Digital Kids Summit Advisors Announced

We are pleased to announce the 2014 Digital Kids Summit Advisory Board.  The board includes experts in kids media, content, entertainment, marketing, product development, investment, education, trend analysis, learning and the press.

These individuals will guide and shape the programming of the Digital Kids Summit taking place in San Francisco on October 21-22, 2014. We are very pleased and fortunate to have them join us. Oct. 21st will focus on Digital Media Learning and Oct. 22 will focus on Digital Media Entertainment. Topics will include monetization, marketing and innovative product design strategies. Registration for a single day is $295 when you register prior to September 19th. Registration for both days - the All Access Pass – is only $100 more by September 19th.

Digital Kids Summit Advisory Board

Stephanie Azzarone, Founder and President, Child’s Play Communications
Maria Bailey, CEO, BSM Media
Michael Bellavia, CEO, Animax
Warren Buckleitner, Editor, Children’s Technology Review
Laura Feeney, Customer Success Manager – Eduction, Adobe
David Kleeman, SVP, Insights Programs and PlayVangelist, PlayCollective
Mary-Margaret Walker, CEO, Mary-Margaret Network
Yohei Nakajima, Program Coordinator, Techstars
Reyne Rice, CEO, Toy Trends, Inc.
Ted Tagami, CEO, Co-founder, Magnitude.io
Scott Traylor, CEO, Chief KID, 360KID
Kimberly Verbonitz, Senior Director, Digital Media & Content Acquisition, LeapFrog

Stephanie Azzarone, Founder and President, Child’s Play Communications
@ChildsPlayComm

Stephanie is the winner of the 2013 Stevie Gold Awards for Lifetime Achievement in Business, Innovator of the Year and Most Innovative Company of the Year, as well as the Bulldog Reporter Social Media Innovator of the Year Award. She also received an Honorable Mention in the 2013 Enterprising Women of the Year Awards.

Stephanie has been quoted on the subject of marketing to moms in media ranging from PRWeek through The Wall Street Journal, writes a monthly post for the industry publication Engage:Moms and is the voice behind the industry blog MomMarketTrends. Child’s Play has represented numerous family-tech companies. Disney, Warner Bros. Consumer Products, Heinz, Hewlett Packard, TIME Inc. and the Wildlife Conservation Society are among recent clients for which Child’s Play has promoted brands from apps to zoos. An avid biker, kayaker and student of Mandarin, and most importantly Evan’s mom, Stephanie lives in New York City.

Michael Bellavia, CEO, Animax
Animaxent.com
@mrbellavia

Michael Bellavia is an Emmy winning Executive Producer and marketing exec. Since 2002 he has been the CEO of Animax, a producer of branded and original entertainment for all screens. The company has worked with Disney, Discovery Kids, Nickelodeon, Paramount, Sony and MTV and has also produced and distributed its own original series, apps and games. In 2011 the company spun out HelpsGood which focuses on marketing and communication strategy for nonprofits, working with clients like the Ad Council, United Way, Save the Children and Keep America Beautiful. Animax’s work has won nearly every major industry award (someday, Oscar) and HelpsGood has won the Grand Prix Earnie Award for social media. Michael is the Chair of the New Media Council of the Producers Guild of America which represents professionals involved in digital storytelling. He has an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BS from the University of Michigan.

Warren Buckleitner, Editor, Children’s Technology Review
ChildrensTech.com
@buckleit @childtech @dustormagic

Warren Buckleitner, Ph.D. is an expert on the relationship between young children and technology. He’s editor of Children’s Technology Review (www.childrenstech.com) and holds degrees in early childhood and elementary education. He coordinates the Bologna Ragazzi Digital Prize in cooperation with the Bologna Children’s Book Fair and is the founder of the Dust or Magic Institute (www.dustormagic.com) and the Mediatech Foundation (www.mediatech.org), a non-profit community technology center housed in his town’s library, where serves as a Trustee.

Laura Feeney, Customer Success Manager – Eduction, Adobe
@lauramfeeney

As a Customer Success Manager for Education at Adobe, Laura ensures schools and students are getting the most out of their Adobe software. She has been involved in education since 2001 when she began her elementary teaching career as a 4th grade teacher in San Jose, California.

David Kleeman, SVP, Insights Programs and PlayVangelist, PlayCollective
PlayCollective.com
PlayScienceLab.com
@davidkleeman

Children’s media industry strategist/analyst/author/speaker David Kleeman specializes in sustainable, kid-friendly solutions, as SVP of Insights Programs and PlayVangelist at PlayCollective/New York. Previously, he led the American Center for Children and Media. Advisory Chair to PRIX JEUNESSE (international children’s TV festival), Senior Fellow of the Fred Rogers Center, and Television Academy Governor.

