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What's Next? Series Event Speakers - April 25, 2006

Chris Marlowe - As Editorial Director of Digital Media, Chris Marlowe sets the course for The Hollywood Reporter’s coverage of the crucial space where the entertainment industry intersects with emerging technologies.

Her expertise spans video games, mobile applications, home networking, interactive television and all of the other new ways creators have of connecting with their audience. Chris has interviewed such luminaries as Bill Gates, Craig Barrett and Jonathan Miller, and is in regular demand as a speaker on BBC Radio, CNN, MSNBC and elsewhere.

Before joining The Hollywood Reporter, Chris lived in London and covered the music industry by contributing celebrity profiles, interviews, feature articles, news and reviews to a wide variety of consumer and trade publications.

Kevin Browne is responsible for the development of two new businesses. First, he is creating a strategy and business plan to enable advertising on Xbox, so that gamers will see higher quality products and more options for reasonable prices, and publishers will be able to improve their business results. Second, Browne is leading the efforts to license Microsoft Game Studios’ properties to other companies – for instance, the work with Universal Studios to bring Halo to the big screen, and the recently announced work with 4Kids Entertainment on the highly anticipated entertainment property, Viva Piñata.

Prior to this role, Browne has run a video game studio, led the Macintosh Business Unit for three years, guiding the creation of some of the industry’ s most successful Macintosh platform products ever, including Office 98 and 2001 for Mac, Internet Explorer 5.0 for Mac, Outlook Express 5.0 for Mac, Internet Explorer 5.1 for Mac OS X, and Office X for Mac OS X.

As a product manager and product planner on the Microsoft Excel Product Team, Browne played an important role in the design and development of Excel 5.0, 95, 97 and 2000 for Windows.

Browne began his career with Microsoft in 1990 as a reseller marketing representative and Applications Systems Engineer Microsoft’s field sales force, selling Microsoft Excel against then-dominant Lotus 1-2-3.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Browne proudly served in the United States Army as Tank Platoon Leader, Tank Company Executive Officer, and Assistant Battalion Operations Officer.

Browne graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Notre Dame where he holds a Bachelor of Arts in History and maintains an undying devotion for Notre Dame football. During the off season, Browne enjoys spending time with his wife and two children.

Kelly Flock - Joining THQ in August 2005, Kelly Flock brings more than 20 years of experience in the video game industry to his role as Executive Vice President of Worldwide Publishing. Flock oversees THQ’s global publishing organization, which sells product to more than 75 countries through offices located in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. He also directs the company’s global brand management strategy and product planning efforts.

Prior to joining THQ, Flock served as president and CEO of Sony Online Entertainment, president of 989 Studios, and president of Sony Interactive Studios America. Flock also served as general manager of LucasArts Entertainment Company, where he managed the game division of Lucasfilm Ltd.

Joseph Olin is President of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Appointed by the AIAS board of directors in July 2004, Olin is responsible for leading the videogame industry’s largest association of game creators and publishing executives.

The AIAS is best known for presenting the annual Interactive Achievement Awards, entering its tenth year, D.I.C.E. Summit (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain) conference, and Into the Pixel programs.

A veteran of the interactive entertainment industry, Olin has been instrumental in raising consumer awareness of well-known videogame publishers, developers and properties. As Vice President, Marketing & Business Development at U.S. GOLD, INC. / EIDOS Interactive, he directed all sales, marketing and new business development activities, and played a key role in the launch of Tomb Raider & Lara Croft game franchises.

Olin is a co-creator of Leonardo’s Multimedia Toolbox, an educational product developed with Gene Portwood and Lauren Elliott (creators of Carmen Sandiego) and NEC’s System Laboratory Group of Japan. Additionally, Olin’s extensive career entails a wide variety of senior level held positions at Voiceweb Corporation, Ogilvy & Mather, Inc., Della Femina McNamee, Panda Management Company and Microprose/Hasbro Interactive. Olin is a graduate of the University of Southern California.

Neil Young - As Vice President and General Manager of EA Los Angeles (EALA), Neil Young oversees all aspects of the studio that is responsible for the blockbuster franchises, Medal of Honor, Command & Conquer, GoldenEye and Lord of the Rings. Prior to taking the helm of EALA, Young was General Manager of the award-winning Maxis studio, where he was responsible for delivering The Sims 2, the sequel to the best selling PC game of all time. In 2002 and 2003, Young led EA Redwood Shores on the development of the first two Lord of the Rings games – The Two Towers and The Return of the King – which have seen sales of over eight million units worldwide.

British-born Young began is career in the interactive entertainment industry in 1988, when he was a programmer and producer at Imagitec. Young joined Virgin Interactive when he moved to the United States in 1992. At Virgin, he produced a number of Disney™-licensed titles and was promoted to Vice President for Product Development. By 1997, Young moved on from Virgin was named Vice President and General Manager of ORIGIN Systems, a subsidiary of Electronic Arts. During that time, Young supervised the launch of the world’s first Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing game, Ultima Online.

Since that time, Young has flourished at EA. He was the creator and driving force behind Majestic, the first Internet-based interactive game that places players in the center of an unfolding conspiracy-thriller. Majestic blurred the line between fiction and reality by engaging players through non-traditional gaming media such as the telephone, email and fax.

Ed Zobrist is President of Sierra Online, a division of Vivendi Games, a global developer, publisher and distributor of multi-platform interactive entertainment. Sierra Online focuses on online gaming and digital distribution. The division’s first announced product is FreeStyle, an online street basketball game popularized in Korea.

Prior to his current position as President of Sierra Online, Mr. Zobrist was Senior Vice President, Global Marketing for Vivendi Games. Mr. Zobrist was responsible for overseeing worldwide marketing initiatives for brands such as Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, Leisure Suit Larry, Empire Earth, SWAT, The Incredible Hulk, Scarface and 50 Cent.

Mr. Zobrist past experience includes marketing positions at General Mills, Mattel Toys and The Walt Disney Company. He has also worked in game development and among his credits is the game design for “Tiptop”, a popular casual puzzle game published by PopCap Games in 2001.

Mr. Zobrist holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Columbia University and an MBA in Marketing from The Wharton School.


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