Speakers

Opening Keynote
Ori Brafman, co-author, The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations

Born in Israel and raised in El Paso, Texas, Ori Brafman has been a lifelong entrepreneur in business, government, and the nonprofit sector. His projects include launching healthy fast food restaurants, leading political and advocacy campaigns, and co-founding Courtroom Connect, a wireless network company…more

Closing Keynote
Mark Verheiden, Co-Executive Producer; Writer, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA

Mark Verheiden’s past writing credits include the features TIMECOP and THE MASK, as well as MY NAME IS BRUCE, due out in 2007. He is currently writing the screenplay for the upcoming TEEN TITANS. He has written several best selling comic book series, including ALIENS and SUPERMAN/BATMAN, and he was co-executive producer for the first three seasons of SMALLVILLE. He is currently co-executive producer on the Peabody Award winning series BATTLESTAR GALACTICA.

Paul Chadwick, Creator of Concrete, The World Below, writer of The Matrix Online
Paul Chadwick (b.1957) has worked widely as an artist and writer for comic books, with collaborators like Ron Randall, Doug Wheatley, Alan Moore, John Bolton, Harlan Ellison, Jan Strnad, Randy Stradley, Archie Goodwin, Brian K. Vaughan, and others.

He’s most noted for his award-winning series Concrete, about a thoughtful man stuck in a brutish, rock-coated body…more

Get Creative Workshop
Joshua Davis, Designer, joshuadavis.com
Joshua Davis is a New York based artist, designer, and technologist producing both public and private work for companies, collectors, and institutions. Using technology and computers as a medium since 1995, he has been working on many personal projects: http://www.joshuadavis.com (his main site), conceptual project http://www.once-upon-a-forest.com, and others, including praystation, cyphen, and dreamless…more

Creative Exchange conference speakers

Mike Agerbo, Executive Producer and Host, GetConnectedTV and Radio; Co-Founder, Blink Media Works

Steve Bocska, Joint Chief Executive Officer, Hothead Games

Megan Cole, Consultant; Director of Social Media, Catapult Media; Co-Producer, ThisCityRocks; Blogger, megsjargon, Canada Bombshell

Matt De Castro, VP Brand Engagement, Arkadium

Sean Embury, Senior Producer, CBC Television

Kevin Gamble, Producer, Studio B; Co-Creator, “Tiki Bar TV”

Douglas Gayeton, Chief Creative Officer, Millions of Us

Anastasia Goodstein, Publisher, ypulse.com; author, Totally Wired: What Teens And Tweens Are Really Doing Online

Michael Griffin, Virtual Research Assistant, Masters of Digital Media Program

Chuck Hamilton, Director, IBM@PLAY, IBM’s Centre for Advanced Learning; Learning and New Media Leader, 3D Internet team, IBM

Ping Jiang，Vice-President, China Film Animation, a China Film Group and Director, International Relations, EAE Group Inc. Canada

Andrew Keen, Author, The Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet is Killing Our Culture

Damian Kindler, Creator/Executive Producer Sanctuary

Joshua Lowcock, Manager, Convergent Technologies for the Nine Network Australia

Dan Marchant, Executive Producer, Games for EM-Media

Rick Mischel, President, Reach Games

Jim Munroe, Novelist, Filmmaker, Infest Wisely

Jeremiah Owyang, Web Strategist, Podtech

Jennifer Ouano, President, Elastic Entertainment

Richard Patterson, VFX Supervisor, Stage 3 Media Inc

Cliff Plumer, Chief Technology Officer, Digital Domain

Dan Reitzik, President, DY Mobile

Joanna Robinson, Research Assistant, Masters of Digital Media Program

Jason Roks, Citizen 001, digitalpeasants.com; Founder, misovision.org

Michael Sikorsky, CEO, Cambrian House

Gerri Sinclair, Executive Director, Masters of Digital Media Program

Jim Southcott, Chief Strategic Officer, TBWA

Dave Sylvestre, Group Creative Director, Organic

Amanda Tapping, Lead actor, Executive Producer, Sanctuary

Michael Tippett, Co-founder and CEO, Now Public

John Walker, Feature Film Producer/Director of Production, Pixar Animation Studios

