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Nadine Ajaka

Sr. Producer, Video Platforms
The Washington Post
Nadine Ajaka is Senior Producer for Video Platforms at The Washington Post, working to ensure the right type of Post video gets in front of the right audience. She was formerly the Video Curator and Associate Producer at The Atlantic, where she oversaw films from outside contributors and featured over 300 short films from independent filmmakers on TheAtlantic.com. Nadine was on the feature film jury at this year's Big Sky Documentary Film Festival and was one of 25 women selected for the 2017 Online News Association's Women's Leadership Accelerator. She’s a former Fulbright scholar and graduate of the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University.

Ben Bevington

Digital Editor, North America
BBC News
As digital editor for BBC News in North America, Ben Bevington oversees the BBC's coverage of the region for online and mobile (40 million unique visitors a month in the US and Canada). Leading a team of talented video journalists and writers, and given license to experiment in the competitive US market, Ben has focused on original and innovative storytelling. He developed and commissioned digital-first video feature series and executive produced award-winning digital documentaries as well as BBC Pop Up, the BBC's crowdsourcing unit which spent six months on the road in the US finding and filming original stories (and then did the same across Canada, India and Russia). 

Prior to crossing to the digital (dark) side, Ben worked in broadcast for eight years as a political producer in Westminster and then Washington for the BBC's Breakfast and Newsnight television programmes. Both roles demanded high quality journalism combined with creative production techniques – the same skills central to good digital video. He started his journalism career in newspapers, writing for The Express & Star and Shropshire Star regional papers in the UK.

Joe Cady

SVP, Strategy & Development - Advertising Sales
NBCUniversal
Joe Cady serves as Senior Vice President, Strategy & Development for NBCUniversal’s Advertising Sales division. In this role, Cady oversees the division’s strategy, market intelligence, pricing & yield strategy, and partnership development teams - spanning NBCUniversal’s portfolio of Entertainment, Lifestyle, Sports, News and Hispanic properties. Cady reports to Krishan Bhatia, Executive Vice President, Business Operations & Strategy, Advertising Sales, NBCUniversal.

Alisa Chieves

SVP, Multiplatform Video Production
Viacom Global Entertainment Group
Alisa Chieves serves as Senior Vice President, Multiplatform Video Production at Viacom Global Entertainment Group. In this role she oversees all production for all social and digital platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Musical.ly, Snapchat, Twitter, YouTube, and all emerging platforms for MTV, VH1, LOGO, Comedy Central, BET and Spike. In addition to straight forward multi-platform production, Chieves is at the helm of Viacom’s entry into 360 video content production.
 
Prior to her career with Viacom, Chieves managed post production and later transitioned into coordinating producer on X-Play for G4 Network. Shortly after MTV purchased GameTrailers.com, Chieves came on board producing original video content for Gametrailers and Spike TV. She has been with Viacom since 2006.

Kasia Cieplak-Mayr von Baldegg

General Manager,
Atlantic Studios
Kasia joined The Atlantic in 2011 to launch its video channel and, in 2013, create its in-house video production department. She leads the development and production of original documentaries, shows, and other video content for The Atlantic. Previously, she worked as a producer at Al Gore’s Current TV and as a content strategist and documentary producer in San Francisco. She studied filmmaking and digital media at Harvard University.

Troy Dreier

Sr. Associate Editor
StreamingMedia.com
Troy Dreier is the Senior Associate Editor for StreamingMedia.com, the leading news site for the online video industry, and has become one of the area’s most trusted voices. He’s interviewed many of the major players in the new online video economy, and moderated panels at his company’s Streaming Media East and West conferences as well as the SVG Digital Summit. Troy is also the Editor or OnlineVideo.net, a site that helps online video marketers stay on top of trends and do their work more effectively. Prior to working with StreamingMedia.com, Troy was a full-time freelance technology writer and a staff editor for PC Magazine. Troy lives in Jersey City, NJ.

Mike Foss

Director of Social Media and Youtube
ESPN
Mike Foss is Director of Social Media and YouTube at ESPN. Previously, he was Vice President of News/Content at Fox Sports, and is the co-founder of USA TODAY’s social news website “For The Win,” where he also served as managing editor for three years. In 2015, Forbes included Foss in their annual “30 Under 30” in media list.

Helen Havlak

Editorial Director, The Verge
Vox Media

Helen Havlak is the editorial director of The Verge, the technology and culture brand from Vox Media. As a member of the senior leadership team, she manages The Verge’s content planning and major growth initiatives across platforms. Previously, Helen served as The Verge’s engagement editor where, under her supervision, The Verge's social audience doubled, its video views quadrupled, and it launched the Facebook-first gadget blog Circuit Breaker. Helen graduated summa cum laude from Cornell University.

