Melva was included in the 2007 class of Broadcasting and Cable’s Women to Watch. In 2012, she received the Next Generation Market Research Innovation Award in Thought Leadership for her work in Social Media Measurement.

Melva currently is Executive Professor, Digital, Media and Innovation at Pepperdine University’s Graziadio Schoool of Business and Management in Malibu, California.

Melva resides in the Los Angeles area with her husband and two daughters.

Carpenter received a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Princess Grace Award, the Kesselring Prize and the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. She also received Emmy and WGA nominations for “Friday Night Lights.” Her plays “Fall,” “Up” and “The Faculty Room” have been published by Samuel French.

Cochran first came to California in 2000 as the Director of Business Development for the trade publisher Cahners (now Reed Business Information) in the Entertainment, Media, and Communications division. In that role, she evaluated new markets and potential acquisitions and alliances, and performed valuations and analysis of competitors, partners, and future growth. Later, as Director of Development for Variety.com, she analyzed market trends to produce Variety and Variety.com’s wireless strategy.

Cochran received her MBA from the Wharton School of Business, with a focus on operations and information management. She has a BA in literature and economics from Wellesley College. She is also the author of two published novels, Mean Season, and The Return of Jonah Gray.

Ms. Eskenazi is one of only a handful of women trial lawyers in Los Angeles whose practice focuses on entertainment industry disputes. She has handled disputes involving royalty disputes, defamation, first amendment, breach of contract, tort, fraud, copyright infringement, trademark, trade secret and talent agency/personal management claims to name a few.

Natascha obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Emory University,  having started off her career as an International A ssignment Editor at CNN. Most recently, she worked with startups in Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco, London and China to scale through a variety of tools that embraced the latest technology and effective social media tactics. She has a successful track record of identifying and sourcing strategic partnerships, having worked with leading brands, celebrities, athletes, artists, non-profits and corporations. Natascha serves on the Executive Council for the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, the Leadership Council for Digital Marketing Committee at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and is a founding team member of Entrepreneur Impact Day. Previously she served on the Emory Alumni Association Board and the Public Relations Society of America Los Angeles Board.

Earlier in her career, Grego held leadership positions at The Hollywood Reporter and TelevisionWeek and was a staff reporter covering TV at Variety. She has provided perspective about TV and media on CNBC, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News Channel, NPR, ABC News, Yahoo, “Access Hollywood” and “The Insider” and was a special correspondent for “Extra.” She’s a frequent moderator of Q&As and panels on TV, media and entertainment, as well as women-in- business topics. Twitter: @melissagrego LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/melissagrego

Harden began her career as a Senior Associate with The Boston Consulting Group in Melbourne, Australia.  She is a graduate of University of Melbourne (Bachelor of Arts, Hons) and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School where she graduated as a Baker Scholar.  Harden currently sits on the boards at Crunchyroll and Fullscreen.

In 2011, Hernández was instrumental in launching Hispanics at NBCU, NBCUniversal’s high-profile Hispanic-targeted sales and marketing initiative.

Prior to joining Telemundo, Hernández served as Publisher of PEOPLE en Español, the largest-selling Hispanic magazine in the U.S., and Publisher of Teen PEOPLE. She also held key sales and marketing leadership roles at Turner Broadcasting’s CNN International as well as TIME Magazine.

Throughout her successful career, Hernández has received several distinguished accolades. In 2012, she was selected as one of Ad Age’s “100 Most Influential Women” and The Hollywood Reporter 2012 & 2013 “Women in Entertainment Power 100.” She was featured in CableFAX’s 2013 “Cable’s Top Power Players.”

Hernández is involved with various community organizations including sitting on the board of the Advertising Education Foundation, as well as The Ballet Hispanico.

Hernández received her M.B.A. from Baruch College and her undergraduate degree from Tufts University. She lives in NYC with her husband Jack.

Amy has an incredible capacity for storytelling that touches the span of pathos and comedy and she is committed to using real people as actors in her projects. She has been instrumental in work on behalf of the family of Matthew Shepard, St. Jude Hospital and numerous brands with global impact, including Gillette and its Venus product, Lexus, Fidelity and Ford Motor Company.

