Thursday, October 18, 2018

12:30 PM - 1:45 PM

Track III: Herscher Hall, 3rd Floor, Room 305

ICOs, Blockchain and Alternative Financing for Film, TV, Games AR/VR, Music, and Media Ventures

Joe Mohen, CEO, Chimes

Enzo Villani, Managing Partner, Transform Group

Mark Blinder, Founder, Aikon

Heidi Pease, CEO and Cofounder, Los Angeles Blockchain Lab
Vanessa Camones, Venture Principal, West Coast, TechWildcatters

Moderator - Mariana Danilovic, Founder and Managing Director, Hollywood Portfolio

Joe Mohen, CEO, Chimes Media: Joe Mohen led the 2014 buyout of the fashion magazine Nylon, merged it with the FashionIndie, served as interim CEO, transitioning the business to a digital publishing model.  He also founded SpiralFrog, an online music distribution service for which he obtained the first-ever licenses from major record labels to distribute music to consumers for free in return for a share of advertising revenues.  He landed major contracts with UMG, EMI, Warner Chappell, Sony/ATV, Orchard, and many others. His first software product, XCOM, a systems management solution with cumulative sales in excess of $500 million, was purchased by Computer Associates. Microsoft, Novell, VeriSign and Accenture are among the strategic investors in Mr. Mohen’s prior ventures. He is a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors.

Enzo Villani is Managing Partner of Transform Group, where he leads corporate development for the combined group including business development, M&A, strategy, and sales. Enzo also leads Transform Strategies, focused on business development, corporate strategy, stakeholder communications and after-market support. Enzo is active in building the security token infrastructure through his investments and advisory that include: Velocity Ledger, Delaware Board of Trade, Aurora IDEX and Alt5Sigma. Enzo is an entrepreneur and active investor in blockchain companies and projects, ICOs, and Security Token Offerings. He is an advisor to over 20 ICOs in 2018 including Monarch Blockchain, CG Blockchain, Kind Heaven, Big Data Block, Swarm Fund, Fluid.Capital, Vaultbank, and ZED Network. Enzo has over 25 years of high-impact strategy, brand, financial communications and merger and acquisition experience. He has raised over $500 million to develop and build strategic companies that are innovative and sector-leading. Enzo was Managing Director, Strategy for the NASDAQ, where he co-founded NASDAQ Global Corporate Solutions Group. After spending six years at NASDAQ, he co-founded and became Chief Strategy Officer for the corporate communications investment fund SAGE Holdings, where he completed a $200 million strategic M&A roll-up of five Tier-1 communications firms, including DF King & Co.  Enzo was the CSO, Board Member and President of North America for MZ Group, which completed a roll-up across Asia, Brazil, and the US. Enzo was CEO of Equities.com, the world’s largest middle-market, and emerging growth company content publisher, growing the business 300% over three years. Enzo has spoken on financial communications, marketing and the capital markets. He has lectured at Clarkson University and the State University of New York on Entrepreneurship, Finance, and Marketing. He holds an MBA from Cornell University.

Heidi Pease, CEO and Cofounder, Los Angeles Blockchain Lab: As a leader in the Los Angeles blockchain community, Heidi cofounded the Los Angeles Blockchain Lab -- a collaboration of academia, government, enterprise, and community focused on developing the blockchain ecosystem in Southern California and abroad.  Founding partners include City of Los Angeles, University of California Los Angeles, University of California Irvine, University of Southern California, Caltech, Panasonic, etc.  In addition, Heidi is CEO of Proof Of Art – a social funding and publicity network providing business solutions for artists using blockchain.  She was a hand-selected participant for Richard Branson’s Blockchain Summit -- where 40 global thought leaders address blockchain’s potential for social impact.  Heidi is a frequent blockchain guest lecturer for leading academic institutions, executive retreats, government events and community programs.  Most recently she presented on behalf of Los Angeles at the United Nations General Assembly Concordia “Blockchain Central.”  She is also an advisor for numerous startups including Spire (mobile crypto wallets for emerging markets), DApperNetwork (developing blockchain technical talent), and ArtBit (platform directly compensating individual artists).  Prior to her blockchain activism, Heidi focused on turning around distressed assets, growing small businesses into top-tier national firms, and leading sales teams for companies including AIG.

