League, TV Network, Agency, Brand and Arena Executives Discuss The Power Of Live Sports Programming and How Social TV Is Engaging Viewers and Driving New Revenues at Home and in Arenas and Stadiums.
Moderator and Session Keynote:
Andy Batkin, CEO, Social Summits, LLC.
Speakers:
Los Angeles Dodgers – Lon Rosen, Executive Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer
Lon Rosen, who has more than 25 years’ experience in the sports and entertainment industry, has returned to the Los Angeles Dodgers organization as Executive Vice-President and Chief Marketing Officer.
Rosen, who served in the same role for two years in 2004 before rejoining Magic Johnson Enterprises, returns, but this time with his longtime boss, Magic Johnson, who is one of the new owners of the Dodgers. Rosen was instrumental in assisting Johnson and the Guggenheim Partners in acquiring the Dodgers on May 1, 2012 in what was the largest team sports transaction in history.
Rosen, who was influential in guiding Magic Johnson Enterprises to be recognized as one of the most successful minority business companies in the country, will oversee all activities for the Dodgers’ marketing, sales, advertising, communications, community affairs and government relations.
Prior to returning to the Dodgers, Rosen focused his efforts for Magic Johnson on business development, television productions, sports consulting and new media ventures in addition to his representations of broadcasters, coaches, hosts and other entertainment personalities.
Upon graduation from college, Rosen headed to the Fabulous Forum, where he began his sports career with the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers and the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings. He worked his way from an internship into a promotion as Director of Promotions for the Lakers, King and the Los Angeles Forum’s Special Events, where he served seven years (1980-87).
From there, he started his own sports marketing company, First Team Marketing and moved into sports marketing and sports representation. His first two clients were Hall of Famers Magic Johnson and Jerry West.
Most recently, Rosen served as President of Sports and Entertainment at Lagardère Unlimited and prior to that as Vice-President for the William Morris Agency’s Sports Marketing Division and Endeavor Talent Agency’s marketing and new media division.
Rosen, who graduated from University of Southern California, resides in Los Angeles with his wife, Laurie, and their two sons, Michael and Brian.
Sports Operations Turner Sports – Matt Hong, Senior Vice President & General Manager
Matt Hong is senior vice president & general manager, sports operations at Turner Sports, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. In this role, he is responsible for running day-to-day business, technical and remote operations for the division, which airs events from Major League Baseball, the NBA, NASCAR, the PGA of America, and the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament on TNT, TBS and truTV, as well as operates NBA TV. In addition, he oversees various sports digital businesses, including PGA.com, March Madness Live / NCAA.com and the Turner Sports alliance with Yahoo! Sports, as well as the company’s recent acquisition and integration of Bleacher Report.
Before joining Turner in early 2008, Matt was vice president & general manager, interactive media at Thomson Gale, a business of The Thomson Corporation (now Thomson Reuters), where he oversaw the company’s digital media and distribution businesses.
Prior to Thomson, Matt spent six years at AOL where he was executive director of search, managing the search and sponsored links businesses across the company’s various properties, including the AOL Service, AOL.com, MapQuest, Netscape and AIM.
Matt is a member of the advisory board of the NC State University Poole College of Management, and serves on the board of directors of the Atlanta Tipoff Club, the organization which presents the Naismith Awards each year to the nation’s top high school and college basketball players and coaches.
Matt received a JD with honors from Harvard Law School and a BA in economics from NC State University, where he was the university valedictorian. He is based in Atlanta where he lives with his wife and two children.
National Football League – Manish Jha, General Manager of Mobile
Manish Jha is the General Manager of Mobile at the National Football League. Previously, he was President and CEO of SkyWeaver. Manish has spent over 20 years in the media business, running startup companies such as SkyWeaver and Vantrix and creating new businesses for ESPN. At ESPN, where Manish spent 16 years, he built the mobile business from scratch and launched ESPN3, ESPN’s pioneering Internet video service.
Manish’s leadership is widely recognized in the industry. He was named one of the “50 most influential people in streaming and technology” by Streaming Magazine in 2002, recognized in 2005 as a “CableFax 100”, named in The Hollywood Reporter’s “Who’s Who in Mobile” in 2006, and cited by The Sports Business Journal as one of the influential sports technology executives of the decade in 2008. In 2009, Korn Ferry and IFFLA named Manish one of the 25 most influential South Asian Executives in Media in the US.
