Karen Babcock is Vice President, Strategy, Partnerships & Supply for Comcast Advertising, a global leader in media, technology, and advertising that fosters powerful connections between brands and their audiences as well as among publishers, distributors, MVPDs, agencies, and other industry players. In her current role, Karen plays a pivotal part in defining the unique value proposition of Comcast Advertising, ensuring it remains competitive and indispensable to clients and the greater marketplace across strategy, partnerships, and supply. She leads several multifaceted teams that seamlessly integrate daily operations with strategic future planning. Under her leadership, the Yield Team connects directly with media sales and operations, managing sales opportunities, pricing, inventory, and analytics. The Affiliate Partnerships Team maximizes long-standing relationships with local MVPDs to diversify offerings and expand coverage beyond Comcast’s footprint. The Supply Strategy & Activation Team identifies industry opportunities and enhances our market presence. The Comcast Advertising Partnerships Team ensures visibility into partner conversations to drive the right narrative and economics. Lastly, the Comcast Advertising Strategy Team integrates all efforts to guide future actions and strategies for Comcast Advertising, ensuring proactive planning and seamless integration. Together, Karen's organization drives innovation and growth, creating a cohesive and forward-thinking environment. Her leadership extends to shaping a multi-year vision, advancing live linear capabilities, and spearheading innovation in attribution and privacy mitigation to ensure future revenue growth. Previously, Karen was responsible for creating and connecting the vision of Comcast Advertising sales agents, customers, and clients to the premium, curated inventory that Comcast has to offer to the advertising marketplace – regardless of the platform. She partnered with Effectv – which is now part of Media Solutions and operating under the Comcast Advertising brand – and FreeWheel teams to drive the activation of Comcast’s trusted premium video inventory across the ecosystem in an objective and productive way. Additionally, Karen has led a team of yield and pricing professionals who served both FreeWheel and Effectv’s sales and operations teams with inventory and pricing analytics to drive business results for Comcast and its clients. She has also managed a strategic planning team that creates informed, data-driven media plans for top clients and verticals, supporting more than 50% of the revenue generated by Effectv. Karen’s journey within Comcast started in 2011 when she joined Comcast as Manager, Revenue Operations for the former Comcast Interactive Media, managing digital yield on Comcast’s flagship website, comcast.net. In 2012, she shifted into Effectv and eventually took on an expanded role of evaluating pricing and inventory across all media that Effectv had to offer. Karen then rose to her next role over the next eight years, defining what the future of yield management should look like for a media organization that was going through growth and tremendous change in the industry. Throughout her tenure at Comcast, Karen has been passionate about creating teams that are people focused. For instance, she developed a program for individual contributors to grow their skillsets beyond day-to-day interactions, entitled “The Road to the Influential Business Advisor,” to ensure that at all levels of the organization, yield was an integral part of the business dialogue. She also leads with an “industry first” mentality to rise the tide for all ships as the company responds to the ever-changing landscape of both viewers and advertisers. Prior to Comcast, Karen held multiple financial roles within Johnson & Johnson and graduated from the company’s competitive Financial Leadership Development Program. Karen also participated in Women in Cable Telecommunications’ (WICT) Rising Leader Program and Betsy Magness Leadership Cohort, the Half the Sky Leadership Institute, as well as Comcast’s Women in Leadership program. She is the current executive advisor for InLeadership program, the evolution of Women in Leadership. She is the founder of The Dax Pact, a nonprofit foundation created in memory of her son, with a mission to fund scholarships, daycares, and camps – bringing hope and happiness to countless families to remind them of the joy in everyday life, across the U.S. Karen is a recognized thought leader in the advertising industry. She speaks at premier industry events, including the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, the Stream TV Summit and she participates in media interviews such as Marketecture’s Advertising Forum podcast and Beet.TV. Karen graduated from The Pennsylvania State University with a Bachelor of Science in finance. She resides in the suburbs of Philadelphia with her family.

Jim spearheads the development and go-to-market of Synamedia’s streaming platform products. His SaaS expertise and insight about how to transform video providers into content destinations is critical in informing Synamedia’s next generation of SaaS solutions for direct to consumer (D2C) players and telcos. Jim joined Synamedia in early 2022 from Amazon Prime Video, where his responsibilities included building out its linear business and attracting viewers. He has also held senior leadership roles at Canoe Ventures and A+E Networks as well as start-ups, including a white label supplier of consumer digital services for over 40 MVPDs.