Catherine Warren, President, FanTrust Entertainment Strategies

Tarrnie Williams, General Manager, Relic Entertainment

Catherine Winters, Masters of Digital Media Bricoleur, Masters of Digital Media Program

Opening Keynote: Ori Brafman (con’t)

In 2001, Ori co-founded a network of more than 1000 CEOs working for peace and economic development projects. The network was supported by the likes of venture capitalist John Doerr and the Ford Foundation and has catalyzed projects in the Middle East, Africa, North America, Europe, and Asia.

Ori’s book, The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations (Penguin Portfolio, co-authored with Rod Beckstrom) was released in October 2006, and is currently in its third printing. Publisher’s Weekly described Brafman’s writing as “breezy and entertaining.” Fast Company, Newsweek, and Kirkus Reports found the book to be “rewarding,” “credible,” and “convincing.” Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, said, “As a result of reading The Starfish and the Spider, I proposed ten action points for my organization.” Pierre Omidyar, founder and chairman of eBay, described the book as “compelling and important.” And Jack Covert of 800CEO summed it up: “I love this book.”

Ori holds a BA in peace and conflict studies from UC Berkeley and an MBA from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.

Closing Keynote: Paul Chadwick (con’t)
The Human Dilemma, the newest Concrete series, won Chadwick an Eisner award for “Best Writer/Artist.” It will be reissued soon in a single volume, in the same format as the recent Concrete collections Heights and Depths.

Chadwick is currently drawing a miniseries for DC, Seven Against Chaos, written by Harlan Ellison.

He’s also writing the continuing story for The Matrix Online, a Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game.

Get Creative Workshop: Joshua Davis (con’t)

Joshua was the winner of the 2001 Prix Ars Electronica Golden Nica in the category “Net Excellence”, the highest honor in international digital art and design. He’s exhibited his interactive works at the Tate Modern (London), the Ars Electronica (Austria), the Design Museum (London), le Centre Pompidou (France), the Institute of Contemporary Arts (London), PS.1 Moma (New York), and many others.

In December (2006) Joshua was inducted into the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum’s National Design Triennial : Design Life Now

The Wisdom of Crowds: Web 2.0 Democracy or Mob Mentality?

Andrew Keen, Author, The Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet is Killing Our Culture

Andrew is indeed the leading contemporary critic of the Internet, but Andrew hasn’t always been a contrarian. In the mid Nineties, he was a member of the pioneering generation of Silicon Valley visionaries who first “got” the Internet. He founded Audiocafe.com in 1995, and, securing significant investment from Intel and SAP, established it as one of the most highly trafficked websites of the late Nineties.

Andrew is currently the Founder and Chief Executive of afterTV LLC, a firm that helps marketers optimize their brand desirability in the post-TV consumer landscape. He has taught at a number of universities, including Tufts, UMass, Northeastern and UC Berkeley.

Andrew’s erudition, his entrepreneurial experience, and his writing and public speaking skills have established his voice today as both the most controversial and incisive in Silicon Valley. He is the host of the popular Internet chat show afterTV and regularly appears on television and radio. His commentaries can be read on ZDNet, Britannica , iHollywoodForum as well as in traditional publications like the Weekly Standard, Fast Company and the San Francisco Chronicle.

Jim Munroe, Novelist, Filmmaker, Infest Wisely
(”Sublime Algorithm”) is an indie culture maker primarily known for his four science-fiction novels. His previous video work is mostly compiled in Pleasure Circuit Overload, a series of seven pieces about videogames that spans movie preview spoofs, in-game machinima, quirky short drama and documentary interviewing. CTheory Journal called one of the pieces “a great work of pop culture commentary,” and other pieces in the collection have been featured on CBC’s 120seconds.com, Rooftop Films in Brooklyn and the Oberhausen Film Festival in Germany. Munroe also published a DVDzine called Novel Amusements, founded an indie press touring circuit that sent 100 artists on tour, and runs DIY media resource nomediakings.org. His forthcoming book with Salgood Sam, a post-rapture graphic novel, is called Therefore Repent!

