With a combined 5.5 million followers on social media, Alaska and Willam, hosts of the hit podcast Race Chaser, are two of the most popular Drag Superstars in the entire world. Discovered after victorious runs on RuPaul’s Drag Race, Alaska and Willam have gone on to create an empire of digital video and podcasting content.

Race Chaser won the 2018 and 2019 “Best Podcast” Award (Queerty) and was a 2019 “Best LGBTQ Podcast” Nominee (iHeart Radio Awards).

With a combined 5.5 million followers on social media, Alaska and Willam, hosts of the hit podcast Race Chaser, are two of the most popular Drag Superstars in the entire world. Discovered after victorious runs on RuPaul’s Drag Race, Alaska and Willam have gone on to create an empire of digital video and podcasting content.

Race Chaser won the 2018 and 2019 “Best Podcast” Award (Queerty) and was a 2019 “Best LGBTQ Podcast” Nominee (iHeart Radio Awards).

Lenard “Charlamagne Tha God” McKelvey is an entertainment mogul who has earned a reputation as one of the most authentic voices in media. As a Radio Hall of Fame inductee, best-selling author, in-demand TV personality, and producer, he is a singular shaper of culture.

An innovator and industry leader in audio, he is the co-host of iHeartMedia’s The Breakfast Club morning show, which drives millions of listeners and viewers daily on radio and BET. Charlamagne expanded his collaboration with iHeart to create The Black Effect Podcast Network, home to multiple chart-topping podcasts and the first podcast network specifically built for Black listeners. Alongside Kevin Hart, he is also the executive producer of scripted podcasts like Brokedown Prophets, Finding Tamika, Unleash for Love, and Summer of ‘85, which have won an Audie, Webby, and the prestigious duPont award. He is also the co-creator and host of the popular podcast The Brilliant Idiots.

Charlamange is the author of The New York Times Best Seller Black Privilege: Opportunity Comes to Those Who Create It and the best-selling Shook One: Anxiety Playing Tricks on Me. His tremendous success as an author led to a partnership with Simon & Schuster Publishing, now home to his imprint Black Privilege Publishing that has curated books such as Invisible Generals, My Black Country and Shallow Waters.

Charlamagne is an Emmy-winning producer through his production company CThaGod World. He has hosted several network TV programs, including the Stephen Colbert executive-produced Hell of a Week on Comedy Central.

Acting on his passion for mental health awareness, Charlamagne founded the Mental Wealth Alliance. The foundation works to destigmatize mental health in the Black community by expanding the pool of professionals in the health and wellness space. Additionally, he is an Ambassador for the Food Bank for New York City.

California native Donald Albright is an entrepreneur, producer and co-founder of Atlanta-based content creation company, Tenderfoot TV.
Albright has spent the last 20 years working on a variety of entertainment projects with notable artists including, Jay-Z, OutKast, Usher, DJ Khaled, and many more. In 2016, Albright joined friend and music video director Payne Lindsey, to launch Tenderfoot TV, a content creation company that works with fellow creators to bring stories to life through an array of entertainment media — including podcasts, live shows, television, film, and other digital platforms.
Since its launch, Tenderfoot TV has successfully released multiple successful true crime podcast franchises including “Up and Vanished,” “Monster,” “Sworn,” and “To Live and Die in LA,” amassing over 500 million downloads in total in less than four years. Through Tenderfoot TV, Albright has garnered partnerships with media companies including iHeartRadio, NBCUniversal, Cadence13 and Issa Rae’s label Raedio, continuously collaborating on new podcasts. He also brought on award-winning Rolling Stone journalist and bestselling author Neil Strauss to create Tenderfoot TV’s most recent No. 1 podcast, “To Live and Die in LA,” which amassed over 20 million downloads.

As executive producer on all of Tenderfoot TV’s podcasts, Albright has made it a priority to ensure that Tenderfoot’s projects leave a lasting footprint beyond entertainment. been an integral in ensuring their true crime podcasts are not only entertaining, but most importantly, give authorities tools to uncover new leads and crack these cases that have gone under the radar for too long. “Up and Vanished” helped crack the case of missing schoolteacher and beauty queen Tara Grinstead. It was followed by “Atlanta Monster,” which helped renew interest in the 29 cases of Atlanta’s missing and murdered children, known as the Atlanta Child Murders. The city of Atlanta announced in March 2019 that after 40 years it would be re-examining evidence in these cases. Tenderfoot TV’s popular podcast “To Live and Die in LA,” has given authorities evidence that there was more than one person involved in the death of aspiring Hollywood actress, Adea Shabani, and was named Associated Press’s Top Podcast of 2019.

Albright scaled “Atlanta Monster” into the “Monster” franchise, launching other investigative hits throughout 2019-2020 including “Monster: The Zodiac Killer” and “Monster: DC Sniper.” He’s also behind the no. 1 true crime hit “Culpable” and worked to put out season two of Payne Lindsey’s No. 1 horror anthology podcast, “Radio Rental.” He also serves as executive producer on Tenderfoot TV’s “Up and Vanished” TV docu-series for Oxygen Networks that aired in 2020, and has a variety of television and film projects in development.

Most recently in 2020, through a deal brokered by Albright, Tenderfoot partnered with Issa Rae’s label Raedio and HBO, to create a one-episode special podcast “Looking for LaToya,” based on Insecure’s show within a show of the same name. Tenderfoot also released “Somebody,” in partnership with the Invisible Institute, The Intercept, Topic Studios, and iHeartRadio, which investigates the death of a young Black Chicago man in Chicago.

Continuing partnerships with iHeart and Cadence, Tenderfoot announced new podcast slates for 2020-2021 in The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline respectively.

Dubbed the “Podcast Kingmaker” by Atlanta Magazine and a company that “knows how to keep listeners engaged” by Fast Company, Albright plans to continue that mentality of entertainment with a purpose as he leads other forthcoming Tenderfoot projects, including podcasts and television series in development for 2020.

Julie Andrews has been a beloved star of stage, screen and television for more than half a century. She is also an accomplished best-selling author, joining talents with her daughter Emma Walton Hamilton, in 2003 to create The Julie Andrews Collection. To date, they have released over thirty books.