The Marketing Arm (Omnicom) – Tom Edwards, Vice President, Digital Strategy & Innovation
Tom Edwards oversees digital strategy and innovation for The Marketing Arm, Chief Marketer magazine’s 2012 Agency of the Year.
With a reputation for defining innovative interactive solutions for Fortune 500 companies, Tom has developed a significant base of experience across multiple verticals. He’s dedicated the last several years to mapping the intersection of digital and social (owned, earned and paid) strategy for both B2C and B2B initiatives.
A graduate and former mascot of the University of Oklahoma, Tom has taken his affinity for sports and all things digital to create compelling programs on behalf of agency clients. Recently, he led the team responsible for the digital and social strategy for AT&T’s award-winning college football program “On The Way To Saturday.”
Prior to joining The Marketing Arm in December 2011, Tom served as SVP/Digital Strategy & Emerging Technology for digital agency Red Urban (Omnicom). He has additional experience as CMO for INgage Networks (formerly Neighborhood America) and VP, Sales & Marketing for Social Software provider Telligent Systems.
Pac-12 Digital – David Aufhauser, VP and GM
Longtime digital media executive David Aufhauser joined Pac-12 Enterprises as Vice President and General Manager of Digital Media in January 2012. As head of Pac-12 Digital, Aufhauser will oversee all aspects of the Pac-12’s digital business as well as the creation and management of the Pac-12 Digital Network.
Aufhauser joined Pac-12 Enterprises after serving as Vice President of Media at Say Media where he managed the global ad network and launched Say’s category strategy in key verticals. Prior to SAY, he was the Chief Business Officer at Justin.tv, heading up business development and strategy and from 2003-06, he led business development and operations at Yahoo! Sports. Additionally, he has led various business, sales, and marketing functions at growth companies including Bebo, Citizen Sports, Evite and Netscape.
A former water polo player at Stanford University, Aufhauser earned his B.A. in International Relations, followed by an MBA from Northwestern University.
Time Warner Cable Sports – Larry Meyers, VP, Content
Larry Meyers is the Vice President, Content and Executive Producer for TWC Sports Regional Networks. He is responsible for all event, studio and original production for Time Warner Cable SportsNet and works closely with his colleagues on the regional sports network’s Spanish-language sister network, Time Warner Cable Deportes.
Meyers oversees more than 180 live sporting events per year on Time Warner Cable SportsNet, the network’s weekly behind-the-scenes documentary series “Backstage: Lakers,” the daily social media-driven “#LakeShow,” the network’s signature studio program “Access SportsNet” and all other programming. He began his career in sports television in 1980 working in TV trucks and over the years has worked his way up to his current position.
Before joining Time Warner Cable Sports, Meyers spent nine years at Tennis Channel as the Senior Vice President, Production and Executive Producer. In that role he was responsible for the channel’s original programming and national and international live events. Prior to that, he spent seven years at Fox, working in Los Angeles and the Bay Area. Meyers won six local Emmy Awards for his work at Fox and one national Emmy for his work covering the 1988 Seoul Olympics for NBC.
Meyers is originally from Oakland, CA and graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles. He lives in Los Angeles and is married with two daughters.
The Global Rugby Forum is the first-ever annual sports industry conference to bring together leaders from the US sports business with decision makers from around the global rugby business.
As Senior Vice President of Marketing for the National Basketball Association (NBA), Melissa Rosenthal Brenner has led the development, oversight, and implementation of the NBA’s global social media strategy. In that role, she has forged groundbreaking deals with leading social media companies such as Facebook and Twitter, found innovative ways to incorporate social media throughout the league’s wide array of assets, and helped NBA partners maximize social media opportunities with the league.
Randy Freer was named Co-President and COO of FOX Sports Media Group in January 2011. In this role, Freer is responsible for a broad range of business operations and media rights acquisitions involving all aspects of Fox Sports. He previously served as President of FOX Sports Networks (FSN), the largest regional sports network group in the U.S. Freer is based at Fox’s Los Angeles headquarters and reports directly to Peter Rice, Chairman and CEO, Fox Networks Group.
In 1960, Mark H. McCormack made a handshake deal with Palmer, whom he knew from college days when Mr. McCormack played for William and Mary and Palmer played for Wake Forest.
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