel Worlds’ and most recently ‘Club Ibiza: The Sessions’. Specialising in premium sport content, Grant produced the critically acclaimed documentary ‘Rio Ferdinand: Being Mum and Dad’ which was awarded the BAFTA for Best Single Documentary in 2018. He joined DAZN following hugely successful stints at BT Sport, ESPN and Sky Sports.

Eric Conrad serves as the Executive Vice President of Sports Programming and Acquisitions at Univision Communications Inc., the leading Hispanic media company in the U.S. In this capacity, Conrad oversees the content development, planning and acquisition strategy for sports across all Univision platforms, including TUDN, the 24/7 sports network launched in 2012 (as Univision Deportes Network). Conrad also served as GM, FIFA World Cup and FIFA Properties, and was responsible for the planning, operation and execution of Univision’s coverage of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. He reports directly to the President of Sports.

Conrad joined Univision in 2011 and played a key role developing the long term, multi-platform content strategy for Univision Deportes, and was instrumental to the successful launch of UDN. In his time at Univision, sports programming hours increased from 1,700 to over 10,000 hours yearly, and TUDN has become the most watched Spanish language sports network in the country. He has negotiated long term agreements with the premier soccer properties in the world, as well as other sports, including Major League Soccer and US Soccer, Concacaf, the Mexican National Team, LMX Clubs, UEFA Champions League, Bundesliga and the NFL. Prior to joining Univision, Conrad served as Senior Director, Programming for ESPN and ESPN Deportes. Earlier in his career, he served in multiple sales roles for both Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association.

Conrad was named to Sports Business Journal’s 2014 Class of “Forty under 40” and was similarly recognized by MultiChannel News as a “Top 40 under 40” in 2013.  A native of Maryland, but of German and Peruvian descent, Conrad received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Colgate University, where he graduated with high honors.  He currently resides in Fairfield, Connecticut with his wife Katherine and three children.

Jessica C. Berman is Deputy Commissioner and Executive Vice President of Business Affairs at the National Lacrosse League where she provides strategic direction on all growth initiatives and legal matters facing the NLL. Among her areas of responsibility, Berman oversees human resources, team services, marketing and communications, lacrosse operations, community engagement and the governance of the League. When hired in 2019, she became and continues to be the first female Deputy Commissioner of a men’s professional sports league.

She previously served as VP, Community Development, Culture & Growth at the NHL, and was Executive Director of the NHL Foundation.

Robert Klein joined Bundesliga International in May 2017 as Chief Commercial Officer. In January 2018, he took over the role as Chief Executive Officer, driving the international position of the Bundesliga as one of the most innovative and exciting football leagues globally.

Before his career at Bundesliga International, Robert was leading the Sports Rights department at Red Bull Media House, responsible for growing the company’s global sports portfolio. Previous to Red Bull Media House, Robert worked as Executive Director for International Sports Multimedia (ISM), UEFA New Media and NBA Europe Events. He holds a Masters’ Degree in Leisure Policy and Planning from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh.

Blake Stuchin is Vice President of Digital Media Business Development at the National Football League, where he leads the league’s digital and social media licensing and distribution strategy.

Prior to the NFL, Blake was a member of the Media Investment Banking group at Jefferies, where he advised on mergers and acquisitions and raising capital. Prior to Jefferies, Blake was an Analyst at Access Capital, an institutional source of non-bank funding to entrepreneurially-run growing businesses throughout the country. He started his career at Digitas, one of the world’s leading integrated marketing agencies, where he led campaigns for Turner Broadcasting and Pfizer.

Outside of work, Blake enjoys rock climbing and is a partner in Pine Brook Fitness, home to The Rock Club, New York’s largest indoor rock-climbing gym. He holds a B.A. in Communication from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A from New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business. Blake lives in New York City with his wife Stephanie and their two children.

Dev Sethi is the global Head of Sports at Instagram. He oversees strategic partnerships across the sports ecosystem, which includes athletes, leagues, teams, and media. In this role, he is responsible for advocating on behalf of the sports vertical inside and outside his organization, working closely with product, engineering, communications, and marketing to continue building Instagram as a great home for sports and the 320 million sports fans who consume sports partner content regularly. In recent months, Instagram Sports supports its partners and their business objectives through a variety of initiatives, examples including Student Section in partnership with Turner and March Madness, activating shopping on Instagram at the NFL Draft, and a deep app integration with Bleacher Report and Instagram Stories.

Scott Doyne is the Senior Vice President of Sports Data Strategy and Insights for Turner Sports. He currently leads efforts to expand Turner Sports’ use of data and insights to enhance the division’s ability to deliver great fan experiences, strengthen the core business and support new revenue streams. Doyne reports to Tina Shah, Turner Sports Executive Vice President and General Manager.

Previously, Doyne was SVP of Product Strategy for Turner, helping advance the state of consumer-centric, data informed products across all Turner divisions. He also served as head of Business Operations for NBA Digital and NASCAR.COM and managed several award-winning products and business development partnerships.

Doyne began his career with Turner as a CNN Intern in the summer of 2002. He earned his MBA in Strategic Marketing from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University, and his bachelor’s degree in sports management and communications, with honors, from the University of Michigan.  He lives in Atlanta with his wife of 20 years and two teenage children.

Turner Sports, a division of WarnerMedia, is an industry leader in the delivery of premium sports content across all multimedia screens. Turner Sports’ television coverage includes the NBA, Major League Baseball, NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship, the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League, ELEAGUE and professional golf.

The company also manages some of the most popular sports destinations across digital and social platforms including Bleacher Report and its top-rated app, NCAA.com and the critically-acclaimed NCAA March Madness Live suite of products, PGA.com and the Sports Emmy Award-winning PGA Championship LIVE, as well as an accompanying collection of mobile sites and connected device apps.  Turner Sports and the NBA jointly manage NBA Digital, a robust collection of offerings including NBA TV, NBA.com, NBA LEAGUE PASS, the NBA App and NBAGLEAGUE.com.

Turner Sports launched B/R Live in 2018 as a premium live streaming sports platform, serving as the central hub for both the discovery and consumption of live sports content. The streaming service allows fans to find and watch their favorite sports content anywhere, anytime and on the screen of their choice.

