New Session: Marketing and Business Development in Europe
(in alphabetical order)

Olivier Pierre, CEO & Co-Founder, Bulkypix (www.bulkypix.com )

At the end of 2008, Olivier started Bulkypix, quickly emerging as one of the leading publishers of mobile games and applications.  Olivier built is career in video game industry where he held several senior positions. He worked for a Canadian based video-game publisher named Dreamcatcher and lead the purchase of the 3^rd largest French video-game publisher listed on the French stock exchange. He then served the company as CEO of Dreamcatcher Europe, reorganized and managed the EMEA activities. He also served  as VP of Sales and Marketing at Wanadoo Edition, the video game subsidiary of France Telecom Group and as VP of European Sales at Cryo. Olivier Graduated from ISC, a reputed Business School based in Paris.

Xavier Liard, CEO & Co-Founder, DotEmu (www.dotemu.com )

Xavier Liard is the CEO and Co-Founder of DotEmu. The company DotEmu develops and publishes old video games. In 2008, after winning several awards for Innovation and successfully patenting the company’s technology, Xavier raised seed capital to accelerate the launch of DotEmu. Xavier manages today the licensing and the distribution of over 70 video games in several countries in Europe but also in Japan and in the US. Xavier has a master in computer science from the University of Compiegne, France.

Dominique Noel, CEO & Founder, AsanAngel (www.asanangel.com )

Dominique is the founder and CEO of AsAnAngel, a French start-up created in 2001 and specialized in conversational Artificial Intelligence.  For the past 8 years, AsAnAngel has been developing innovative technologies for natural language understanding and man-computer dialog. These technologies can support a wide variety of applications, among which are: Animated Conversational Agents, human-computer interfaces and serious gaming.  In 2009, AsAnAngel started the production of SparkDebate™, a social game proposing debates played in limited time, in which players have the option to face other players or a conversational AI.  Prior to the foundation of AsAnAngel, Dominique was the Multimedia Director of Larousse. Dominique has an MBA from Insead and a PhD in Linguistics from Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales.

Yacine Baroudi, CEO & Founder, Fastake (www.fastake.com )

Yacine Baroudi comes from over a decade long career in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries on the commercial side, at major corporations including Pfizer and Amgen where he participated in the launch of several billion dollar products. In 2007, as a technology enthusiast, seasoned and forward-looking marketer, Yacine funded FasTake, a new media agency focusing on assisting businesses and organizations leverage the power of social media to their advantage, and to that of the communities they serve. A trilingual born in Paris, France and raised in Marrakech, Morocco, Yacine moved to the United States in 1994 and thus possesses and intrinsic affinity to bridge cultural different views and approaches at both social and business levels. Yacine graduated from ISG, an International Business School based in Paris.

Eric Bilange, Sr. Director of Engineering, Qualcomm (www.qualcomm.com )

Dr. Eric Bilange is a Sr. Director of Engineering and entrepreneur in residence at Qualcomm Incubator Lab. He joined Qualcomm in 2006 and started as lead engineer for the Brew engineering department at Qualcomm Internet Services. Prior to Qualcomm, Dr. Bilange was CTO and co-founder of Handson/MFORMA, a global publisher and distributor of mobile entertainment products. Prior, Eric worked for Cap Gemini, Alcatel and Netscape Communications. Dr. Bilange graduated with honors from the Paris VI University and earned his doctorate, summa cum laude, in Man-Machine Dialogue from Rennes University, in France.

INVESTORS AND TRENDS SESSION
SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER BY LAST NAME:

Tim Chang, Principal, Norwest Venture Partners

Tim brings a combination of operational, technical and international business experience to Norwest Venture Partners. Tim focuses on investments in mobile, gaming, digital media, and also leads NVP's investment practice in China and Asia-Pacific. Tim led NVP's investments in and joined the boards of directors of ngmoco, Lumos Labs, Brite Semiconductor and 3jam. He also led NVP's investment in Playdom, a leader in social gaming, and PCH International, a turnkey global supply chain services firm based in Shenzhen. Tim is a board observer working closely with Borqs, deCarta, Double Fusion and Veveo.

Prior to joining NVP in 2006, Tim was a principal at Gabriel Venture Partners where he was actively involved in over a dozen wireless-related deals and led Gabriel's investments in Iridigm Display Corporation (acquired by Qualcomm), Sequoia Communications, Sandbridge, and Kajeet. He also contributed to the boards of Placeware (acquired by Microsoft) and Arula Systems (acquired by Raritan), TestQuest, NextG Networks, and IPWireless. Tim built Gabriel's wireless sector practice and helped establish business development capabilities through strong, strategic relationships across the wireless value chain, particularly in Asia-Pacific.