Jennifer Ouano, President, Elastic Entertainment
Jennifer Ouano is founder and head of Elastic Entertainment, a digital media company that harnesses the power of creativity to develop, produce, strategize and collaborate on original and entertaining multimedia properties across the digital universe.

Over the past 15 years, she’s worn many hats in the media and new media worlds as an award-winning producer, director, journalist, consultant and entrepreneur. One of Jennifer’s recent accomplishments was ZeD, CBC TV’s flagship convergence program and a pioneer in social networking and user-generated content. Jennifer was co-creator, as well as senior producer, head of convergence, creative, interactive and business development. She was awarded the prestigious 2005 Woman of Vision Award and a 2004 Leo Award, in addition to several nominations for Geminis, Leos, Yorktons and a 2004 team Emmy nomination in Advanced Media Technology for her work on the program. She also built and signed business partnerships with major brands including Apple iTunes, Yahoo! Flickr, Logitech, EMI Music, NFB, Channel 4, Corel, American Apparel, AirG, The Drake Hotel and Resfest.

Jason Roks, Citizen 001, digitalpeasants.com; Founder, misovision.org
Jason Roks is recognized across North America for his networking and digital media distribution acumen, and for his ingenuity in predicting and leveraging new directions on the Internet and other communications technologies.

Jason has been featured in various media, including Wired, Time, Maclean’s, Saturday Night, Yahoo! Internet Life, Shift, Macworld and Silicon Alley Reporter for his insights on new media economies, digital media distribution, file-sharing, online communities and social networks, piracy, copyright, and intellectual property.

Jason is also a multiple award-winning software and new media developer. Recently, as CTO for Independent World Television, Jason was instrumental in determining the company’s digital direction. Prior to that appointment, he produced the New Media Business Alliance’s 2006 iSummit in Toronto, where he introduced emerging trends in digital media. As Emerging Technology and Digital Distribution Analyst to the CBC in 2005, Jason played a key role in identifying and developing a cost-effective national bandwidth infrastructure; establishing the CBC’s VoD services; and prototyping ZED’s Ambient Television initiatives.

Michael Sikorsky, CEO, Cambrian House
Bio to come.

Michael Tippett, Co-founder and CEO, Now Public

Michael Tippett founded one of Canada's first internet companies, in 1995. Recently he lived in New York and served as General Manager at Register.com In 2005 Tippett founded NowPublic, a commercial descendent of BlueHereNow.com, which in 2002 became the first to combine camera phone photographs with breaking news events. Since then NowPublic has grown to become one of the largest participatory news organizations in the world. During Hurricane Katrina, NowPublic had more reporters in the affected area than most news organizations have globally.

In 2004 he collaborated with Kate Armstrong to produce Grafik Dynamo, a net art piece that loads live images from blogs and news sources on the web into a live action comic strip. Grafik Dynamo was a commission of Turbulence, made possible with funding from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. He graduated with a major in Philosophy from Queen’s University.

Convergence: Maintaining IP Integrity Across Platforms

Mike Agerbo, Executive Producer and Host, GetConnectedTV and Radio; Co-Founder, Blink Media Works
Mike Agerbo is today’s digital living and business expert. As the digital visionary, he can be heard nationally on Corus Radio’s GetConnected program every week. He is also the star of GetConnectedTV seen across Canada on BNN – Business News Network and G4Tech TV. You can also catch his regular news appearances on Global TV, City TV, and CTV.

Over the last 15 years, Mike has been an integral voice of the digital revolution. Mike has hosted numerous technology related programs; speaking on topics ranging from business and home to mobility and parenting. His message of digital living is carried across various media platforms and directed towards all ages and backgrounds.

