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Speakers: BRITE Workshop on Online Communities

  • Marisa Bangash, Co-founder, Uncensored Interview.com
  • Richard Binhammer, Sr. Manager, Conversations, Communities and Communications, Dell
  • Aliza Freud, CEO, SheSpeaks
  • Thomas Gensemer, Managing Partner, Blue State Digital (myBarackObama.com)
  • Francois Gossieaux, Partner, Beeline Labs; Senior Fellow, Society for New Communications Research
  • Melinda Lee Co-founder, Uncensored Interview.com
  • Sylvia Marino, Executive Director, Community Operations, Edmunds
  • Natalie Mizik, Gantcher Associate Professor of Business, Columbia Business School
  • Ed Moran, Director, Deloitte & Touche LLP
  • David Rogers, Host, BRITE conferences; Executive Director, Center on Global Brand Leadership
  • Olivier Toubia, David W. Zalaznick Associate Professor of Business, Columbia Business School

 

Marisa Bangash is co-founder of the broadband video platform Uncensored Interview.com. Uncensored Interview is a website dedicated to giving independent musicians a space to share their thoughts and ideas via video with their fans and the world. Bangash was always fueled by a love for music and began her career at BKMM, a boutique PR firm with clients that included Tommy Lee, Diana Krall, G. Love and Sean “P. Diddy” Combs. In 2003, Bangash joined MTV Networks in Business and Legal Affairs, initially focusing on music rights and licensing. In 2005, Bangash moved on to VNU, Inc. at the Business Development group in the Digital e-Media division where she managed revenue streams on behalf of Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter and Nielsen. While at VNU, Bangash was also responsible for managing critical accounts which included Google, Reuters, Nielsen Media Research, and AC Nielsen. During this immersed experience, Bangash realized the promising opportunity for indie music in the burgeoning online business environment and decided to merge her two passions together- the appeal of the indie music market and entrepreneurship. In 2006, she founded ZenCat Productions, LLC with Melinda Lee and steadily assembled content of indie music’s gems and piqued the interest of both developing and established artists. Bangash and Lee beta-launched their product in November 2007. Since then, the site has been recognized by the indie music community in the form of a finalist position for the SXSW Web Awards in the category of Music; and Honoree status for the 2008 Webby’s. To date, the site’s roster includes prominent artists in the indie music scene many of which reside with today’s most successful independent labels.

Richard Binhammer, Conversations, Communities and Communications, Dell, Inc.
Mr. Binhammer is a leading member of Dell's Conversations, Communities and Communications team. Since the summer of 2006 he has been a part of Dell's growing online digital and social media initiatives and interactions. He has specific responsibilities for blog outreach, listening and engaging with online conversations about Dell. As "RichardatDELL" and by working with others throughout Dell's organization, he is part of a team focused on the growing trend of online conversations and communities that impact information and opinions about Dell. The team has worked to correct misinformation, address negative commentary and tell Dell’s story online. They have achieved a significant decline in negative commentary about the company, as well as recognition for Dell’s work to listen and engage online. His background includes more than 20 years experience in public affairs, government relations and politics, media relations and corporate communications. He has worked with diverse business sectors and with senior business and political leaders. 

Aliza Freud, Founder and CEO, SheSpeaks, Inc. Ms Freud’s company stages and showcases products, services and content for companies that want to establish a direct dialogue with female consumers. Through its diverse, national network of female members, SheSpeaks helps client companies spark women’s interest, obtain candid feedback, grow word-of-mouth awareness, and build long-term brand advocates.

Ms. Freud observed that in this era of increasing consumer control over media, marketers need to be smarter about winning consumers’ attention, and are beginning to integrate rapidly evolving social networking tactics into the marketing mix. She founded SheSpeaks on the principle that women would thrive in a dedicated online community where they could gather, connect with others and see the power of their voices in action. SheSpeaks’ member network has grown to over 50,000 women from across the U.S. The company has successfully tested products and services for leading brands in the beauty, packaged goods, and media industries, including Philips, Dove® chocolates, Oxygen Network, AOL, Martha Stewart, OPI and others. Before founding SheSpeaks, Ms. Freud was an executive at the American Express Company’s Global Advertising and Brand Management group and led global brand enhancement initiatives. In her 10 years at American Express, Ms. Freud earned multiple patents for new financial and membership card services.