Vanessa Camones, Venture Principal, West Coast, TechWildcatters: Vanessa is a veteran marketing and communication executive based in Silicon Valley turned Venture Capitalist. She’s worked with some of the largest tech companies, including Pixar, Cisco and Samsung. Her first communications firm, theMIX agency (founded in 2007), helped launch countless successful startups based in the Bay Area, across the US, and internationally from Beijing and Tokyo to Oslo and Berlin. Under her counsel and guidance, many have went on to build successful marketing programs and attract new funding/acquisition offers, including Geoloqi (acquired by Esri), SendGrid (now a public company) Podio (acquired by Citrix), and Appcelerator (acquired by Axway and now among the largest developer ecosystems for mobile). Most recently, Vanessa and her marketing consultancy, AnyContext (founded in 2016), spearheaded the launch of Creator, the automated gourmet burger restaurant that’s been widely covered in major media outlets including Wired, the Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg, the US launch of Japan-based shopping app Mercari (now with 37 million+ American downloads and valued at over $1 billion), and Blind, the anonymous messaging app for tech company employees that’s become incredibly influential in the tech world, according to TechCrunch. She is leading the west coast expansion of Dallas based accelerator, Tech Wildcatters, where she will be managing deal flow, partnerships and working with early stage startups in AI/Robotics, Consumer and Entertainment.

JOY GORMAN WETTELS is a Producer at Anonymous Content focused on socially impactful content for Women and Youth. Joy strives for authentic, accurate reflection, and real world impact by aligning with activists and organizations through storytelling. Her projects include: the hit Netflix/Paramount series 13 Reasons Why. Often called “the most talked about show of 2017,” 13 Reasons Why started a global conversation around teen suicide, bullying and sexual violence. Season 2 launched May 18, 2018, and the show has been renewed for Season 3. Magic Hour, a family series created by Dana Fox and Dara Resnik based on the life of internationally acclaimed 10-year-old journalist Hilde Lysiak. Jon Chu will direct this series later this year for Paramount TV and Apple, a documentary on the modern women’s movement with Oscar-nominated director Amy Berg which follows activists such as Women’s March Co-Founder Tamika Mallory, Dreamer Erika Andiola and the Pantsuit Nation founders.

Mariana Danilovic, CEO, hollywood portfolio: Ms. Danilovic is the Founder and CEO of hollywood portfolio, a crowd-centric accelerator that develops and operates Augmented, Virtual Reality, Artificial Intelligence, and digital media companies. Through hollywood portfolio, Ms. Danilovic launched and helped develop numerous technology and digital media companies, and served as the President, CEO and Director of ultralivetv, served on the Board of Directors of Emerge Digital, serves on the Board of Advisors of Transmosis, LoveTV, and NightFlight. Ms. Danilovic was the EVP Business Development for NTN Buzztime, Inc. (AMEX:NTN) and Head of Business Development, Content Aggregation and Programming for MediaZone, broadband video company owned by NASPERS/MIH media conglomerate. She also founded and directed the Digital Media Incubator at KPMG LLP, which launched about two-dozen digital media companies. The companies Ms. Danilovic helped develop received institutional funding from KPCB, Sequoia Capital, Hummer-Winblad, Constellation Partners, Softbank, North Star Ventures, HP, and Intel. Ms. Danilovic headed business development for Peter Guber’s Mandalay Entertainment and was on the management team of the venture fund at Sony Pictures Entertainment, investing in media companies worldwide. Ms. Danilovic also worked for Michael Milken’s Knowledge Exchange and at the Twentieth Century Fox International Television Group. She serves on the Board of Directors of C3, the Arts and Media Node of the Millennium Project, served on the Board of Directors of the Producers’ Guild of America, and is a member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. She previously served on the Board of Directors of Tim Draper’s Zone Club and was a member of former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan's Digital Coast Roundtable. Mariana earned a Masters in Business Administration from the Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA, and a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics, with a Minor in Biomedical Engineering from University of California, San Diego.