Jeffrey Cole, Founder and Director

Jeffrey Cole has been at the forefront of media and communication technology issues both in the United States and internationally for the past 25 years. He serves as an adviser to governments and many of the largest and most successful companies round the world as they craft digital strategies. As the Director of the World Internet Project, the most comprehensive and longest-running study of its kind, Dr. Cole has personally worked with over 50 of the world’s leading brands on digital trends and has delivered over 500 keynote addresses across the globe. Dr. Cole directs the Center for the Digital Future at the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism where he serves as Research Professor. Prior to joining USC, Cole was a member of the UCLA faculty where he served as Director for the UCLA Center for Communication Policy and won the Distinguished Teaching Award.

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Greg Bovitz, Senior Research Fellow

As Senior Research Fellow, Greg advises on the design, implementation and analysis of proprietary custom studies that the Center conducts on behalf of industry partners and government leaders. He is also founder and president of Bovitz, Inc., a multidisciplinary market research and strategy firm. Greg holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego and is a recognized expert in consumer research methods.

Dr. Bovitz’s work at the Center includes a leadership role in the implementation and dissemination of the longitudinal Digital Future study. By helping organizations springboard off of the Center’s longitudinal insights into highly customized, proprietary research programs, he enables organizations to stay ahead of emerging developments, rather than simply reacting to them.

Michael Bowling
President
AT&T Business Marketing 

Jeffrey Cole
Director
USC Annenberg School Center for the Digital Future

Andrew Heyward
A Squared Entertainment

Andy Howard
Vice President
Shamrock Capital Advisors

Andrew Kaplan (Chair)
President, International Networks
Sony Pictures Television International 

David Katz
Founder and CEO
SportsFanLive 

Rob Kenneally
Senior Packaging Agent
Creative Artists Agency 

Stephen Kim
Senior Director, Global Marketing
Microsoft Corporation

Ira Kurgan
Chief Business Officer
Fox Broadcasting Company   

Marc Nathanson
Chairman
Mapleton Investments 

David Neuman
Blackrock Productions 

Rob Norman
Chief Digital Officer
GroupM Global 

Lynda Resnick
Co-Owner and Vice Chairman
Roll International Corporation 

Saul Rosenzweig
President
RZGroup 

Scott Sassa
Senior Vice President
Hearst Corporation

Jonathan Strauss
Co-Founder and CEO
Snowball Factory, Inc. 

Casey Wasserman
Chairman and CEO
Wasserman Media Group, LLC

Dwight Witherspoon
Vice President, Communications
Ericsson

John Beck

John C. Beck is a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for the Digital Future. He also serves as a professor and director at Hult International Business School and as the president of the North Star Leadership Group, Inc. Previously, Dr. Beck held the role of Dean at Globis University (Japan), where he was the first non-Japanese to lead a bilingual professional degree program. Before that, he was the Director of International Research at Accenture, a Senior Advisor to the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore and a Senior Advisor at Monitor Group.

An expert on business in Asia, strategic management, globalization and technology, Dr. Beck has published hundreds of books, articles and business reports. He has served on the boards of a variety of corporations and universities and held the post of co-director of the 'Project on Strategies of the World’s Largest 50 Companies' for the United Nations.

John earned his B.A. in East Asian Studies and Sociology summa cum laude from Harvard University, and was the first graduate of Harvard’s integrative Ph.D. program in Organizational Behavior.

Brad Berens

Brad Berens is the head of programming for three events companies focused on the intersection of interactive media with marketing and advertising—ad:tech, the iMedia Summits and the CMO Executive Summits. Berens also serves as Chief Content Officer for dmg world media’s Digital Marketing Sector. He joined the company in 2004 as the Editor in Chief of its daily media property, iMedia Connection, and was later promoted to his current role.

Brad is an editor, writer, critic, public speaker and thinker focused on media, culture, marketing how the things that audiences do with what they watch have a huge impact on who they are. In addition to his work with dmg world media, he also writes at the Mediavorous Blog.

