Tyra Banks
Chairwoman and CEO, Bankable Enterprises

Supermodel turned super mogul, Tyra Banks, has broken down barriers to become a highly influential figure in media today. In 2003, Banks established Bankable, the parent company to the Digital, Studios and Books divisions, creating a multi-faceted company where beauty meets entertainment. Tyra became a pioneer in reality TV as the creator, executive producer and host of "America's Next Top Model" which is viewed in over 170 markets, with 20 international editions. In 2005, Tyra became the first woman seen simultaneously on primetime and daytime with the launch of her own talk show as host and executive producer of the Emmy-winning, "The Tyra Show." Recently, Tyra announced that she is creating MODELLAND, the fantasy three-book series, and is also in an exclusive partnership with Demand Media on the launch of typeF, a revolutionary new fashion and beauty site. Through all her endeavors, Tyra is committed to her personal mission to empower women and expand the definition of beauty.

 

John Battelle
Founder and Executive Chairman, Federated Media Publishing

John Battelle is Founder and Executive Chairman of Federated Media Publishing, as well as an author and journalist. He has been a visiting professor of journalism at the University of California, Berkeley and also maintains Searchblog, a weblog covering technology, culture, and media.

Battelle is one of the original founders of Wired magazine, the founder of The Industry Standard magazine and website, and a partner in the seminal weblog Boing Boing. In 2004, he founded the annual Web 2.0 Summit, where he remains Program Chair and Executive Producer. In 2005, he published The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture, chronicling the rise of online search engines and, specifically, Google. His company Federated Media, one of the largest media properties on the Internet, was named 2009 Publisher of the Year by Razorfish, placed on Adweek’s 2009 Digital Hotlist, and received the 2010 Sales Excellence Award from the IAB. Battelle was named a "Global Leader for Tomorrow" by the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerlandand a finalist in the "Entrepreneur of the year" competition by Ernst & Young.

 

Amanda de Cadenet
Photographer

Amanda de Cadenet is a renowned fashion and portrait photographer. She began her career at the tender age of fourteen as the fearless host of two of the UK’s most successful television shows. She became one of the UK’s    best    known personalities, lauded for her natural talent and ease in front of the camera. Her passion for storytelling took her behind the camera a decade ago when Amanda made the seamless transition to the respected photographer she is today.

Amanda is best known for her intimate portraits of women capturing their true and unique selves. She is the youngest woman to shoot a Vogue magazine cover and has photographed many of the most influential figures in popular culture. She returns to TV with her project “The Conversation” which she has been working on for 3 years as well as raising her 4 year old twins and 18 year old daughter.

 

 

Rio Caraeff
President & Chief Executive Officer, VEVO

Rio D. Caraeff serves as President & Chief Executive Officer of VEVO, the leading all-premium music video and entertainment platform. Created in partnership by Universal Music Group (UMG), Sony Music Entertainment (SME) and Abu Dhabi Media Company, VEVO operates independently with offices in New York, London, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit and San Francisco.

Prior to joining VEVO in 2009, Mr. Caraeff was Executive Vice President of UMG’s eLabs, the division responsible for handling the company’s electronic commerce initiatives, Internet exploitation, and new technology business opportunities worldwide. Previously, Mr. Caraeff served as General Manager of Universal Music Mobile, the division he launched in 2005. Under his leadership, the company sold over 300 million mobile music units and its business expanded more than 200%.

Prior to joining UMG, Mr. Caraeff’s extensive background included working in new technologies across virtually all areas of entertainment including film, television, music and games for such companies as Sony Pictures Digital, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony 550 Digital Media Ventures, Capitol Records Group, Propaganda Films/PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, Generator Digital Post, and Crunch Media Group. Mr. Caraeff also served as Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Fabric, a consultancy firm whose client roster included Sony and Miller Brewing Company. 

 

Shay Carl
Uber YouTube Channel Owner and Creator of "The Shaytards"

Shay Carl is an actor, comedian, YouTuber and advocate of anything bearded. Collectively, Shay has gained over 2 million subscribers across his four YouTube channels: ShayCarl, Shaytards, iphonetards, and ShayLoss.

Averaging around 400,000 views per video, Shay has uploaded over 1,000 online videos across his 4 channels amassing a total view count of 418 million views. That's almost a half a billion reasons for his mom to be proud of him. In 2009, Shaytards won the "Best YouTube Channel or Personality" category of Mashable's Open Web Awards.

On his Shaytards channel, Shay has consecutively uploaded a daily video vlog every day for the past 2 years. He didn't eat any broccoli in that time. Beyond producing for his own YouTube Channels, Shay is a founder of Maker Studios, a next generation studio and network focused on YouTube. Shay has worked with companies such as Pepsi, GE, Kodak, Foot Locker, Kia Motors, Ora Brush and many others in successful online marketing campaigns.