Before joining the MPA, Bostick was Deputy Director for the Counterfeit Crimes Unit at Amazon. There she oversaw hundreds of civil actions and criminal referrals to worldwide law enforcement against infringers and their networks, and directly supported resulting criminal raids, charges, and trials. She helped lead a global team of 30 people, including attorneys, investigators, and data specialists. Earlier in her career she spent eight years with the criminal division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York, where she investigated and prosecuted cases involving securities and complex financial frauds, including a $554 million investment fraud scheme. Bostick previously served as a Fulbright Scholar on international criminal law, spending two years living in Eastern Europe. Bostick graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor’s Degree in English from the University of Pennsylvania and holds a Juris Doctor from Columbia University School of Law.

Manish Kumar Gupta, VP & GM - Glance TV, Glance

Todd Carter, CEO, Thinking Media, Inc. | STIRR

Eric Goldstein is Quickplay’s Vice President of Business Development and Global Partnerships, He is responsible for strategic partnerships across Quickplay’s partner ecosystem, working closely with our technology and cloud partners to innovate and grow our collective business globally. Previously the general manager of SimplePractice Learning, an innovative streaming continuing education service for behavioral health professionals . Eric had spent more than 12 years at The Walt Disney Company, for which he was instrumental in the growth of the company’s digital entertainment and streaming video products and distribution. This included Disney, ESPN, and ABC networks across digital platforms, connected devices, and streaming services. Eric holds a Bachelors in Business Administration from James Madison University.

Jason Patton joins us representing Verance headquartered in San Diego, California. He is the Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Verance and in his role he represents his company in partnerships with television broadcasters and television manufacturers. Jason joined Verance in 2017 following business development leadership roles at AT&T, In Demand, Immersion, and LeTV. Verance is bringing to life the Aspect watermarking solution for NextGen TV to solve the legacy distribution problem for two-way interactive experiences across the United States and Europe. For interactive experiences including sports betting and targeted advertising, watermarking extends the reach of NextGen TV services to 100% of televisions.

Liz Bronstein earned multiple Emmy nominations as a Showrunner and Executive Producer for her groundbreaking work in unscripted and documentary television for Discovery, HBO, Prime, Animal Planet, National Geographic, and CNN Originals. Now, as an Executive Producer at Play Anywhere, she brings her expertise in storytelling to interactive media, crafting immersive digital experiences that forge meaningful connections with today’s audiences. A Wesleyan University graduate with a degree in Film and American Studies, Liz combines a deep storytelling instinct with innovative content strategies that elevate audience engagement.

Sheila Green is Vice President of Retention, Curation, Programming, Metadata Strategy and S&P at Crunchyroll. In this role, Green is dedicated to giving anime fans the best experience possible by focusing on content discovery, engagement, and user retention. Green also drives programming and metadata strategy as well as standards and practices for the company. Specializing in the journey to take users from the casual to the super fan, Green brings more than 15 years of experience in marketing, content strategy, and operations to Crunchyroll. Prior to joining, she was Head of Editorial (Content Programming and Merchandising) at Roku, where she managed data-driven AVOD programming strategies to increase reach and engagement for The Roku Channel. Prior to Roku, she was Vice President of Content Programming and Curation at Discovery Inc, where she led content strategy and publishing operations for the company’s AVOD and SVOD businesses. She also directed digital and social media strategies as Content Director at Syfy.com, and produced content for such companies as Reuters, AOL and CNET. Green is the Executive Sponsor of the A.D.A.P.T. (Abled & Disabled Allies Partnering Together) Employee Resource Group at Crunchyroll. She earned a Masters in Journalism from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts in Theater from Goucher College. Green is based in Crunchyroll’s Culver City offices.

Chris Yates, Chief Commercial Officer, Mansa

Ashane Govind, Manager, Partner Strategy, Peacock TV

Blake Fox Vice President, Engineering Blake leads a multidisciplinary and innovative engineering team at IKIN that is focused on changing the way visual experiences are imagined and delivered across multiple platforms and use cases. Immersed in the creation of new lossless video processing techniques that address real-world challenges, Blake brings to IKIN extensive expertise in AI and 3-D honed through his previous work as an innovative software and hardware developer creating and implementing solutions for companies that include IBM Watson and HIA technologies, and Triple-A studios such as Electronic Arts, 2K Studios, Disney, and Nickelodeon. He is a U.S. Navy veteran.