Jon Cruz oversees YouTube’s Sports partnership efforts in the Americas. In his role, he leads content acquisition, programming strategy, and business development initiatives with the largest sports leagues, rightsholders, professional teams, and athletes in the region. Jon also works closely with Google’s sales organization to bring sports content sponsorship opportunities to market-creating value for rights holders and advertisers. Jon has been with YouTube for 12 years and has held a number of business and sales development roles during his tenure.

Andi Chu is Tennis Channel’s Vice President and Editor-in-Chief and oversees the network’s non-linear and operations activity, including its Tennis.com, lifestyle website Baseline, OTT streaming-service Tennis Channel Plus, print Tennis Magazine, a Podcast Network, and all social media endeavours.

In 2020 Chu was recognized as one of Broadcasting & Cable’s Women in the Game. In 2019 Chu was honoured with the Cynopsis’ Top Women in Media award.

Prior to Tennis Channel, Chu spent six years at the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) overseeing digital content. Before that, she served as Director of Development at Paramount Pictures’ Alphaville Productions and Director of Distribution for ManiaTV, and held television production posts at Fox Television Studios and NMA Entertainment (now Branded Entertainment Network).

For over 20 years Matthieu Van Veen has worked within the Sports and Entertainment business sector as a senior executive for some of the world’s leading sports & entertainment companies. Today, Van Veen oversees all revenue driving divisions of The IRONMAN Group, including Global Partnerships, Marketing, Merchandise, and Athlete Development, among others, while also spearheading the creation of Digital, Content, and Production departments.

Van Veen has helped drive commercial success for The IRONMAN Group’s extensive brands, series, and events in the mass participation sector. As the largest operator of mass participation sports in the world, the global portfolio of events currently includes industry leading staples like the IRONMAN® and IRONMAN® 70.3® Triathlon Series, the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Series®, as well as premier running events like the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon™ and The Sun-Herald City2Surf®, Ultra-Trail® World Tour events including Tarawera Ultra and Ultra-Trail Australia™, and mountain bike races including the Absa Cape Epic®.

Van Veen has also been instrumental in driving a number of innovations for The IRONMAN Group. In 2018, the company embarked on the distribution of programming through the OTT platform. Joining forces with Facebook, unprecedented live broadcast coverage of IRONMAN events was brought to audiences around the world. The success of that first year has led to both the continuation of live-event broadcasts and produced original programing on the IRONMAN Now Facebook Watch page, connecting and inspiring the global masses. Most recently, Van Veen oversaw the creation of the IRONMAN Virtual Club and IRONMAN Virtual Racing Series as well as the Rock ‘n’ Roll Virtual Running Club and Rock ‘n’ Roll Virtual Running Series leading to further overall development in the connected fitness space. The web-based platforms were critical developments in supporting and connecting the triathlon and running communities, providing opportunities to set goals and stay active from anywhere in the world while bridging the gap between training and taking the next step towards racing in physical in-person events.

Prior to joining The IRONMAN Group, Van Veen oversaw AEG Sports activities throughout Europe. He was a board member of AEG’s owned professional sports club in Europe which included the Berlin Eisbaren and the Hamburg Freezers of the DEL, the German Ice-Hockey league, and Hammarby Fotboll of the Swedish football league. Focusing on AEG’s rapidly expanding network of venues in Europe, Matthieu negotiated and managed World-class sporting events at AEG venues including NBA Regular Season games and Europe Live games, Euroleague Basketball Final Four, NHL Regular Season games and the ATP World Tour Finals. In addition, he contributed to the global success of AEG’s owned cycling Tour of California by negotiating and managing the media and marketing relationship with ASO the owner of the Tour de France.

Van Veen oversaw the AEG business in France which included the JV he negotiated with the city of Paris for the €125 million renovations and management of the Bercy Arena. He also led the negotiating team for the first-ever naming rights of an arena in France and concluded a €50 million 10-year agreement with AccorHotels.

Prior to joining AEG, Matthieu was a Senior Director at the National Basketball Association in Paris and New York. He managed the NBA’s Television and Digital Media rights for Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. He was also one of the key senior executives involved in defining the NBA’s European expansion strategy. In this capacity, Matthieu has developed a strong network with key International media executives and European Sports Leagues and Federations.

Adam Neuman joined the Big Ten Conference in January 2020 as Chief of Staff, Strategy and Operations. He assists Commissioner Kevin Warren in creating a movement of leadership in sports, academics and social responsibility to meet the challenges of our times. In January of 2021, he retained his Chief of Staff duties and was promoted to Deputy General Counsel.

The Commissioner’s Office seeks to provide the tools and culture to inspire student-athletes of the 14 Big Ten universities to assume meaningful personal and professional roles during and after their collegiate athletic careers. Neuman serves as a strategic advisor and aide to the Commissioner, implementing Commissioner Warren’s ideas and vision into practice, ensuring student-athletes are at the center of all decisions.

Neuman is a licensed attorney with the State Bar of Illinois and New York.

Mr. Anderson has been with the PGA TOUR since 1995, when he joined as intellectual property counsel, after spending five years in private law practice. He served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel from 2001-2006, and as Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer from 2006-2009.  In 2010 Mr. Anderson transitioned from his legal role to managing all domestic and international television affairs, and in 2013 added responsibility for the PGA TOUR’s digital business and PGA TOUR Entertainment.  Since 2013, he has led the effort to streamline and integrate the PGA TOUR’s media businesses into a unified PGA TOUR Media team.

Pamela Duckworth, an award-winning executive producer with extensive experience across all production disciplines and brand marketing, is head of fubo Sports Network, the live, free-to-consumer TV network featuring sports stories on and off the field.

Duckworth is responsible for all creative direction including original programming on the Network, which was launched by live TV streaming platform fuboTV in 2019.  fubo Sports Network’s award-winning original programming includes “No Chill with Gilbert Arenas,” sports news show “Call It a NIght” and chat show “Drinks With Binks” both hosted by Julie Stewart-Binks, and “The Cooligans.”