 

 

Brenda Ray Coffee
Women's Health Blogger

Brenda Ray Coffee is an entrepreneur, journalist/filmmaker, former board member and managing consultant to a public company and breast cancer survivor. In late 2009, Coffee created the Survivorship Media Network, LLC. It's first property, BreastCancerSisterhood.com, is one of the few survivorship resources for women, husbands/caregivers and children, from point of diagnosis, to finding their new normal after treatment and beyond. Ms. Coffee understands the power of Social Media, branding and branding partners. She is currently developing a web-based TV show for "women of a certain age" as well as a line of feminine products.

Highlights of her content-rich site include BRENDA'S BLOG, voted a Top 10 Breast Cancer Blog by Blogs.com and BizyMoms.com. With no topic off limits, Brenda has been called the Carrie Bradshaw/Sex & the City of breast cancer and her dry wit has been compared to Erma Bombeck. Ms. Coffee has been featured in USAToday; she blogs for Whole Foods, ModernMom.com and her blogs appear in numerous Hearst newspapers. In addition to AMY’S BLOG, for children and teens, BreastCancerSisterhood.com contains over 100 original videos created for every member of the cancer family. Coffee knows what women and cancer families need. In addition to being a breast cancer survivor, she is the child of a parent who died of cancer, and caregiver to her first husband, who died of cancer. The BreastCancerSisterhood.com offers advertisers the valuable opportunity to reach at least three different demographic groups on one website.

Brenda Coffee has developed digital entertainment for Tweens and was Managing Consultant and Board Member of a publicly traded company that developed and marketed Favor™ Smokeless Cigarette which became the Nicorette/Nicotrol Inhaler. She was a journalist/producer/filmmaker for Southwest Airlines, U.S. Army, Texas Instruments, Gulf Oil, Robert Mondavi Wines, U.S. Junior Olympic Committee, Physicians of America Association and Cancer Therapy & Research Center among others. In addition, she has written two books, Husbands and Heroes and The Breast Cancer Sisterhood.

 

Beth Comstock
Chief Marketing Officer & SVP, General Electric

Beth Comstock is Chief Marketing Officer and SVP of General Electric. She leads the company's organic growth and commercial innovation initiatives, and the sales, marketing and communications functions. She is responsible for the GE-wide business platforms ecomagination, devoted to reducing environmental impact with new technology, and healthymagination, focused on achieving sustainable health through innovation by lowering costs, improving quality and reaching more people.  

She returned to the CMO role after having spent over two years as President of Integrated Media at NBC Universal.  Beth oversaw the television ad sales, marketing and research teams, with a focus on new advertising innovations.  She led the company’s digital media development and distribution, including the formation of hulu.com, Peacock Equity and the acquisition of ivillage.com.  

 

 

P.J. Crowley
Former Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs and Spokesman for the Department of State

Philip J. (P.J.) Crowley is the 2011-2012 Omar Bradley Chair for Strategic Leadership at Dickinson College, Penn State University Dickinson School of Law and School of International Affairs, and the Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

P.J. served as the Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs and Spokesman for the Department of State until March 2011. He was nominated for this position by President Obama and confirmed by the United States Senate in May 2009.

Prior to that, he spent five years as Senior Fellow and Director of Homeland Security at the Center for American Progress, a Washington, D.C. think tank. He has authored several studies on homeland and national security issues, including Safe at Home, a detailed strategy to protect the American homeland, improve national preparedness and rebuild U.S. standing in the world.

During the Clinton administration, P.J. was Special Assistant to the President of the United States for National Security Affairs and served on the staff of the National Security Council. He also served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs. Crowley spent 26 years in the Air Force, retiring at the rank of colonel in September 1999. He is a veteran of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

 

Nicole Dabeau
The Insider.com's Hollywood Insider 

Nicole Dabeau is TheInsider.com's Hollywood Insider, providing her unique perspective and personality as an influencer within the celebrity community to gain access beyond the red carpet.  She has been a featured contributor to G4, Fuel TV, E!, Cambio.com, and 3Net's "In The Qube." Nicole's digital footprint and brand continue to resonate through her features on TheInsider.com, a site that provides the insider perspective on celebrity, pop culture, and entertainment. Nicole's features are also seen on the syndicated entertainment news magazine shows,  "The Insider" and "Entertainment Tonight."

 

 

Clive Davis
Chief Creative Office, Sony Music Entertainment

As President of Columbia, Clive Davis signed Janis Joplin, Blood Sweat & Tears, Chicago, Santana, Laura Nyro, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Aerosmith and Earth Wind & Fire.  He then founded Arista Records in 1974 and launched the careers of Barry Manilow, Patti Smith,  Kenny G, Whitney Houston and Sarah MacLachlan while attracting such landmark artists as Aretha Franklin, The Grateful Dead, The Kinks, Eurythmics, Dionne Warwick and Carly Simon.  He was the co-founder of LaFace Records with L.A. Reid and Kenneth Babyface Edmonds and of Bad Boy Records with Sean "Puffy" Combs launching artists TLC, Toni Braxton, Usher, Outkast and P!nk on LaFace and Notorious B.I.G., Mase and Puffy Combs on Bad Boy.  Davis founded J Records in the year 2000 and launched the careers of Alicia Keys and Maroon 5 while attracting key artists like Luther Vandross and Rod Stewart.  

