Lisa Anderson
Lisa Anderson is Senior Vice President of Studio Operations for Jam City. She oversees mobile development for Jam City’s LA offices. Prior to joining Jam City Lisa spent 18 years at Disney and most recently was Vice President, Disney and Pixar Games at Disney Parks, Experiences and Products. While there she was responsible for Global game development across both internal and externally developed titles including the mobile hit Disney Emoji Blitz.
Sarah Fuchs
Sarah Fuchs serves as Vice President and General Manager of the #1 Fashion game, Covet Fashion. Boasting 50 million downloads and over 1 billion outfits submitted, Covet Fashion’s audience is comprised of a largely underserved market of gamers, women. Sarah works closely with her team to provide that audience with a dynamic, entertaining and deep channel for their creativity to flourish and be recognized.
As a veteran of the gaming industry, Sarah’s passion is rooted in cultivating exceptional game studio culture which often results in award-winning and top-grossing titles alike. Prior to Glu, Sarah served as the Head of Production for The Sims Mobile at Electronic Arts as well as various leadership roles at nWay, DeNA, ngmoco:) and Activision. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from George Washington University.
Joanna Popper
Joanna Popper is a Hollywood and Silicon Valley media executive with experience in TV, Digital, Film and VR/AR. She recently became HP’s Global Lead for Virtual Reality Location Based Entertainment. Prior she was the EVP of Media and Marketing at Singularity University, a Google-sponsored NASA-based company that trains leaders on emerging technology, and VP Marketing at NBCUniversal. Joanna developed a TV show partnership with NBC and Singularity University for “The Awesome Show,” a new broadcast TV series on tech and innovation produced by Mark Burnett with host Chris Hardwick. She is advising many immersive computing and digital media companies focused on VR gaming, holograms, haptic touch and video engagement as well as developing VR/AR content in the education and wellness spaces. She has spoken in the US and internationally on VR/AR, the future of media, retail, sports, journalism and diversity in tech. Joanna is on the Coalition for the Women in XR Fund and was selected as one of “50 Women Can Change the World in Media and Entertainment” by Take the Lead Women.
Nanea Reeves
Nanea brings over 15 years experience in digital distribution, video game technologies and mobile application development. Prior to founding TRIPP, Nanea was President & COO of TextPlus, one of the top mobile communications applications on iOS and Android platforms. Before joining TextPlus, Nanea was the COO of Machinima, an online video network focused on video games. Nanea has also served as Chief Strategy and Product Officer at Gaikai, a cloud gaming company acquired by Sony Playstation. SVP/COO, Global Online for Electronic Arts, and SVP of Enabling Technologies of JAMDAT Mobile, a mobile games company that EA acquired in 2006.
Nanea is very committed to supporting the evolution of the technology sector in Los Angeles and has worked as an Advisor and Angel Investor with many exciting So-Cal start-ups including Oculus, Haku, and Saucey.
2018 Sessions by Nanea Reeves VIEW FROM THE TOP: THE STATE OF THE GAME INDUSTRY 11:30 pm – 12:00 pm
Ted Schilowitz
Ted was founding member, first employee, and integral part of the product development team at RED Digital Cinema, that has made a significant impact on the Motion Picture Industry, with many of the world’s biggest movies now being shot with these ultra high resolution digital movie cameras.
Ted currently spends his time in 2 blended worlds; a major Hollywood movie studio and a major technology company in the Digital Cinema projection world. He has a unique role at Barco, the worlds marketshare leader in Digital Cinema projection, as their “CinemaVangelist” spearheading a project that is focused on the future of the cinema experience.
In addition, Ted has a studio deal at 20th Century Fox as their “Futurist”, working directly with senior leadership at the studio on the constantly evolving art and science of the digital age of motion picture creation. He advises and creates strategy on future technology and vision of cinema for the next generation of movie entertainment.
Ted is one of the founders and creators of the G-Tech product line of advanced hard drive storage products, that are implemented worldwide for professional Television and Multimedia content creation, and are the most recognized brand in the space.
Before being part of the founding teams at RED Digital Cinema and G-Tech, Ted was on the team that developed and launched the Macintosh products desktop video division of AJA Video Systems, that created the groundbreaking Kona Cards and IO boxes. These products are used on a massive scale worldwide for video production and post production at the highest levels, including some of the worlds biggest movies, TV shows and sporting events.
Ted has presented on the future of technology and strategy for the media and entertainment industry in many regions of the USA, Europe, China, India, the Middle East, and the Far East. He has consulted worldwide on the technical advances of ultra high resolution digital cinematography and future of advanced next gen. visual experiences for the movie, TV, interactive and gaming industries.
Schilowitz has been featured in Wired, Variety, NY Times, Wall Street Journal, The Hollywood Reporter, NBC, Studio Daily, Videography, Film and Video, DV magazine, TV Technology, HD Video Pro Magazine, Digital Television Magazine, Engadget, Gizmodo, Millimeter, American Cinematographer, MacWorld, Post magazine, Popular Science, LA Times and countless other trade publications and mainstream press, discussing technology advancements in his areas of passion and exploration.