Ginny Musante,Trade Marketing Group Manager, Microsoft Entertainment & Devices Advertising 

Ginny Musante leads the global trade marketing efforts for the Advertising Business Group within the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft, the team responsible for the ad monetization of Xbox, Xbox LIVE, Zune and other emerging platforms.  Musante joined Microsoft in 2000 as a marketing communications manager for MSN Ad Sales Marketing while the internet was still an emerging ad platform. Since then, she has worked across several disciplines and business groups, including as: senior marketing communications manager for the Worldwide Small Business Strategy Group; audience marketing manager for the launch of the Microsoft Professional Accountants’ Network; and, an advertising product planner on the Xbox LIVE Programming team where she helped launch display advertising business on Xbox.com.

Before joining Microsoft, Musante founded Network Media, Inc., a film and video production company. Her client list included NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX, AT&T, and her future employer, Microsoft. As a TV anchor, producer and general assignment reporter at stations including KING (Seattle) and WFSB (Hartford), Musante has interviewed Mother Theresa, Princess Grace and every president from Jimmy Carter to George Bush Sr. She was a three-time Emmy nominee.  Musante graduated from Bridgewater State College in Massachusetts.

Dan Morris, Director of Strategy and Development, Electronic Arts

Dan Morris is director of strategy and development for EA Entertainment, driving IP-extension initiatives for Electronic Arts' franchises across a wide variety of traditional and emerging media. Prior to that he served as general manager and publisher at Future US, where he managed official media partnerships with SCEA and Nintendo and led the development of innovative digital-media offerings such as QORE for PlayStation Network. He was previously a journalist and editor, including a stint as editor-in-chief of PC Gamer.

Robert Pace, Principal, GameStop Digital Ventures

William Quigley, Managing Director, Clearstone Ventures

William Quigley joined Clearstone Venture Partners shortly after its formation and concentrates on its Internet and communications related investments.   During his first two-and-a-half years with the firm, he worked out of the idealab! incubator and helped launch and lead investments in many idealab! backed companies including Homepage.com, FreePC, FreeMusic.com and Paymybills.com.   A number of his early-stage investments have gone public, including MP3.com, Tickets.com, Emusic and PeopleSupport and several have been acquired including InternetConnect (sold to Covad) and Phasebridge (sold to Emcore).

Bipul Sinha, Principal, Blumberg Capital

Bipul Sinha is a Venture Capitalist at Blumberg Capital and focuses on investments in Digital/Social Media, Internet, SaaS, and Mobile Computing. He has over 13 years of operations and technology investment experience. Most recently, he was with Banc of America Technology Investment Banking Group where he worked on M&A and equity financing transactions. Prior to banking, Bipul was Director of database and middleware products with Oracle Corporation where he worked with customers, brought innovative solutions to market, created new businesses, and managed teams. Bipul also held sales and engineering positions at American Megatrends and IBM.

Bipul received his B.Tech. (Honors) in Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur and holds an MBA from The Wharton School where he was a Palmer Scholar.Bipul serves as a member or observer on the Board of Directors of DoubleVerify and Nutanix.

Lewis Ward, Research Manager for Consumer Markets, Games, IDC

Lewis Ward is a Research Manager in the Consumer Markets group based at IDC's headquarters in Framingham, Massachusetts. His area of coverage includes the worldwide evaluation and forecasting of opportunities, threats and trends in the console, personal computer and handheld/mobile gaming industry. Software, hardware and service aspects are examined in his advisory service, within the context of the broader consumer electronics space. A long-time enthusiast who developed a text-based game in BASIC for use on the Apple II in middle school and ruled the roost at Joust in the mid-80s, Mr. Ward brings more than two decades of game-related experience to bear in his current role. Since attending his first E3 in Atlanta in 1997, he has written about and/or played countless hours of FPS's, adventure games, and a variety of other genres –though a piece of his heart still belongs to Lara Croft.

Connected console gaming and community services are a significant focus of his program, as are the innovative and increasingly immersive input mechanisms. Online PC software are service uptake and revenue are also considered, informed by primary survey research. Regional distinctions allow game publishers and developers, hardware vendors and other ecosystem constituents to refine their strategies using the latest actionable intelligence.

Prior to his current role, Mr. Ward covered mobile entertainment, including gaming, music and TV/video, at IDC from 2004 to early 2009 (spanning service provider, content developer and device perspectives). An award-winning author and frequent lecturer, his work has been featured in many industry-leading publications and Web sites. He was promoted from Senior Analyst to his current position in 1Q06. Before joining IDC, Mr. Ward was an analyst at Collaborative Strategies, a San Francisco-based management services firm from 1998 to 2004. He received a BA in English from the University of California at Berkeley in 1994, loves basketball, and spent a year in Spain while in college where he learned to enjoy tapas while discussing the finer points of Gaudí and Picasso.