Davis has won 4 Grammy Awards for his producing efforts plus a Lifetime Achievement Grammy.  He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the year 2000 and NARAS, in the year 2010, named the state of the art theater inside The Grammy Museum the Clive Davis Theater.  Just this year, 2011, NYU awarded an Honorary PhD of Fine Arts to Davis.

 

Neal Dodson
Producer, Before the Door Pictures

In addition to producing MARGIN CALL, the “Untitled Victor Quinaz Project,” the upcoming “Untitled JC Chandor Project,” and the dozens of projects in development at Before The Door, most recently Neal also wrote “Nashville,” a drama pilot for the CW and CBS Television. He created the show with Matt Bomer, alongside country artist, Brad Paisley. And he has recently sold a second unannounced television series to a major cable channel, which he will co-executive produce.

As a producer, Neal first worked on director Victor Quinaz’s Cantonese-language short film “Chinese Dream,” which has played more than 100 film festivals all over the world and was on the short-list for the Academy Awards. He also produced the film festival-winning short “Shade,” starring Patrick Dempsey, directed by Kimberly Williams-Paisley, and produced another festival short called “Numero Dos” with Brad Paisley. Neal was Vice-President of a Warner Brothers-based production company for three years where he Executive Produced a Warner Premiere feature film called “Another Cinderella Story,” starring Selena Gomez and Jane Lynch. On the development side, Neal was also involved in: Alice Munro’s “Hateship Friendship Courtship” at WB, Paramount’s “Footloose” remake, “Something Borrowed” for United Artists, “Late Blumer” at Paramount Vantage, an animated feature called “The Lost Tomb” and “Kung Fu Kids” at WB, “Fishing For Moonlight” and “You Wish” at WB, “A Christina Carol” and “The Expendables” also at WB, an FX pilot called “Unemployed”  with Greg Mottola, and a Showtime pilot called “Hope Falls” with Vince McKewin among many other projects.

Neal earned a BFA in 2000 from Carnegie Mellon School of Drama, and is a reformed actor.

 Soleil Moon Frye
Actress, Director, Screenwriter, Momtrepreneur, Social Media Maven

Soleil began acting at the tender age of five. She starred as “Punky Brewster” for five years. Afterwards, she directed her first feature film 1440, co-starred on various television shows including three seasons on Sabrina The Teenage Witch, and lent her voice to a number of animated series.

Today, the always lovable girl who played the classic character on TV is all grown up, a married mom of two, an author, a designer, a momtrepreneur parlaying her successful kids’ clothing line into a partnership with Target, and a social media maven with over 1.4 million followers on Twitter and 100,000 Facebook fans. She has become a major force in the social media sphere, with moms and dads looking to her for all things parenting-related. Currently, she interacts with families all across the globe through multiple platforms including her own community, Moonfrye.com. After her kids’ clothing line’s overwhelming success, Target announced that she will serve as their official “Target Mommy Ambassador.” In her new role, she has become Target’s voice to moms connecting and interacting with moms everywhere.

Soleil will release her much anticipated first book Happy Chaos, which chronicles her “perfectly imperfect” adventures in parenting on August 23.

BC Jean
Singer/Songwriter and J Records recording artist

You may not have heard BC Jean’s name, but you’ve probably heard her work. The San Diego-born singer and songwriter tells a poignant story of overcoming romantic betrayal on the song “If I Were A Boy,” which she co-wrote with producer Toby Gad. The track, which appears on Beyoncé’s I Am…Sasha Fierce album, became a chart-topping, multi-platinum hit for the megastar.

Jean’s powerful version will appear on her upcoming debut album for J Records, which the 22-year-old is currently completing after working with a host of top-notch collaborators including rock producers Howard Benson (The All-American Rejects, My Chemical Romance), Brian Howes (Daughtry, David Cook), Zac Maloy (David Cook, Jason Castro), and pop hitmakers The Matrix (Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera), Ryan Tedder (Leona Lewis, Kelly Clarkson, Beyoncé) and Max Martin (Katy Perry, Pink). The result is a sparkling collection of edgy, rock-pop sing-alongs and touching balladry that paints an appealing portrait of this vibrant, young talent.

 

 

Kevin Jonas
Musician, Actor

Since Kevin and his brothers formed Jonas Brothers in 2004, they’ve sold over 8.1 million copies of their four albums and have picked up multiple platinum album certificates around the world. They have over 3 million followers on Twitter, 2 million fans on Facebook, 1.2 million friends on MySpace, 2 million viewers for their UStream webcasts. Each of them are talented songwriters and musicians who play various instruments and have received numerous coveted music honors including a Grammy Award nomination for Best New Artist in 2009.

In 2008, Kevin and his brothers launched their acting careers with roles in the Disney Channel Original Movie "Camp Rock," the Disney Channel short-form reality series "Jonas Brothers: Living The Dream," and the original series "JONAS." Born November 5, 1987 in Teaneck, New Jersey. He and Danielle, whom he married in December 2009, make their primary home in Dallas, Texas.