Will Arnett is an actor, writer and producer best known for Fox’s Arrested Development. Arnett can most recently be seen hosting FOX’s LEGO Masters, Netflix’s BoJack Horseman and in films such as The LEGO Batman Movie and The LEGO Movies.

Michael Barbaro is an American historian, journalist and host of The New York Times news podcast, “The Daily,” a five-day-a-week audio show from The New York Times. Before hosting “The Daily,” Barbaro was a national political correspondent for The Times and host of “The Run-up,” a political podcast that chronicled the 2016 election. Previously, he covered New York’s City Hall and the U.S. retail industry.


He joined The Times in 2005 from The Washington Post, where he began in 2002 as a reporter covering the biotechnology industry. Barbaro graduated from Yale in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in history.

Dan Benporat is the Director of Analytics & Digital Media at Wondery, the largest independent Podcast network. In his role at Wondery he has developed unique marketing, advertising, and operational solutions and has collaborated with Podcast technology companies to enable new and much-needed tools for the Podcast industry. Before graduating college he was a music blogger and event promoter in Los Angeles, where he created a series of record label showcases for popular indie labels. After college, he started as an analyst at the LA-based advertising agency Oxford Road, which helped pioneer Podcast advertising at scale with emerging D2C companies like Blue Apron and Ring. He has always been fascinated by what’s next in culture and technology.

Molly Bloom is the host of Brains On! She loves finding out about the way things work — whether it’s a glass factory or our brains or molecular bonds. She likes playing piano, sings in a choir and wishes that people would break into song and dance like they do in the musicals that she loves. She was always the shortest one in her class and has worn glasses since the third grade.

Sam Bloom is the CEO of Camelot Strategic Marketing & Media. In Sam’s 16+ years at Camelot he has helped transition the agency from a traditional media shop into one of the leaders in integrated marketing and advanced analytics. Prior to Camelot Sam was an executive at Blockbuster Video as well as several start-ups, including Broadcast.com. Sam was also a goalie for the University of Virginia’s National Championship soccer team and keeps his passion for soccer burning with regular visits to the UK to attend English Premier League matches.

Andrea Boehlke is a Wisconsin-born, NYC-based actress and host. Holding a BFA in Acting from UW-Stevens Point, Andrea is currently the co-host of PEOPLE Now, bringing you entertainment news and celebrity interviews for PEOPLE magazine. She has hosted the red carpet at awards shows including the Emmys, SAG Awards, CMA Awards, ACM Awards and the VMAs. Some of Andrea’s other hosting credits include “Binge This” for Good Morning America, MTV, CBS Local Sports, HLN, AskMen.com, and the YouTube travel series, For What You Do.

Andrea also is a correspondent for the official Times Square NYE live webcast and has been ringing in the new year from Times Square since 2013. Andrea has interviewed a slew of celebrities, but her favorites would have to be Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston, Robert De Niro, Emilia Clarke, Donald Glover, J. Lo, Carrie Underwood, Nicole Kidman, Kevin Hart, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Colin Farrell, Scarlett Johansson, Olivia Munn, Idris Elba, Evan Peters, the cast of Stranger Things, the cast of This Is Us, Tom Hanks and many others.

Andrea has also dabbled in some acting while in NYC. She has been involved in several feature films, and booked co-star roles in Blue Bloods and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

Aside from acting and hosting, Andrea is also known as a fan favorite on the national CBS show, Survivor. A now three-time contestant, Andrea has proven to be a force in challenges. Andrea finished 5th place on Survivor Redemption Island and came back to compete on Survivor Fans vs. Favorites II and Survivor Game Changers, where she placed 7th and 8th, respectively.

Although she lives in the big apple, Andrea is not your typical city girl. She grew up on a farm in Random Lake, Wisconsin where she showed cattle, pigs and horses at the county and state fairs. Andrea was also very active in sports and excelled in basketball, volleyball and track.

Friends and creative partners since 2006, the Forever Dog co-Founders began their creative partnership in High School in Philadelphia where they produced 2 full-length feature films, produced and recorded an entire musical comedy album, and started a Film Festival.

In 2010, they continued this partnership as a theatre troupe: premiering Off-Broadway, touring plays across the country, and producing 100+ original shows in the New York City comedy scene.

In 2016, Brett, Alex, and Joe started Forever Dog and have since produced over 50 podcasts that have yielded over 70 million total downloads and listeners across the entire globe.

Dan Bongino’s public service career began with the NYPD in 1995. After joining the US Secret Service in 1999, Dan received a Department of Justice award for his many successful investigations while assigned to a financial fraud task-force.

In 2006, Dan joined the elite Presidential Protective Division during the administration of President George W. Bush. Dan became one of the earliest tenured agents to be given responsibility for an operational section of the presidential detail and he remained on protective duty with President Obama.

A New York Times Best Selling author of Life Inside the Bubble: Why a Top-Ranked Secret Service Agent Walked Away From It All, and The Fight: A Secret Service Agent’s Inside Account of Security Failings and the Political Machine, Dan provides expertise on International security and political strategy for outlets such as Fox News and others. Dan has his MBA from Penn State University, and his MA and BA from the City University of New York.

Dan currently hosts one of the most popular News/Talk podcasts, The Dan Bongino Show.

Laura Brown is the Editor in Chief of InStyle, one of the world’s most successful fashion media brands. Appointed in August of 2016, she is responsible for InStyle’s voice, content, strategy and brand extensions. Helming a brand that reaches 30-plus million women, Brown oversees the core magazine, digital across all platforms and 13 international editions. In addition, she leads development of the ‘InStyle Badass Women’ platform and live events such as the annual InStyle Awards and the Golden Globes party.

Since her appointment, Brown has spearheaded a refresh of InStyle’s print and digital franchises to much critical acclaim. She has expanded the breadth and variety of the contributors, giving voice to a new group of fashion, beauty and celebrity influencers and thought leaders. With a philosophy of “Everybody’s In,” she appeals to a wider audience with a stylish, playful and relatable voice. Her social media sensibility has vastly extended the reach and relevance of InStyle beyond the page, and she has been heralded as ushering in a new generation of Editor in Chief.

