IC2010 NYC Sponsors

Donald A. Baer

Worldwide Vice Chairman
Burson-Marsteller - IC2010 NYC SPONSOR

Don Baer has built a varied career as a leading media and communications executive. He has extensive experience in the strategic, creative, and operational sides of the private and public sectors, including senior roles with the White House, global companies, and US media organizations. In late 2007, he became worldwide vice chairman of strategic communications firm Burson-Marsteller and chairman of research firm Penn, Schoen & Berland, both WPP, Inc. companies. Baer leads major projects for and provides strategic counsel to a global client base ranging across many industry and not-for-profit sectors. From 1998 to 2007, Baer worked at Discovery Communications, home of the Discovery Channel and media properties in over 170 countries. As senior executive vice president for strategy and development, he reported to the Chief Executive Officer and was a member of the executive committee of this multi-billion dollar media business. He oversaw global brand-building efforts; new ventures and acquisitions; new media strategy and operations, and corporate functions including business development, communications, research, and public policy. At Discovery, Baer managed a wide range of business, production, and communications initiatives to build the company’s appeal, reach, and unparalleled content. These efforts included managing teams that significantly expanded Discovery’s online offerings, including acquisitions of digital media businesses such as Petfinder.com, Antenna Audio, and United Learning; the launch of mobile video operations, the first video partnership with Google Earth, and initiatives with companies including Nokia, Qualcomm, and Samsung. His work to expand Discovery’s public affairs content included managing the Discovery/New York Times Company joint venture in the Discovery Times Channel, helping to hire Ted Koppel, and producing a documentary series with Thomas Friedman of The New York Times. Under Baer’s leadership, Discovery and the American Film Institute founded Silverdocs, America’s top documentary festival. Before Discovery, Baer was in public service, journalism, and law. From 1994-97, he was one of President Clinton’s senior advisers. Before the White House, Baer was a top editor at US News and World Report, covering national politics, and, as an editor, managing national and international coverage. He also worked at The American Lawyer. His writing has appeared in publications including the New York Times and the Politico. He was a CBS News analyst in 1998 and has appeared on many national television shows. As a writer for the annual Kennedy Center Honors television show since 2000, he has won two Writers Guild of America awards.

Aryeh B. Bourkoff

Global Head of TMT Banking
UBS - IC2010 NYC SPONSOR

Aryeh B. Bourkoff is the head of UBS’s global telecom, media, and technology investment banking practice, and has been at the forefront of numerous innovative deals shaping the way the modern world communicates and consumes entertainment. Recently named to Fortune magazine's renowned list of the top "40 Under 40" global business leaders, Bourkoff has led UBS’s efforts on Comcast’s $37.5 billion purchase of NBC, the $21 billion workout of Charter Communications, the $5.3 billion sale of Germany’s Unity Media to Liberty Global, and the $1.4 billion sale of Bresnan Communications to Cablevision Systems. With oversight of 170 UBS investment bankers worldwide, he has also structured precedent-setting deals such as Liberty Media Corporation’s $530 million, forty percent acquisition of Sirius XM Radio and the $500 million deal in which NBC Universal, CBS, and Robert Redford sold the Sundance Channel to Cablevision Systems. Bourkoff’s other clients include a vast array of leading corporate, private equity, hedge fund, and institutional investors. Now a member of the UBS Investment Banking Executive Committee, Bourkoff began his career as a media analyst. At the age of twenty-six he was named by Institutional Investor as the best analyst of media [high yield] in the nation. He kept that distinction for seven straight years, ultimately earning a “Best on the Street” honor from the Wall Street Journal and Institutional Investor’s praise as the best media analyst across the entire capital structure (equities, fixed income, hedge funds). He is the first and only analyst to receive a top ranking across these three specialized areas of finance. Bourkoff serves as cochair of the media and entertainment division of the UJA-Federation of New York and sits on the board of the American division of Hebrew University among others. He also produced the documentary film The Last Jews of Libya, directed by his mother Vivienne, which details the final decades of Libya’s Jewish community. Narrated by Isabella Rossellini, the movie played to acclaim at the Tribeca Film Festival and aired on the Sundance Channel.

Joseph Calabrese

Partner
O’Melveny & Myers LLP - IC2010 NYC SPONSOR

Joseph Calabrese is a partner in O’Melveny’s Century City office, chair of the Southern California Transaction Practice, and chair of O’Melveny’s entertainment, sports, and media practice. Calabrese’s practice is focused primarily on the creation, operation, and financing of entertainment and media companies, including the negotiation of complex distribution and licensing agreements, structured finance transactions, and mergers and acquisitions. His practice also involves the negotiation of broadcast licensing and joint venture agreements for sports entities and other sports-related transactions. Calabrese is actively involved in the firm’s international practice area, routinely providing advice to American companies doing business overseas and to global media companies seeking to establish or expand their presence in the United States. This advice ranges from complex distribution and licensing transactions to mergers and acquisitions (including film and music library acquisitions) and the formation and financing of joint venture production and distribution entities.