 

Gina Kolata
Science Reporter, The New York Times

Gina Kolata has reported on science and medicine for The New York Times since 1987. Before working at The Times, she was a senior writer for Science magazine and has also written for Smithsonian, American Health, Discover, Ladies Home Journal, Cosmopolitan, Redbook, Seventeen, Ms., Glamour, GQ, and Psychology Today.

She has written numerous books including Rethinking Thin: The New Science of Weight Loss and the Myths and Realities of Dieting and Ultimate Fitness: The Quest for Truth about Exercise and Health. In 1995, she received the Susan G. Komen Foundation’s media award for reporting on women's issues and breast cancer and the annual award by the American Mathematics Society for reporting on mathematics. In 1999, she won first prize in the Front Page Awards for deadline reporting from the Newswoman's Club of New York. She was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in investigative reporting in 2000.

 

Greg Kot
Author and Music Critic, Chicago Tribune

Greg Kot has been the music critic at the Chicago Tribune since 1990 and is the co-host of the nationally syndicated public-radio show "Sound Opinions." He has written several books, including Ripped: How the Wired Generation Revolutionized Music and Wilco: Learning How to Die. Kot is currently working on the biography I'll Take You There: Mavis Staples, the Staple Singers, and the March up Freedom’s Highway, to be published in 2014.

He also coauthored The Beatles vs. The Rolling Stones: Sound Opinions on the Great Rock 'n' Roll Rivalry and has written extensively for Encyclopedia Britannica, Rolling Stone, and Entertainment Weekly. He lives on Chicago's Northwest Side with his wife, two daughters, and far too many records.

 

Ashton Kutcher
Actor/Producer and Co-founder of Katalyst

Ashton Kutcher is an actor/producer and co-founder of Katalyst, a groundbreaking content studio that creates digital and television programming media for some of the biggest brands in the world. In 2010, Katalyst was named one of the year’s Top 50 Most Inspiring Innovators by Ad Age and one of Fast Company Magazine’s Top 10 Most Innovative Companies.

Founded in 2000 by partners Ashton Kutcher and Jason Goldberg, Katalyst film credits include The Butterfly Effect, Guess Who, Spread and Killers. For television, Kutcher has served as co-creator and producer of MTV’s hit series Punk’d, CW reality series Beauty and the Geek and True Beauty. Katalyst has also created some of the most authentic and captivating programming for the major brands including the Levi's Curve ID campaign, Nikon’s "The Chase,” Mountain Dew "Dewmocracy," United Nations’ "Malaria No More" and Intel's IdeaJam.  

In 2010, Kutcher was named one of Time Magazine's Top 100 Most Influential People. Along with his wife, Demi Moore, Kutcher has created The Demi and Ashton Foundation, to eliminate child sex slavery worldwide (www.demiandashton.com).

 

Robert Kyncl
Vice President, TV and Film, Google

Robert Kyncl is Google's Global Head of TV and Film Entertainment. His focus is to build out Google's presence in Hollywood, overseeing content partnerships across the studios, broadcasters, cable networks, talent agencies and new media companies. Prior to joining Google, Robert was Vice President of Content Acquisitions at Netflix, where he spearheaded the company’s content acquisition strategy for streaming TV shows and movies over the Internet.

 

 

Shira Lazar
Shira Lazar, Host/Executive Producer, "What's Trending" &  Host/Creator "Partners
Project"

Shira Lazar is the Host and Executive Producer of What's Trending, a weekly
live interactive show and 24/7 news hub on CBSNews.com. She is also the host
and creator of the YouTube talk show Partners Project, interviewing the
biggest YouTube stars. Named one of Fast Company's Most Influential Women in
Technology, she is a regular contributor to The Huffington Post and appears
frequently on networks such as Bloomberg TV, CNN and Fox News Channel
discussing Internet culture and digital trends.

 

 

 

Richard Lehrfeld
VP Global Sponsorship Marketing and Access, American Express Company

Rich Lehrfeld is Vice President of Global Sponsorship Marketing at American Express where he oversees the strategy, execution and partnerships for American Express’ sponsorship, experiential marketing and sports & entertainment access platforms. These programs, partnerships and platforms deliver substantial business and brand results for the company and are considered to be the industry gold standard. Major partnerships that Mr. Lehrfeld manages include some of the most respected global entities in sports, lifestyle, and entertainment including the U.S. Open Tennis Championships, NBA, USGA, PGA of America, AEG Properties, Frontline Management, Cirque du Soleil, Tribeca Film Festival, IMG Fashion Weeks and Madison Square Garden.  In 2007, Sports Business Journal included Mr. Lehrfeld on its prestigious “40 under 40” list.

Prior to his current role, Mr. Lehrfeld held positions at American Express in both the U.S. and the U.K. relating to media, interactive and marketing. Within these diverse roles, he helped lead American Express’ transformation into an interactive company, directing international markets and U.S. business teams in the strategic development of integrated 360º marketing, promotion and media plans.  