Ms. Freud holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and is actively involved in the school’s alumni community, addressing groups on marketing, entrepreneurship and women in business. She is a recognized expert on word-of-mouth marketing and women’s insights, and frequently addresses conferences and forums. Ms. Freud is a mother of two and serves on the board of Step Up Women’s Network, a non-profit organization dedicated to developing the next generation of female philanthropists. 

Thomas Gensemer, Managing Partner, Blue State Digital. Based in Blue State Digital's Washington, DC headquarters, Thomas Gensemer provides day-to-day executive management and oversees the company's Strategy Team. He joined BSD in 2005 with a background in venture capital, strategy consulting, product marketing and technology startup management. Immediately prior to BSD, Thomas was the director of Internet strategy for America Coming Together (ACT), where he managed the organization's online fundraising, grassroots recruitment, and marketing. Prior to ACT, Thomas led online communications for General Wesley Clark's 2004 Presidential campaign.

From 1999 to 2003, Thomas managed The Accelerator Group, an entrepreneurial venture capital fund with offices in New York, Los Angeles and London. The fund developed and funded a broad portfolio of early-stage technology and marketing businesses; its holdings included Pyra-Blogger (acquired by Google), Openwave (OPWV), 24/7 Media (TFSM), Meetup.com and a number of private concerns.

Thomas is a graduate of New York University and lives in Washington, DC and Los Angeles. 

Francois Gossieaux is a co-founder and partner at Beeline Labs,, a marketing Innovation firm and President of Corante, a social media publishing company. Prior to Beeline Labs and Corante he was consulting on marketing and social media, involved with BlogBridge, and the founder of Synopia, Inc., a product innovation focused software startup. Before that he spent 5 years leading marketing, product management and strategy at eRoom Technology, a collaboration software company which was sold to Documentum in 2002. Francois has a long history with online and marketing – having implemented an Intranet for a large multinational in the early 90's; and being the organizer of the first large scale virtual event – InterAct'96 – with Time Magazine and Infoworld. He has used blogs for grassroots political and environmental activities, and is currently blogging at emergencemarketing.com. 

Melinda Lee began her career in media in a successful private law practice. In 1999, she created Uncensored Interview, a website dedicated to interviewing underground artists ranging from singer/songwriters to legendary folk heroes to screenplay writers. At the time, online video was a novel idea that few had envisioned. Lee captured artists from the many underground scenes that were bubbling with enormous creative output like Northampton, Philadelphia, NYC and Los Angeles and streamed these interviews onto her website. Uncensored Interview began to generate buzz among these underground scenes almost instantaneously. Meanwhile, Lee joined MTV Networks in digital media. She continued to work on the legal and business side of the entertainment industry, becoming Vice President of Digital Media in the Business and Legal affairs group within MTV Networks in 2006. As the new wave of digital media and entrepreneurs swept the industry, Lee decided to resurrect her initial concept of Uncensored Interview in 2006 and revamp it to suit the needs of a new tech savvy generation. In 2007, she joined the innovative online video company Joost, created by Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom, the founders of Skype and Kazaa, as the Head of Content Management and Strategy. As co-founder, Lee continued to steer the creative vision for Uncensored Interview and moved over to the company full time in early 2008. Since launch, Uncensored Interview has been recognized by the indie music community in the form of a finalist position for the SXSW Web Awards in the category of Music; and Honoree status for the 2008 Webby’s. To date, the site’s roster includes prominent artists in the indie music scene many of which reside with today’s most successful independent labels.

Sylvia Marino is the Executive Director of Community Operations for Edmunds, Inc. the premier resource for automotive information. Ms. Marino oversees all aspects of community strategy and operations including tools and implementation; member management and business operations with respect to user-generated content efforts around the Edmunds.com brand. Her purview includes social network features, forums, blogs, social Q&A and reviews across the four web sites within Edmunds Automotive Network - Edmunds.com, Inside Line, arSpace and Auto Observer - in addition to social media activities and programs across a variety of social networks and applications.