Ari is an industry thought leader helping enterprises and large creators build direct-to-consumer video businesses. Customers include Apple, Fortnite, Billie Eilish, Louis CK, Kill Tony, Microsoft, Stripe, AmEx, and many more. Prior to Maestro, Ari was a product manager at Zynga where he designed features, managed revenue, and integrated brands into CityVille, the biggest game on Facebook. Before Zynga, he was an analyst at Goldman Sachs. Ari holds an M.S. in Management Science from Stanford and a B.S. in Information Science from Cornell.

Mari Tangredi is the SVP & GM, Audience Solutions at Cadent. With over two decades of experience in business development, new product development, and cross-border M&A, Mari has a rich background in applying strategic business principles to her work at the intersection of media and technology. She has managed successful technology businesses at every stage of the company life cycle, from founding to go-to-market to exiting. Mari joined Cadent in January 2020 through Cadent’s acquisition of identity and DSP platform 4INFO. Since then, she has been pivotal in shaping Cadent’s data strategy, managing partnerships across +50 audience/targeting data partners, as well as several dozen more first-party data and clean room integrations, measurement providers, and OTT/CTV suppliers. Prior to joining Cadent, Mari spent nearly six years at 4INFO, an OTT/CTV identity platform, as SVP & GM of Audience Solutions, leading partnerships with key publishers and data providers including DISH, NBC Universal, Acxiom, Catalina, Experian, and more. Mari holds a B.S. in Computer Science from Clarkson University and an MBA from the D'Amore-McKim School of Business at Northeastern University. Mari has served on the Dean's Executive Council at the D'Amore-McKim School of Business since 2015.

As Vevo’s Senior Director of Distribution Operations & Partnerships, Victoria Marvin is instrumental in driving the company’s evolving strategy to boost the network’s CTV revenue and viewership in the US, Canada, UK, EU, Australia and New Zealand. Victoria manages relationships with Vevo’s various AVOD and FAST partners and leads all operational aspects of Vevo’s CTV expansions and enhancements, ensuring a seamless and cohesive viewing experience across all platforms globally. She also ensures Vevo programming is optimized for each distribution partner and that Vevo receives on-platform promotion to drive discovery. Prior to joining Vevo, Victoria was the Senior Director of Strategic Planning at NBCUniversal.

Chloe Morawski, Head of Brand & Agency Partnerships, Origin

Laura Martin received her BA from Stanford and her MBA from Harvard Business School. She holds a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and a Chartered Market Technician (CMT) designation. Martin began her career at Drexel Burnham Lambert in media investment banking, followed by Capital Research & Management, where she advised $100 billion and managed a $500 million portfolio of media stocks. She moved to Credit Suisse First Boston in 1994 as the senior media analyst, where she was nationally ranked by Institutional Investor in 1999, 2000 and 2001. In 2002, Martin moved to Paris to become EVP of Financial Strategy and Investor Relations for Vivendi Universal. In 2004, she founded Media Metrics, publishing equity research on the largest entertainment, cable and Internet stocks in the U.S., where she was nationally ranked as “Best of the Independent Research Boutiques” by Institutional Investor for many years. In 2009, Martin moved to Needham & Company, LLC, where she currently publishes research on the largest public Internet, Entertainment and Advertising companies.

Michael Ribas joined Shout! in 2003 and currently heads marketing, including theatrical rollouts, product management, corporate branding, advertising, trade show activations, partnerships, and social media marketing. Michael also oversees the Mystery Science Theater 3000 franchise for Shout! Studios, including the new series as well as licensing and merchandising activity. From 1998 to 2002, Michael held editorial and product-management positions for WetFeet, in San Francisco, and spent four years right out of college teaching ESL in Japan. He holds a BA in English Language and Literature from the University of Maryland, College Park. Michael lives in South Pasadena with his wife, three kids, two cats, and a ton of records.

Vipul Sharma, Head of Sports & Music Content Business Development, LG Electronics

Brian Rifkin is a co-founder and Senior Vice President of Strategic Partnerships of JWP Connatix. A digital veteran, Brian has over two decades worth of experience working for companies on the cutting edge of technology. Prior to co-founding JW Player, he served as president of A Simple Internet, a media services firm he founded in 2001 specializing in digital marketing. He started his career with About.com serving as senior vice president of business development . Brian currently serves as a mentor at the Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator (ERA). He holds a BS in Business Administration from the University of Pittsburgh.