Jim Bankoff | Senior Advisor, Providence Equity Partners

Gary Bettman | Commissioner, National Hockey League (Spotlight Q&A)

Gary B. Bettman, the first Commissioner in National Hockey League history, has directed the NHL to a series of major advancements since his tenure began in 1993. Some of these advancements include the league’s cable broadcast agreement with Comcast, as well as agreements with ABC and ESPN, CBC and TSN, and NBC.  Gary has restructured the NHL’s marketing and licensing arm and with the board of governors, modernized the league’ economic system. In 1998 he led the NHL to its first Olympic Winter Games and in 2003 presented the first regular-season outdoor game.

Before being named NHL commissioner, Gary served 12 years with the NBA, most recently as SVP and general counsel. He graduated from Cornell University and the New York University School of Law.

Chris Bevilacqua | CEO, CAA Sports Media Venture

Chris Bevilacqua is currently CEO of CAA Sports Media Venture. He was most recently a partner at New York-based sports, media and entertainment company SCP Worldwide, LLC, whose growing cadre of properties include: the National Hockey League’s St. Louis Blues, Scottrade Center and Kiel Opera House in St. Louis, Missouri, and Major League Soccer’s Real Salt Lake and Sports Radio KALL 700 AM in Salt Lake City, Utah, among others.

Prior to SCP Worldwide, Bevilacqua was the co-founder and president of CSTV, the 24-hour college sports television network.  Before leaving CSTV in 2006, Bevilacqua helped conceive and create the first ever 24-hour “super-regional” collegiate conference network, the MountainWest Sports Network (MTN), featuring the Mountain West Conference and its nine members. The MTN launched in September of 2006 through a joint venture partnership with leading cable operator Comcast. Prior to CSTV, Bevilacqua served as director, global negotiations and league affairs at Nike, Inc.

Bryan Biniak | Founder and CEO, Jacked

Bryan Biniak is founder and CEO of Jacked, a producer of interactive broadcasts.  Jacked’s SportsTop fuses live telecasts with the interactivity of the Web, publishing relevant content synchronized with the sportscasts. Bryan is also the founder and managing director of Provenance Ventures

Most recently, Bryan served as SVP and GM of AG Interactive at American Greetings, launching Univision Movil, Def Jam Mobile, SI Mobile and Blue Mountain Mobile, as well as Microsoft’s MSN Messenger and Messenger Live content storefronts. Prior to AG, Bryan served as COO and EVP of sales and marketing for Vivendi Universal’s wireless subsidiary Moviso, which was sold to InfoSpace for $25 million. He also was VP and founding member of Harmonix Music Systems, developer of “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band.”

David Birnbaum | CEO, Takkle

Before founding Takkle, David Birnbaum was a managing partner at PearTree Equity, a technology-focused venture and incubation firm based in New York. Prior to PearTree, David was a member of the founding management team of Cometa Networks, a company formed by Intel, IBM and AT&T. Previously, he was an investment professional at Apax Partners (formerly Patricof & Co.), a global private equity firm with more than $20 billion under management. Prior to Apax, David helped establish the Telecommunications Investment Banking Group at Furman Selz.  David received a bachelor of arts degree from Columbia University and an MBA from the Wharton School of Business.

Bob Bowman | President and CEO, Major League Baseball Advanced Media (Spotlight Q&A)

Bob Bowman joined Major League Baseball Advanced Media LP (MLBAM), the interactive media and Internet company of Major League Baseball, as president and CEO in November 2000.
           
Prior to joining MLBAM, Bob was president and COO of ITT Corporation.  He joined ITT in 1991 as EVP and CFO of ITT Sheraton, the Boston-based global hotel network.  In 1992 he was named EVP and CFO of the parent company before being named President and COO in 1995. Following the trivestiture of the Company’s business divisions in 1995, Bob oversaw the growth and operations of the $8 billion conglomerate until it was acquired by Starwood Hotels and Resorts in 1998. During his tenure, Bob and the senior management team at ITT created more than $25 billion of value for the company’s shareholders.

Eric Fisher | Staff Writer, SportsBusiness Journal (Moderator)

Olivier Gers | SVP Global Head Digital Media, IMG

At IMG, Olivier Gers serves as SVP, Global Head Digital Media.

Olivier joined IMG from FremantleMedia where he served as GM, and where he was named Advertising Age’s 2007 Entertainment Marketer of the Year for his work on Fox’s American Idol. Earlier Olivier founded and led Odaddy.com, an online community geared towards fathers and also founded the consulting firm Fulcrum Group. Born and raised in France, he received his master’s in law and entertainment from the University of Paris.