Brad holds a Ph.D. in English from U.C. Berkeley. He spent years as an award-winning teacher and scholar, giving talks about Shakespeare all over the world.

Joseph Carrabis

Joseph Carrabis is Founder and CRO of The NextStage Companies (NextStage Evolution, NextStage Global and NextStage Analytics), which specialize in helping clients improve their marketing efforts and understand customer behavior. Most recently he introduced “Neuromarketing Without the Wires” to Critical Mass, demonstrating how to market to consumers’ minds without the need for laboratory settings, focus groups, invasive equipment and prohibitive expense.

Carrabis has authored 25 books and over 500 articles in five areas of expertise. His writings are available at AllBusiness.com, An Economy of Meanings, BizMediaScience, iMediaConnections, Stating the Obvious, That Think You Do, TheAnalyticsEcology and Triquatrotritecale.

Carrabis is a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for the Digital Future, a Senior Research Fellow and Board Advisory Member for the Society for New Communications Research, a Founder, Senior Researcher and Director of Predictive Analytics for the Center for Adaptive Solutions and a member of Scientists Without Borders. He was selected as an International Ambassador for Psychological Science in 2010 specializing in trauma and AIDS therapies, as a Nature Publishing Group delegate to TEDMED 2013 and is a frequent lead speaker, guest presenter and panelist at industry, trade and academic conferences and conventions.

Uday Karmarkar

Uday S. Karmarkar is Times Mirror Professor of Management Strategy and Director of the Center for Management in the Information Economy at the Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA. His research interests are in information intensive industries, technology management and operations strategy for manufacturing, service and information based companies. He previously taught at the GSB, University of Chicago and at the Simon School, University of Rochester.

He has undertaken consulting and research projects in technology management, operations strategy, industrial marketing, business development and supply chain management with a wide variety of global firms. He is on the advisory boards of several startup companies as well as more established firms.

Professor Karmarkar is widely published and was recognized as a Distinguished Alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology (Bombay) where he serves on their Advisory Board.

He holds a B.Tech. degree in Engineering from I.I.T. and a Ph.D. in Management Science from M.I.T.

Barry Wellman

Advisors to the Center are renowned experts in key trend areas including digital marketing, entertainment, business strategy and policy making who keep the research staff and fellows abreast of emerging issues that industry and government leaders face in the digital realm. In addition to being an invaluable sounding board for the Center’s leadership, they provide critical input to research initiatives, cultivate new corporate partnerships for the Center and participate in the Center’s various conferences and events.

Phil Burgess

Phil Burgess serves as a consultant to Telstra and advisor to the CEO. He recently returned to The Annapolis Institute to resume research, writing and speaking on issues related to technology and society. At the Center for the Digital Future, he addresses the impact of the Internet and advanced communications technologies on consumer behavior, business practices and community development in the U.S. and around the globe.

Previously, Burgess held the position of Group Managing Director for Public Policy & Communications at Telstra Corporation, where he was responsible for public policy, regulatory affairs, government relations, media relations, corporate communications and the Telstra Foundation.

Burgess has written extensively on emerging patterns of work in the United States, coining the term ‘lone eagles’ to describe the growing number of entrepreneurs and freelance professionals who can live and work anyplace, primarily because of advances in telecommunications technologies.

J. Scott Dinsdale

Scott is Executive Vice President of Digital Operations & New Technology for Sony Music Entertainment. In this role, Scott is responsible for connecting Sony Music’s roster of artists to a global array of digital partners and channels and for guiding the company’s interests in emerging technology.

From 2000 to 2003, Scott served as Executive Vice President of Digital Strategy for the Motion Picture Association of America, where he led the development and execution of the film industry’s entre into the digital age. Before joining the MPAA Scott served for five years as Senior Vice President, CTO & CIO for BMG Entertainment, the music and entertainment division of Bertelsmann AG. Prior to BMG Scott was Vice President, Applied Technology at Merrill Lynch & Co. where he directed the development of the firm’s private client technologies. Scott is also an accomplished entrepreneur and consultant.