Under Brown, InStyle has seen unprecedented growth across digital, with record-breaking unique visitors to InStyle.com (10+ million) and video views on Instagram (50+ million.) Her contributions to the brand have garnered extensive media coverage and recognition – with substantive profiles appearing in The New York Times, The Business of Fashion, New York Magazine, Fast Company, and Digiday, among many others. In September of 2017, InStyle was honored with the “Best September Issue” award by The Daily Front Row. InStyle’s inaugural Badass Woman issue, featuring Serena Williams, was awarded Best Fashion and Beauty Cover of 2019 by the American Society of Magazine Editors.

Previous to InStyle, Brown spent eleven years at Harper’s Bazaar, rising to the role of Executive Editor, and was Articles Director of Details and Senior Editor at W. She earned her BA in arts and communication from Charles Sturt University in New South Wales, Australia.

Stella Bugbee is SVP and editor-in-chief of the Cut, the premier women’s media brand. She helped launch the site as editorial director in August 2012, and was promoted to her current role in 2017. She has deepened the Cut’s coverage of politics, careers, and gender issues, in addition to trend-making fashion and beauty coverage. She oversaw and regularly appeared on The Cut on Tuesdays podcast. The Cut was named Adweek’s Website of the Year in 2018 and was a finalist for the National Magazine Award for best website, service / lifestyle in 2019.

Bugbee previously served as a creative director at fashion agency AR New York, and the design director at Domino magazine. She’s worked on every kind of project throughout her career, from small identities, to national magazines and global advertising campaigns. Bugbee is a graduate of Parsons School of Design, where she also taught design and typography. Her work has received awards from the Type Directors Club, the Art Directors Club, the Society of Publication Designers, and others. She has appeared on Today, Good Morning America, BBC, CNBC, and CBS Sunday Morning, and spoken at SXSW, among other venues.

Conal Byrne is the Chief Executive Officer of the iHeartMedia Digital Audio Group, which includes the company’s fast-growing and high-profile podcasting business and #1 podcast publisher globally according to Podtrac, as well as the industry-leading iHeartRadio digital service; the company’s digital sites, services, newsletters and programs; and its digital advertising technology companies, including Jelli, RadioJar, Unified, Voxnest and the recently-announced Triton Digital acquisition, upon its completion.

Prior to joining iHeartMedia, Byrne was President and CEO of Stuff Media, Inc., home of the incredibly popular HowStuffWorks (HSW), which pioneered the podcast space with leading shows including “Stuff You Missed in History Class” and “Stuff You Should Know.” Byrne joined iHeartMedia when the company acquired Stuff Media in October 2018. Prior to Stuff Media, Byrne served as Senior Vice President of Digital Media for Discovery Communications, where he ran digital for all of Discovery’s U.S. networks’ sites and social platforms and led the launch of Discovery VR.

Neal Carruth is Senior Director, On-Demand News Programming at NPR. Carruth oversees teams working on many of NPR’s most popular podcasts, including Embedded, Hidden Brain, Planet Money, and Rough Translation. In this role, he helps nurture programming innovation and the development of new content. He has been a leader in NPR’s daily news podcasting strategy, helping launch Up First and The Indicator from Planet Money. He also strengthens connections between NPR’s podcast portfolio, NPR’s newsroom, and NPR Member stations.
Until 2016, Carruth was the Supervising Senior Editor of NPR’s Business Desk. He led NPR’s coverage of global business and economics, including reports on such topics as fiscal and monetary policy, technology, the workplace, and consumer behavior. Before running business coverage, Carruth was the Supervising Editor of NPR’s Election Unit, leading the network’s coverage of the 2012 elections. For 4 years, Carruth served as the Supervising Senior Producer of NPR’s All Things Considered, where he managed daily production of the flagship afternoon newsmagazine.
Carruth joined NPR in 1999 as an intern on the Cultural Desk. After a brief stint as a temporary production assistant on Morning Edition, Carruth worked on Weekend Edition Sunday from 2000 until 2004. After that, Carruth moved to Los Angeles, where he worked on NPR’s midday newsmagazine, Day to Day. Carruth also produced live coverage of the confirmation hearings of Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito.
In 2006, Carruth was lead producer at NPR’s Baghdad Bureau, working with the Iraqi staff, as well as NPR correspondents. Carruth was part of the team that won the 2007 Alfred I. DuPont/Columbia University Silver Baton award for coverage of Iraq.
For his business journalism, Carruth is a recipient of a 2017 Peabody Award and a 2016 Gerald Loeb Award.
A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Michigan, Carruth majored in psychology.

Ailsa Chang is an award-winning journalist who hosts All Things Considered along with Ari Shapiro, Audie Cornish, and Mary Louise Kelly. She landed in public radio after practicing law for a few years.
Chang is a former Planet Money correspondent, where she got to geek out on the law while covering the underground asylum industry in the largest Chinatown in America, privacy rights in the cell phone age, the government’s doomed fight to stop racist trademarks, and the money laundering case federal agents built against one of President Trump’s top campaign advisers.
Previously, she was a congressional correspondent with NPR’s Washington Desk. She covered battles over healthcare, immigration, gun control, executive branch appointments, and the federal budget.
Chang started out as a radio reporter in 2009, and has since earned a string of national awards for her work. In 2012, she was honored with the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Silver Baton for her investigation into the New York City Police Department’s “stop-and-frisk” policy and allegations of unlawful marijuana arrests by officers. The series also earned honors from Investigative Reporters and Editors and the Society of Professional Journalists.
She was also the recipient of the Daniel Schorr Journalism Award, a National Headliner Award, and an honor from Investigative Reporters and Editors for her investigation on how Detroit’s broken public defender system leaves lawyers with insufficient resources to effectively represent their clients.
In 2011, the New York State Associated Press Broadcasters Association named Chang as the winner of the Art Athens Award for General Excellence in Individual Reporting for radio. In 2015, she won a National Journalism Award from the Asian American Journalists Association for her coverage of Capitol Hill.
Prior to coming to NPR, Chang was an investigative reporter at NPR Member station WNYC from 2009 to 2012 in New York City, focusing on criminal justice and legal affairs. She was a Kroc fellow at NPR from 2008 to 2009, as well as a reporter and producer for NPR Member station KQED in San Francisco.
The former lawyer served as a law clerk to Judge John T. Noonan Jr. on the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco.
Chang graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford University where she received her bachelor’s degree.
She earned her law degree with distinction from Stanford Law School, where she won the Irving Hellman Jr. Special Award for the best piece written by a student in the Stanford Law Review in 2001.
Chang was also a Fulbright Scholar at Oxford University, where she received a master’s degree in media law. She also has a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University.
She grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she never got to have a dog. But now she’s the proud mama of Mickey Chang, a shih tzu who enjoys slapping high-fives and mingling with senators.