Amy is a wife and mom of two and is currently working on a new documentary project and two books.

Superwoman? Maybe. A courageous entrepreneur? Definitely. Emma can take something good and turn it into something spectacular.  Starting her career at 18, she acquired a small recruitment company which, with Emma at the helm, went on to be named ‘Australia’s Favorite Recruiter’ for three consecutive years and in 2005 won the Small Business of the Year.

After eight years, Emma felt the entrepreneurial urge to try something new. She was invited to a small event run by a nascent group called Business Chicks, where she learnt that BC was up for sale. So at the age of 25 Emma took a leap of faith and bought it.

Fast-forward ten years and Emma has grown the small Business Chicks group of 250 members into a hugely successful and inspirational global community of over 39,000.  Business Chicks hosts over 150 events annually, including game-changing experiences with Sir Richard Branson at his home on Necker Island; publishes a quarterly magazine called Latte and facilitates thousands of new connections each week through its online platform.

Emma has spent time with some of the world’s greatest business visionaries, entrepreneurial minds and cultural mavericks including Dr Bréne Brown, Diane von Furstenberg, Sir Bob Geldof, Seth Godin, Jamie Oliver, Rachel Zoe and Arianna Huffington.

As a passionate philanthropist Emma wants to make a difference. She sits on the board of The Hunger Project, is a past President of the Entrepreneurs Organization and has held numerous ambassadorships.

Emma blogs at emmaisaacs.com and through the Huffington Post and is an acclaimed sort after keynote speaker and media commentator who has been featured in The New York Post, Business Review Weekly, Cosmopolitan, Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian Financial Review, InStyle and Marie Claire.  She is a regular commentator on Australian national TV programs including Sunrise, Today Tonight, Sky Business News and The Today Show.

As a production executive, Ms. Kaplan has an excellent reputation for collaborating with her creative teams to ensure the production budget is allocated in such a way that the quality can be seen on the screen. Prior to joining Lionsgate in 2013, Ms. Kaplan served as a producer on House M.D. (Fox) for eight years. She also worked as co-producer on the television how Century City (CBS), Felicity (ABC) and Gideon’s Crossing (ABC), as well as on numerous television movies and features.

Earlier in her career, Kolb served as Executive Vice President of Marketing at The WB Television Network. During her time at The WB, she developed groundbreaking marketing campaigns and advertising partnerships for signature series such as Dawson’s Creek, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Smallville, Gilmore Girls and Pokémon. Kolb started her career in New York at Grey Entertainment as an account and creative executive.

An active member of her community, Kolb serves as the Chairman of the Board for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Los Angeles. She previously participated in The Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment Mentorship program in collaboration with Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Additionally, while at The Style Network, Kolb spearheaded both a multi-faceted partnership with Dress for Success and an Emmy Award-winning campaign for breast cancer prevention.

Kolb resides in Los Angeles with her daughter and splits her time between Discovery Digital Networks’ Los Angeles and San Francisco offices.

Ms. McDermott’s track record in the broadcasting industry is exceptional. She has been leading broadcasting organizations since 1996 when she was Vice President and General Manager of WKRN-TV with oversight as well for WATE-TV. In 1996 she became Executive Vice President-Operations for Young Broadcasting, and, following that, a member of the Board of Directors of Young and then President and CEO of the Company. Following the acquisition of Young Broadcasting by Media General, Ms. McDermott was appointed Senior Vice President of Broadcast Markets for the Company and then rose to her current position in December 2014.

But to truly understand Ms. McDermott’s value it is important to recount the major transactional roles she has played in landmark deals. She doubled Young’s size through M&A activities and was integral to the Company’s public offering. She spearheaded the acquisitions of KCAL-TV in Los Angeles and KRON-TV in San Francisco, two of the largest individual station acquisitions. She led Young Broadcasting through its merger with Media General in 2013, and, subsequently, headed internal diligence efforts and the integration team related to the LIN Media acquisition. In all cases it was her intimate understanding of every aspect of the broadcasting structure and operations that proved to be of enormous value. And, in each case the results of her initiatives proved to enhance the acquiring Company’s growth, revenues, profit margins and station’s capabilities in both the traditional and digital areas.