Michael Gilbert

Michael Gilbert is active in a wide cross-section of the Center’s activities. He has been involved in focus group discussions and participated in the design, review and presentation of the Center’s research programs with special emphasis on family and gender issues. Gilbert is regularly featured on national television as a guest analyst, most recently on Fox News and MSNBC, as well as the op-ed pages of Newsday and The Christian Science Monitor.

Gilbert speaks regularly on gender and technology issues and authored an award-winning book, The Disposable Male: Sex, Love and Money—Your World through Darwin’s Eyes, demonstrating the continuing relevance of deep-seated biological and evolutionary forces in today’s sophisticated digital domains.

Previously, Gilbert participated in an array of individual and corporate entertainment industry activities in conjunction with MGM/UA, Sony Pictures, Fox and New World Entertainment. Upon concluding his formal education with an MBA at Harvard, Michael Gilbert combined university lecturing with a varied and accomplished career as an executive and entrepreneur in real estate, investment banking and the entertainment industry before returning to academic roots and his current focus on the social implications of today’s digital technologies. He has served as a senior officer and director of several public companies, lectured in the adjunct faculty at Concordia University (in Montreal) and authored articles on a wide variety of topics.

Robert Hess

Robert Hess is the founding Principal of the Strategics Group, a Santa Monica, California management consulting firm specializing in organizational strategy execution and performance management. Prior to founding The Strategics Group, his post-military business career included positions as Vice President of Business Development in the Washington, DC office of Aerospatiale, Inc. and Director of Strategic Planning and Partner Relations at the Center for Digital Innovation at the University of California Los Angeles. During his military career, Robert commanded ground and air units in the Republic of Vietnam and West Germany, served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and as an exchange officer in the Department of State.

He holds a Masters of Business Administration from the Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA, a Masters Degree in Area Studies from the School of International Service, The American University in Washington, DC, and a BA in history from the Virginia Military Institute. He is a graduate of the Board of Directors Institute, Price Center for Entrepreneurship at University of California Los Angeles, the Landaegger Institute for International Management at Georgetown University, and numerous military schools, including the US Army Command and General Staff College. He has served as an outside Director of a privately held aviation services company, and is a graduate and certified Facilitator for the award winning FastTrac™ entrepreneurial training programs offered through the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

Jane Kagon

Jane Kagon, JD, is an international consultant who, for the past fifteen years, has been a pioneer on globalization and digital technology issues focused on the nexus between education and entertainment. In addition to being an Honorary Fellow of the National Advisory Board of the Desantis Center for Motion Picture Industry Studies, Jane is the Executive Director and co-founder of RFK-LA (Legacy in Action) a 501C3, a non-profit community learning center focused on digital media, media literacy training and social justice issues, created to foster the legacy and values of Robert F. Kennedy.

For nearly a decade, Jane was at UCLA as the Director of the Entertainment Studies and Performing Arts Department in the University’s Continuing Education Division. Currently, Jane teaches online courses in the Media and Communications Psychology Masters Degree Program she designed for TUW, distance-learning division of Touro University. Prior to becoming an educator, Jane was a Hollywood production executive, working as Vice President of Production for Michael Douglas, at Fox Studios among other Hollywood Majors, as well has having been an independent film producer and a writer for animated children’s series, serious games and webisodes.

Jane did her undergraduate degree in English and applied arts at Mills College and UC Berkeley and received her JD from Loyola Law School. She lives in Malibu California, with her husband, Ed Greenberg,the executive director of Laughter Ffor A Change.