Friends and creative partners since 2006, the Forever Dog co-Founders began their creative partnership in High School in Philadelphia where they produced 2 full-length feature films, produced and recorded an entire musical comedy album, and started a Film Festival.

In 2010, they continued this partnership as a theatre troupe: premiering Off-Broadway, touring plays across the country, and producing 100+ original shows in the New York City comedy scene.

In 2016, Brett, Alex, and Joe started Forever Dog and have since produced over 50 podcasts that have yielded over 70 million total downloads and listeners across the entire globe.

Tracy Clayton is a writer and podcaster from Louisville, Kentucky, best known as the co-host of the critically acclaimed podcast Another Round and the host of Netflix’s Strong Black Legends. Her work in the podcasting field has been recognized by Fast Company, The Guardian, Essence, Ebony, and Vulture, to name a few.

David Cohen joined IAB in April 2020 as President and was named Chief Executive Officer in September 2020. Cohen is a widely respected advertising agency leader who, prior to IAB, served as President, North America for MAGNA, Interpublic Group’s (IPG) centralized media intelligence, investment, and innovation arm. In this role, Cohen was responsible for more than $20 billion in media spend. During his tenure, Cohen structured and executed large global transactions on behalf of IPG and its clients, with such major IAB member companies as Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Spotify, Twitter, and Verizon Media.

Prior to MAGNA, Cohen served as Chief Investment Officer of UM, ensuring that digital innovation, data, and technology acumen flowed throughout the agency to drive performance. From 2001 to 2011, Cohen served in critical, transformational roles at UM during the explosive growth of digital advertising, including Chief Media Officer, Chief Digital Officer, and Executive Vice President, U.S. Director of Digital Communications. In the late 1990’s, Cohen was responsible for launching and building IPG’s digital practice.

Cohen has a long history of working with trade organizations including IAB and 4As, where he served as chairman of the Interactive Marketing Committee from 2009-2013. He has also been instrumental in initiating several vital industry-wide programs, including the Future of Television, facilitated by EY. Cohen is a Queens native, with a bachelor’s degree in communications from Adelphi University. He was recognized by Adweek as a “Media All Star” and was part of the “Adweek 50” in 2012.

In 2016, David was elected to the Board of Directors of Partnership with Children a non-profit whose mission is to strengthen the emotional, social, and cognitive skills of vulnerable children in New York City to help them succeed in school, society, and life.

David enjoys spending time with his wife and two teenage daughters. A self-described gadget-geek and sometimes fitness fanatic – he ran the NYC Marathon in 2014 and 2019 and Boston Marathon in 2016.

Michael Connelly is the bestselling author of thirty-five novels and one work of nonfiction. With over seventy-four million copies of his books sold worldwide and translated into forty foreign languages, he is one of the most successful writers working today. He is the host and creator of Murder Book, a true-crime podcast, which will be debuting its second season soon.

Kerel Cooper is President of Advertising at Group Black where he leads Group Black’s revenue operations, strategic planning and insights teams. Cooper is an award-winning executive with 20+ years of digital media experience building Advertising Operations, Account Management, and Marketing teams. Before joining Group Black, Kerel was the Chief Marketing Officer at LiveIntent, where he led teams that managed campaigns for key publishers and advertisers, and teams that helped the company better understand the customer’s journey. He is the co-founder and co-host of Minority Report Podcast which highlights people of color, women & LGBTQ+ leaders within business, media, and technology.

He has been widely recognized for his leadership and innovation. Kerel was included in Crain’s New York Business Notable Black Leaders and Executives 2021 list. He is the recipient of the 2021 AdWeek Readers’ Choice best of tech diversity advocate of the year award, the 2021 Diversity Advocate of the Year award by Campaign Tech Awards and 2021 Award of Excellence by the Academy of Interactive & Visual Arts.

One of the most creative thinkers and leaders in the industry, Chris Corcoran is Chief Content Officer and Founding Partner, Cadence13, a leading premium podcast company that is part of Entercom’s podcast network. Cadence13 was named one of Fast Company’s “World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2019” that is part of Entercom’s podcast network.
Corcoran leads all partner acquisition and content development across all of Cadence13 programming divisions and was named a “Power Player of Podcasting” by Business Insider in February 2020.
Since Corcoran joined the company in May 2015 as a founding partner, Cadence13 has partnered with some of the most influential creators and brands, including Crooked Media, Brené Brown, goop, theSkimm, Jemele Hill, Rachel Hollis, Lauren Conrad, Andrew Yang, Kevin Durant, Emma Chamberlain, David Dobrik, Tony Kornheiser, Jon Meacham, Charli and Dixie D’Amelio, TenderfootTV, Ben Reiter, David Plouffe, The Dolan Twins, Kobe Bryant, Leon Neyfakh, Headspace, People, Deepak Chopra, CJ McCollum, Gretchen Rubin, James Andrew Miller, Pushkin Industries, MarketSnacks and many more.

Corcoran’s vision led to the creation of Ramble, a podcast network of some of the most influential digital stars in the world.

Corcoran is the Creator and Executive Producer of the Peabody-nominated C13Originals studio, home to such critically acclaimed podcast documentaries as Gangster Capitalism; Long May They Run; Once Upon a Time…in the Valley; Relative Unknown; Hope, Through History; and a forthcoming investigative documentary on the Houston Astros.

