William Newell CEO SparxWorks Inc. Bill Newell, CEO, SparX Works Inc.: As a founding partner of SparX Works Inc., Bill Newell brings more than 18 years of corporate and entrepreneurial experience to the company. Bill has been involved in production and multimedia from its early days and has had key roles in establishing many of the business processes that today are often taken for granted. Bill's areas of expertise include finance, technology, production, and operations. Bill's ability to increase productivity without sacrificing quality has been proven time and time again and is a key asset to the company. A longtime associate of his partner, Sarina Simon, Bill came to North South Studios from the Knowledge Kids Network where he served as Chief Operating Officer for five years. Bill co-founded the Knowledge Kids Network and was instrumental in defining its business objectives, operational processes, and company structure. His thorough planning and oversight launched the KidsEdge websites. This network of award-winning websites contained more than 250 games, thousands of articles, and had the capacity to support 3.5 million users. During his tenure at the Knowledge Kids Network, Bill also executive produced a 12 minute animated movie entitled, DotzWorld, which premiered on the AOL network and featured 25 original characters. Bill's insightful finance skills were invaluable to the company in its negotiations with AOL and other prominent partners. Prior to joining the Knowledge Kids Network, Bill was Vice President of Production for IXL Los Angeles, a NASDAQ listed Internet services company with more than $12 million in yearly revenue in the Los Angeles office alone. As VP of Production, Bill oversaw all aspects of production and provided sales support for IXL's west coast offices. Always prolific, he supervised and managed the design and implementation of over 100 projects including assignments for Polygram, Fox, Warner Brothers, NewsCorp, Baker and Taylor, Mazda, Kawasaki, Universal Studios, and Technicolor, among others. Making use of his extensive finance background, Bill brought financial discipline to his production team and productivity increased over 200% during his tenure at IXL. Before joining IXL, Bill was Vice President of Production for Digital Planet, an Internet services company that was later acquired by IXL. As VP of Production, Bill provided direct management of technical, production, and creative teams. He also oversaw all proposal submissions, bids, technical analyses, and creative treatments for media, technology, and consumer companies including Intel, Mattel, the US Postal Service, Disney Online and Allstate. Bill is also a veteran of the multimedia pioneering company, Philips Media, where he worked for four years as an Executive Producer, managing two in-house production groups. In this executive role, Bill directed a 35 member staff and produced six educational CD ROM products. He also directed the localization of numerous products for the Japanese, English, Swedish and American markets.
Kevin McGurn, President of Sales and Distribution, Vevo Kevin McGurn, President of Sales and Distribution, Vevo: Based in New York, Kevin McGurn is President of Sales and Distribution at Vevo, where he is responsible for operationalizing and maximizing revenue for all company partnerships including but not limited to Vevo’s YouTube presence. His areas of expertise include: the evolution of television in the streaming era and corresponding shifts in consumer viewing habits; the development of a ubiquitous, multi-platform strategy to get in front of hard-to-reach audiences; the creation and monetization of premium video content; balancing scale, reach and brand safety; and the role of data and research in growing audiences/boosting engagement. Kevin joined Vevo from Fullscreen, where he served as Head of Sales for the company as well as Otter Media properties including Crunchyroll, Roster Teeth SoompiTV and VRV. Prior to Fullscreen, Kevin was Chief Revenue Officer of Shazam. He previously served as Senior Vice President of Sales at Hulu for nearly seven years, where he grew the sales team from zero to half a billion dollars in advertising revenue. Kevin has also held prior senior roles at NBC Universal and DoubleClick.
David Borstein, SVP Digital Sales FOX Entertainment & Sports David Borstein is the Senior Vice President of Digital and Social Sales at FOX, leading the Digital Strategy and Sales for both FOX Entertainment and FOX Sports. In this role, David and his team are responsible for monetizing viewership across all digital assets including FOX’s owned and operated apps, FOXNow and FOX Sports, as well as distribution partners, Tubi, Hulu and Amazon Prime/Twitch. Prior to his role at FOX, David was Senior Manager of Twitter’s Dining and Alcohol vertical. In this role, David developed strategic partnerships that helped key direct clients understand, measure, and utilize Twitter’s ad platform. David has also held sales leadership roles at Vox Media and MySpace.com. David is a graduate of The Ohio State University.