Ms. McDermott’s accomplishments have not gone unnoticed. In 2013, she was inducted into the prestigious Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame, joining a group of the most exceptional people in the history of television. Ms. McDermott has served as Chair of the National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE), the Chair of the ABC Affiliate Board of Governors and has been a member of the Boards of the National Association of Broadcasters, Television Bureau of Advertising, Country Music Association and Maximum Service Telecasters.

Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Messer spent the latter half of her childhood in Maryland, and attended Florida State University and Salisbury University.

In marketing movies and television, she excels at taking the vision of a marketing executive or filmmaker and implementing their project in to a full advertising campaign and/or developing a completely new, fresh and bold way to brand a campaign. She loves the challenge of finding new and exciting ways to sell entertainment and discover what it takes to get people to seek out media, whether on television, streaming on a device or lining up at the theaters on opening weekend.

In leading any successful marketing campaign, Ann’s philosophy continues to be, “I am only as good as my team, and my team is only as good as its leader.”

Originally from Wichita, Kansas, Ann attended Kansas State University. After college she moved to Chicago where she began her professional career.

Previously, she served as CEO of OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network, managing all creative, strategy and operations for the network. Christina came to OWN from Viacom Media Networks, where she spent 17 years heading some of the world’s biggest media brands. As President of MTV: Music Television she provided leadership, strategy and management for MTV, MTV2, mtvU, mtv.com. She championed and launched MTV Tr3s, a channel celebrating Latino culture and music.

During her tenure as President of VH1, she garnered widespread praise for rejuvenating the brand, helming a diverse programming slate and leading the network to record viewership levels. Prior to that, she served in a variety of creative positions at MTV, rising through the network’s On-Air promotion department lead all Marketing and On- Air Promotion, directing the marketing and brand identity for the MTV branded channels and promotion for MTV series and events including the Movie Awards and the Video Music Awards.

Additionally, Christina has consulted for media brands including The Huffington Post and produces original programming through her company, Gemini Entertainment. Christina has been recognized with a variety of industry honors. She has been named one of Multichannel News’ “Wonder Women,” included in Cable Fax’s Most Powerful Women in Cable and 100 Power List, and The Hollywood Reporter “Power100 Women in Entertainment.” She received a National Public Service award by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for MTV’s “Fight For Your Rights: Protect Yourself” campaign. She serves on the Boards of BRIC Arts Media Brooklyn and The Joyful Heart Foundation.

Orsi joined HBO in 2003 as an executive assistant to the head of Drama. She was named a creative associate in 2005 and rose through the ranks from manager, HBO Entertainment (now HBO Programming) and later director, Development, HBO Entertainment in 2008; to vice president, HBO Entertainment, in 2011 and most recently senior vice president, HBO Programming in 2014.

Prior to HBO, she worked as an agent trainee at Paradigm, and the then William Morris Agency.

She earned a M.F.A. in Film & Teleplay Writing at the University of Southern California.

Plec got her start as a television writer and co-executive producer for the series “Kyle XY,” which she produced for the show’s three-year run. Other television credits include “Dawson’s Creek” and “The Tomorrow People,” which she collaborated on with executive producers Greg Berlanti and Phil Klemmer.

Past feature credits include “Scream 2” and “Scream 3,” Greg Berlanti’s “Broken Hearts Club,” and Wes Craven’s “Cursed” and “The Breed.”

Previously, Schneider was the director of development and production at My Damn Channel, where she created and oversaw the first daily live comedy show on YouTube, My Damn Channel Live, hosted by Grace Helbig, with over 200 episodes. And as the director of production at Digital Broadcasting Group, Schneider specialized in branded entertainment for the digital space, working with top tier brands such as McDonald’s, Toyota, Heineken, Dentine, and Dell. Schneider has been developing and producing content for the digital space since 2009 and her work has been nominated and won Streamys, Webbys and IAWTV awards. She started her career as a writer’s assistant for The Sopranos, working for David Chase, Terence Winter, Matthew Weiner and Ilene Landress. Schneider is an alum of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and is based in LA.