Corcoran created and developed the concept for C13Features—a pioneering podcast feature studio focused on creating a wide-ranging slate of compelling feature-length fictionalized stories of all genres that appeal to a wide audience—and will serve as executive producer for all productions/features and lead the new studio.

Lindsay Czarniak is a sportscaster and NFL sideline reporter for FOX sports. She joined FOX sports in 2018 hosting the network’s NASCAR coverage and covering the NFL.

Prior to joining FOX sports, she spent six years as SportsCenter anchor and field anchor/reporter for ESPN’s NFL pregame show, NFL Countdown. In January 2015 she became solo anchor of the 6 p.m. SportsCenter, having joined John Anderson as co-host of the program in 2012. As solo anchor, Czarniak hosted ESPN’s “SportsCenter on the Road” initiative; anchoring the network’s coverage at 6 p.m. from events like the Super Bowl, NBA Finals, World Series and MLB All Star game.

Before joining ESPN, Czarniak served as sports anchor and reporter at WRC-TV (NBC4) in Washington, D.C., anchoring daily sportscasts, reporting from major live events and hosting Sports Final, Redskins Report and The Coach’s Show with Mike Shanahan.

At NBC4, Czarniak covered the region’s professional teams and hosted and produced the sports-interview segment Lunch with Lindsay, in which she interviewed nationally known athletes, politicians and entertainers about topical issues, on and off the field. She also worked for NBC for the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, Italy, and the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing. She also served as a pit reporter and host for NBC Sports’ NASCAR coverage and sideline reporter for the networks’ Heads-Up Poker challenge.

While at NBC in Washington, she also worked for Turner Sports, taking over as pre-race studio host for NASCAR Sprint Cup series coverage of the network’s six summer races after years as a pit reporter/feature reporter.

Born in Harrisburg, PA, Czarniak was raised in northern Virginia in a sports atmosphere. She played lacrosse and field hockey at Centreville High School, and graduated from James Madison University in 2000 with a major in journalism and a minor in studio art. She is married to Craig Melvin, whom she met on set at WRC-TV. The couple has two children.

Amber Davis is a Director of Creative Strategy at Vox Creative, Vox Media’s in-house content studio, where she focuses on audio. She was previously an audio storytelling consultant on film and television projects, Director of Creative at Gimlet Creative, Gimlet/Spotify’s branded podcast studio and spent a decade plus in strategic innovation consulting and trend forecasting at firms including Stylus and Fahrenheit 212. She has an MA in Media, Culture and Communication from NYU, a BA in Art History from Columbia and is a proud dropout of UC Berkeley’s Film & Media Studies PhD program, who still occasionally lectures on media studies and storytelling.

Scott Davis is SVP of NPR Corporate Sponsorship at National Public Media (NPM). With 30 years of work in radio and media sales at both public and commercial organizations, Davis has helped hundreds of brands share their story through audio. His team fuels the growth of NPR and public media by securing revenue from corporate sponsors. In 2018, the Network Sponsorship team led by Davis was recognized by Digiday Awards’ Most Effective Sales Team category. Davis lives with his family in Brooklyn, NY, is a member of the Board of Visitors for the University of Illinois’ Department of Political Science, a runner, and a diehard fan of the St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Bears.

Lizzy Denihan, VP, Sales, leads podcast sales strategy, content and integrated brand partnerships for Cadence13 and Pineapple Street Studios, both part of Entercom’s Podcast Network. Denihan develops, oversees and executes innovative initiatives for the premium podcaster’s broad range of best-in-class talent, partners and critically acclaimed content. Denihan is an eleven-year veteran of the Integrated Sponsorship Sales team at Major League Baseball. Entercom’s Podcast Network is the most influential and one of the largest podcast platforms in the country with an ever-expanding roster of chart-topping shows that Americans plan their lives around and 28 million monthly listeners in the US.

Phil Donahue is a writer, producer, journalist, and media pioneer who revolutionized the talk show format and ushered in a new era of broadcast television. The Donahue show was honored with twenty Daytime Emmy Awards, including ten Emmys for Outstanding Host, and ten for Best Talk Show. In 1996, the Daytime Emmys presented Phil with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to television journalism. Phil has been inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame and is a recipient of the George Foster Peabody Award. He lives in New York City.

Perhaps best known for her run on Food Network Star, author, party thrower, and entrepreneur Martie Duncan represented home cooks everywhere as runner-up on Season 8 of the popular television show. Since then, she travels extensively, appearing at food events across the US with food celebrities like Bobby Flay and Michael Symon. Martie also won the Food Network Star Duos episode of Food Network’s Guy’s Grocery Games with her Food Network Star teammate Justin Warner.

The author of three cookbooks with proceeds going to various charities, Martie’s latest book, Alabama Cravings: Requested Recipes from Alabama Restaurants Past & Present is found in stores around the state. As a result, in 2014, Martie was named to a prestigious list of “20 Birmingham Women Making a Difference” by Birmingham Magazine and The Birmingham News.

Her website, MartieDuncan.com, showcases her easy recipes and fun ideas for affordable entertaining at home. As the party expert for MyRecipes.com, her Martie Knows Parties videos are consistently one of the site’s most popular features.

She’s currently at work on her 4th cookbook and hosts a new podcast with Allrecipes.com titled Homemade which launched in May, 2020. Guests have included chefs, entertainers, and musicians like Guy Fieri, Rachael Ray and John Cusimano, Patti LaBelle, and Aaron Sanchez.

Kevin Durant is a 12-year NBA veteran and forward for the Brooklyn Nets. He is a 2x NBA Champion and Finals MVP; having also won an NBA MVP Award, four NBA scoring titles, two Olympic gold medals, two NBA All-Star Game MVP Awards, and an NBA Rookie of the Year Award. He is also a ten-time NBA All-Star.

Off the court, Durant is co-founder and president of Thirty Five Ventures alongside his business partner Rich Kleiman. Founded in 2017, Thirty Five Ventures Thirty Five Ventures incorporates the duo’s business entities across sports, tech, media, philanthropy and more.