As a trusted expert, Mike is a highly recognizable figure in the world of digital technology and consumer electronics. As a key influencer in today’s digital generation, he is relied upon to deliver the low-down on the coolest gadgets and products to hit the streets. His laid back and personable style combined with his ability to speak of real-life features and benefits cuts through the techie clutter and appeals to a wide audience.

Sean Embury, Senior Producer, CBC Television
Sean Embury has been leading innovative, award-winning new media projects for fifteen years. He is currently the Senior Producer of Exposure (www.cbc.ca/exposure), CBC Television’s new cross-platform project aimed at finding Canada’s favourite online videos.

From 2002-2006 Embury served as the Coordinating Producer of CBC Radio 3 where he helped develop their suite of award-winning web sites, radio shows and podcasts. In 2006 he produced the final season of CBC Television’s innovative user-generated content experiment, Zed.

Prior to joining the CBC Embury was Creative Director at Chicago based marchFirst/divine, overseeing interactive projects and online brand development for a demanding clientele that included Nike, United Airlines, The Chicago Stock Exchange, and Motorola.

Kevin Gamble, Producer, Studio B; Co-Creator, “Tiki Bar TV”

Kevin Gamble started his filmmaking career at the tender age of nine, shooting short movies on borrowed equipment. At age eleven, Kevin taught himself how to edit by sneaking into a government owned 3/4″ linear suite after hours by bribing the evening janitor with pizza. By age fifteen, Kevin had parlayed his skills into a series of wins at student film festivals.

After years with Mainframe Entertainment, Nerd Corps Entertainment, SecondSun Entertainment and Studio B, Kevin is now in the unique position of working both sides of the media fence. In addition to his work in “Old Media” television world, Kevin is one of the emerging leaders in the New Media “Video Podcasting” arena. He’s the co-creator of the Tiki Bar TV Video Podcast, which is the very same Podcast that Steve Jobs himself showcased at the launch of the video iPod in October of 2005.

After being thrust into the limelight, Tiki Bar TV quickly rocketed to the top of the iTunes charts, and has since continued to serve up comedy and cocktails to an ever-growing audience.

Joshua Lowcock, Manager, Convergent Technologies for the Nine Network Australia
Joshua is Manager Convergent Technologies for the Nine Network Australia. In this role, he has managed the transition to digital television, launched 3G mobile content services, podcasts, and a host of other convergent media services. Prior to Nine, Joshua worked throughout Australia, Asia and Europe in various consulting and media roles.

Cliff Plumer, Chief Technology Officer, Digital Domain

Cliff Plumer is responsible for Digital Domain’s technology strategy and execution. Cliff joined the company in 2006 from Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) and its parent company LucasFilm Ltd. where he served for over 10 years, most recently as chief technology officer. Throughout his 20+ year career in digital entertainment and media technology, Cliff has built a proven track record of establishing leading edge technologies and operations. At LucasFilm and ILM, he provided strategic technical vision, planning and executing critical initiatives for the companies including the design, construction and relocation to a new digital studio at the Presidio in San Francisco, and an oversees studio in Singapore. A graduate of Ithaca College, Cliff began his career in 1984 as a computer graphics artist, camera operator, editor, and technician.

MyFace, YourSpace: Maximizing Your Online Identity

Megan Cole, Consultant; Director of Social Media, Catapult Media; Co-Producer, ThisCityRocks; Blogger, megsjargon, Canada Bombshell
Megan Cole is a web producer: consulting, designing, blogging, dabbling in photography and is the Director of Social Media for Catapult Media, building online communities for non-profit organizations and civil societies. She also hosts and co-produces an online video podcast promoting Canadian independent music, ThisCityRocks.com. Megan is also the co-founder (with zu.com’s Ryan Leybak) of CanadaBombshell.com - A superfantastic Canadian interactive digital media blog.

