UGTV '07 – Speaker biographies
Rob Norman
CEO Global, MEC Interaction
Rob Norman is CEO of GroupM Interaction Worldwide. GroupM is the world's largest buyer of advertising media with billings of US$ 60 billion (RECMA). GroupM Interaction is also the world's largest buyer of online media with billings of US$3 billion and is the largest agency customer of Google, Yahoo and MSN.
GroupM Interactions US clients including Unilever, Colgate Palmolive, GSK, Novartis, Pfizer, Amgen, Ford, VW, Audi, HSBC, Cit, Burger King, Yum! Brands and Subway, Macy's, Sears, Staples, Cadbury Schweppes, Wrigley, GroupM Interaction employs 1200 people across the world and operates four agency brands being Beyond Interactive, MEC Interaction, Mindshare Interaction and Outrider.
Rob is considered a digital marketing pioneer and is a frequent keynote speaker and writer at industry events and in its publications. Rob sits on the board of WPP Digital, the venture arm of WPP and is a member of the board of Wild Tangent the online gaming network.
Prior to moving to the USA in January 2005 Rob was Chairman of the Mediaedge:cia Group in the UK, also a unit of WPP.
Rob lives in New York with his wife and dog and is widely believed to be the only Englishman with a working knowledge of the infield fly rule. He is a fan of the New York Mets, the New York Jets, Tottenham Hotspur and Leicester Rugby Football Club.
Kenny Miller
EVP and Creative Director, MTVN
Kenny Miller is Executive Vice President and Creative Director for MTV Networks Global Digital Media. He is responsible for MTVN wide digital platform development as well as the development of new programming models.
From 1998 through 2006 Miller was Vice President of Production and Programming for The N, overseeing all aspects of series and interactive production for the N's linear television network, Video On Demand, and the NŐs digital platform The-N.com. In 2006 he won an Emmy for the-n.com's Video Mixer, and launched the Click, the N's social media destination.
Miller began his career at Viacom in 1992 serving as Executive Producer and Technical Director for Viacom New Media. In this role, he developed and produced entertainment software for MTV, Nickelodeon, and Paramount. Miller has also worked as a designer of experimental video and audio interfaces at Apple's Human Interface Group.
Miller graduated from Northwestern University with a B.S. degree in Computer Engineering in 1987, and earned a Master's degree from the Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in 1991, where he has also served as an adjunct professor. He currently resides in New York City with his wife and daughter.
Shelly Palmer
MD, Advanced Media Ventures
Shelly Palmer, Managing Director, Advanced Media Ventures Group LLC, is an award-winning inventor, technologist, composer and television producer and the host of Media 3.0 with Shelly Palmer.
He invented Enhanced Television (Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Monday Night Football), the most popular form of interactive television in the United States.
Mr. Palmer is the President of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, NY (the organization that bestows the coveted Emmy® Awards). He is the Vice-Chairman of the National Academy of Media Arts & Sciences and he oversees the Advanced Media Technology Emmy® Awards which he created in 2003 to honor outstanding achievements in the science and technology of advanced media.
He is the author of one of the most popular television business news blogs, www.Media30.com, a weekly columnist for the Jack Myers Report, The Huffington Post and a technology commentator for CNN.com. His book Television Disrupted: The Transition from Network to Networked TV is available on www.amazon.com. For more information, visit www.shellypalmer.com.
Joey Jodar
MD, Heavy Worldwide
Mr. Jodar is currently Managing Director of Heavy Worldwide where he is in charge of all business functions — including sales, marketing and programming. Heavy Worldwide consists of all offices and employees of Heavy Inc. outside the United States.
Mr. Jodar is overseeing the launch of Heavy in Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Prior to being named Managing Director, Heavy Worldwide, Mr. Jodar founded and led Heavy's advertising sales department as the Vice President of Advertising Sales, where he was responsible for driving quadruple and triple digit revenue growth year-over-year from 2004 to 2006.
Prior to joining Heavy, he worked at the 3DO Company and Thomson Learning, as well as with his own marketing services company based out of New York. He graduated from the University of Oregon and divides most of his time between New York City and London.
Andy Bell
MD, Mint Digital
Andy Bell founded Mint in 2004 with the goal of creating interactive media that fuses the participation of the web with the scale of TV. Previously Andy was head of interactive at RDF Media.
Mint Digital create social networking and UGC initiatives in collaboration with existing media properties. For example, Islandoo takes the audition process for Shipwrecked to create a new type of social networking site. In its first 6 months, Islandoo has attracted 28,000 members who have left 3.5 million messages for each other. The Independent described Islandoo as "an internet phenomenon to rival the social networking site MySpace".