Marcel Fenez

Global Leader, Entertainment and Media Practice
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP - IC2010 NYC SPONSOR

Marcel Fenez was responsible for initially establishing the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Hong Kong entertainment, media, and communications group in 1995. Since 1998 he has been the Asia Pacific leader of PwC’s entertainment and media practice and in 2007 he was appointed the global leader. From 2001-2007, he led PricewaterhouseCoopers’ enlarged Technology, Infocom, and Entertainment (TICE) practice in Hong Kong and Mainland China comprising of over 1000 professionals. Since 2005, he has been the leader of the TICE practice throughout Asia Pacific. As a resident of Hong Kong for more than twenty-two years, Fenez has extensive experience working with companies in all sectors of the entertainment and media industries throughout Asia. In addition to managing large cross border assurance engagements, he also has significant advisory experience, which includes providing strategic business advice (specifically in the context of market entry into the regions developing economies), change and process improvement consulting as well as risk management consulting, transaction related services, and business planning. Fenez has worked with many major local media companies including Shaw Brothers, TVB, Sing Tao Group, and Celestial Pictures as well as the Asia Pacific operations of multinationals including MTV, The Interpublic Group, Sony, Time Warner, Walt Disney, NBC Universal, and Universal Music. Fenez is a regular contributor to global and regional media and events on issues relating to the development of entertainment, media, and the ongoing convergence resulting from new technologies. Since 2001, he has been the elected chairman of the Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (“CASBAA”), the leading industry association promoting the interests of programmers and cable and satellite broadcasters in the region.

Gustave M. Hauser

Chairman
Hauser Communications - IC2010 NYC SPONSOR

Gustave Hauser is chairman and chief executive officer of Hauser Communications, Inc., a private company which has been involved in cable television, international satellite, and other electronic communications. He is the founder and a director of the nonprofit Hauser Foundation, and, among many philanthropic activities, established The Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard University. He also serves as vice chair of The Paley Center for Media. A pioneer of the modern cable television industry, Hauser has been responsible for the development of many innovations, including the MTV Music Television network, Nickelodeon, The Movie Channel, pay-per-view, and other advanced interactive services. Hauser’s sale of major cable television systems to Southwestern Bell Corporation (now AT&T) marked the entry of major telephone companies into the cable television industry. He was a founding investor and chairman of Orion Network Systems, a public company which owned and operated international communications satellites. Hauser was, from 1973 to 1983, chairman and chief executive officer of Warner Cable Communications, after which he formed his own company. Among his public service activities, Hauser was twice appointed by the President of the United States, and served for eight years, as director at large of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. He holds law degrees from Harvard University, New York University, and the University of Paris, France.

Robert L. McCann, Jr.

Executive Vice President
The Nielsen Company - IC2010 NYC SPONSOR

Bob McCann is the senior leader at The Nielsen Company’s largest facility in the world, its Global Technology and Information Center (GTIC) in Tampa Bay, Florida. He reports directly to the office of the chief executive officer and represents Nielsen’s extensive global business within the Tampa Bay community, with visiting clients, with local media, government officials, and with the employee population across Florida. Before taking on the Florida assignment, McCann managed Nielsen’s international media businesses for nearly ten years and prior to his international stint, he managed globally the Kraft Foods business at Nielsen covering more than sixty countries. Earlier, McCann was responsible for Nielsen’s successful efforts at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and today, in addition to his Florida leadership responsibilities, he manages all of Nielsen’s support activities associated with the ramp up to the London 2012 Games. Prior to joining Nielsen, McCann was a partner at Booz Allen & Hamilton and a former Colgate Toothpaste brand manager.

Christopher A.H. Vollmer

Partner and Leader, Global Media and Entertainment Practice
Booz & Company - IC2010 NYC SPONSOR

Christopher Vollmer is a New York-based partner, and the leader of Booz & Company’s Global Media and Entertainment Practice. Vollmer has worked with many of world’s leading media and entertainment, consumer goods, telecommunications, and technology companies. His engagements have included the development of corporate and business unit strategies, capability building programs, and pre- and post-acquisition integration efforts. Vollmer has deep expertise in advertising sales, consumer marketing, and digital media. He led Booz & Company’s Marketing and Media Ecosystem 2010 effort, a ground-breaking cross industry research initiative conducted with the Association of National Advertisers, the Interactive Advertising Bureau, and the 4As. He has published several articles on marketing and digital media, and is the author of Always On: Advertising, Marketing and Media in an Era of Consumer Control, which was a Wall Street Journal best seller in 2008. In addition to his work with Booz & Company, Vollmer is actively involved in a variety of organizations that reflect his interests in media, international affairs, and New York City. He is the chairman of the Global Nomads Group, a NYC-based NGO that develops multimedia educational programs for students about global issues. He serves on the IESE Business School’s Advisory Board for its New York Media and Entertainment Center. In 2010, he was selected to be a David Rockefeller Fellow. This program, established by the Partnership for New York City, enables a new generation of private sector leaders to deepen their understanding of the public needs of New York City and to take an active role in shaping the city’s future. Vollmer earned an MBA from the Wharton School of Business and a master's in international studies from the University of Pennsylvania. He also holds a bachelor of arts in English from the University of California at Berkeley. He and his wife live in Old Greenwich, CT with their two children.

Edward Borgerding

Chief Executive Officer
Abu Dhabi Media - LUNCH SPONSOR

As chief executive officer, Edward Borgerding leads the company towards its vision to be the media group of choice in the Arab world, while playing a significant role in the development of the local media industry in Abu Dhabi. He joined the company as chief executive officer in 2007. He is also chief executive officer and serves as a board member of Imagenation Abu Dhabi, a subsidiary and one of the world’s leading feature film producers. Borgerding is a veteran of the media industry, with extensive experience managing and operating international media companies. He began his career in theatrical distribution and marketing with Disney Studios in Burbank, California. He was formerly executive vice president of Walt Disney International in Hong Kong, where he oversaw the operating units of the Walt Disney Company in the Asia Pacific region, including India and the Middle East. This covered activities related to television, home video, consumer products, new media, theatrical distribution, and the Disney Channels. In 1995, he established the first Disney Channel outside the USA, in Taiwan. He later opened Disney Channels in the United Arab Emirates and Australia, and set up the first television offices for Disney in India and China. He has produced Wolverine and the X-Men, a twenty-six episode animated TV series, in association with Marvel Productions and First Serve Toonz, which was completed in 2007.