When not feeding the addiction of the internet, she can be found running, snowboarding, playing tennis, hiking, snowshoeing, surfing, enjoying red wine and guinness (not at the same time) and walking a large mountain dog named Capo.

Douglas Gayeton, Chief Creative Officer, Millions of Us
Since the early 90’s Gayeton has created award-winning work at the boundaries of traditional and converging media for such clients as AOL, MSN, MTV, Yahoo, Fox, Napster, Electronic Arts, Vivendi, Sony, Ubisoft, Viacom, Sega, Intel, National Geographic, PBS, Warner Bros, Columbia, and Virgin Records.

In 1993 Gayeton directed “Tomorrow”, the first documentary about interactive television. It featured interviews with Bill Gates, John Malone, Barry Diller, Sumner Redstone and Geri Laybourne. With William Gibson he wrote and directed “Johnny Mnemonic”, the first interactive cd-rom based movie, for Sony Imagesoft. He then wrote and designed “Big Brother”, a cd-rom sequel to George Orwell’s 1984 with Media-X, and designed an interactive version of “Einstein’s Dreams” with writer Alan Lightman. Gayeton has consulted on video games for the largest publishers in the business. “Ghost Recon”, a game he recently wrote, was nominated for best script and honored with the BAFTA for 2006’s videogame of the year.

His most recent work is “Molotov’s Dispatches in Search of the Creator: A Second Life Odyssey” (http://www.molotovalva.com/), a series of video documentary shorts shot entirely within an online world called Second Life. It has been among the highest rated videos in the world on You Tube, with over 250,000 views in its first week, and was recently selected to premiere at both the Tribeca and Hot Docs Film Festivals.

Jeremiah Owyang, Web Strategist, Podtech

Jeremiah is a well known web strategy and media expert and is sought out by both Fortune 1000 and startup companies. He is currently Director of Corporate Media Strategy at PodTech.net . In this role, he consults with PodTech’s Fortune 1000. He also writes a daily blog Web Strategy by Jeremiah ( http://web-strategist.com/blog) and speaks at Technology, PR, and Marketing conferences about web and media strategy.

Before PodTech, Jeremiah’s was responsible for the strategy and development of corporate web programs at Hitachi Data Systems, Exodus Communications, Cable and Wireless, and World Savings (now Wachovia). Most recently at Hitachi Data Systems, Jeremiah lead the Social Media program connecting customers using Blogs, Forums, Wikis, RSS, and Podcasts.

Jeremiah Owyang holds a Bachelors in in Marketing from San Francisco State University.

Bite-Sized Entertainment: How to Get more From Less

Steve Bocska, Joint Chief Executive Officer, Hothead Games
Steve Bocska (B.A., M.A., M.B.A) has a wealth of industry experience and knowledge from working in a number of production and management roles for Disney Interactive and Radical Entertainment. He also brings extensive business consulting and operations management experience as well as award-winning strategic planning skills.

Ping Jiang，Vice-President, China Film Animation, a China Film Group and Director, International Relations, EAE Group Inc. Canada
Ms. Jiang is Vice- President of China Film Animation, a China Film Group and EAE Group Inc. Canada, a joint venture devoted to the creation and distribution of original animation content for the domestic Chinese and international markets. Ms. Jiang is presently engaged on several animated feature films and television series being co-developed by China Film Animation, Imagine in Media Inc. and EAE Canada Inc. Ms. Jiang is also Director, International Relations, of EAE Group Inc. Canada, the partner of China Film Group.

Dan Marchant, Executive Producer Games, EM-Media
In his capacity as Executive Producer Games for EM-Media he advises on game project investments and liaises with the local East Midlands based game development community, regional development agencies and other interested agencies. Dan has just celebrated 20 years in the games industry during which time he has worked at SCi, Mirrorsoft, Virgin Interactive and Ocean Software in roles which have included Producer, Development Manager, Director of Development and Business Development Director. He has Produced 25 games (a total of 89 SKUs) across a wide variety of game genres including arcade shoot-em-up, platform game, flight sim, Real Time Strategy, RPG and adventures. Since 1998 Dan has worked as a Business Development Consultant (www.obscure.co.uk) and in addition to his work with EM-Media he works with a number of game developers providing business development services.