Thirty Five Ventures’ flagship media property is The Boardroom, a sports business platform that includes video interviews & infographics, The Boardroom University college program, events, an e-newsletter and a podcast network. Other recent Thirty Five Ventures initiatives include: the recently debuted BASKETBALL COUNTY: In The Water documentary on SHOWTIME and the upcoming basketball-themed scripted series “SWAGGER” with Imagine Entertainment and Apple; an equity partnership with premium audio brand Master & Dynamic; a minority stake in and consulting agreement with the Philadelphia Union; and the Durant Center, a state-of-the-art educational and leadership facility in Durant’s hometown in Prince George’s County, Maryland.

The Kevin Durant Charity Foundation’s signature programs include Build It and They Will Ball, a global basketball court renovation project with 22 courts completed to date, and The Durant Center, a 10-year, 10-million dollar program in partnership with College Track that helps low-income and underserved students enroll and graduate from college. Durant received the season long NBA Cares Community Assist and ESPN Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian awards in 2018.

Charli and Dixie D’Amelio are leading Gen-Z content creators who quickly evolved into worldwide social media phenomenons with a combined social following of over 170 million followers. 16-year-old Charli and 18-year-old Dixie first rose to fame with their viral videos on TikTok and have since become the most watched faces of their generation as a dynamic sister duo, even lending their faces to brands such as Hollister and Morphe. Charli is an extensively trained competitive dancer which makes her one of the most captivating creators to watch, while Dixie is a singer and content creator who enjoys more of the fun, comedic side of content. As proud voices of their generation, Charli and Dixie continue to use their platform to inspire positive change around the world. The sisters are both advocates against cyberbullying and have partnered with organizations such as UNICEF to raise awareness on the negative effects cyberbullying can have on young people. With unwavering support from their parents Marc & Heidi, the D’Amelio sisters are poised to continue expanding their digital empire across various brands and mainstream media.

Charli and Dixie D’Amelio are leading Gen-Z content creators who quickly evolved into worldwide social media phenomenons with a combined social following of over 170 million followers. 16-year-old Charli and 18-year-old Dixie first rose to fame with their viral videos on TikTok and have since become the most watched faces of their generation as a dynamic sister duo, even lending their faces to brands such as Hollister and Morphe. Charli is an extensively trained competitive dancer which makes her one of the most captivating creators to watch, while Dixie is a singer and content creator who enjoys more of the fun, comedic side of content. As proud voices of their generation, Charli and Dixie continue to use their platform to inspire positive change around the world. The sisters are both advocates against cyberbullying and have partnered with organizations such as UNICEF to raise awareness on the negative effects cyberbullying can have on young people. With unwavering support from their parents Marc & Heidi, the D’Amelio sisters are poised to continue expanding their digital empire across various brands and mainstream media.

Will Ferrell has come a long way since his days on Saturday Night Live, crossing over from television icon to motion picture star, producer and internet pioneer.

Most recently Ferrell wrapped production on the comedy, The House, where he and fellow SNL alum Amy Poehler star as a couple who lose their daughters college fund and open an underground casino in the suburbs. The House is directed by Andrew Cohen and is being produced by Gary Sanchez Productions and Good Universe.

In February of 2016, Ferrell will reprise his role of “Mugatu” in Zoolander 2, the sequel to the 2001 film Zoolander. He stars alongside Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson as well as Penelope Cruz and Kristen Wiig.

Ferrell’s latest release, Daddy’s Home directed by Sean Anders and John Morris as well as produced by Gary Sanchez, premiered December 25th of 2015. Daddy’s Home centers on a modest suburban businessman looking to be the best stepdad possible to his new wife’s children just as their reckless and heroic birth father, played by Mark Wahlberg comes back into their lives. It had an opening weekend gross of more than 38 million and has since made over $180 million.

In the spring of 2015 Ferrell starred in and produced Get Hard where he portrayed a rich hedge fund manager who hires his parking attendant, played by Kevin Hart, to prepare him for prison. Since it’s release, Get Hard has grossed more than 100 million globally.

Just a few months later Will starred in the Lifetime original drama A Deadly Adoption alongside Kristen Wiig.

The year prior, Ferrell lent his voice to the character of “Lord Business” in the Warner Bros. animated film, The Lego Movie, which has gone on to earn over $441 million in the worldwide box office.

In 2013 Ferrell reprised his role as Ron Burgundy, the character he made famous in Paramount Pictures’ 2004 comedy,Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. In Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, Ron and the Channel 4 news team headed to New York City to help start the world’s first 24 hour news station. Ferrell co-wrote both films with director Adam McKay under their Gary Sanchez production shingle and Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues has earned over $172 million worldwide to date.

Prior to Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues and The Lego Movie, Ferrell starred opposite Zach Galifianakis in Warner Brother’s The Campaign, and the ambitious Casa de mi Padre, a comedy spoof in the Latin American telenovela style, filmed entirely in Spanish. Ferrell’s many previous film credits also include Elf, Old School, and the screen adaptation of The Producers, which earned him his first Golden Globe nomination in 2006 for Best Supporting Actor. In 2007, Ferrell earned his second Golden Globe nomination (Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical) for his portrayal of IRS agent Harold Crick in Stranger Than Fiction.

In 2006 Ferrell starred in the hit comedy Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby with co-stars John C. Reilly and Sacha Baron Cohen. Earning nearly $150 million at the U.S. box office, the film became the season’s #1 comedy (non-animated) and continues to set records on DVD.

Ferrell earned a 2009 Tony Award nomination for his Broadway debut, headlining the sold-out, Tony Award-nominated one-man comedy show Will Ferrell: You’re Welcome America. A Final Night with George W Bush, directed by Adam McKay, in which he perfected his infamous Saturday Night Live characterization of President Bush. At the end of its Broadway run, Ferrell performed the show, live, in its entirety on HBO, earning a pair of Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Comedy Special and Outstanding Writing.

