Digital Hollywood, October 27-30, 2008

Tuesday I will be moderating a the following at Digital Hollywood in Santa Monica. Join me and this fine panel as we hash out Digital Workflow.

Tuesday, October 28th
10:45 AM - Noon - Special Workshops
The Revolutionized Digital Workflow Experience: Understanding How Information Technology, Broadcast & Entertainment Production Merge
Steve Poehlein, Client Industry Executive, EDS
Tom Ohanian, Chief Strategy Officer, Signiant, Inc.
Jake Winett, Global Industry Manager of Media & Entertainment, Microsoft
Michelle Munson, president and co-founder, Aspera, Inc.
David Beebe, Director Video Production, Disney/ABC Television Digital Media Group, ABC.com & ABC Mobile
Mike Palmer, Director of Broadcast Digital Distribution Systems and Strategy, Associated Press
Kenneth Yas, Market Development Manager, Cameras, NA, Grass Valley
Joel Ordesky, Chief Technical Officer, Wexler Video, Moderator

Mike Palmer, Director of Broadcast Digital Distribution Systems and Strategy, Associated Press: Since joining AP in 1998, Palmer has played a leadership role in key areas within the organization and the industry. He has been a driving force and a spokesman for the MOS Protocol, a newsroom integration tool recognized by much of the industry as the gold standard for machine communication in the newsroom. As a result in 2001, Palmer was awarded the prestigious Oliver Gramling Award for Achievement by AP. Palmer also has been a key architect of the AP’s ENPS software and other products in his role as Director of Technology Development, a position he still retains. Prior to 1998, he worked in local news and engineering operations in positions ranging from field photographer to news operations manager. Palmer also held management positions in satellite operations at Conus and USSB, both pioneers in the satellite industry. Palmer is a Mass Communications (Journalism) graduate of the University of Southern Colorado, and studied electrical engineering at Texas A&M University.

Steve Poehlein, Client Industry Executive, EDS Communications, Media & Entertainment Industry: Steve Poehlein is a client industry executive for the Global Communications, Media & Entertainment Industry group. He is responsible for U.S.-based media & entertainment companies. Poehlein brings more than 16 years of experience in the media and entertainment industry to EDS. Before joining EDS, Poehlein was the vice president, Strategic Studio Relations at Deluxe Digital Studios. In this role, he established the relationship with Walt Disney Studios and its post-production business across all Deluxe divisions and was instrumental in strategic initiatives for Digital Post Production & Delivery. After serving as MIS director in the design industry, Poehlein served as a software engineer at Metrolight Studios, where he worked on a wide range of TV, commercial and interactive CD-ROM projects. He was president and CEO of Class6 Entertainment, producing animation for commercials and CD-ROM games for Disney Interactive, Broderbund, Electronic Arts and others. He was instrumental in the inception of Internet content company, planetLingo, Inc., as its director of Production. Poehlein moved to Walt Disney Feature Animation as manager of Digital Animation Software. He managed development, supporting production in character modeling, animation and rendering for several of Disney’s animated films. He transitioned to the role of director of Mastering and Restoration for Walt Disney Pictures and Television. In that role Poehlein managed a staff responsible for the creation of digital cinema, video masters, scripts and international dubbing reference for all Disney released and distributed films. As head of restoration, Poehlein was instrumental in the development of a program for Disney’s classic animated films. He has been actively involved in the many facets of the entertainment industry for more than 16 years. His contribution to these companies has spanned from management and financial oversight, strategic direction to hands-on technical and creative development. Poehlein is a rare executive that can “see the big picture,” yet understand low-level technical details of an issue. He is adept at cultivating and maintaining relationships and always strives for “win-win” results. Poehlein obtained a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Cincinnati and a master of architecture, computer aided design and graphics from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Tom Ohanian, Chief Strategy Officer, Signiant: As Chief Strategy Officer for Signiant, Tom Ohanian oversees the development, improvement and customer acceptance of all Signiant offerings with a special focus on exceptional customer experiences and continuous innovation. Ohanian is an accomplished strategist, designer, and inventor of digital media products and workflow solutions and was a founding member of Avid Technology. Drawing upon his 26 years in the media industries, his inventions and efforts in product creation and evangelization have led to the widespread adoption of digital nonlinear video, film editing systems and workflow strategies in addition to LAN and WAN digital media collaboration. He is an Academy Award® and a two-time Emmy® recipient.