Before joining American Express, Mr. Lehrfeld held senior media roles at advertising agencies including Wieden & Kennedy, DDB Needham and Ogilvy & Mather supporting such accounts as American Express, Nike, Microsoft, Michelin and Kimberly Clark.

 

Susan Manber
Senior Vice President and Executive Planning Director, Digitas Health

A native New Yorker from a family of journalists and medical writers, Susan grew up listening to her father interview doctors. For 25 years, she has led strategic brand development for high profile clients including J&J, Novartis, Aetna, Bank One, BMW, Ameritech, Dell, and Cablevision, including Gold Effie-winning campaigns for MasterCard, Schweppes, and Phillips.

Susan has deep experience in a wide range of qualitative, ethnographic, and quantitative market research techniques, including expertise in major strategic segmentation studies. In 1997, at Ammirati Puris Lintas, she was a founding member of one of the first DTC healthcare agencies, later rebranded as Alchemy. In 2000, as a founding partner at Gardner Nelson and Partners, she led the strategic repositioning of Aetna as the leader in informed health. Susan has worked closely with professional, CRM, and digital agency partners to create powerful healthcare brands across a wide range of consumer and professional audiences.

 

Lizzie Marie
LizzieMarieCuisine.com

11-year-old chef Lizzie Marie is the creator of Lizzie Marie Cuisine. She began with cooking demonstrations alongside celebrity chefs at the yearly Taste of Atlanta event, where she gained attention for her unique, healthy recipes. In 2011, she appeared on Rachael Ray as a finalist for the Kindness Challenge, with DoSomething.org, Rachael Ray, and USA Today. She continues to build her brand through live appearances and social media.
 
Lizzie currently stars in the video series “Healthy Cooking With Chef Lizzie” for WebMD’s new kids portal, FIT. In the videos, she demonstrates her own healthy recipes and tips in a fun, engaging way for both kids and parents.

 

 

 

Angela Matusik
Chief Content Executive, iVillage

As Chief Content Executive, Matusik is tasked with revitalizing the editorial vision for each of the brands within iVillage including iVillage.com, the leading online community for women, Astrology.com and iVillage.co.uk, so that each of these sites deliver exceptional user experiences filled with compelling content, innovative products and special features as well as offering revamped integrated sponsorship opportunities for marketing partners.

Matusik is a publishing and new media veteran with over 17 years of experience. Most recently, her role was development editor at People.com. There, she was charged with developing and overseeing the website's celebrity style channel, StyleWatch. As one of the founding editors of In Style magazine, from 1994 to 2003, Matusik was responsible for creating and overseeing some of the magazine's most popular features and sections. In 2000, Matusik developed and launched instyle.com, the magazine's website, which has grown to be one of the leaders in its category. While at Time Inc., she also worked on several developmental projects, exploring magazine and website concepts for the women's market, in topics ranging from décor to relationships.

Matusik also helped launch Hearst's Shop Etc., and Conde Nast's Domino magazine, where she also developed their site, dominomag.com. In 2005, she was named editor-in-chief of Budget Living magazine. Matusik is also the founder of the popular home decorating and food blog, Shelterrific.

Dean McDermott
Actor

Dean McDermott is a veteran film and television actor who has had starring roles in such series as 1-800-Missing and Due South, as well as the Kevin Costner directed motion picture Open Range. McDermott has made numerous television guest appearances on such popular programming as The Closer, NCIS, Without a Trace and Kojak alongside Ving Rhames, and had a recurring role in the long running sci-fi series Earth: Final Conflict. McDermott also starred in the television movie Mind Over Murder where he met his wife Tori Spelling.

McDermott and Spelling are currently shooting their sixth season of Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood. They created the show and serve as executive producers alongside Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato of World of Wonder Productions. They also star in the new Oxygen series, Tori and Dean: sTORIbook Weddings. The eight-episode series follows Tori and Dean as they set out to give couples a once in a lifetime experience.

 

 

Laura Michalchyshyn
President and GM, Planet Green and Discovery Fit & Health

Laura Michalchyshyn is responsible for all aspects of the creative and business strategy for Planet Green and Discovery Fit & Health cable networks. She also oversees the channel websites PlanetGreen.com, Treehugger.com and Discovery Fit & Health.com. Since joining Discovery Communications in March 2009, Michalchyshyn has expanded and broadened Planet Green to a lifestyle channel with compelling programming for people on life adventures. New original series and specials include The Fabulous Beekman Boys, Dresscue Me, Boomtown, Animals Distract Me, Conviction Kitchen, Living with Ed, Future Food, Operation Wild and Kamen Code. The channel has more than doubled its delivery and performance in two years.

In January 2010, Michalchyshyn added Discovery Health and FitTV to her portfolio and was charged with delivering a strong Discovery Health for the January 2011 transition to OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network. On February 1 2011, Michalchyshyn rebranded FITV to launch the new Nielsen rated network, Discovery Fit & Health.  

