MEF Americas Announces September 1 Mobile Leadership Summit and AGM

MEF Americas has announced the agenda and speakers for its September 1st Mobile Leadership Summit. The half-day summit concludes with the Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Board Elections. The meetings will be held and hosted at the Writer’s Guild of America West headquarters in Los Angeles. MEF Americas has expanded its board to eleven seats, with seven seats available in this election, to reflect the increased growth and activities in the U.S., Canada and Latin America.

“I am extremely excited about the Summit’s panel topics, list of speakers and feedback from those planning to attend the event. MEF is the only trade organization in the mobile content and services industry that is both global and spans the entire value chain from content creator to distributor. As MEF Americas’ focus is on accelerating the revenue growth from digital content and services that span entertainment, sports and news, I am thrilled by the strength and number of candidates who have announced their intent to run for the MEF Americas board.”

Jim Beddows, MEF Americas Chairman.

For the half-day Mobile Leadership Summit, the opening keynote will be presented by Sam Sarkar, a senior executive from Infinitum Nihil, Johnny Depp’s production company. An additional keynote will be devoted to the State of the Union in Mobile given by The Nielsen Company’s Eric Puterbaugh. The opening panel “Global Revenues are $19.5B and $32B for Theatrical Box Office and Mobile Entertainment—So, How Does Hollywood Stack Rank the Mobile Entertainment Industry?” will be led by Andrew Wallenstein editor, digital media of The Hollywood Reporter. Panelists include:

• Troy Carter, Lady Gaga manager, CEO, Coalition Media
• Doug Neil, senior vice president of Digital Marketing, Universal Pictures
• Andreea Enuche-Thune, vice president of Games & Digital Distribution, Marvel Entertainment Inc.
• Madeline Herdrich, vice president, Mobile Paramount Pictures, Digital
• Steve Byrd, executive vice president, STATs
• Charles B. Slocum, assistant executive director, Writers Guild of America

The concluding panel is a lively debate focusing on the trends in the mobile value chain called “Holy Grail or Holy Fail—Straight Talk on Mobile Entertainment,” moderated by Eric Puterbaugh of The Nielsen Company, with panelists including:

• Lawrence M Harris, senior vice president and senior research analyst, CL King
• William Quigley, managing director, Clearstone Ventures
• David Strehlow, director of marketing, Media Solutions, Huawei
• Kevin Arnold, founder and CEO, IODA
• Gary Schwartz, president and CEO, Impact Mobile
• John Orlando, CMO, LiveWire Mobile
• Bill Loewenthal, vice president and general manager, Mobility and Monetization Solutions, Limelight Networks

WHAT: Mobile Leadership Summit, and the MEF Americas Annual General Meeting and Board Elections

WHEN: Sept. 1, 1:00 PM – 6:00 PM Summit, 6:00 PM – 8:30 PM General Meeting and Board Elections

WHERE: Writer’s Guild of America West, 7000 West Third Street, Los Angeles, CA

WHO: MEF Americas and the Mobile and Entertainment Industries

WHY: Mobile Leadership Summit, which is free and open to all, will deliver thought-provoking sessions and bring together senior executives from across the mobile entertainment spectrum including: studios, production companies, music labels & publishers, game & applications developers, portals, marketers, handsets providers, carriers and service providers.

The Annual General Meeting and Board Elections will be voting in seven new board members who will help shape the direction of the mobile entertainment industry in the Americas, Canada and Latin America. Newly elected board members will join an impressive list of current Board member companies.

INFORMATION: To register: http://www.m-e-f.org/industryevents/mefamericassummit/summitagenda/

For more information regarding the Mobile Leadership Summit, contact Christine Krajewski at christine_krajewski@livewiremobile.com. For more information on becoming a MEF member or general election information, please contact Mike Navarre at mike@m-e-f.org.

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.