Allison Stern, Chair, Future of Media Conference
Allison is a second-year MBA student at Stanford, passionate about media, technology, and innovation. This past summer, she worked at YouTube, on the team launching YouTube’s new Original Content and Channels Strategy. She has also helped media companies, including 20th Century Fox and AOL, develop compelling online experiences and increase user engagement. Prior to business school, Allison worked as a strategy consultant at the Corporate Executive Board helping Fortune 500 companies accelerate growth through innovation. Allison is currently founder and CEO of TVtally, a startup in the social television / two-screen space. If she wasn't pursuing a digital media career from the business side, she would be a documentary filmmaker or sketch-comedy writer. Allison holds a B.A. in History from Yale University. You can follow her on Twitter at @allisonstern.
Lindsay Russell, Chief Marketing Officer, Future of Media Conference
Lindsay Russell is a second-year MBA student at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Prior to business school, she worked in the Investment Banking Division of Lehman Brothers and Barclays Capital in New York, splitting four years across roles as a financial analyst in the Global Leveraged Finance Group and a member of the Executive Chief of Staff team. Passionate about the arts, Lindsay is interested in the growing trend of art e-commerce and has worked in Business Development at Exhibition A, a contemporary art e-commerce start-up. Follow her on Twitter at @LindRuss.
Maria Lambert, Panel Co-Chair, The Socialization of Music
Maria is a second-year MBA student at the GSB who is passionate about music and the arts. She currently runs GSBeats, the GSB's unofficial music community with more than 250 members. Prior to business school, Maria worked as a management consultant for Bain in New York City where she developed an interest in media. While there she led one of the most comprehensive research studies to date on digital music consumption habits and evaluated music service deals for one of the recorded music majors. This summer, she interned at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. She is now working on a music start-up that brings together amateur DJs and music fans through a cloud-based platform to co-create music. After school she plans to return to Bain New York and start moonlighting as a photographer.
Justin Santistevan, Panel Chair, Tomorrow's Video Game Landscape
Justin is a second-year MBA student at the GSB, and plans to embark on a career in the video games industry following graduation. He previously worked as a management consultant with BCG in the Boston and Sydney offices, and later as a private equity analyst at Sorenson Capital in Salt Lake City. Justin has a passion for games that started with collecting issues of Nintendo Power when he was eight years old, and that passion continues to this day. His favorite games of the moment include Skyrim, League of Legends, Skyward Sword, Modern Warfare 3, Battlefield 3, Jetpack Joyride, and Batman: Arkham City. He lives in Menlo Park with his wife and one-year-old son.
Martha Tian, Panel Chair, Reinvention of Traditional Media
Martha is a second-year MBA student at the GSB, and plans to embark on a career in TV/film following graduation. She previously worked in investment banking at Citigroup in Hong Kong and later in public equity (covering media stocks) at Dodge & Cox in San Francisco. Since coming to the GSB, Martha has shed her finance hat and jumped head first into the world of entertainment – interning at Warner Bros in their digital distribution team and at Universal Pictures in their motion picture group. Her greatest dream is to one day write a children’s novel that will rival the likes of Harry Potter…and then turn it into a movie!
Jackie Rocca, Director of Operations
Jackie is a second-year MBA student at the GSB, and is passionate about the intersection of technology and media, especially in the online video space. This past summer Jackie packed in two digital media internships: one at Hulu and the other working out of Playfish's Beijing office. She previously worked as a management consultant at Bain in LA and also spent some time at Disney before school. She hopes to remain on the west coast after school and currently lives in Palo Alto.
Danny Arbeiter, Director of Logistics
Danny Arbeiter is a second-year MBA student at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. A member of the Arts, Media & Entertainment Club leadership team, Danny defines media very broadly. Most recently, he has worked for McKinsey & Company serving primarily the technology and telecom industries. However, he retains a soft spot in his heart for the skills he developed at The Walt Disney Company. Danny is most interested in how changing consumer preferences dictates new roles for service providers such as ad networks, MSOs, and console vendors. Danny attended Stanford University for his undergraduate degree, and is a passionate fan of all things Cardinal.
Charlie Kubal, Panel Co-Chair, The Socialization of Music
Charlie is a second-year MBA and spends much of his time consuming and (trying to) create both music and innovative technology. On the music front, he plays under the name wait what, and has been featured in New York Magazine, Rolling Stone, and The Guardian, who hailed his debut, the notorious xx, as "the best mashup album of 2010." He's headlined shows from Toronto to Bangkok, from clubs to stadiums, and performed with artists including Wiz Khalifa, Mötley Crüe, and Lil Wayne. On the tech side, his history includes Pandora and Google, and he spent some of last summer with an angel investment group in Rio de Janeiro. He's currently working on a mobile location startup that he'll pursue full-time upon graduating. He collects his online output on charliekubal.com and can be found on Twitter as @wtwht.
James Lilly, Panel Chair, Media Investing