Dane Smith
Dane Smith brings more than a decade of experience as a producer and innovator in visual effects and entertainment production to his role leading global; business development and strategy at THE THIRD FLOOR. Across his career, Dane has managed delivery of studio and independent projects ranging from live-action and animated feature to television series and emerging media platforms, including motion pictures like Deadpool, Warcraft, San Andreas, Star Trek Beyond, Transformers: Age of Extinction, The Amazing Spiderman, Looper and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and 2. In television, he has worked on top episodic shows such as Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, The Man in the High Castle and Game of Thrones.
Dane was visual effects producer on the acclaimed stop-motion animated feature Anomalisa, which received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature Film, as well as Golden Globe and Annie Award nominations, in 2016. Dane has also contributed to the evolution of 3D stereoscopic production and conversion with projects like Deepsea Challenge forJames Cameron. For his work on BATTLE FOR TERRA, he won the Grand Prize for Best Animated Feature at the 2008 Ottawa International Animation Festival and numerous other accolades and prizes.
In 2015, he extended his work to virtual reality, producing VR-presented episodes of Stan Lee and Kapow Entertainment’s Cosmic Crusaders and founding Ember Immersive, a company designed to produce and distribute premium cinematic VR projects, products, and technology. Further credits in VR include Mr. Porter VR, Sword Art Online, The Mansion TIVR and UFCTIVR. This work garnered a 2017 TELLY ‘Craft ‘ Award for Virtual Reality.
As an early adaptor and influencer in the immersive medium, he has spoken at SIGGRAPH, BAFTA, VRLA, VR on The LOT, DIGITAL HOLLYWOOD and GNOMON and numerous Virtual/Augmented reality conferences on immersive technology, digital production, and animation.
As an educator, Smith curated a series of lectures and courses in the exploration of Immersive Media. A faculty member at the Gnomon School of Visual Effects for over a decade, his curriculum includes instruction on Virtual Reality Production, The History of Visual Effects and Stereoscopic Filmmaking.
Recent speaking engagements include a panel based on Immersive technology and its impact on the industry at the 2019 HK Filmmart in Hong Kong, 2018 IFFLA Festival in Beverly Hills, the Producers Guild Panel on Animation, CES and Gnomon Event on Visualization.
Jake Zim
As senior vice president, virtual reality at Sony Pictures Entertainment, Jake Zim oversees global virtual reality production and strategy for the motion picture group. Zim has led the development of virtual reality experiences such as the Emmy® nominated Spider-Man: Homecoming VR, Ghostbusters: Dimension, The Emoji Movie VR Experience,Can You Walk The Walk, Hotel Transylvania Popstic VR and the upcoming Groundhog Day: Like Father Like Son.
The LA Times called Zim “the first VR czar at a major studio.” He has produced a wide variety of interactive projects across the spectrum of distribution channels including location-based, mobile and in-home. Most recently, he led the production of the Spider-Man: Far From Home VR Experience, the world’s first multi-player VR game powered by 5G.
Zim’s SPVR team has won numerous awards for their work. SPVR is a three-time winner of the prestigious Lumiere award for Best Achievement in VR, Film and Television forSpider-Man: Homecoming VR, Ghostbusters: Dimension, a partnership with hyper-reality pioneers The Void, and Can You Walk The Walk.
Rishi Chadha
Rishi leads Gaming Partnerships at Twitter, bringing exceptional content from global gaming leagues, esports franchises, publishers & developers, and gamers to fans in real time, while driving reach and revenue for these strategic partners and Twitter. Prior to joining Twitter in 2017, he spent time at Mobcrush, where he grew the mobile games live streaming platform to over 1 million monthly active users within 30 days of launch. As the vice president of content partnerships at Major League Gaming, he helped launch the company’s live streaming platform, MLG.tv, and led strategic partnerships with top publishers, including Valve, to create programs like the first North American CS:GO major, MLG Columbus. Prior to Major League Gaming, Rishi focused his career on elevating the visibility of the gaming community at notable organizations such as Machinima and Gunnar Optiks. Rishi is a graduate of the University of California, San Diego, where he received a BA in Economics. Follow him on Twitter at @RdotChadha.
Nicole Pike
Chrissie Scelsi
Chrissie Scelsi is U.S. General Counsel for Wargaming (USA), Inc., where she is responsible for legal and business matters for the company’s operatings in the United States, including esports and licensing. Prior to joining Wargaming, she practiced in entertainment and new media law as principal of Scelsi Entertainment and New Media Law. Ms. Scelsi has served as in house counsel for an international game based-simulations company, where she was responsible for advising on software licensing matters, government contracting and regulatory compliance matters, trademarks, copyright, and corporate issues.
She has served as an editor of the book Computer Games and Virtual Worlds: A New Frontier in Intellectual Property Law, which was published by the ABA Section of Intellectual Property Law, is a chapter contributor to The American Bar Association’s Legal Guide to Video Game Development, and is the author of the PunkLawyer Blog. Ms. Scelsi has served as the Chair of the Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law Section of the Florida Bar. She has been named as one of the top eight Central Florida attorneys with Twitterati status by the Orlando Business Journal based on number of followers for her @punklawyer handle. Ms. Scelsi received her B.B.A. in marketing from Loyola University New Orleans, a J.D. from Saint Louis University School of Law, and a LL.M. in Entertainment and Media Law from Southwestern School of Law.