Tarrnie Williams, General Manager, Relic Entertainment
Tarrnie has always been passionate about games. He created his first board game at 6, first war game at 8, and wrote his first computer game design at 10. Over the past 17 years he’s had the honor of collaborating with teams of various sizes, from as small as 3 to as large as 170, in diverse locations around the globe including Tokyo, Paris, Dundee, Austin, Kyoto, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Schaumburg, and Shanghai. Together they have created over 40 successful products and franchises including Company of Heroes, Need for Speed, NBA Live, Dawn of War, and Medal of Honor. Tarrnie believes in the power of creative people, passion, communication, collaboration and fun at work and in life. For the first time, he knows that work/life balance in the games industry is a reality, not just a dream, because he lives it at Relic. In his free time he relaxes on the North Shore with his wife Shannon, and their two children, Griffin and Keira.

Baby, You’ve Been Branded

Matt De Castro, VP Brand Engagement, Arkadium
Matt de Castro, Arkadium’s VP of Brand Engagement, has over 7 years of experience in multiple mediums of online ad sales and brand marketing. Prior to joining Arkadium, Matt worked at Pulse 360 where he ran national advertising agency sales. He was responsible for designing innovative ROI centric and brand centered media initiatives across the Pulse 360 network. He cultivated, closed and managed new relationships with Avenue A, Ogilvy@Neo, OMD, Digitas, Universal McCann, PM Digital and Starcom IP.

Prior to joining Pulse 360, Matt was an Account Executive at IAC Advertising Solutions.
Where he created compelling marketing based initiatives for Ticketmaster.com,
Citysearch.com, Match.com, and Evite.com. Matt holds a BA in Management and Finance from the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Dan Reitzik, President, DY Mobile
Dan Reitzik is the vision behind DY’s business, and leads the corporate development of the company. Dan has been in the mobile business exclusively since 1993, first as a sales rep for Rogers and subsequently as a dealer for Rogers Cantel. Dan has gained knowledge about mobile consumer trends and behaviours throughout the evolution from the car phone to the current smart phones from the retail storefront to the management of a network. Dan Reitzik continues to develop DY’s Mobile on Demand property with DY’s media partners and content providers, to ensure that Mobile on Demand is the destination for consumers to purchase content for their mobile devices.

Jim Southcott, Chief Strategic Officer, TBWA
Jim works with senior clients to set their long-term marketing strategy direction. He creates interactive planning summits to encourage client teams to explore new ideas/directions as a key part of the long-term planning process. As well, he works with our TBWA\Worldwide network to develop evermore powerful planning tools to help guide the brand strategy development process. Jim’s background includes client-side marketing as well as working at agencies in Toronto and Vancouver leading accounts including: Labatt, Telus, A&W, Terasen, Vancity, Shaw, BC Lottery Corp., Corix, the Vancouver International Film Festival and HSBC. Jim is also currently involved at an advisory level with a number of high tech start-up companies including eqo, BUZmob (Contec), Wireless Image, Qnext and MovieSet.

Jim is obsessed with film and music and is known to spend lots of his off hours getting lost in impenetrable content online & offline. Content sources here include davidlynch.com, Jean-Luc Godard, Kate Bush and Wilco (live).

Dave Sylvestre, Group Creative Director, Organic
As the Group Creative Director at Organic, Dave Sylvestre works with an impressive roster of clients including Sprint, Armani Exchange, Sirius Satellite Radio, Tommy Hilfiger, DaimlerChrysler, and the Royal Bank of Canada.

Dave comes to Organic from Unplugged, a Toronto-based interactive studio, where he led a team through the creative execution of, “The Adventures of Seinfeld and Superman,” a pioneering branded entertainment project for American Express, starring Jerry Seinfeld and directed by Academy Award(tm) winning director Barry Levinson.