Duckworth brings more than 25 years of experience with cable start ups, commercials, live sports and events, syndicated television series, and short-form content from initial conception to final distribution. She has cultivated close relationships with top directors, producers and agents, and is known for her expert handling of A-list talent from the worlds of film, television, music and sports. Duckworth has worked with Beyonce, Jay Z, Jon Bon Jovi, Rob Lowe, Jeffrey Tambor and Peyton Manning, to name a few.

In addition to overseeing fubo Sports Network, Duckworth continues to run Duckworth Entertainment, a full-service creative marketing production company based in NYC and LA. Prior to founding her company, Duckworth spent 10+years at DIRECTV as the head of advertising production and events.

Throughout the course of her career, Duckworth’s work has been honoured with 12 Cannes Lions, 3 Clios, 3 AICP’s, 2 Effies, 3 Andy’s, 2 D&AD’s and a One Show.

Originally from Grove City, Ohio, Duckworth earned her degree in Film & Television from Bowling Green State University. She is an avid sports fan, music enthusiast and global traveller.

As the Founder and CEO at Buzzer, Bo oversees the organization’s daily operations, product development, content licensing, and strategic business development & partnership efforts.

Bo led Twitter’s efforts in Global Live Sports Content Partnerships, and was responsible for driving partnerships with the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS, and PGA as well as with broadcasters – ESPN, FOX, NBC and Turner. Since 2016, he signed more than 100+ new live-streaming, highlight, and VOD partnerships (25 from international markets), including a deal with NFL for 10 Thursday Night Football Games, Fox Sports for a unique live FIFA World Cup recap show and highlights of every FIFA World Cup goal, Turner for compelling live March Madness/Final Four programming, NFL, NBA, PGA, MLB & MLS for live games and highlights, and Disney for consistent live programming on Twitter.

Prior to joining Twitter in 2012, Bo started in the industry as a Global Account Director at Microsoft Corporation in New York, working with key and strategic global partners.

Bo received his Bachelor of Arts from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and earned his MBA at Columbia Business School in New York, New York.

A California native, Dustin Myers has happily worn many hats in the media and entertainment industry. A graduate of the American Film Institute, and a multiple Emmy winner, he has worked across documentaries, broadcast, and digital media. Myers has been with Fox Sports Media Group since 2003, leading the teams for Super Bowls in New York, Houston, and Miami, as well as FIFA World Cups in Canada, Russia, and France.

Anne Marie Gianutsos is the Chief Marketing Officer at The Drone Racing League (DRL), the global, professional drone racing property. Prior to DRL, she served as CMO at Berkshire Hathaway’s luxury real estate company Houlihan Lawrence. Before that, she held senior-level marketing positions at NBC, NewsCorp, and Conde Nast. She is currently a judge for the prestigious International Webby Awards and was recently named a Business Council of Westchester 40 under 40 member. As a founding member of professional mentoring network W.O.M.E.N in America, Anne Marie takes pride in advocating for equal opportunity for all in the workforce.

McNaney leads sports and gaming partnership verticals at TikTok, overseeing 400 accounts and supporting partners including the NFL, NBA, MLB, Team USA and WWE. She launched TikTok’s first sports livestream, the NFL Draft-A-Thon, and the record-breaking NBA 2K launch which garnered roughly 300,000 followers in one day.

Brent is an industry veteran with a career working with some of the biggest names in the video game world, leading teams across all disciplines of gaming, from marketing and advertising to game development and esports.  As the global leader of EA SPORTS FIFA competitive gaming, Brent and his team successfully launched the EA SPORTS FIFA Global Series and integrated global FIFA Online 4 competition into the franchise’s global esports program. In his role, he combines his passion for the sport with the mainstream esports entertainment opportunity to connect with millions of players and viewers around the world.

David Lehanski is the Executive Vice President of Business Development & Innovation for the National Hockey League, responsible for advancing innovative initiatives for the NHL through the establishment of corporate partnerships, state-of-the-art technology solutions and new revenue.

Over the past several seasons, Lehanski has been focused on developing new solutions with industry-leading technology providers including Apple, SAP and Verizon to improve and enhance the game for players, coaches and officials, as well as for fans and for the League’s broadcast and corporate partners. He has been integral in the development of the NHL’s innovative Puck and Player Tracking technology, newly available in all 31 NHL arenas this season, as well as in the League’s new partnership with Verizon, the League’s Official 5G Partner, Official Wireless Services Partner and Official Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) Partner in the U.S.

Lehanski was instrumental in the creation and implementation of the NHL’s groundbreaking in-arena coaching system introduced in 2017 – in collaboration with Apple – delivering real-time video highlights to coaches on the benches of every NHL arena. He also helped to develop the next phase of the NHL’s in-arena coaching system with the launch of the SAP-NHL Coaching Insights App for iPad, providing access to real-time, customized data and player statistics during the game on home and away benches in all 31 arenas.

Since joining the League in 2005, Lehanski has played an important role in the League’s path to more than $5 billion in annual revenues, establishing landmark partnerships for the NHL with some of the biggest global brands including Verizon, Apple, SAP, Dunkin, Honda, PepsiCo, Geico, Discover, Enterprise, Cisco, and MillerCoors, among many others. Most recently, Lehanski has been one of the drivers in the League’s progressive approach to sports betting, helping to secure strategic partnerships with MGM Resorts International, FanDuel and William Hill.

Before joining the NHL, Lehanski served as Vice President of Marketing Solutions at Clear Channel Advantage where he worked with Fortune 500 advertisers/marketers to develop, sell, and activate fully integrated media/marketing solutions that leveraged all of Clear Channel’s assets. Previously, Lehanski was the co-founder and Vice President of HallOfSports.com, an online company focused on the distribution of sports memorabilia and collectables with a long-term goal of consolidating the industry. He also spent several years as a consultant on the agency side at SFX Sports and Clarion Sports & Entertainment.

Lehanski was named to SportsBusiness Journal’s Forty Under 40 Class of 2012, recognizing executives for excellence and innovation in their industry before the age of 40. He earned a B.A. with a major in economics from Bowdoin College and currently resides in Ridgewood, NJ with his wife Alison and two sons, Eddie and Leo.