David Iudica

VP, Ad Sales Research
CNN
In his role as VP, Ad Sales Research, David Iudica provides support to sales and marketing executives spanning the globe. He is responsible for CNN’s cross-platform insight initiatives designed to help CNN create more meaningful connections between its advertising partners and its consumers. This includes overseeing a group of researchers challenged with providing thought provoking research to the industry around topics like Branded Content, Cross-Platform Monetization, Mobile, OTT, Social, and Video.
 
Prior to joining CNN in November of 2016, David also held insights positions at Yahoo, MTV Networks, TVGuide.com and Major League Baseball. David’s work has also been shared in conferences and on TV including the Today Show. He graduated from St. John’s University in 2001 with a B.A. in Psychology.

Michelle Manafy

Editorial Director
Digital Content Next
In her role as editorial director, Michelle Manafy is responsible for the DCN’s content-related initiatives, including our InContext site and annual member summit, as well as evangelizing industry best-practices in a wide range of venues. She has two decades of publishing experience, more than half of which has been focused squarely on the business of digital content.

 

Her career has included leadership roles at the Media Industry Newsletter (min), where she concentrated on digital strategies and revenue channels for the magazine media; UK-based digital publisher FreePint Limited, where she focused on the enterprise information industry; and Information Today, Inc.‘s Enterprise Group, where she provided content direction on publications and events in the areas of content creation, management and delivery strategies and tools, enterprise search, and the business of content.

Michelle also has extensive knowledge on millennials and “digital natives,” having co-written the book Dancing with Digital Natives: Staying in Step with the Generation That’s Transforming the Way Business Is Done. She is also a regular columnist at Inc.com. Michelle is a lively and informative industry writer and speaker and holds a BA in journalism from San Francisco State University.

Francesco Marconi

Strategy Manager & AI Co-Lead
Associated Press
Francesco Marconi works at the Associated Press in New York City, where he manages strategy and co-leads AP's automation and artificial intelligence efforts. Is an affiliate researcher at MIT Media Lab and a Tow Fellow at Columbia University.

Jigar Mehta

SVP, Head of Video
Fusion Media Group
Jigar is passionate about the intersection of media and entrepreneurship. He is currently leading video operations at Fusion Media Group where his team focuses on video strategies that create more engaged and loyal audiences. He previously lead engagement at AJ+; In 2015 it became the most engaged video news brand on Facebook and piled up 2.2 billion views.
As a founding team member at Matter Ventures he supported entrepreneurs building a more informed, connected, and empowered society through its 4-month start-up accelerator in San Francisco.
 
Jigar is co-creator of the documentary project 18 Days in Egypt supported by the Tribeca Film Institute's New Media Fund and part of the Sundance Institute's New Frontier Storylab. He has been a Knight Journalism Fellow and a video journalist at The New York Times and also served as a boardmember with the South Asian Journalists Association and as a executive team member for News Xchange.

 

He has a BS in Mechanical Engineering and a MJ in Journalism from the University of California, Berkeley where he was a Drake Engineering and Human Rights Fellow.

David Stern

Director, Product Development
Slate
Bio coming soon!

Christy Tanner

SVP & GM, CBSNews Digital
CBS Interactive

Christy Tanner is the Senior Vice President and General Manager of CBS News Digital. In this role, she oversees strategy and operations for CBS News on all digital platforms, including CBSNews.com,  CBSN, CBS News’ digital streaming news network featuring live, anchored coverage across platforms, and the mobile apps for CBS News, 60 Minutes and 48 Hours. CBS News Digital is the #1 broadcast network for video engagement, with 61.1 minutes per viewer and 12.2 videos per viewer, according to comScore.

Tanner was previously Senior Vice President and General Manager of CBS Interactive Media, a group of premier entertainment brands including TV Guide, Last.FM, Metacritic, CHOW, MetroLyrics, and TV.com. Tanner joined CBS Interactive through the company’s acquisition of TV Guide Digital, where she served as CEO. Under her leadership, the TV Guide brand and business were transformed, with impressive growth for TVGuide.com, which now averages more than 20 million monthly uniques; the introduction of TV Guide Mobile apps, now with more than 12 million installations among iOS and Android devices; and development of the Watchlist, an award-winning, personalized, next-generation guide with more than 2 million registered users. Tanner also orchestrated for TV Guide the strategic acquisitions of Fav.tv and Roundbox mobile apps businesses, and created important partnerships with ABC, Comcast, The CW, HBO, Hulu, NBC, Sony and more.

A widely recognized authority on digital media, Tanner makes frequent TV appearances to discuss digital, mobile and entertainment trends. She also participates in industry events and delivers keynote presentations at conferences such as DLD, the Advertising Age Social TV Conference, VARIETY’s TV Summit and more.

Prior to joining TV Guide Digital, Tanner held executive positions with The Washington Post Company and Reed Elsevier. She began her career as a journalist for The Associated Press.

Outside of the office, Tanner is a judge for the Echoing Green Startup competition, is a committee member of 10×10, a global campaign to educate women and girls in developing countries, and serves as vice chair of the Groton Women’s Network and as a Digital Hollywood advisory board member. She also is an advisor to several startups.