ReelWord.com

Résumé

Founder and program manager of the Consumer 3D Experience Lab at the USC Entertainment Technology Center. Overseeing technical demos and prototyping. Driving program and bus dev efforts. The goal of the Lab is to accelerate the convergence of ideas, so that consumers looking for 3D content, products, and services will have a consistent, enjoyable purchasing and viewing experience.

Completed commissioned projects;
- Emerging business opportunities for the post production industry (2nd annual study of production, post production, and distribution trends completed Nov., 2009)
- Emerging business opportunities in 3D
- Museum 3.0; growth strategies for museums in the digital age; including a technology infrastructure blueprint and business plan to increase revenue and foot traffic
- Techniques to stimulate innovative thinking within organizations
Moderator and panelist at the 2011 Seoul International 3D Fair (closing Keynote), Variety 3D Entertainment Summit, Sundance Film Festival, TV 3.0 Summit, Hollywood 2.0, 2010 Dutch Media Hub (closing Keynote), Seoul Digital Forum, Digital Hollywood, HPA Retreat, The Caucus, Entertainment Supply Chain Assoc. Conf., and others, plus multiple radio and newspaper interviews
Lectured at USC, UCLA, Pepperdine, and Woodbury Univ. on the art, technology, and business of entertainment
Produced the 3D University for the International 3D Society

The Walt Disney Company: Corporate New Technology and New Media Group; Burbank, California; 1997-2007

Worked as part of Disney’s corporate strategic planning organization, coordinating entertainment technology strategy among more than 400 Disney business groups worldwide
Formulated Disney’s evolving entertainment technology strategy in close consultation with executives at the senior-most level of the corporation and business units
Managed business development, negotiations, lobby/PR, and company-wide efforts to implement the strategy

Led the company-wide drive to establish standard, evolving content security guidelines and contract language to future-proof and expedite digital content distribution deals
Evaluated investment opportunities for Disney’s VC arm, Steamboat Ventures
Primary negotiator for technical aspects of multi-year, multibillion dollar content licensing deal negotiations with the major satellite, cable, and telco companies worldwide (e.g. Comcast, EchoStar, BSkyB, KDDI, Verizon, DirecTV)
Primary technical representative in multi-studio discussions at the MPAA and with the CE, IT, Cable, Satellite, and Telco industries
Produced the technical evaluation for Disney’s and the Industry’s first Apple video iPod deal
Advised Washington and EU lobbyists on entertainment technology issues
Moderator and panelist at Sundance Film Festival, TeleManagement Forum (telco industry), Digital Hollywood, Digital Policy Summit, NAB, CES, Interactive TV Alliance, SID, and other conferences

Led the creation of Disney’s digital cinema initiative, including chairing biweekly digital cinema meetings with Studio Ops, R&D, and Domestic and Foreign Distribution mgmt., coordinating digital cinema rollout and feature release activities, and coordinating standards body participation
Represented Disney at multi-industry discussions to create a next generation DVD format
Monitored tech trends, researched markets, and worked with the business units to evaluate new revenue opportunities

Focus Consulting: Los Angeles, California / Palo Alto, California; 1990-1997

Founded UCLA Business School’s Business and the Environment Program, which included developing and teaching an MBA degree-credit course and involving 180 MBA students in related projects with local businesses
Produced seminars on guerrilla marketing, new media bus dev, and industry trends
Teamed with Stanford Business School professor Dan Thomas and executive-level teams on corporate and business unit strategy development assignments. Clients included Sybase, Sun, ESRI, and Trimble Navigation

ARCO International: Director, Exploration Computing Services; Los Angeles, California; 1979-1989

Founded and built the 50 person, $12m/yr organization responsible for ARCO International’s worldwide use of computer-based resources for scientific purposes. Experienced no staff attrition despite very strong job market

Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory: Researcher; Aleutian Islands, Alaska; 1975-1977

Earthquake prediction and volcanic hazard studies (Google “Pavlof Volcano Halpin”)

UCLA	MBA	Technology Management
Stanford	MS	Applied Geophysics
Tufts	BS	Civil Engineering (Music, Geology minors)