As Senior Vice President, Media for Major League Soccer and Soccer United Marketing, Seth Bacon is responsible for developing and executing the direction of the League’s media properties and overseeing the distribution of content and programming on international, national and regional levels through advanced multimedia platform channels.

Bacon works closely with all current and future MLS/SUM broadcast partners — ESPN, NBC Sports, Fox Sports, Univision, TSN and RDS — to integrate the League’s television agreements to televise MLS games in the United States and Canada.

Bacon brings nearly 15 years of broadcast experience to MLS and SUM and most recently served as Managing Director, Broadcasting for NASCAR, where he was a core member of the team that negotiated the sport’s multimedia rights agreements. During his 11 years with NASCAR, Bacon managed and maximized relationships and sponsorship opportunities with broadcast partners, developed the organization’s first Hispanic broadcast partnership and was instrumental in renewing NASCAR’s international business with more than 30 broadcast partners.

Before joining NASCAR, Bacon served as an Associate Producer at Fox Sports Net where he was a member of the original production team that launched “The Best Damn Sports Show Period.”

Bacon is a graduate of Emerson College.  A native of Maine, Bacon currently resides in Greenwich, Connecticut with his wife Katie and their two sons.

With over 20 years in the sports industry, having working previously for the ICC, Ten Sports and IMG Media/TWI, Aarti has extensive experience in delivering strategies to drive sustainable growth, engage diverse fans and deliver value. As a strong believer in the power of sport to inspire and impact positive change in society, Aarti has joined forces with Formula E, in her current role as the all-electric racing series’ Chief Media Officer. Aarti leads on media partnerships and distribution, digital content and product development, broadcast coverage and fan engagement across channels, bringing to life Formula E’s vision to accelerate sustainable human progress through the power of electric racing.

Lu Bolden has more than 10 years of experience in executive management, as well as an extensive career as an active duty serviceman and government contractor. In 2006, he co-founded CSO Digital, a next-generation systems integration company and long-standing Verimatrix partner, and as President, led the company to a successful acquisition in 2014. Prior to CSI Digital, Lu was the EVP of Technical Sales for Sherpaq Mobile Products where he was responsible for the design and sale of mobile voice, video and data systems to various government agencies. He attended the Air Force Academy, flew on the E-3 AWACS out of Tinker AFB, Oklahoma and Geilenkirchen NATO Air Base.

Craig Levine is co-CEO at ESL, the world’s largest esports company. In his current role, Levine leads the global business strategy and operations. Previously, Levine served as CEO of North America and Global Chief Strategy Officer, focusing on strategic partnerships and strengthening ESL’s digital platforms and technology to engage fans and players worldwide.

Levine has helped pioneer the esports industry for over 20 years. As a longtime gamer, Levine founded Team 3D, the first truly professional and successful video game team in North America, in April 2002. In addition, Levine also co-founded ESS Agency, an event marketing and technology company specializing in video game entertainment. ESS Agency was acquired by ESL in 2014 to expand ESL’s global footprint to North America.

Levine holds a B.S. in Information Systems and Management and Organizational Behavior from the Stern Business School at New York University.

Jose “Platao” Rocha is the head of original programming development at DIRECTV Latin America, overseeing the platform’s original entertainment service OnDIRECTV, as well as the sports offer through 3 linear DIRECTV Sports channels in Spanish speaking South America, a standalone DIRECTV Sports app, and the digital services offered though DIRECTV Latin America’s OTT service, DIRECTVGO, available in South America and Mexico.
Platao has over 30 years of experience in the industry. He started his career in Brazil, first on Network TV and later at Globosat, the PayTV arm of GloboTV group. With a strong background in Live Production, Platao has been with DIRECTV for over 20 years where he led the team though 4 World Cups, 2 Olympic games and thousands of live events.
He holds a bachelor degree in Journalism from Federal University of Rio, an MBA from the joint program at University of Sao Paulo and Vanderbilt University, and a specialization in Digital Marketing from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Adam Davis is the Chief Commercial Officer for Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment (HBSE), which includes in its portfolio the Philadelphia 76ers, the New Jersey Devils, leading venue Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., the GRAMMY Museum ExperienceTM Prudential Center, the Delaware Blue Coats, the Binghamton Devils, the Sixers Innovation Lab, renowned esports franchise Dignitas and NBA 2K League Team, 76ers Gaming Club (GC). In his role he oversees revenue streams for all HBSE properties, including ticket sales and operations, premium and suite sales and services, entertainment, global initiatives and corporate partnership sales and services. Through his role with HBSE, Davis supports and manages the revenue goals and revenue potential surrounding HBSE’s vast, diverse properties.

Kay Murray is an experienced sports broadcaster for ESPN. The multilingual anchor spent six years in Madrid, working for Real Madrid TV, covering one of the world’s most legendary soccer clubs for its millions of international fans, in both English and Spanish. She is now a studio host of SportsCenter’s Global and Asian editions as well as numerous live soccer games. Murray also hosted the 2011 and 2012 editions of the prestigious FIFA Ballon D’Or ceremony alongside Ruud Gullit, where she twice presented Lionel Messi with his third and fourth awards as the world’s best play.

Zachary Leonsis is Senior Vice President of Strategic Initiatives for Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), a multi-platform sports, media, entertainment, and technology company located in the heart of the “DMV” in downtown Washington, DC. MSE is best known for its fan-facing brands which include the NHL’s Washington Capitals, the NBA’s Washington Wizards, and Capital One Arena, as well as seven additional team brands, three more venues, and equity in two media networks: NBC Sports Washington and Monumental Sports Network. As senior vice president of strategic initiatives, Leonsis manages MSE’s media rights relationship with NBC Sports Washington, all venture capital investment opportunities, and its growing esports division. Leonsis represents MSE on NBC Sports Washington’s board of directors as well as on Team Liquid’s board of directors.

Sam leads the NBA’s digital strategy, partnerships and business development. In this role, he works with other leaders throughout the organization to define company objectives and devise strategies to leverage digital platforms to achieve them. Additionally, he maintains relationships with priority digital partners. Finally, he leads content licensing and distribution deals focusing on digital platforms. He also acts as a consultant for many of the league’s internal departments, teams and international offices advising them on digital strategy.