In 2007, Ferrell and McKay founded the overwhelmingly popular and award-winning video website Funnyordie.com. With hundreds of exclusive celebrity videos and a steady stream of huge viral hits, Funny Or Die has become the “place to be seen” for comedic celebrities, and the obvious destination for a daily comedy fix. The site’s first video, “The Landlord,” has received over 81 million views and features Ferrell confronted by a swearing, beer-drinking two-year-old landlord. The site averages over 20 million unique visitors per month and over 60 million page views per month.

Soon thereafter, Ferrell and McKay joined forces to open their own production company, Gary Sanchez Productions. Thus far, Gary Sanchez supported the 2006 Sundance hit The Foot Fist Way starring Danny McBride (Tropic Thunder), who also co-wrote with director Hill, The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard starring Jeremy Piven, and Step Brothers which earned over $100 million domestically. Gary Sanchez also produced the HBO series Eastbound & Down starring McBride.

Ferrell starred for seven seasons on NBC’s seminal late-night hit Saturday Night Live, after taking the nation by storm during the show’s Indecision 2000, with his portrayal of President George W. Bush. Some of his most memorable “SNL” characters include Craig the Spartan Spirit Cheerleader, musical middle school teacher Marty Culp, and Bush. Among his many impressions were Janet Reno, Alex Trebek, Neil Diamond and the late, great Chicago Cubs sportscaster Harry Caray. His work on SNL earned two Emmy nominations in 2001 (Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program, and Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program).

A testament to his impact on the American comedic landscape, Ferrell was named the recipient of the 2011 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. The award recognizes people who have had an impact on American society in the same vein as social commentator, satirist, and creator of memorable characters, Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain). Previous recipients of the prize include comedy greats such as the late Richard Pryor, George Carlin, Lorne Michaels, Steve Martin, and Tina Fey.

Raised in Irvine, California, Ferrell graduated USC with a degree in sports information. He worked as a sportscaster on a local weekly cable show before enrolling in acting classes and stand-up comedy workshops and was eventually asked to join the esteemed comedy/improv group The Groundlings after just one year of training. It was at The Groundlings that Ferrell was discovered for “Saturday Night Live.”

Tate Frazier was an inaugural employee of Bill Simmons Media Group ( Grantland / HBO) created in the Fall of 2015. Tate helped create and launch The Ringer Podcast Network, starting with ‘The Bill Simmons Podcast’ among many others, leading to a reported $300 million purchase by Spotify.

Tate has launched, produced, and edited a slew of podcasts including: The Bill Simmons Podcast, Keepin’ It 1600 (Pod Save America), Against All Odds with Cousin Sal, The Ringer NBA Show, The J.J. Redick Podcast, Larry Wilmore: Black on the Air, and more.

Tate recently co founded Figures Network, and currently hosts Titus & Tate, with fellow basketball commentator, Mark Titus, as the faces of College Basketball for Fox Sports, and Pushin’ Thru alongside three time NBA Champion BJ Armstrong.

Lex Friedman is the Chief Revenue Officer at ART19. He was previously a cofounder at Midroll/Stitcher, and has more than a decade of experience in podcasts. Along with his colleague Korri Kolesa, Lex has led teams to more than $200M in podcast ad sales.

Scott Galloway is the co-host of Pivot, Professor of marketing at NYU’s top-ranked Stern School of Business and best-selling author of three books The Four, The Algebra of Happiness, and Post Corona, which have all appeared on The New York Times bestsellers list. In addition to teaching, Galloway is the founder of multiple business intelligence firms including Red Envelope and Prophet Brand Strategy — as well as the education platform Section4.

Malcolm Gladwell is a journalist, a speaker, and the author of six New York Times bestsellers including The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, and Talking to Strangers. He is host of the chart-topping podcast Revisionist History and does interviews for the podcasts Broken Record and Solvable. He has also been a staff writer for the New Yorker since 1996 and has been named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People. He is a trustee of the Surgo Foundation and currently serves on the board of the RAND Corporation. He is co-founder of Pushkin Industries, an audio content production company.

Ira Glass is the host and creator of the public radio program This American Life. The show is consistently one of the top three most downloaded podcasts anywhere, with 3.6 million downloads per episode. Another 2.2 million listeners hear the show each week on more than 500 public radio stations.

The team that creates This American Life also created Serial, the most listened-to podcast in the history of the medium, with over 19 million downloads for each episode of its first season. Glass is an editor on the show. Serial is widely credited for changing the face of podcasting. As The New Yorker put it: “Serial was the first show to induce advertisers to take podcasting seriously. The creative and economic accomplishment of Serial has spawned countless imitators, and many have shamelessly echoed its tropes.”

The style of narrative journalism invented by This American Life and Serial – emotional story arcs, compelling characters, humor, surprising ideas, all delivered in a chatty conversational tone – have been copied by a generation of podcasts. The team’s programs (including S-Town) have won the highest honors for broadcasting and journalistic excellence, including ten Peabody awards.

Dana Goodyear, a staff writer at The New Yorker, teaches at the University of Southern California and is the author of two collections of poetry.

With over 9 years in podcasting, Jay was at the forefront of audience membership working with the IAB to create their current measurement standards. Having held executive positions at PodcastOne, AdLarge, Cadence13, and Audacy; Jay was integral in evolving podcast operations through attribution, brand safety, and the overall education and evangelism of the marketplace. He maintains a seat on the Board of Governors of The Podcast Academy and continues to speak at conferences, webinars, and industry events.

Rayna Greenberg is the co-host of Girls Gotta Eat. She is also a writer and photographer.

Robin Gregory is the Director of Communications for Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. and manages both internal and external communications for the company. She is a longtime lover of craft beer and was a journalist before joining Sierra Nevada. Robin previously served as San Francisco Editor at HuffPost where she covered food and drink, culture, and California politics.

Suzanne Grimes is a dynamic executive with a strong record of growing media brands across outdoor, mobile, social, digital, print, and experiential platforms in the public and private sectors. Successful at developing integrated revenue models through cross-functional collaboration, leveraging sales, marketing and data tools to drive growth.