Robert Rodriguez, CEO, Impaktu Robert Rodriguez, CEO, Impaktu: A 30 year seasoned expert in the area of entrepreneurial business leadership in the fields of marketing and multi-media content for large platforms such as broadcast television stations, internet sites, telecom companies and other digital organizations throughout the world. Robert brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise in content related to health, tourism, technology, e-commerce and social media for the new challenges and opportunities of modern times. He has managed complex acquisitions and work force integrations in the U.S., the Caribbean as well as international regions such as Asia, Latin America and Europe. Currently Robert is the CEO of Natcom Global, a multi-platform video content producer and distributor. Natcom is one of the leading fact based short form content producers and distributors in the U.S. Natcom clients include nearly 75 broadcast stations in the U.S., 1,000 Internet sites around the world, international telecom operators and Fortune 500 companies. Some of Natcom clients include CBS, Disney/ABC, AOL/Verizon, Citibank, Baidu, Humana, the United States Department of Homeland Security and the Department of the Treasury, to name a few. In addition to his overall responsibilities he is also responsible for acquisitions and international expansion that includes establishing operations for Natcom in Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. Prior to Natcom, Robert was the CEO of NPN Media, a company he and other investors acquired from NBC Universal. NPN produces and distributes fact based news related segments to broadcast stations as well as digital outlets in the U.S. NPN became part of Natcom in 2014. Before NPN, Robert co-founded and was CEO of National Communication LTD (NCL) where he successfully attained an Inc.500 ranking twice. (fastest growing privately held companies in America) NCL is a diversified marketing communications agency that has developed hundreds of marketing and media initiatives for global companies such as Citibank, Burger King and Chevron to name a few. In addition to the private sector NCL provides or has provided strategic consultancy services to governments including the United States, regional government agencies in Spain and the government of the Islands of the Bahamas. Some of NCL’s work with the U.S. Federal Government included micro economic development research and implementation initiatives providing different federal agencies with best practices and recommendations for contracting to small and disadvantaged businesses. In 1995 NCL produced the award winning world record program, “Around the World in a Day” using an Air France Concorde to break the world aviation speed record which currently still stands.
Marc Guggenheim EP/Producer/Writer, Green Lantern, The Flash, Carnival Row Marc Guggenheim, EP/Producer/Writer: A native of Long Island, New York, Guggenheim practiced law at one of Boston’s most prestigious firms before getting hired on the writing staff of David E. Kelley’s Emmy-winning show about Boston attorneys, “The Practice.” Guggenheim then joined “Law & Order,” where he wrote for three seasons before moving on to the critically acclaimed series “Jack & Bobby,” and later, the ratings juggernaut “CSI: Miami.” It was “Jack & Bobby” that introduced Guggenheim to Greg Berlanti, and the two resolved to create a show together, a pact which led to the development of “Eli Stone,” for which they received a Writers Guild Award nomination for Best Drama Teleplay. While producing the “Eli Stone” pilot, Berlanti pulled Guggenheim in to help him produce the first season of “Brothers & Sisters.” Guggenheim has continued to collaborate with Berlanti on the feature film versions of the DC Comics characters Green Lantern and The Flash. “Green Lantern” was released as a major motion picture starring Ryan Reynolds in June 2011. Guggenheim also served as executive producer of two other television pilots for Berlanti Television: “No Ordinary Family” and “Guilty,” the latter of which Guggenheim created. Last year, Marc Guggenheim served as showrunner and Executive Producer of Amazon’s “Carnival Row,” starring Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevingne. He also executive produces the “Tales of Arcadia” trilogy series for Netflix alongside acclaimed director Guillermo del Toro. The third series in the trilogy, “Wizards,” will premiere on Netflix in July. (Guggenheim won an Emmy for “Best Writing In An Animated Program” for his work on the first series in the trilogy, “Trollhunters.”) 2019 was a prolific year for Marc. In addition to showrunning the CW’s epic five-show crossover, “Crisis On Infinite Earths,” he added “director” to his résumé, having just wrapped production on Episode 514 of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow (which he co-created). While maintaining a successful career in television, Guggenheim has pursued a parallel career as a screenwriter, with such diverse projects as the film adaptation of “Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters” (2013), a feature film version of “Perry Mason” for Robert Downey Jr., and an adaptation of Robert A. Heinlein’s sci-fi classic “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.” He is currently at work on an adaptation of the beloved “Choose Your Own Adventure” book series for 20th Century Films/Disney. 2014 marked Guggenheim’s entry into the world of prose, publishing his first novel “Overwatch” (Mulholland Books/Little, Brown), which Publisher’s Weekly called “a high energy debut…[which] will appeal to readers who appreciate an underdog.” A life-long comic book fan, Guggenheim has been writing comics professionally for over ten years, working on titles for both Marvel Comics (“Blade,” “X-Men,” “Amazing Spider-Man,” “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”), DC Comics (“The Flash,” “Justice Society of America,” “Batman Confidential”), and original creator-owned works (“Resurrection,” “Halcyon,” “Nowhere Man,” “Jonas Quantum,” “Stringers”). Guggenheim is continually exploring other mediums. He’s written the scripts for numerous videogames, including “Call of Duty 3,” “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” and “Singularity.” (Wolverine and Singularity were nominated for consecutive WGA Awards.) In 2008, he adapted a Stephen King short story “N.” into a Marvel Comics graphic novel and a 25-part mobisode series that was available online and through iTunes. Guggenheim currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife Tara, a fellow TV writer and WGA nominee, who is co-creator of The CW dramedy “Reaper,” their daughters Lily and Sara, and their pets Rocky, Lucky, Finn, and Jarvis.