Prior to Discovery, Michalchyshyn served as executive vice president and general manager of Sundance Channel where she was responsible for program development, creative strategy scheduling and marketing both on- and off-channel.

 

Demi Moore
Actress/Director/Producer 

Demi is committed to ending child sex slavery and human trafficking. With her husband, Ashton Kutcher, she co-founded The Demi and Ashton Foundation (DNA), which aims to raise awareness about child sex slavery, change the cultural stereotypes that facilitate this crime, and help rehabilitate survivors. “Freedom is a basic human right and slavery is one of the greatest threats to that freedom,” Moore says. “No one has the right to enslave another person.” 

Recently, Moore appeared on Piers Morgan Tonight to discuss the issue, launched the “Real Men Don’t Buy Girls” campaign, travelled to Nepal with CNN to film a slavery documentary, visited Haiti to address the issue within the earthquake-ravaged country, and toured the Mexican border with the Department of Homeland Security and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. She speaks frequently about child sex slavery including at the UN, The Clinton Global Initiative and at a Congressional briefing about the domestic sex trafficking of children. 

Demi also continues to be one of the most sought-after actresses in Hollywood. Her film credits include Charlie’s Angels 2: Full Throttle, Indecent Proposal, A Few Good Men, Ghost, GI Jane, If These Walls Could Talk, St. Elmo’s Fire, About Last Night and Wisdom.  

Susan Popper
SVP, Marketing Communications, SAP Marketing

Susan Popper is the Senior Vice President of Marketing Communications. She is responsible for communicating and positioning the SAP corporate brand. She manages the development and implementation of marketing communications including branding, advertising, media planning and buying, collateral and web content and production, social media marcom, sponsorship strategy, and event creative. Most recently, Susan has championed the “SAP Experience,” encompassing both the brand visual evolution and the holistic approach to injecting the transformational principles of the new brand throughout the organization.

Susan joined SAP in October 2000 with over 20 years of experience in the advertising industry. She has been successful at building brands such as Northwest Airlines, Forbes, Warner Lambert, Merrill Lynch and Pitney Bowes at international advertising agencies including J. Walter Thompson, Bozell and Saatchi & Saatchi. Most recently, she was a group account director at New York-based Merkley Newman Harty, where she specialized in managing and building brands for clients whose businesses were faced with change in competitive business environments.

 

Jane Pratt
Editor in Chief, xojane.com

Jane Pratt is the founder of the recently launched website, xojane.com, and has had extensive experience in all media. At the age of 24, Pratt launched Sassy, a magazine for teenage girls, and, in doing so, became the youngest editor-in-chief of a national magazine ever, a record that has yet to be broken. Under Pratt, the magazine experienced rapid circulation growth. Pratt then launched JANE magazine, a lifestyle magazine for women 18–34, which debuted in 1997. JANE was nominated for a National Magazine Award for General Excellence by the American Society of Magazine Editors, and Pratt was named "Editor of the Year" in 2002 by Adweek magazine.
 
Pratt has hosted two shows, her eponymous daytime talk show “Jane” on Fox as well as “The Jane Pratt Show” on Lifetime. She’s the author of two books, For Real: The Uncensored Truth About America's Teenagers and Beyond Beauty: Girls Speak Out on Looks, Style and Stereotypes. She also launched Jane Radio, a weekly nationwide call-in show on SIRIUS XM Radio where she gave advice and interviewed celebrities.

?uestlove
Musician and Social Media Protagonist

 

?uestlove (pronounced "Questlove") is drummer and founding member of the legendary Roots crew. DJ, journalist and record producer, his peerless drumming, production and engineering work is regarded as some of the most innovative work in urban music. He has produced for artists such as Common and D'Angelo and is member of the production teams Grand Negaz and The Grand Wizzards.

The Roots have released over 10 critically acclaimed records, and have won four Grammy Awards. ?uestlove was also given an Esky for Best Scribe in Esquire magazine's 2006 Esky Music Awards in the April issue.

 

 

 

Zach Quinto
Actor and Producer, Before the Door Pictures 

Zachary Quinto grew up in Pittsburgh. He began performing and studying acting there as a child, but what started as a hobby quickly evolved into a vocation, and he eventually matriculated to Carnegie Mellon School of Drama and received a BFA in 1999. Upon graduation from CMU, Quinto surprised even himself by foregoing a career in New York and moving to Los Angeles almost immediately. Work began trickling in, and before long he had a resume of guest starring roles on such shows as: “Touched By an Angel,” “CSI,” “Off Centre,” “Haunted,” “The Agency,” “Six Feet Under,” “Joan of Arcadia,” and “Crossing Jordan,” to name a few. 

