MEF leadership and activities point the way to a robust Mobile Media future

Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF) Global held its prestigious board elections and AGM on the eve of its 9th annual conference, MeM09, in London last week. Andrew Bud, Executive Chairman, mBlox, returns for the second consecutive year as the Global Chair, having been a founder and driving force for MEF since its launch in 2000. He is joined by Billy Wright, Global Head of Media and Games Partnerships, Nokia, who has been elected as Vice Chair and Pete Wood, VP International Mobile Business Development, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

They join existing Global Board members:

• Jim Beddows, MEF Americas Chair
• Mark Harding, Media & Digital Content Specialist, KPMG
• Gerrit Jan Konijnenberg, MEF EMEA Chair & EVP of Sales, Comfone
• Miguel Lopez-Quesada, General Manager, Zed TV
• Patrick Parodi, CMO, Amobee
• Neeraj Roy, MEF Asia Chair & CEO, Hungama Mobile
• Seth Schachner, VP, Digital Business Latin America, Sony Music Entertainment
• Ingrid Silver, Partner, Denton Wilde Sapte

Upon his re-election to the Board, MEF Chair Andrew Bud, said “I look forward to working with this exceptionally strong Board to support our $32 billion industry whose mood, as measured by our latest MEF BCI, is impressively optimistic. In this time of change and opportunity, our mission to improve, inform and protect the market for MEF members, both globally and nationally, is more vital than ever. I would also like to thank outgoing MEF Vice Chair Marco Argenti for his invaluable contribution to the board over the last 2 years.”

The new Global Board identified as its key objectives continued support for

• initiatives which accelerate and change the industry such as the recently launched Smart Pipe Enablers initiative;
• regulatory and policy activities which represent the industry and protect revenues and consumers;
• trade development activities across EMEA, Asia and the Americas and greater localization to support the growth of the mobile entertainment industry in these markets, commencing with the launch of an Italian chapter; and
• MEF metrics and intelligence which illuminate the industry and provide competitive advantage to members.

The week commenced with the unveiling of MEF’s 2^nd Quarterly Business Confidence Index (BCI) compiled by KPMG showing that the industry remains confident despite the current economic challenges and predicting average revenue growth of 28% for the coming year. The industry’s confidence was further reflected in two days of celebrations and deal-making at the sold-out Meffys Awards, attended by 350 of the industry’s top executives from over 25 countries and MeM, MEF’s 9^th annual event, which saw a recession-defying comeback to London with a 26% increase in attendees.