Born and raised in Puerto Rico to Dominican parents, Ms. Pellerano has over 20 years of experience in delivering successful partnership strategies, win-win negotiations, as well as effective brand and marketing activations across the sports and entertainment industries. Most recently, she served as Executive Vice President of Brands at Wasserman Media Group, a partnership and activation agency, which is partner to the world’s most iconic brands, properties and talent. During her tenure at Wasserman, she led the brands division, projects and business development team and also the multicultural practice. She was also instrumental in overseeing Wasserman’s strategic plan for expansion into Latin America.

Tim Clark is Senior Vice President and Chief Digital Officer, leading the operation of NASCAR’s digital platform including NASCAR.com, the NASCAR Mobile app, fantasy games, subscription products, UX and fan engagement.

Clark is also responsible for managing the NASCAR eSports business and creating opportunities for fan engagement and driver development via partnerships with 704 Games, iRacing and others. Additionally, he oversees NASCAR’s growing sports betting initiative, introducing new and unique ways to engage fans across the emerging space.

He joined NASCAR in July 2012 to help oversee the re-launch of the digital platform after NASCAR brought its digital rights back in-house.

Under Clark’s leadership, NASCAR Digital Media introduced fans to emerging engagement platforms such as augmented reality, virtual reality and 360-degree video.

In 2018, Clark spearheaded the redesign of NASCAR’s fantasy game, NASCAR Fantasy Live. The game, which allows players to adjust driver rosters in real-time during races, increased total entries 100% year-over-year.

Additionally, Clark leads the organization’s direct marketing efforts, NASCAR Fan Database and digital and social analytics.

Following active duty enlistment in the U.S. Army, Clark joined Circuit City in a marketing role in 1998. He later helped launch the company’s e-commerce efforts, leading media buying and performance channel marketing.

Within two years of introducing e-commerce, Circuit City was generating more the one billion dollars in annual, online sales revenue.

In 2009, Clark joined GSI Commerce to lead marketing for online retailers such as Dick’s Sporting Goods, Hanes and Toys R Us. Shortly after, he was responsible for managing sports league partnerships with the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL and NASCAR.

A native of Mechanicsville, Va., Clark attended NASCAR races at Richmond Raceway as a child. He received a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Kansas State University in 1998.

Clark and his wife, Bita, live in Charlotte, N.C. with their son, Myles.

Brian Carroll is the Senior Vice President of Global Media Distribution at the LPGA. His responsibilities include live telecasts, international rights negotiations, video content, apps/website platforms, sports betting, and promotion. He previously worked at ESPN and PGA TOUR.

Steven Thorpe is Vice President of Video Platforms at Fox Corporation where he is responsible for audience-facing video solutions and operations across the company’s portfolio of sports, news, entertainment, and local apps/websites.

Michele assumed his current role at Eurovision Services in September 2017, where he oversees the global strategy for sales. Being in the media industry for more than a decade, Michele has a clear understanding of the market and a proven track record maximising revenues.

Michele spent 16 years in executive positions at Globecast, where he successfully developed new revenue streams and put in place global sales strategies that helped grow the company’s core business. In 2013, he became Globecast America’s CEO and subsequently raised the company’s profile in the US market and positioned Globecast in the digital arena. In 2015, he became Executive Vice President of the newly created Occasional Use and Media Services Division of Globecast before moving to Eurovision Services.

Michele’s international experience includes working in Paris, Rome, Singapore and New York.

He has a B.A. in Economics and Finance from Sciences Po in Strasbourg, France.

As Chief Commercial Officer for the USGA, Navin Singh is accountable for creating, directing and implementing the USGA’s commercial strategy to maximize and sustain the financial and brand value of the USGA and its key assets.

In addition to managing the broadcast production of USGA championships, including the U.S. Open, Navin is responsible for negotiating and managing a billion-dollar global broadcast and digital media rights portfolio spanning more than 190 countries. He is also responsible for the digital media products for the USGA, including usopen.com, usga.org, and related mobile and OTT products, along with content distribution strategy including live streaming of championships, and has led the creation of original long-form and short-form content, including the award-nominated USGA Golf Journal series.

Navin also oversees the USGA corporate partner program, creating innovative and impactful experiences for clients such including American Express, Cisco, Deloitte, Lexus and Rolex. He also manages a multi-million dollar fan fulfilment business inclusive of ticketing, corporate hospitality, merchandise and licensing.

With 10+ years of experience at top digital networks, driving revenue across online video, mobile and connected TVs, Chelsey is leading teams of brilliant people at InPlayer, building strategic relationships with partners while delivering exceptional customer success experience and aligning company-wide customer success mind-set in the SaaS world.

Daniel, a recipient of SBJ’s 40 Under 40, SportsPro Media’s 10 NEXT Leaders in Sport.  Daniel leads Octagon’s Media Rights Consulting business globally. Octagon’s practice consults leagues, federations, teams, broadcasters, digital media platforms, telco and tech companies, as well as VCs, Private Equity, and financial institutions regarding valuation, strategy and negotiations.  Since its launch 2 years ago, Octagon’s Media Consulting Division has built a client roster spanning 5 continents and has advised on +$950m of media rights. Daniel is a recognized industry executive with a passion for building businesses at the cross-sections of sports, media and technology.

Michael Pankowski is a Harvard student and head of Crimson Connection, a Generation Z marketing consulting firm. Michael speaks nationwide on marketing to Gen Z, has been published in Ad Age and PRWeek and featured in Business Insider, and is the co-author of Engaging Gen Z: Lessons to Effectively Engage Generation Z Via Marketing, Social Media, Retail, Work, & School.

Kevin Parks is a senior media technology executive with over 20 years of experience developing and deploying solutions for major media companies including Comcast, Disney, Viacom and others. Mr. Parks leads the Zixi Field Engineering team as part of Zixi’s Customer Success organization that maintains best-in-class service for Zixi customers. Prior to joining Zixi, Mr. Parks lead sales engineering teams at Comcast Technology Solutions, at Disney Streaming Services and at Vubiquity.