In 2004, he spent an entire season in the CTU, as computer analyst Adam Kaufman on FOX’s highly rated drama “24.” His character went home at the end of the day, and apparently never came back to work. He spent a short time as Tori Spelling’s flamboyant best friend on the critically acclaimed but underrated half hour series “so noTORIous,” and went on to emerge as a breakout star of the NBC hit ensemble series “Heroes,” as the superpowered psychopathic serial killer, Sylar. Most recently, Quinto appeared to overwhelming critical acclaim as Spock in the highly anticipated and enormously successful eleventh feature film installment of the “Star Trek” franchise, directed by JJ Abrams. 

In 2008, Quinto founded Before the Door Pictures, with long-time friends and collaborators Neal Dodson and Corey Moosa. The company is actively developing projects across all media platforms.

 

Jenna Rose
12-year-old singer and YouTube sensation

 

Last October, 12-year-old Jenna Rose’s video “My Jeans” exploded on YouTube. It’s still trending upwards and is now at over 9 million hits. In March, her next video “O.M.G.” also went viral, getting a million views in just one week. She’ll soon be filming two new music videos for her songs “The Time of Your Life” and “Don’t Give Up,” and also just recorded an album.

Additionally, Jenna has made numerous appearances on the big and small screen. She was featured in the recent documentary Actor, directed by Roberto Serrini, as well as the film Mouse House. She just filmed a lead role for a TV pilot about teens going to performing arts school in Harlem. 

 

 

Steven Rosenbaum
Founder of Magnify and author of Curation Nation

Steven Rosenbaum is an entrepreneur, author, and curator. He is the founder and CEO of the web's largest Video Curation Platform, Magnify.net. His book Curation Nation, explores the changing worlds of publishing, consumer content, and brand-centric curation. Rosenbaum is known as the father of user-generated video, having created MTV's groundbreaking UGC series MTV UNfiltered, a pre-web television project that handed cameras to young storytellers. Since that time he has built a career finding, organizing, and curating first-person storytelling.
As a blogger, Rosenbaum contributes to posts on Technology, Internet Video, and emerging digital lifestyle trends to FastCompany, The Huffington Post, Silicon Alley Insider, Mashable, TechCrunch, and MediaBizBloggers.

 

 

 

Isabella Rossellini
Actress, Director

In 2008 Robert Redford's Sundance Institute commissioned accomplished actress Isabella Rossellini to make a series of short films to address the issues of the environment. She chose the mating habits of bugs and called her series Green Porno, which has been celebrated in film festivals here and abroad. Ms. Rossellini partnered with Sundance again for a new series about animal courtship entitled Seduce Me. The first five short films became available on video on demand in the spring 2010 and the second five were released in November 2010. Her film Animals Distract Me was chosen for screening at the Sundance Film Festival and aired on Green Planet/the Discovery Channel in April 2011.

Her past achievements are internationally renowned: appearing in more than 40 films (Blue Velvet, Death Becomes Her, The Saddest Music in the World, Infamous) and 25 made-for-television movies/series (Alias, Discovery Atlas: Italy Revealed, Iconoclasts, 30 Rock); an illustrious international modeling career (as the face of Lancôme for 14 years); developing her own brand of cosmetics; writing and philanthropy. She has now turned her eye to filmmaking. Her debut was the mischievous and witty film, My Dad Is 100 Years Old, a pretend dialogue about the essence of film. She recently wrapped production on French director Julie Gavras' romantic comedy, Late Bloomers, opposite William Hurt.

 

Amr Salama
Director/Writer

Amr Salama is a young Egyptian director and blogger who joined the "Day of Revolution" in Egypt this January when thousands of Egyptians took to the streets to protest police brutality, political oppression and unemployment, demanding an end to the Mubarak regime. His articles and videos about the events were shared by thousands of people on social networks.

Salama has directed and written two feature films, On A Day Like Today in 2008 and this year’s Asmaa. The critically acclaimed On A Day Like Today was officially selected in a number of international film festivals and film critics in Egypt named him Best Newcomer of 2008. He has also directed several TV commercials, public service announcements, music videos, documentaries, short films and TV series.

 

Pattie Sellers
Editor at Large, Fortune, and Co-chair, Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit

Every year since its launch in 1998, Pattie has helped oversee Fortune's "Most Powerful Women in Business" cover package. She co-chairs the annual Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit, the preeminent gathering of women leaders in business, philanthropy, government, academia, and the arts. And she oversees extensions of the MPW Summit such as the Fortune-U.S. State Department Global Women Leaders Mentoring Partnership and Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs initiative.

Pattie has written some of Fortune’s most talked-about cover stories, including “Oprah’s Next Act”, “Can Meg Whitman Save California?”, "The $100 Billion Woman" (Melinda Gates), Martha Stewart ("I cannot be destroyed"), Ted Turner ("Gone with the Wind") and Oprah Winfrey ("Oprah Inc."). A specialist at dissecting larger-than-life personalities, she has profiled former U.S. Treasury Secretary (and former Goldman Sachs CEO) Hank Paulson, Morgan Stanley’s John Mack, Tom Freston, JetBlue founder David Neeleman, and countless other business-builders. She has also broken ground with insightful pieces on career management issues such as ego ("Get Over Yourself!"), "Charisma: Do You Need It? Can You Get It?" and "So You Fail. So What?" – as well as the perpetually hot topic of women and power.