Dave has served as a creative judge for the Clio’s, Digital Marketing, Applied Arts, Media Innovation, and Flash in the Can Awards, and has spoken at SXSW Interactive Festival and at the Infopresse, “Beyond the Banner,” conference in Montreal.

Catherine Warren, President, FanTrust Entertainment Strategies
Founder and president of FanTrust Entertainment Strategies, Catherine Warren is a management consultant to the media industry, specializing in digital business. Her work has influenced Fortune 500 clients, major media networks, world-class tourist attractions, advertising agencies and game corporations, providing them with new ways to captivate audiences and capitalize on innovation.

Catherine’s client work includes strategic initiatives for major broadcast and telecommunications companies such as CTV, CBC, PBS/KCTS and Bell Canada; computer corporations such as Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft; as well as game and animation studios Radical, Studio B Productions and Decode Entertainment.

The Reality Continuum: Physical, Blended and Virtual Realities in Second Life

Michael Griffin, Virtual Reseach Assistant, Masters of Digital Media Program
Michael Griffin is a recent graduate of Oxford University. His UBC-based cultural virtual worlds project, Ancient Spaces, was featured in Wired Magazine last year. He has since participated in new media initiatives for the Governor-General of Canada and the Commonwealth Secretariat, and delivered 2006’s keynote on educational technology for the BC Campus 2020 symposium. He is currently involved in building a startup company in Vancouver.

Chuck Hamilton, Director, IBM@PLAY, IBM’s Centre for Advanced Learning; Learning and New Media Leader, 3D Internet team, IBM
Charles Hamilton has been with IBM for ten years and currently holds two titles. He is the Director of IBM’s new IBM@PLAY program with IBM’s Centre for Advanced Learning, and he is also the Learning and New Media Leader for IBM’s new 3D Internet team. When he is not traveling around the world he spends his time in Vancouver playing traditional Irish music in his < target="_blank" href="http://www.stoneandsea.ca/">Celtic band.

Gerri Sinclair, Executive Director, Masters of Digital Media Program
Dr. Gerri Sinclair’s career includes 20 years’ experience spanning the
fields of digital media technology, entrepreneurial business, academic
research, and government policy.

Sinclair was formerly the General Manager of MSN Canada as well as the CEO
of NCompass, an Internet start-up acquired by Microsoft. She is currently
the Executive Director of the Masters of Digital Media Program at Great
Northern Way Campus.

Kevin McQuiggin, Inspector, Vancouver Police Department
Bio to come.

Joanna Robinson, Research Assistant, Masters of Digital Media Program
Joanna Robinson (BA: Communications, Media, Culture & Society. Hons.) is an MA candidate in Popular Culture at Brock University. Her MA research explores issues of gender representations, performance, identity, and implications for everyday life in online game community Resident Evil: Outbreak. Joanna has presented at a number of key conferences on her work in gender and online communication, avatars and identity as well as on her experience in utilizing virtual environments to augment and enhance learning experiences. Joanna will be commencing her doctoral studies at Simon Fraser University’s School of Interactive Arts & Technology in 2008.

Catherine Winters, Masters of Digital Media Bricoleur, Masters of Digital Media Program
With over four and a half years of experience in Second Life,
Catherine Winters is one of the longest-tenured users in Second Life.
As her virtual alter-ego Catherine Omega, she co-founded the original
LSL Wiki, ( www.lslwiki.net) today the preeminent Second Life
programming reference.

Catherine currently resides in Vancouver, BC, where she works as a
bricoleur at the nascent Masters of Digital Media program at
Vancouver’s Great Northern Way campus.

Catherine’s past professional experience includes having served as
Managing Director of Virtual Worlds for Social Signal Networks and
coauthor of Second Life: The Official Guide.