Jonathon Perelman

Since 2009, Jonathan Perelman has served as the Global Lead for Google’s Industry Relations team where he is responsible for brand identity initiatives and relationship management within the advertising and media industries. Jonathan’s work covers the Americas, and he is currently leading the expansion of the team into Europe the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Prior to Google, Jonathan was the General Manager at Unifund, a financial services start-up, where he worked with Tony Coelho, the Former Majority Whip in the House of Representatives. During his college years, he was asked to take a leave of absence to serve as Cory Booker’s Deputy Finance Director during his 2002 mayoral campaign in Newark, New Jersey. His political work also included advising a member of the UK Parliament during the 2001 and 2010 general elections.

Jonathan is a sought-after lecturer on advertising, technology and public policy issues. He was awarded the prestigious OC Award by Google’s Operating Committee for his work on mergers and acquisitions. Jonathan sits on the Executive Committee of the American Jewish Committee (AJC) an international advocacy organization, and is the immediate past co-chair of the AJC’s ACCESS program. Jonathan is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania with a BA in political science.

Tom Plate

Tom Plate is an internationally syndicated Asia columnist. He is the Distinguished Scholar of Asian and Pacific Studies at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and the award-winning author of the bestselling ‘Giants of Asia’ series, which includes books on Lee Kuan Yew, Mahathir Mohamad and Thaksin Shinawatra. Plate is a board member of the Pacific Century Institute; the Princeton Club of New York, the Century Association of New York, and the Phi Beta Kappa Society. He is also currently a Visiting Professor at the United Arab Emirates University, the state university of UAE.

Between 1994-2008, Prof. Plate taught undergraduates courses in media, ethics and Asian politics at UCLA. He has lectured at Princeton, at UCLA’s Anderson School, the East- West Center at the University of Hawaii, California Polytechnic State University at Pomona, The Getty Museum and Trust in Los Angeles, the U.S. Pacific Command in Hawaii and at universities in Asia, including the LKY School of Public Policy in Singapore, Kyoto University in Japan, and Melbourne University in Australia.

He is a graduate of Amherst College (political science ­ Phi Beta Kappa) and Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, where he earned his master’s degree in public and international affairs. He is the author of six books and has been a staff editor or writer at Time, Newsday, New York Magazine, CBS and The Daily Mail of London, where he served as guest American editor. From 1989-1995 he was Editor of the Editorial Pages of the Los Angeles Times. He has been honored with major journalism awards, including the American Society of Newspaper Editors Deadline Writing Award, the Greater Los Angeles Press Club Award for 'Best Editorial' and the California Newspaper Publishers Award.

Phoebe Schramm

Phoebe Schramm serves as chief operations and financial officer for the Center. She is in charge of all administrative functions and day-to-day operations of the Center. In addition, she is responsible for the coordination of the international partners in the World Internet Project.

Schramm has an extensive background in management of public relations and independent film production companies as well as private foundations. After earning a B.A. in sociology from New York University, she began her career at The Rowland Company in New York. At Rowland, the fourth largest independent public relations firm in the U.S., she worked closely with major clients, such as Chesebrough-Pond's, Procter & Gamble, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Eastman Kodak.

She was conference coordinator for the “Advocacy Groups and the Entertainment Industry” conference, the Surveying the Digital Future Internet conference and the “On-line Communities Retreat.” Schramm also served as project manager for the Center’s “Internet and the Military Family” project, which was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense, from 2005-2007.

Michael Suman

Michael Suman serves as the research director of the Center for the Digital Future, where he manages and coordinates the UCLA Television Violence Monitoring Project, the “Surveying the Digital Future” Internet study and the World Internet Project. Suman is also a member of the UCLA faculty in the Department of Communication Studies.

Dr. Suman holds a Ph.D. in sociology from UCLA, and has taught sociology, anthropology and communication studies in Japan, Korea, China and the Marshall Islands.

Liuning (Matt) Zhou

Matt holds a doctoral degree in communication from the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism. As a research associate, he manages data and conducts data analysis for all the Center’s studies and reports. His research focuses on international telecommunications, communication technologies, communications policy and new media for marketing, and he has presented and published research on those topics.

He has a deep understanding of research methodology, and teaches research methods classes in the Communication Management program at the USC Annenberg School.