In her blog, Postcards (postcards.blogs.fortune.cnn.com), Pattie provides insight into the lives of super-achievers and other powerful people through daily commentary, career advice, and Guest Posts by CEOs and other leaders.

Lesley Jane Seymour
Editor in Chief, More Magazine

Lesley Jane Seymour was named editor-in-chief of More magazine in January of 2008. More, with a circulation of 1.3 million, is recognized as the leading lifestyle magazine for women of style and substance, and was named Magazine of the Year by Advertising Age in 2006.

Prior to joining Meredith Corporation, Seymour served as te editor-in-chief of Marie Claire, where she spearheaded the magazine’s signature cause-related programs. Before that, Seymour was editor-in-chief of Redbook, where she repositioned the magazine, developed new editorial programs and features and guided the title to a National Magazine Award nomination for Personal Service for its comprehensive Breast Cancer Medbook. Seymour’s editorial experience also encompasses serving as the editor-in-chief of YM, beauty director of Glamour and contributing editor for Vogue. Additionally, Seymour is the author of two books: On the Edge: Images from 100 Years of Vogue and I Wish My Parents Understood.

 

Susan Sobbott
President, American Express OPEN

Since joining American Express in 1990, Susan Sobbott has achieved numerous milestones for the company, including the launch of a successful business card strategy with category-leading market share, establishment of corporate strategic partnerships, and the creation of innovative new products that have built her reputation as an exceptional General Manager.

In 2004, Susan was named President of OPEN Small Business, one of the American Express’ largest business units, and she is the company advocate for small business success. Under Susan’s leadership, OPEN has extended its position as the leading card issuer for small businesses across the U.S.; launched an array of innovative small business products, servicing and marketing initiatives; and expanded its advocacy efforts on behalf of entrepreneurs.

 

Tori Spelling
Actress, Producer

Tori Spelling is a versatile actress whose career spans theater, television and film. Spelling and husband Dean McDermott currently star in the new Oxygen series, Tori and Dean: sTORIbook Weddings. The eight-episode series follows Tori and Dean as they set out to give couples a once in a lifetime experience. They also recently began shooting the sixth season of their hit series Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood. Spelling and McDermott created the show and serve as executive producers alongside Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato of World of Wonder Productions.

Spelling starred as Donna Martin on Beverly Hills, 90210 for 10 seasons. She starred in the comedy series, So NoTORIous on VH1 and served as an executive producer on the scripted comedy, loosely based on her life. Her film credits include: Kiss the Bride, Scary Movie 2, Scream 2 and The House of Yes.

She has penned three memoirs, all which became New York Times bestsellers, and released her first children’s book Presenting … Tallulah last September. She also designs a clothing line “Little Maven” for infants and toddlers and “The Tori Spelling Collection” jewelry.

Richard Stengel
Managing Editor, TIME Magazine

Richard Stengel is the managing editor of TIME, which has 25 million readers worldwide. He also oversees Time.com, which draws over 11 million unique visitors a month, and TIME’s other brand extensions, including TIME For Kids.
 
Among his other notable achievements, Stengel collaborated with Nelson Mandela on Mandela’s best-selling 1993 autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, and later served as co-producer of the 1996 Oscar- nominated documentary Mandela. He also served as the co-moderator for the ServiceNation Presidential Candidates Forum on September 11, 2008, where he interviewed Senators John McCain and Barack Obama on their views about national service. Additionally, Stengel is a member of the board of trustees of City Year, one of the lead partners of the ServiceNation coalition.
 
Stengel has a long history with TIME, having served at different times as the magazine’s national and culture editor as well as the editor of TIME.com. As a senior writer and essayist he covered both the 1996 and 1988 Presidential campaigns. He has also written several books including Mandela’s Way, January Sun: One Day, Three Lives, A South African Town and You’re Too Kind: A Brief History of Flattery.

Alex Von Plato
Executive Vice President and Chief Creative Officer, Digitas Health

In 1997, when few people even knew what a browser was and dial-up modems were new technology, Alex's experience as a creator and producer of healthcare content for film, video and TV found the perfect home on the Internet. As an early Internet pioneer at the Medical Broadcasting Company (MBC), Alex was the first creative executive to focus on the use of new media in healthcare communications. Since that time she has been at the forefront of understanding and shaping the enormous, game-changing role of digital media in healthcare. Over the years Alex has overseen the creative development of groundbreaking digital and integrated marketing initiatives for leading healthcare companies and brands, from the first unbranded pharmaceutical website, and the first brand team intranet, to the first Rx-branded social/viral campaign, and the first fully integrated social media campaign. As CCO of Digitas Health, Alex has assembled a truly eclectic creative team of advertising, journalism, design, technology, behavioral psychology and healthcare professionals all focused on connecting healthcare brands with the people who need them. Today, with offices in New York, Philadelphia and London, Digitas Health has become a one of the most successful and innovative healthcare agencies in the world.