Mary-Margaret Walker, CEO, Mary-Margaret Network
mary-margaret.com
@mmwalker

Mary-Margaret Walker is an expert in career development and building companies using soft skills, social media and technology tools where digital entertainment meets high tech and social change. She is unique in her longevity in the industry, previous game development experience and her deep and wide relationships around the world.

Yohei Nakajima, Program Coordinator, Techstars
yohei.me
@yoheinakajima

Multidisciplinary community organizer with a passion for digital culture, entrepreneurship, and happiness. Yohei is program coordinator for Techstars, helping build Disney Accelerator, spending what other time he has supporting Code for LA, Hack for LA, LA Startup Weekend, and his compulsive dance habits.

Reyne Rice, CEO, Toy Trends, Inc.
@ToyTrendExpert

Reyne Rice is a toy industry trend expert, consultant, and media spokesperson, with 30 years experience marketing, researching and analyzing the toy industry, children’s technology, entertainment & licensing, and the youth market. Reyne has developed products and solutions for the media, consumers, trade associations, retailers, manufacturers, licensors and entertainment studios. Her career experience includes working as a marketing consultant, trend expert and strategic consultant for international toy trade associations, Mattel, NPD Research Group, Ogilvy & Mather, and other companies. As an international trade journalist for more than a decade, Reyne has articles published in over 60 countries, spanning the USA, Europe and Asia. She is a frequent Keynote speaker at USA and International conferences. Since 2003, Reyne has owned her own consultancy, ToyTrends.

Ted Tagami, CEO, Co-founder, Magnitude.io - - Technology for Schools in the 21st Century.

magnitude.io
@tagami

Having built and sold his first dotcom in the 1990′s, Ted has been building relationships on the Internet since 1994. With leading work at Knight Ridder Digital and global brand experience at digital agency Millions of Us, Ted has most recently invested time in game development and the online payments space.

Scott Traylor, Chief KID, CEO and Founder, 360KID
360kid.com/blog/
@360KID

Scott Traylor is the Chief KID, CEO, and founder of 360KID, a kid-focused content and technology company dedicated to creating a love for learning through products that educate as well as entertain. 360KID provides turnkey development services to the education, broadcast, and toy industries.

His clients include Crayola, Disney, Pokemon, Girl Scouts, Sesame Workshop, LeapFrog, Discovery Channel, Hasbro, Highlights for Children, Nickelodeon, and many others. 360KID is a multi-award winning and three-time Emmy nominated company.

Scott is also a teacher, a life-long learner, a parent, an artist, and a kid at heart. Scott has degrees in Graphic Design, Industrial Design, and Photography from Rochester Institute of Technology. Harvard University’s Extension School has invited Scott to be a computer science teacher for over 12 years, teaching graduate students about the business of interactive development. Scott is continually reading, analyzing, and synthesizing research covering all aspects of kids and learning including new technologies, gaming, and different consumer-based delivery systems. He’s fascinated by electronic learning aids and technology instruction that is non-PC based.

Kimberly Verbonitz, Senior Director, Digital Media & Content Acquisition, LeapFrog

Kim has nearly 20 years of diverse business experience, including a collective 10 years of strategic marketing management for a Fortune 100 corporation, at an entrepreneurial startup and as an independent consultant, and nine years of experience in media and entertainment. Kim is currently consulting on new product strategy with an emphasis on digital media for LeapFrog, the market leader in educational toys and games for kids.

Before starting her consulting role at LeapFrog, Kim was an agent in the Digital Group at the William Morris Agency where she sought to create value for clients across multiple platforms and to discover the next generation of great storytellers. Kim developed both digital content and the financing, marketing and distribution strategies to release that content with her clients. She built strategic partnerships with brands, studios, distribution outlets and intermediaries in the digital marketplace. Kim worked with respected filmmakers and producers such as Berkela Films, Craig Brewer, Donick Cary, Ilene Chaiken, Tyler Perry, Ryan Seacrest and Barry Sonnenfeld, digital content creators such as Diligent, Science + Fiction, Test Pattern, Tokyopop, Ulterior Productions, Tony E. Valenzuela and Viper Comics, and new media innovators and entrepreneurs such as Codeblack Entertainment, Habbo.com, HipHollywood.com, Immersive Media, Russ Leatherman, PopWaffle.com, SuicideGirls.com and TVOne.

Prior to joining the Digital Group, Kim worked for the president of the agency, focusing on new business development. Kim started at WMA in the Motion Picture Department after gaining industry experience through her internships at Focus Features, Miramax TV and Motion Picture Corporation of America.