Julia Vieira is a Brazilian journalist, passionate soccer fan and multi-disciplinary production professional with broad knowledge and experience on tv and digital projects. At WarnerMedia, she leads the executive production team responsible for TNT Sports – company’s sports regional brand for LATAM.

Overseeing projects in Argentina, Brazil and Chile, her main role is to ensure the best usage of resources and work closely with the Content and Strategy Leadership to enable the launch of new products and make the production of the existing ones even more efficient.

She holds top-level relationship with Rights Agencies, focused on Unilateral Production, and works closely with digital platforms on the development of incremental production deals. In partnership with Facebook, she’s the production manager of the UEFA Champions League (for Brazil and LATAM) and of Copa Libertadores (for Brazil).

As VP and General Manager of Sinclair Broadcast Group’s National Networks and Platforms, Ware oversees many of the companies latest programming initiatives including Tennis Channel Plus, launched in 2014 making it the first subscription DTC offering from a Pay TV network in the US.  The service features over 4000 live matches from the ATP and WTA tours as well as Roland Garros.  Ware also developed Tennis Channel’s international business plan, launched in 2020 featuring a subscription DTC app and FAST channels as the entry products in Germany and the United Kingdom. Additionally, Ware launched and manages Sinclair’s local streaming service STIRR, featuring top rated live local news, sports and the exclusive rights to the biggest shows in first-run broadcast TV syndication. Ware also manages the company’s US digital broadcast networks Comet TV, for fans of Sci Fi, and CHARGE!, for fans of TV action stars. Prior to Sinclair, Ware held senior management positions with CJ E&M, Viacom’s United Paramount Network (UPN), Interactive Corp and was a member of the original executive team that built the FOX television network.

Avigail Gutman has been a hacker-tracker since the early days of broadcast TV piracy all the way through to today’s streaming and content piracy. She leads a global team that disrupts piracy by turning information about pirates’ technologies and the pirates themselves into actionable intelligence, informing field and legal operations, and resulting in new counter measures. The anti-piracy team works alongside industry organizations, government and law enforcement agencies.

Chris Xiques is the VP of Digital Video Infrastructure for ViacomCBS. He leads a team of 30+ engineers providing video products and services to digital brands within the company, including Paramount+, Showtime, PlutoTV, Network10, CBSSports and CBSNews. He oversees the architecture and implementation of all aspects of the digital video infrastructure stack including Live and VOD encoding workflows, CDN delivery and Operational Visibility as well as a custom player stack that supports monetization and video analytics/QOS measurement across 20+ application platforms.

Boris is a sports and media executive currently serving as Chief Executive Officer of LaLiga North America. Previously, Boris served as COO for Grupo Televisa’s Content Division. Prior to joining Televisa, he was part of the founding team that launched Fusion Media, a joint venture between Univision Communications Inc and the Disney/ABC Television Group, and most recently served as its Chief Operating Officer. During his time at Univision Communications Inc., Boris served in different positions including VP and GM of its in-house digital studio and VP of Strategy and New Initiatives for Univision News.

Prior to joining Streaming Global, Brandon was the Chief Revenue Officer of FanBeat, a leading live-action sports gaming company that partners with teams, leagues, media companies, blue-chip brands and gaming operators.

Brandon has spent his career leading and working for companies that provide technology to disrupt and improve traditional processes. He has held executive management positions in such companies as Adobe (formerly Macromedia), SmartRoom and EzGov. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in English and Communication from Stanford University. While at Stanford he was a four-year letterman on the soccer team and a one-year member of the golf team.

As Head of Production at the NFL, Matt Schnider oversees Studio and Remote Shows, Podcasts and Social Media Integration for the company’s digital properties.

Schnider previously led Production, Social Media and Podcasts as the Vice President of Digital content at Fox Sports, focusing on major sport verticals and events. This included NFL, MLB, Soccer, NASCAR, College Football, UFC, USGA and College Basketball.

Matt is a Sports Emmy Award Winner for Social Innovation with the show Garbage Time with Katie Nolan.

John Van Wagner is the Chief Commercial Officer of Wildmoka, a company based in France specializing in live video editing and publishing. In this leadership role, Van Wagner is responsible for the global growth of Wildmoka and its cloud-based SaaS platform service for clients in sports, news and entertainment content. His career spans digital, mobile and social media markets with leadership roles in both established businesses and emerging start-ups. Prior to Wildmoka, he was head of revenue at SnappyTV, forging partnerships with the NFL, NBA, Turner Sports, NBC, ABC, Viacom, Fox and CBS, all of which led to SnappyTV’s acquisition by Twitter. Van Wagner serves as a mentor and alumni member of Sprockit, an Innovation & Start-Up Marketplace and partner to NAB. He received his bachelor’s degree from St. Lawrence University and is based in San Francisco.

J.R. McCabe is proving the tremendous growth potential of the convergence of media, sports, and gaming. He was appointed Chief Business Officer of D2C/Gamification for Sinclair Broadcast Group in late Sep 2020.  Prior to Sinclair, he and his partners built a competitive gameplay and esports portfolio that included Poker Central and Estars Studios. Throughout his career, J.R. has excelled at being ahead of consumer trends and bringing highly skilled innovators together to create engaging digital and live experiences for passion-based communities.

Using data to drive strategic decisions, J.R. has monetized and accelerated new business models by combining assets, forging partnerships, and making acquisitions. When J.R. assumed his role at Poker Central, he quickly realized its potential to be the brand umbrella for experiential events, a TV and video studio, asset holdings, and the first-of-its-kind subscription VOD channel, PokerGO. He was able to negotiate deals with the likes of Caesars based on his vision and streaming expertise.

As an intrapreneur at Time Inc. and Meredith Corporation, J.R. created new businesses that pioneered how to leverage digital video to capitalize on the IP of a diverse portfolio of legacy brands. He was the first-ever Chief Video Officer of a major corporation and launched the first national video network aimed at parents, Parents TV. As Time Inc. was becoming an independent, publicly-traded company, its CEO lauded J.R.’s team’s achievements, including outperforming revenue targets, hitting more than a billion streams, and tripling reach through deals with Amazon, Microsoft, Hulu, Yahoo, and more.