Stephen Hansen | CEO, WePlay

Steve Hansen, CEO of WePlay, brings over 20 years of experience across the entertainment, internet and media industries. He previously served as CEO of MCAR Group, where he worked in the entertainment and technology sectors. 

Prior to that, Steve served as chairman and CEO for Avamar Technologies. Before Avamar, Steve served as the CFO, and then COO of GeoCities. There he managed the company’s final round of financing, including the IPO and eventual sale to Yahoo! for $5 billion, after which he was invited to serve as entrepreneur in residence with Benchmark Capital. Steve also served as SVP and CFO for the recreation division of Universal Studios and earlier was a partner with KPMG Peat Marwick in the entertainment, media and technology group.

Will Leitch | Founder, Deadspin; Contributing Editor, New York (Moderator)

Perkins Miller | SVP, Digital Media, NBC Sports and Olympics

Jimmy Pitaro | Vice President and General Manager, Yahoo Sports and Entertainment

Jimmy Pitaro serves as vice president of Yahoo! Sports and Entertainment.  Jimmy is responsible for guiding the strategic growth and continued development of Yahoo! Sports as a leading and compelling online sports destination for consumers, marketers, teams and leagues.

Jimmy joined Yahoo! in August 2001 with the company’s acquisition of LAUNCH Media, Inc.  Before joining the Yahoo! team, he was VP of business affairs for LAUNCH Media, Inc.  After the acquisition, he transitioned to VP and Head of Business Affairs for Yahoo! Music until his transition to the sports team. He was integral in helping Yahoo! Music forge unique and valuable relationships with major record labels and with such major brands as Nissan, Pepsi, and Saturn.

Jeff Price | President, SI Digital

Jeff Price was named president of SI Digital, a new division of Sports Illustrated in November 2005. In this position, Jeff leads all SI Digital properties: SI.com, SIKIDS.com, GOLF.com, FanNation.com and DanPatrick.com. Additionally, he oversees the development of SI’s other digital products.

Jeff who joined Sports Illustrated in 2002, was most recently the brand’s VP/chief marketing officer. In that capacity, he had complete responsibility for all SI marketing functions. Previously, he was the CMO at Millsport, a sports marketing company. His previous experience also includes serving as CMO at Trackus; VP for sponsorships and events at MasterCard; and GM for the Big 12 Conference for USA Sports. In both 1999 and 2000, Jeff was named to Sports Business Journal’s annual list of “Forty-under-40.”

Darren Rovell | Sports Business Reporter, CNBC (Interviewer)

Chris Russo | Founder and CEO, Fantasy Sports Ventures

Richard Sandomir | TV Sports and Sports Business Writer, The New York Times (Interviewer)

Richard Sandomir has been the TV sports and sports business writer for The New York Times since 1991. He has written or co-written four books, including the most recent one, The Enlightened Bracketologist: The Final Four of Everything. He has also worked for Newsday, Sports Inc. magazine, the Stamford Advocate and Bantam Books. He shaved his head at the recommendation of Charles Barkley.

John Skipper | Executive Vice President, Content, ESPN (Spotlight Q&A)

John Skipper was named to the newly created position of ESPN’s EVP of content in October 2005. He had been EVP of ad sales and ESPN Enterprises since August 2004. 

John served as SVP and GM of ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine from December 2001 to September 2002. In the Sporting News’ 2004 Power 100, Skipper was named No. 1 in the Media Executives category, up from No. 3 in 2003. Before joining ESPN The Magazine, he served two years as senior vice president of The Disney Publishing Group. Earlier, he held the title of president and publishing director at Spin magazine. Earlier, John spent 10 years with Straight Arrow Publishing including eight years with Rolling Stone. At Straight Arrow, he rose to publisher of US magazine.

Brenda Spoonemore | CEO, Atomic Moguls

Brenda Spoonemore is the president and CEO of Atomic Moguls, a Seattle-based startup pioneering the next generation of online sports content and games.

Previously, Spoonemore was SVP of interactive services for the NBA, with responsibility for the league’s profitable interactive P&L, including global digital operations, licensing and strategy, and served on the board of Newsvine, a Seattle-based startup acquired by MSNBC.com in 2007. Brenda was named on Street and Smith’s Sports Business Journal in 2002 “Forty Under 40” list, and by Multichannel News’ “Woman to Watch” in 2003. She holds a Master’s degree from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.

Josh Swartz | COO, Wasserman Media Group

Josh Swartz is COO of Wasserman Media Group. He is responsible for the company’s overall operations as well as negotiating strategic opportunities including business development and acquisitions. Josh is also charged with handling corporate governance matters for both WMG and the Los Angeles Avengers.

Prior to joining WMG, Josh served as special counsel for the Independent Committee of the board of directors of National Golf Properties, a publicly-traded REIT. Swartz holds a JD degree from Harvard Law School.