Michelle Munson, president and co-founder of Aspera, Inc., is co-inventor of Aspera’s core technology and responsible for overseeing the company’s direction. With breakthrough technology solving the fundamental problems of network data delivery, Aspera has quickly become the market leader for high-performance, global file transfer in media and entertainment, and is extensively deployed throughout a variety of industries, as well as government and defense markets, worldwide. Before founding Aspera in 2004, Michelle was a software engineer in several research and start-up companies including the IBM Almaden Research Center in San Jose, California. She is a frequent speaker on how new data transfer technologies are revolutionizing content production, transformation and distribution workflows. A Fulbright Scholar, Ms. Munson holds B.S. degrees in electrical engineering and physics from Kansas State University, as well as a master’s in computer science from Cambridge University. She was the 2006 KSU College of Engineering Alumni Fellow (the youngest recipient ever), and has received national achievement awards from Glamour Magazine and USA Today.


David Beebe is currently Director, Video Production for Disney/ABC Television Digital Media Group where he oversees the video production, post production and distribution of all short form and long form content on ABC.com, ABC Mobile and other digital media platforms where ABC Entertainment content is available. Additionally he oversees the production of all original video productions for ABC.com, including “Start Now” (ABC.com’s Daily Show - A Network First), ABC Entertainment Show Derivatives, Live and Taped Online Specials (Hosted Weekly Shows, Red Carpet, Thank You Cam, Road To Series, Behind The Scenes) and ABC Entertainment’s 24 hour live channel on ABC Mobile featuring full episodes and original short form programming. Beebe also works closely with the digital sales team to monetize short form original productions and the digital media technology and platform teams to improve the viewing experience of all short form and long form content for ABC.com and ABC Mobile. Beebe was originally hired as ABC.com’s first Video Producer where he project managed the launch and production of the first full episode player on ABC.com which won an Interactive Emmy the following year. At the same time, he rapidly built relationships with shows and network executives to expand the production of original videos online while also rapidly building out and expanding the video production, post production and distribution teams to over 20 people working around the clock to produce, edit, distribute and program video content on ABC.com and ABC Mobile. Prior to joining ABC.com, Beebe worked at DIRECTV as Sr. Editor and Producer, where he was responsible for managing editorial marketing copy online for DIRECTV.com and producing promos and original shows for DIRECTV’s own promotional channel on air and online. Beebe also led the charge to launch the first video player on DIRECTV.com and played the key role in working with television networks and studios to run promotional content online within the DIRECTV.com video player. He also spent four years working at two broadcast centers for DIRECTV in various satellite broadcast operational roles including scheduling and asset coordination. He was a key leader and part of the original broadcast center launch teams at both the Long Beach Broadcast Center and Marina Del Rey Broadcast Centers. During a mutli-season production deal at Showtime, Beebe also oversaw the production and post production of six DVD Bonus Features for Showtime Networks Original hit series “Queer as Folk” in addition to producing DVD Promos for Showtime’s Original Series “Penn & Teller: Bullshit!”
He also freelanced for Venice Magazine, where he interviewed television and movie celebrities and wrote over 50 articles for the magazine. He also oversaw the launch of the magazines very first website which allowed readers to read the magazine articles online and manage their subscriptions. Having produced and managed content for multiple platforms including online, mobile, satellite, radio and DVD over the past 10 years, Beebe got his start in multiplatform communications serving in the United States Coast Guard as a Telecommunications Specialist where he worked in Top Secret Communication Facilities and was responsible for sending, receiving and managing voice and data messages as well as emergency radio communications during search and rescue and law enforcement operations. He also worked in radio announcing news stories and traffic updates while also producing and writing radio commercials.