Jeff’s role is to build, manage, and grow Deltatre’s vast portfolio of products and services across the U.S., Canada, and Latin America.

Due to his deep subject matter expertise and the strong relationships he has fostered across the industry, he is a true visionary – both strategically and operationally – when it comes to the present and future of digital media. His specialities include content acquisition, productisation, monetisation, and distribution.

An NYU Stern School of Business MBA holder and natural entrepreneur, he has more than 20 years’ experience working within leagues, agencies, clients, consulting, and startups – always seizing opportunities to adapt and innovate along the way. He joined Deltatre in 2018.

As a business leader, he would like to be known as a collaborator, a trusted partner, and an individual who values the importance of not only producing world-class work, but enjoying every step of the process too.

In his spare time, he is an avid golfer, cyclist, skier, Boston sports fan, and linguist.

Peter Gallagher leads Customer Operations for the Verizon Media Platform. He is also responsible for professional services, customer service, engineering, and digital media operations in the over-the-top (OTT) and TV Everywhere space.

Peter oversees the professional services organization that designs workflow solutions to address customers’ digital media delivery needs. His team supports the integration of the customers’ content management and storefront platforms with our Media Platform environment.

Peter has more than 25 years of experience in the media and entertainment industry implementing operations that manage the rights and availability of content, solutions, and delivery technologies.

Shaka Arnon is the General Manager of WSC Sports North America. On top of being a true sports enthusiast, Shaka helps sports media entities to tap into the huge potential encapsulated within WSC Sports’ scalable automated video production and distribution technology. Arnon, along with a growing team in North America creates novel monetization opportunities for rights holders, as well as more content for the fans to quench their thirst and consume.

As CEO and founder of Delmondo, a social video analytics and audience insights software platform, Nick joined Conviva with its acquisition in 2018. Nick is focused on extending Conviva’s portfolio of video measurement capabilities with Social Insights, a comprehensive cross-platform social video intelligence product. In his 15 years in the industry, Nick has been at the forefront of numerous industry firsts including creating the first enterprise analytics solutions for Snapchat, Instagram Stories, and Facebook Live, and has worked with some of the world’s largest brands and publishers, including ABC News, Turner, Viacom, NASCAR, Red Bull, Universal Music Group, and TED.

Jean Macher is Business Development Director of SaaS Solutions for Harmonic where he drives the marketing effort for next-generation video solutions in the Americas. Macher joined Harmonic as part of the acquisition of Thomson Video Networks, bringing with him more than 20 years of experience in MPEG-related solutions and digital television implementation. Macher holds a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from the Institut Supérieur d’Électronique in Paris.

Igor Krol is the CEO Veset, a pioneering SAAS linear television management platform for media content owners looking to originate and manage live linear channels in the cloud. Igor has been leading Veset since 2015 out of London, UK. He holds MBA from INSEAD and M.Eng in Computer Science.

Gareth Capon is CEO at Grabyo, the leading cloud video platform based in London, UK. Grabyo partners with leading broadcasters and rights holders including the Premier League, La Liga, ITV, BT Sport, Univision, Tennis Australia, and Eurosport to bring live production to the cloud, maximise reach, engagement and video monetisation across OTT, mobile and social platforms.

Prior to joining Grabyo, Gareth was a Product Director at Sky where he managed Sky’s mobile app portfolio and led investments in tech startups in Europe and the U.S. Gareth began his career as a Strategy Consultant at Accenture and has a Masters, First Class in Geography from the University of Oxford.

Tal Weinblum heads Kaltura’s Media and Telecom marketing and product marketing team. She brings over a decade of product and marketing experience, helping her drive the company’s GTM, demand creation, sales enablement, and strategic partnerships. Tal holds a BA in Economics and East Asia studies from Tel-Aviv University and an MA in Legal Studies from Bar-Ilan University.

MTL joined NPAW in 2020. He is responsible for all of our business North America driving, strategy, client engagement, marketing and ultimately client solutions that drive significant commercial results for our partners. In addition, he leads our Advertising unit across the company to lead how all partners can better monetize their advertising-driven business units as well drive greater users experience and marketer satisfaction.

MTL  brings 20+ years of digital media and technology experience to the table having run sales and marketing teams for both mega-brands like Comscore, NBC News Digital, Time Inc and Microsoft he also brings very relevant experience leading agile advertising technology start-ups through major growth such as Jixox and Tiplelift.

MTL also brings a knack for creativity and a love for mentorship in our industry. Serving on the board of agile start-ups, angle investor and mentor to many. He is active in the I.AB., Steaming Video Alliance as well as regional advertising clubs.

President and Co-founder of Sport Buff Jonty has worked for some of the biggest broadcasters around the world, including Sky, beIN and Fox Sports, producing iconic shows such as Super Sunday and Monday Night Football. He has overseen coverage of the biggest global events including the UEFA Champions League, the Olympics and multiple FIFA World Cups. He picked up an Emmy for Fox Sports’ Trans-Media coverage in Russia 2018 and prior to taking up his full time position at Sport Buff was Head of Sport for beIN media Group in Doha.

Jean-Luc Jezouin is Senior Vice President Business Development at NAGRA, in charge of new opportunities.

Jean-Luc joined the Kudelski Group in September 2007 as Senior Vice President in charge of developing the Mobile TV business. In 2009 he became Senior Vice President Product Line Management responsible for the Digital TV portfolio for conditional access systems and end-to-end solutions. From 2011 to 2017, he was Senior Vice President in charge of Sales and Services for the Asia Pacific region.

Prior to this, Jean-Luc was Vice President UMTS/LTE Product Line Management with Alcatel-Lucent after their acquisition of Nortel Networks’ UMTS business, where he led their UMTS and GSM portfolios from 2004 to 2007 and other executive positions in Sales & Marketing and Operations, in Europe and Asia since 1995.

Jean-Luc holds a PhD degree in Computer Science from the University of Paris, France, a Master of Science degree in Computer Science from the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles, USA, and an Electrical Engineering degree from the “Ecole Supérieure d’Electricité (Supélec)” in Paris, France.