Since joining Pilgrim in 2008, Stockdale has been instrumental in building the company’s infrastructure and internal governance protocols to allow for its growth – which includes an equity investment made by Lionsgate in 2015 – and expansion into the scripted arena (Recovery Road for Freeform, and the original movies Amanda Knox: Murder On Trial In Italy, Stalkers and Abducted: The Carlina White Story for Lifetime), and the creation of its digital studio and platform, 1620 Media (The Runner, with Executive Producers Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, for go90 premieres summer 2016).

Prior to Pilgrim, Stockdale was an associate at Hill, Farrer, & Burrill in Los Angeles, where she practiced general business litigation. She served on the editorial board of Los Angeles Lawyer magazine for four years, and was named a “Southern California Super Lawyer – Rising Star” by Los Angeles Magazine in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007. In 2010 she was named a finalist in the Los Angeles Business Journal’s “Rising Star” Corporate Counsel awards and in 2011 was recognized by Variety as one of “The Best and The Brightest” in entertainment law. Stockdale is a member of the Order of the Coif, graduating with honors from Loyola of Los Angeles law school where she served as Executive Editor of the Law Review, on the Willem C. Vis International Arbitration Moot Court team and as a Henry C. Yuen Scholar in Law and Technology.

During her tenure, Tassler and her team have expanded CBS’s year-round programming strategy with event summer series, strengthened CBS’s top-rated lineup with a balance of dramas, game shows and the Emmy Award-nominated talk show THE TALK, and led the Network’s late night programming transition with THE LATE SHOW with STEPHEN COLBERT and THE LATE LATE SHOW with JAMES CORDEN.

Tassler serves on the Board of Jewish Family Services, is a member of the Ambassador Council of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media and serves on the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Executive Committee and on the Board of Directors of the Academy Foundation. She is a member of the Board of Trustees for Boston University and the Board of the Paley Center for Media.

In 2006, Tellem was inducted into the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame for her contributions to the electronic arts. Two years later Forbes ranked her 32nd on its list “The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women.” Simultaneously, Entertainment Weekly named her the third-smartest person in TV for quickly restoring CBS’s entire primetime lineup after the 100-day writers’ strike. The National Association of Television Program Executives awarded Tellem a Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Award in recognition of her “extraordinary passion, leadership, independence and vision in the process of creating TV programming.”

Tellem holds board and advisory positions at numerous digital and media-related companies, including Dot &Bo, Metro-Goldwyn- Mayer and [212]Media. She earned her B.A. from the University of California Berkeley, and received her J.D. from University of California, Hastings College of Law. Tellem is married to sports agent Arn Tellem, the vice chairman of Wasserman Media Group. The couple has three sons.

She joined Machinima following her post as VP of Interactive Marketing at Evolve Media, where she expanded the company’s marketing team, raised the marketing budget by 50 percent and implemented new media strategies that increased revenue by nearly 45 percent.

When she’s not traveling for business, she spends quality time with her three children and trains in traditional boxing. Betty graduated Magna Cum Laude from University of California, Los Angeles with a B.A. in Film and B.S. in Anthropology.

Wiegand relishes opportunities to shoot in her hometown of Detroit.  In the summer of 2015, she was excited to shoot the pilot for “Detroiters”, a Comedy Central series which has garnered a series order.  And back in 2011, ABC’s police department procedural, “Detroit 1-8-7,” brought Lisa home to shoot 18 episodes starring Michael Imperioli.  Her inventive and energetic camera-style was featured in a feature article in ICG Magazine.

In late 2012 and Lisa was the DP on the musical comedy series,”Wedding Band” for TBS starring Brian Austin Green.  Earlier in 2012 Lisa was busy in Atlanta shooting the first season of “Necessary Roughness” starring Callie Thorne for USA network.

Lisa was the DP of Joss Whedon’s “Dollhouse” for FOX in 2009.  Lisa had been a camera operator on one episode of the first season and was so well liked by Joss and Jed Whedon, as well as the series directing producer, David Solomon, that she was asked to come back and DP season two of the sci-fi action show. Her work on revamping the look of the show was featured in American Cinematographer. Before “Dollhouse”, Lisa had been shooting second unit for FOX’s hit show “24”.

