Home Media Magazine - December 21, 2008 - (Page 8) aptains By Erik Gruenwedel and Chris Tribbey OF THE INDUSTRY These are the captains of our industry, who are helping the business negotiate not only a change of format from DVD to Blu-ray Disc, but also new delivery options such as set-top boxes and iPods. We hail them as we move into a new year. T hey run the ship we call home entertainment. They are the leaders we turn to for advice on the future direction of home entertainment, both packaged media and via electronic delivery. W »avery Worldwide President, Paramount Home Entertainment KELLEY orldwide president of Paramount Home Entertainment since 2006, Kelley Avery has increased the studio’s market share, overseen a steady march of No. 1 hits (such as Transformers and Flags of our Fathers) and steered her division to more than $4.5 billion in revenue in 2007. Avery made her first marks in the sellthrough business with Buena Vista Home Entertainment, successfully marketing Snow White, The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast into must-haves for consumers. DreamWorks wouldn’t be the internationally known home entertainment brand it is today without Avery as its home entertainment leader for nine years, where she oversaw all distribution, marketing and sales, and shepherded Saving Private Ryan, Gladiator and the first two “Shrek” films to store shelves. Today she is in charge of home entertainment for a number of other Viacom brands, including Nickelodeon, MTV, CBS, PBS, BET, Comedy Central, Logo, Hasbro and CMT. A San Francisco native, she majored in political science at UCLA. S teve Beeks became president of Lionsgate in February 2004; his title was expanded to include co-COO in 2007. He joins CEO Jon Feltheimer, vice chairman Michael Burns and co-COO Joe Drake as a member of Lionsgate’s senior team. He is responsible for corporate operations, plays a key role in the strategic direction for the mini-major and is involved in major production and distribution decisions. Beeks also has direct oversight of Lionsgate U.K. and Lionsgate Australia as well as Lionsgate’s home entertainment businesses, including packaged and digital media. Following the merger of Lionsgate and Artisan, Lionsgate’s home entertainment division has emerged as one of the largest and most powerful in the industry, capturing nearly 8% market share for the year to date. Under Beeks’ stewardship, the Lionsgate filmed entertainment library has maintained a trend of steady growth year-over-year and is on track for nearly $300 million in revenue this year. Key executives reporting to Beeks include: I Ron Schwartz, EVP and GM, Lionsgate Home Entertainment I Anne Parducci, EVP, marketing & family entertainment I Jed Grossman, EVP, sales & distribution I Akin Ceylan, EVP, supply chain & operations I Curt Marvis, president of digital media I H. Ulrik Knap, EVP, strategic planning »beeks President and Co-COO, Lionsgate STEVE I »bezos President, CEO and Founder, Amazon JEFF n 2007, sales of physical media helped Amazon.com enjoy its most successful year ever. But founder, president and CEO Jeff Bezos hasn’t become a force in the industry by resting on laurels. “When media was largely physical, it made sense to buy it in the physical world, but as media becomes digital, it does not make so much sense to buy them in the physical world,” he said earlier this year. “As media becomes digital and downloaded and sent around cell phone to cell phone … our relative advantage over time should improve.” With a video streaming and downloading service and wireless reading devices, Bezos sees the digital future much the way he saw the future of shopping without leaving the couch. A Princeton graduate, Bezos was Time magazine’s person of the year in 1999, and one of U.S. News & World Report’s top leaders this year. Before Amazon, Bezos was building one of the most sophisticated quantitative hedge funds on Wall Street, and developed computer systems that managed $250 billion in assets for Banker Trust Co., where he was a VP at age 26. 8 Home Media Magazine December 21–27, 2008 http://www.Amazon.com
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