Featuring George Kliavkoff (NBC Universal) and Limor Schafman (KeystoneTech Group)

Presented jointly by We Media and NY:MIEG

Wednesday, December 17th, 7:30am – 9:30am

Samsung Experience

Time Warner Center /3rd Floor
10 Columbus Circle
(59th Street and Broadway)
New York, NY

Registration:

iFOCOS and NY:MIEG members:  $30
Nonmembers: $50
Student rate:  $20 (with ID)

2008 Looking Back/ 2009 Looking Ahead: A View from the Top of the Rock!

Chances are the next big digital media company won’t be built on a new technology…it will likely be built with existing technology, by figuring out how to perfect it. However,  if successful digital media companies like Google, YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, Digg, companies have taught us anything, it’s that the technology is in fact secondary…it’s the people that matter. All of these companies understood that the web isn’t just about technology or about content…it’s about people using technology, people creating content. Google,for example, figured out that when people search for something on the web, they don’t want to go to a cluttered, head-ached inducing portal page. They don’t want winking, blinking rich media. People just want to type words in a box and get a bunch of links.

George Kliavkoff/Chief Digital Officer NBC Universal

The unexpected success of Hulu.com (the joint venture between NBC Universal and News Corp) has caused broad rethinking within the media about how to distribute TV and other video online.  In August, by ComScore’s measure, it served more than 122 million TV shows. Hulu has been able to build a brand from nothing and create a significant consumer business just by putting TV on the web. And much of the success of Hulu (among other properties created inside NBC Universal Digital Media) is due to the vision of one man, George Kliavkoff, The Chief Digital Officer of NBC Universal.

George Kliavkoff is NBC Universal’s first chief digital officer. Kliavkoff is responsible for furthering the company’s digital media strategy and developing new business models and markets.  He oversees the distribution of digital products across multiple platforms, including ondemand, interactive television, broadband, wireless, and IPTV, as well as digital innovation and product development, portal and partner relationships. Kliavkoff served as the interim CEO of Hulu, NBCU’s online video joint venture with News Corp., and now sits on the board of the JV. Kliavkoff also sits on the board of the Peacock Equity Fund, a $250 multimillion joint venture fund with GE Commercial Finance to invest in early stage digital companies.

Prior to joining NBC Universal, Kliavkoff was with Major League Baseball Advance Media (MLBAM). As executive vice president, business, Kliavkoff was responsible for MLBAM’s New Media licensing business and for all business development  related to baseball’s interactive media unit. Kliavkoff oversaw MLBAM’s search strategy and its games (console, internet, mobile and fantasy) licensing programs. During his tenure at MLBAM, Kliavkoff was named one of Sports Business Journal’s “Forty Under 40,” a list celebrating the 40 most influential sports executives under the age of 40.

Limor Schafman/President of the KeystoneTech Group


Interviewing Mr. Kliavkoff will be Limor Schafman, a  good friend of NY:MIEG and a past moderator and panelist.  As president of KeystoneTech Group, Limor brings her extensive experience to bear on behalf of technology companies interested in introducing new products to the marketplace or repositioning existing products into new marketplaces. The technology arena offers Limor a spectrum of opportunity to employ her business philosophies: listen closely to the market, develop solution based products and services, and then utilize market directed communication tools to open doors and close sales. Through this process, Limor helps clients set the foundation for their success and then works with them achieve it. Limor began her marketing business career in 1994 in the sector of digital media and entertainment technology in Los Angeles, working in the production of two full motion video games for the publishers Capcom and Groliers, and then joining the executive team of a theme-park design/build company as Director of Marketing and Business Development of Spectra Entertainment, Inc. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, BA and Boston University School of Law, JD, she is a member of the California, New York and Massachusetts state bars. She is also an alumna of the Anderson School, UCLA Executive Program for Business Management.

Introduction:  Dale Peskin, Manging Director & Co-Founder, iFOCOS.  Dale is a widely engaged expert advisor on media and communications business and creative strategies, information design and innovation. He was the executive director of New Directions for News, a media futures think tank that merged with The Media Center in September 2003. Prior to joining NDN, he was a vice president of Belo, the Dallas-based media company, where he launched the company’s initiatives in new media and media convergence. At Belo, Dale served as editor of Dallasnews.com and as an assistant managing editor of The Dallas Morning News. He was a founding officer of Belo Interactive, Belo’s network of news Web sites.

Dale has served as deputy managing editor of The Detroit News and The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, and managing editor of the Tribune Chronicle. Dale’s awards include NAA’s Digital Edge Award for Pioneering Online Journalism, the Sigma Delta Chi Award, and four Gold Medals from the Society for News Design. He was part of the team at The Detroit News that won the Pulitzer Prize.

is a media think tank and futures lab committed to harnessing the power of media, communication and human ingenuity for the common good. iFOCOS helps individuals and organizations worldwide understand and use expanding media and communications technologies both to innovate in business and to make the world better through media.

is a place for executives in Media and Entertainment to meet with peers, share ideas and develop friendships with the goal of assisting each other in reaching the next level or their personal goals.

Special Thanks to our corporate sponsor Samsung for use of their facilities and audio/video equipment