Sara Slane, founder of Slane Advisory, has worked in the casino gaming industry for nearly 15 years. Because of her leadership role in sports betting, Slane is touted as “the face of legalized sports betting” and one of “the most important and influential voices in gaming.” Prior to launching her own consulting practice in 2019 that advises professional sports leagues, teams, gaming companies and media entities, Slane was the senior vice president of public affairs at the American Gaming Association (AGA). At AGA, Slane managed the most important advocacy victory in AGA history, a campaign to overturn the federal ban on sports betting.

Prior to joining AGA, Slane served as vice president of regional government affairs with MGM Resorts International where she spearheaded the largest gaming ballot initiative in the country. Her efforts led to a victory at the polls, the successful awarding of licensure to MGM National Harbor, and the building of the $1.4 billion gaming resort on the Potomac River.

Slane is the recipient of numerous awards, including Sports Business Journal’s Forty under 40, Global Gaming Business Top 25 People to Watch, Gold Stevie Award for Best Communications campaign of 2018, Association TRENDS’ Advocacy Campaign of the Year, and The Hill’s Top Lobbyist in 2018. Slane is a graduate of Ohio University and lives in the Washington, D.C. region with her two sons.

Chris Kuelling is the Executive Director of the International Broadcaster Coalition Against Piracy Inc. (www.ibcap.org), an industry association representing 130+ television channels targeting the piracy of international video content. Members include Sony, TV5 Monde, TV Globo, beIN Sports and Willow Cricket. Services include copyright registration, monitoring and detection through a dedicated piracy lab, DMCA notices, dealer investigations and consumer awareness campaigns. IBCAP also provides litigation support to copyright infringement actions initiated by IBCAP members. Prior to IBCAP, Chris served as a Senior Vice President with DISH where he was instrumental in launching SlingTV and responsible for their international channel business including all content acquisition, marketing, and strategic partnerships. Chris’ experience includes serving as the lead programming attorney for the DISH programming department and licensing sports rights while based in The Netherlands. He received his B.A. from Colgate University and law degree from Washington & Lee University.

Ricardo Mazzucca has a bachelor’s degree in advertising and an MBA from ESADE in Barcelona. Currently he is the CEO of Arena Hub, an innovation center that seeks to develop the sports, media and entertainment industries generating social and economic impact. Before Arena Hub Ricardo worked at TV Globo, a brazilian media group, for 20 years as the Sports Marketing Director and at Umbro International as the South American Marketing Manager. He is father of 4 and lives in Lisbon.

Patrick Crakes is Principle of Crakes Media Consulting, a strategic advisory firm focused on insight discovery, content rights acquisitions & negotiations, distribution strategy, brand identity, content creation, relationship management, audience segmentation & business operations across TV, digital, sports & music. Since its founding in June of 2018, Mr. Crakes had advised clients on numerous media landscape topics including national & regional sports network economics, the price elasticity of SVOD services, evolving video consumption habits and the role of bundled content & the future of Pay TV in Europe.

John Kosner is an internet pioneer and four-decade veteran of sports media.  Today, he is president of Kosner Media, a digital media and sports consultancy.  In 2018, John and the late NBA Commissioner Emeritus David Stern created Micromanagement Ventures, a portfolio of sports technology start-ups focused on media, betting and player health.  John continues to serve as an advisor to and an investor in the 15 current companies in Micromanagement Ventures which include WSC Sports, WHOOP and Bit Fry Studios.   Separately, John is an advisor to Sportradar, the Big East Conference, Molekule, EDO and the PRCA; he and his former NBA colleague Ed Desser negotiate sports media agreements for rightsholders and John also does expert witness work, currently for Proskauer Rose LLP.

Previously, John led ESPN digital media from 2003-2017, after stints at Sports Illustrated, the NBA, CBS Sports and NBC Sports.  In his 21 years at the company, Kosner built ESPN into the world’s leading digital sports destination – a powerhouse in short- and long-form editorial content, streaming, social media, podcasting and fantasy sports – increasing traffic ten-fold and turning an unprofitable business into ESPN’s fastest-growing one.

Kosner is the president of the Alumni Association and serves on the Board of Trustees of his alma mater, the Collegiate School in New York City.  He was graduated with distinction from Stanford University in 1982 with a bachelor of arts degree in American History.  Kosner lives in New York with his wife, Diane Burstein, and their son, Luke.  He has two older children, Walter and Grace.

Generation Z Expert, Author, Professor & Keynote Speaker

Before authoring his recently released book, Engaging Gen Z, Mark Beal served as a public relations practitioner and marketer for more than 25 years, developing and executing public relations campaigns for category-leading companies and brands around such major sports and entertainment platforms as the Olympic Games, Super Bowl, World Series, NCAA March Madness, US Open Tennis and The Rolling Stones.

He collaborates daily with Gen Z as a full-time professor of practice in public relations in the Rutgers University School of Communication & Information. Mark’s ongoing primary research of Gen Z has led to keynote speeches with the American Marketing Association, Association of National Advertisers as well as corporations, brands, sports leagues conferences and agencies.

It was Mark’s Gen Z students who inspired him to write his first book, 101 Lessons They Never Taught You In College, which was published in 2017 and his second book, 101 Lessons They Never Taught You In High School About Going To College, which was published in 2018.

Mark’s third book, Decoding Gen Z: 101 Lessons Generation Z Will Teach Corporate America, Marketers & Media, captured the attention of media, marketers and employers nationwide as the oldest Gen Zers joined the workforce and the entire Gen Z cohort became the primary focus of corporations and brands.

Engaging Gen Z: Lessons To Effectively Engage Generation Via Marketing, Social Media, Retail, Work & School is now available on Amazon.com.

Jeffrey Gilbert is an executive leader and pioneer of content distribution and monetization solutions for the Media & Entertainment industry. Offering unparalleled expertise in the technology and business of delivering content “from lens to screen,” he has 20+ years of combined experience in product and sales strategy and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management.

Gilbert has proven success creating, selling, and positioning content solutions for market success. Adept at navigating industry change and overcoming market challenges, he steers product development, sales, and marketing strategy to develop and deliver the full-stack streaming solutions and features that meet the evolving needs of global media organizations.