Prior to entering the television arena, Lisa shot indie features, documentaries and reality shows for 10 years.  “Adventures of Power“, “Chasing Ghosts: Beyond the Arcade” and Omer Fast’s “The Casting” were three of her films that premiered at the Sundance Festival from 2007 thru 2009. “Archies Final Project” (aka. “My Suicide”) was also extremely successful on the indie festival circuit and is a feature film that explores the tragedy of teenage suicide.  Many of the low budget comedies and action films from Lisa’s early career are still featured as late night cable programming.

Lisa came to Los Angeles to pursue cinematography in 1993.  Lisa attended graduate programs in cinematography at both UCLA and AFI.  Her student body of work was awarded an Excellence in Cinematography award from the ASC in 1998.  During the years directly after Lisa’s graduation, she was an adjunct cinematography professor at UCLA, AFI and Loyola Marymount University.  Lisa’s dedication to the craft of cinematography lead her to be invited by the American Society of Cinematographers to join their ranks in 2014.

Lisa recently signed on to return to Chicago and direct the photography on Dick Wolf’s new addition to his franchise, “Chicago Justice”.

Zigler and her team work closely with the company’s network and platform partners to grow and engage audiences, as well as develop commercial business opportunities. Current Endemol Shine North America series include “MasterChef,” “MasterChef Junior,” “Big Brother,” “Hell on Wheels,” “Kingdom,” “Hunted,” “Billion Dollar Buyer” and “The Biggest Loser.”

Zigler and the Endemol Shine Beyond team recently oversaw the launch of ICON, the first worldwide premium lifestyle network. ICON, which is led creatively by digital pioneer and entrepreneur Michelle Phan, launched simultaneously in the U.S. and UK in March 2015. She also recently oversaw the launch of Endemol Shine Beyond USA’s new SMASHER Network, a digital-first eSports and gaming network.Prior to the close of the Endemol Shine joint venture in January 2015, Zigler had served as President, Shine 360° & Digital, Shine America. She initially joined Shine America in August 2012, where she oversaw all brand partnerships, licensing, digital, research, marketing and live experiences for the company.

Zigler previously spent 19 years with NBCUniversal in a variety of top roles, including President, NBCUniversal Digital Entertainment. She was responsible for leading the NBCUniversal Digital Entertainment team, as well as the NBCUniversal Consumer Products Group. Zigler also served as Executive Vice President, Current Programs, NBC Entertainment and Senior Vice President of Marketing & Advertising Services for the NBC Agency. Zigler has won five Emmy Awards during her career, including the Interactive Emmy in 2008 for the hit NBC series “Heroes” and twice for “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.” She was recently honored by Variety in its 2015 Women’s Impact special and she was named one of the 100 Most Creative People in Business by Fast Company and was on The Hollywood Reporter’s Digital Power 50 list. In 2004, Zigler was named Marketer of the Year by Ad Age for her successful launch efforts behind Bravo’s “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.”

Prior to 2005, she held several top executive positions within NBCUniversal, including Executive Vice President, Current Programs, NBC Entertainment, where she oversaw the production of NBC’s slate of comedy and drama series. Previously Zigler was Senior Vice President of Marketing & Advertising Services for The NBC Agency and Senior Vice President, Marketing, Bravo. Zigler also formerly served as Senior Vice President, Advertising Services for The NBC Agency and Vice President, Affiliate Advertising & Promotion Services, NBC Entertainment, where she was responsible for leading the Marketing & Advertising Services department of The NBC Agency.

Before joining NBC, Zigler was Director of Marketing & Advertising at KING 5 television in Seattle, Washington, where she oversaw all promotion, graphic design, press and publicity, public affairs and community relations for the NBC affiliate station. Prior to that, Zigler held several positions at KSBY-TV in San Luis Obispo, California, including three years as Station Manager.

Zigler received her Bachelor of Science degree in journalism from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. She currently resides in the Los Angeles area with her husband Ken.