Find Some Sanctuary

Damian Kindler, Creator/Executive Producer Sanctuary
Damian Kindler is a fourteen year veteran writer/producer of network and cable television, including Stargate: SG-1 (the longest running sci fi series in history) and Stargate: Atlantis, two of the most popular science fiction TV series worldwide. Damian has been involved in the writing and production of over 200 hours of television for some of the most established names in broadcasting, including Sony Pictures Entertainment, MGM Television, Warner Bros. Television, Sci Fi Channel and Fox Network. He has worked with many internationally acclaimed actors including Richard Dean Anderson, David Carradine, Beau Bridges, Dan Aykroyd, and Dan Castellaneta (“The Simpsons”). Damian was nominated for three Leo Awards in 2004 and 2005 for excellence in TV writing and producing by the British Columbia Film and Television Association.

Amanda Tapping, Lead actor “Magnus”, Executive Producer, Sanctuary
Amanda Tapping is best known as the intelligent and beautiful Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter in the hit series, Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis for The Sci-Fi
Channel. Tapping was born in Rochford, England and raised in Toronto, Canada with her three brothers. Recently Amanda had the pleasure to star on another show for
Sci-Fi, hosting a new series Proof Positive, exploring the science front of fact versus fiction. She has also guest starred on such television series as The X-Files, Due
South, Forever Knight , Kung-Fu: The Legend Continues, The Newsroom, Millennium and The Outer Limits. In addition, she was a series regular on the Disney series
Flash Forward. Her other television credits include Lessons in Love, Remembrance, The Haunting of Lisa, and Degree of Guilt. More recently she appeared in the miniseries Traffic.

Richard Patterson, VFX Supervisor, Stage 3 Media Inc.
Richard is a VFX artist with 15 years of experience working in the visual effects for the film, television and game industries. He spent the first part of his career working for software makers Softimage, Discreet and 5D as a senior product specialist and was very involved in special projects and software development. Working in Montreal, LA and London, Richard had the chance to work with some of the world’s top production houses. Clients included Mill Film, MCP, Disney, Digital Domain.

Richard spent a couple years working as a compositor in Europe before returning to Vancouver in 2004, since then he has worked for as a VFX artist for Mainframe, EA and Action Pants inc. In 2006 he joined Stage 3 Media to become VFX supervisor for their first production Sanctuary.

Rick Mischel, President, Reach Games
Rick Mischel currently serves as President of REACH GAMES, a company specializing in the creation of digital assets for the gaming and animation industry. REACH also offers consulting services for the distribution of digital media across all platforms, as well as advising companies on potential strategic partnerships with overseas studios.

Mischel also serves as an Executive Producer at Rainmaker Animation and most recently served as Chief Executive Officer of Mainframe Entertainment, a publicly-traded CGI animation studio specializing in television series, direct-to-video features, and gaming animation. Mainframe is best-known for its series of BARBIE direct-to-video specials produced with Mattel, as well as the production studio behind the newest SPIDER MAN animated series.

Prior to his position as Mainframe CEO, Mischel served as President and COO of The Harvey Entertainment Company in Los Angeles.

How 2 Talk 2 A 10 Yr Old

Anastasia Goodstein, Publisher, ypulse.com; author, Totally Wired: What Teens And Tweens Are Really Doing Online
Anastasia Goodstein is an award-winning blogger and often-quoted expert on American tweens, teens and early twentysomethings. Her blog, Ypulse.com, reaches a highly influential audience of agency, brand and media executives as well as social marketers trying to reach youth. The blog has been featured in several leading publications including USA Today, BusinessWeek, Forbes and Fast Company. Anastasia was one of the first graduates of the Medill School of Journalism’s new media program at Northwestern University, where she earned an MSJ in 1999.

International Partnering Forum Keynote

John Walker, Feature Film Producer/Director of Production, Pixar Animation Studios
John Walker brings a diverse background including animation production and extensive experience in live theatre to his role at Pixar Animation Studios. Prior to producing The Incredibles, Walker served as associate producer for Warner Bros. Osmosis Jones and The Iron Giant, during which he began his association with Brad Bird.