Ms. Marino began working with Edmunds since 1996 when the company launched its online community. Before joining Edmunds as a full-time employee, Ms. Marino was an industry consultant who provided guidance on how to build, manage and maintain online communities to meet both customer and business needs. Former clients include Intuit’s QuickBooks, E*TRADE, CBS SportsLine, Forbes, AOL, The Wall Street Journal and Kaiser Permanente. She has been a keynote and presenter at online community conferences around the world. Earlier in her career, she worked on Wall Street for houses such as Bear Stearns, Inc. and Oppenheimer.

Ms. Marino received her bachelor’s degree from Beloit College where she majored in Communications. Ms. Marino is active in the college’s Entrepreneurship program and is a regular guest speaker to the Center for Entrepreneurship & Liberal Education at Beloit. 

Natalie Mizik, Gantcher Associate Professor of Business, Columbia Business School
Professor Mizik's research interests lie in two areas. The first is the valuation of firm intangible assets (strategy, brand equity, customer satisfaction, etc.) Currently, she is undertaking empirical research on myopic management practices and on consequences of earnings inflation through real activity versus accrual manipulation. Her second research area is direct-to-physician pharmaceutical promotions, where she examines the magnitude and the structure of promotional effects at the individual physician level. Her work has appeared at JM, JMR, Marketing Science, Management Science, Marketing Letters, and HBR. Natalie teaches the Core Marketing Strategy course and two electives entitled Strategic Marketing Planning and Advanced Marketing Strategy in the MBA and EMBA programs. She is involved in organizing the 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2009 Modeling Marketing Dynamics Conferences. 

Ed Moran, Director, Deloitte & Touche LLP. Ed is a Global TMT subject matter expert for Technology, and he provides TMT companies with consultative assistance in securing financing, strategic planning, product innovation, market segmentation, competitive positioning, and industry analysis.

Ed also is also a Tri-State leader of the venture capital practice, and leads the Nanotechnology Industry Practice and Convergence teams in New York. Ed is a member of the National Academies' National Nanotech Initiative (NNI) Review Committee, which was chartered by Congress to evaluate the National Nanotechnology Initiative program. Specifically, Ed and the committee have been asked by Congress to evaluate the progress and effectiveness of the multi-agency NNI program, to recommend new or revised goals and metrics, to analyze the relative position of the United States in this growing field, and to analyze the impact of nanotechnology on the U.S. economy.

Ed is also a member of the World Economic Forum's Technology Pioneer Selection Advisory Committee, and the Nanotech Working Group of the US Council for International Business. 

David Rogers is the organizer of BRITE, and the Executive Director of the Center on Global Brand Leadership at Columbia Business School, where he develops new branding research, curriculum, and conferences. Rogers has worked on strategic projects for brands in the IT, telecom, pharmaceutical, consumer packaged goods, entertainment, and media industries, addressing issues such as brand positioning, market strategy, and customer experience. He speaks on marketing at conferences in the US, Europe, and Asia, and has been interviewed on NNfn and national radio. He is the author of blogs, articles, and case studies on marketing in new media, and is the co-author, with Bernd Schmitt, of There's No Business That's Not Show Business: Marketing in an Experience Culture, and co-editor of the forthcoming Handbook on Brand and Experience Management (Elgar, 2008).

Rogers is also a composer and musician whose music ("Rhythmically vital!" - The New York Times) is heard from jazz clubs to Carnegie Hall. 

Olivier Toubia, David W. Zalaznick Associate Professor of Business, Columbia Business School. Professor Toubia's research focuses on various aspects of innovation and new product development, including idea generation, idea screening, preference measurement, and the diffusion of innovation. He is the winner of two John Little best paper awards, the Frank Bass outstanding dissertation award, and the John Howard dissertation award. Toubia teaches New Product Development in the MBA and Executive MBA programs.