FILM & TV

Cathy Twigg is a veteran in the Entertainment industry with a career spanning over 22 years in Feature Film, Feature Animation, TV Animation and Television. Over her industry tenure, Twigg has served at MTV Films, Dreamworks Television Animation, Sony Pictures Television, NBC Universal, Bandeira Entertainment, New Crime Productions and Dreamworks Animation working on several live-action television series and notable projects including KUNG FU PANDA, MONSTERS VS ALIENS, HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, SHREK THE HALLS, MADAGASCAR, MADAGASCAR 2, PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR, TIGERLAND, SLAP HER, SHE'S FRENCH and THE LOVE LETTER not to mention multiple Television projects.

She has been named top 10 Innovators by Variety Magazine and has been interviewed by various other industry news outlets. Twigg is an advisor to the State of Louisiana’s Economic Development Division, LSU’S Digital Media Arts Program and advises several entertainment startups.

INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT AND EXPERIENTIAL STORYTELLING

Pete Blumel is a multiple award-winning veteran producer, including 3 BAFTAs for Best Story & Character and Best Gameplay. His career spans over 23 years in feature film, animation, immersive reality and AAA interactive production leading 100s of team members on some of the biggest entertainment franchises in the world. He has developed and sold television shows to major studios and before founding Rogue Initiative served in a key producer role at Activision’s Infinity Ward game development studio where he became intimately involved in the creation and production of the CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE series and GHOSTS video games grossing well over $4B in revenues.

Prior to his work in the video game space, he spent nearly 11 years at Dreamworks SKG, first on animated features PRINCE OF EGYPT and SHREK then later at Amblin Entertainment where he was involved with blockbuster films such as THE ISLAND and TRANSFORMERS.

LIVE EVENTS

Kevin Cunningham is an interdisciplinary artist, curator and producer. His artistic focus has been on the creation of large-scale immersive works that use technology to amplify empathy and human connection. In the last 15 years he has produced and/or created over 150 large-scale works including interactive installations, architectural mapping projects, feature length films, large-scale immersive and holographic theater and opera and dances for human and industrial robot.

He is the author, director and designer of many interdisciplinary artworks and experiences. His original works have garnered a Hewes Award, Prague Quadrennial and Venice Biennale selections, a Drama Desk Nomination and fellowships from Experiments in Art and Technology and the Future Imagination Collaboratory. His productions have won a Pulitzer Prize, four Drama Desk Nominations, four Sundance Selections and selection for American Film Institute, New York, Hamptons, CPH:Dox, China Shanghai international Arts and B3/Art+ Biennial festivals.

IMMERSIVE ENVIRONMENTS

Metropolitan Interactive founder and CEO Jeff Mele has 30 years of experience in technology, entertainment, and construction. His work includes strategic innovation, market strategy, merging/integrating technology, product development, software development, large-scale construction, live production/audio engineer, and systems integration. Jeff’s fields of research include: Human interaction, cognitive learning/understanding, Artificial general intelligence, financial econometrics, global market interaction.

Clients: XL Center, Brooklyn Academy of Music, BRIC Arts Media House, Whitney Museum of American Art, PPL Center, West Virginia University Stadium, New York Public Library, McCormick Center.

Specialties: Strategic innovation, market strategy, merging/integrating technology, product development, software development, large-scale construction, live production/audio engineer, systems integration. Software development, parallel processing and SOA.

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT &
VIRTUAL PRODUCTION

Devin Ehrig is a career entrepreneur and business executive in the entertainment sector. He founded one of Asia Pacific’s leading immersive technology innovation agencies called Shadow Factory, headquartered in Hong Kong. With a team of more than 65 creative professionals, he created and developed innovative experiences for the leading creative agencies across Asia using cutting edge immersive technologies. Notable clients include Facebook, Hong Kong Disneyland, Duty Free Store, The Golden State Warriors, FC Barcelona, The Sands Group, Four Seasons Hotel, HSBC, and Microsoft XBox.

Before launching his own ventures, he worked as the Vice President of the Winterbotham Trust Company for their business operations in Hong Kong, a boutique merchant bank based in The Bahamas providing financial services for international entrepreneurs in Asia, Europe, and Latin America. He is experienced in venture investment, international securities, cross-border payments platforms, corporate law, and fiduciary services.

MUSIC & LICENSING

Peter Greco is a senior executive with a career spanning live entertainment, music production, content licensing and their intersection with brands and media. As SVP/Executive Music Producer at Young and Rubicam Advertising he was responsible for producing iconic, award-winning campaigns for clients such as Accenture, SONY, Chevron, Bacardi, Jaguar, Xerox, US Army, Citibank, and served as AT&T Global Music Director across their worldwide network of agencies.

In 2009 he started his own consultancy focusing on music production, music supervision and brand partnerships. He has licensed millions of dollars of recordings and opened doors for many major artists to record tracks for multiple media applications. Peter has provided production support for Saturday Night Live Music Director Leon Pendarvis on projects for Katy Perry, Pink, Lauryn Hill, Jon Batiste and has assisted NBC’s Creative Internal Agency as Music Supervisor. Leveraging his industry relationships he developed brand/artist partnership opportunities for: Lil Wayne and the Atlantic City Commission, Blondie and H&M, Passion Pit and USA Network, The Who 50th Anniversary Tour, Motley Crue / The Final Tour, Imagine Dragons and C Spire, among others.

TECH & BLOCKCHAIN

Alix Keller is a molecular biologist-turned tech executive with extensive experience leading software product initiatives from start-ups to Fortune 100 companies. Built, deployed, and marketed 100+ pieces of software in the span of her career, from the dotcom era to present. Blockchain (transparency), Quantum Computing (computational power), AI (smart-automation), Cybersecurity (compliance).

Alix has had several successful startup exits starting as early as age 16. As the lead for Global Product Technology for Solutions and the Creative Studio at Consensys, she worked directly for the Ethereum co-creator Joseph Lubin on next generation applications of blockchain technology, from entertainment & music and currently to medicine & life sciences.

Amongst her recent experience, Alix has had exposure to a breadth of organizations and product verticals where legacy and nascent technology meet. This includes sitting on the board of stealth startups working with brands such as Marvel, Lego, and DC Comics and young content creators & collectors.

THEATER & EDUCATION

Ryan Siebrasse has twenty-years of theatrical production expertise as a producer, artistic and technical director, writer, designer of scenic, lighting, sound, & costumes, as well as a performer contributing in the creation of over 150 stage-productions in Los Angeles, New York, and the rest of North America, founding and serving on the board of multiple theatrical companies and performing arts educational programs throughout his career.

His production repertoire stretches across the western theatrical canon including: Oedipus Rex (twice), MacBeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (twice), Tartuffe, Three Sisters, Cyrano de Bergerac, You Can’t Take It With You, Buried Child, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Footloose, Urinetown, the Musical, along with more than a dozen original productions.

EXPERIENTIAL & PRODUCTION

An award winning serial entrepreneur, designer and media technologist focused on live entertainment and experiential development, Chad has created massive immersive activations for clients including Showtime, CBS, MTV, IBM, Pfizer, Discovery, and Pepsi. He developed industry leading campaigns for the World Cup for Nike and the Olympics for Coca Cola. His work has been awarded multiple Emmys, BDAs, Clios and Webbys.

Chad has advised and founded technology companies working in XR, live entertainment and e-commerce and has developed live multimedia for major entertainers including Radiohead and The Roots.

His skills bridge the divide between technology and media building experiences with video, AR and VR, 3D motion and volumetric capture, location based content, mobile apps and large scale multimedia installations.