Grimes is the EVP of Corporate Marketing for Cumulus Media, she is responsible for marketing strategy, branding, solutions and insights for Cumulus Media’s 447 owned-and-operated stations broadcasting in 90 US Media markets. As the President of Westwood One, the #1 radio network in the US, where she oversees the strategic direction and execution of the network’s operations, programming, and advertising partnerships for more than 8,000 broadcast radio stations and numerous digital channels reaching a quarter of a billion people each week.

For over three decades, Grimes has led some of the world’s top media companies and brands, building and directing companies to deliver strength in building and motivating high performance cultures, combining an entrepreneurial approach with the discipline and communication required in large, matrixed organizations. Throughout her career, she has consistently shown she is passionate about the convergence of media, technology and entertainment, and bringing the critical thinking and enthusiasm necessary to lead brands and teams through change.

Prior to joining Westwood One | Cumulus, Grimes was President and COO of Clear Channel Outdoor North America, where she was responsible for $1.3 billion annual revenue, and developed and launched digital and mobile initiatives. Before that, she was President of the U.S. Lifestyle division of Reader’s Digest Association, responsible for Allrecipes.com, Every Day with Rachel Ray and the Reiman family of brands. During a long tenure at Condé Nast, she served as Senior VP of the Conde Nast Media Group, VP and Publisher of Glamour magazine, Publisher of Allure, and Publisher of Women’s Sports & Fitness. Earlier in her career she was the Senior VP and Publisher for TV Guide News Corporation.


Grimes was the founder and CEO of JOTT, LLC, where she provided strategic advisory support for early to mid-stage companies in the media, technology and entertainment space.
Grimes currently serves on the Board of Directors for Radio Advertising Bureau, Jesuit Volunteer Corps and the Georgetown University Entertainment and Media Alliance.

Grimes has been selected as one of Radio Ink’s 2017 & 2016 “40 Most Powerful People in Radio” & “Most Influential Women in Radio”, Advertising Age’s Women to Watch, Conde Naste CEO Award, and the Irish American Annual Business 100 Award. She graduated from Georgetown University and resides in New York with her husband and two children.

Dylan Haskins is Commissioning Executive for Podcasts at BBC Sounds, looking after a slate of new podcast titles aimed at 18-34 year olds. His current commissions include the 2019 Peabody-award-winning Have You Heard George’s Podcast? from George the Poet, several upcoming global investigative series including Where is George Gibney? from Second Captains and the launch of the first ever podcast series from Panorama, the world’s longest-running current affairs brand. Dylan joined the BBC in 2016, working first as a producer developing and launching short-form video platform BBC Ideas which won Best Public Service Video Channel at the 23rd Webby Awards. Prior to joining the BBC, he worked as a producer and presenter with media companies in Ireland and the UK including RTÉ, The Guardian and Other Voices.

Sean Hayes is an Emmy-award winning actor and producer. He is best known for his role as Jack McFarland on the NBC sitcom Will & Grace, for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award and four SAG Awards, along with six Golden Globe
nominations. He is also known for his work on Broadway, including An Act of
God and Promises, Promises where he received a nomination for Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical. Sean is the co-founder of Hazy Mills Productions, the television production company behind several hit shows such as Hot in Cleveland, Grimm, Hollywood Game Night and History of Comedy. Upcoming projects include the Netflix series Q-Force.

Ashley Hesseltine is the co-host of Girls Gotta Eat. She is also a standup comedian, writer, and founder of the Instagram accounts Bros Being Basic and Fashion Dads.

Jason Hoch is President of Imperative Entertainment’s podcast division. Hoch is a veteran in the podcast space, highlighted by launches of seven top 20 podcasts, including three #1 podcast hits including as co-creator and Executive Producer of ‘Atlanta Monster’, it’s follow-up, ‘Monster: The Zodiac Killer’ and as Executive Producer of ‘Broken Harts’ in collaboration with Glamour Magazine. Since joining Imperative, Hoch has launched ‘Gangster House’, which he wrote and created and served as Executive Producer for ‘Boomtown’, ‘The Baron of Botox’, ‘American Skyjacker’, ‘The Syndicate’ and ‘In the Red Clay’

About Imperative Entertainment: Founded in 2014, Imperative Entertainment is an innovative entertainment studio in Santa Monica, CA. With a keen eye for bold and powerful storytelling that captivates and excites audiences, Imperative Entertainment develops, produces, and finances original and branded entertainment with a focus on film, television, documentaries, and podcasts. The company is behind projects such as the Clint Eastwood film The Mule, Academy Award® nominated All the Money in the World, and the Academy Award® nominated and 2017 Palme d’Or ® winning film The Square by Ruben Ostlund. Imperative Entertainment is currently in production on Ostlund’s follow-up Triangle of Sadness and is also producing Killers Of The Flower Moon, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

Skip Hollandsworth is an award-winning true-crime writer and the best-selling author of The Midnight Assassin. His “Midnight in the Garden of East Texas” was the inspiration for the Richard Linklater film Bernie, which Hollandsworth co-wrote. Hollandsworth is a staff writer for Texas Monthly.

Kelli Hurley is the SVP, Digital Partnerships for Westwood One, where she oversees podcast talent relations and the acquisition of new shows, partnerships and revenue. Kelli was the early champion of building the Westwood One Podcast Network, which officially launched in April of 2018 and is now the fastest organically growing podcast network in America.

Kelli has amassed a lineup of podcast content, ranging from political talk to sports to comedy to pop culture — and the list of talent coming into the fold is growing by the day. Kelli has been the lead on some of the most successful partnerships to date: The Daily Wire, American Public Media’s Marketplace Minute, and Imperative Entertainment’s portfolio of podcasts.

Kelli is a radio and digital audio veteran with more than a dozen years’ of network radio experience under her belt. She started her career in Los Angeles, successfully managing clients and agencies for iHeartRadio, Premiere Networks, United Stations, and Westwood One. In 2011, she transitioned from network radio to digital audio as a Director of Sales for TargetSpot in Chicago.

Chris Jericho, Host of Talk is Jericho, Westwood One Podcast Network Acclaimed actor, wrestler, musician, author, podcaster, game show host and television personality Chris Jericho, has established himself as a multi-faceted performer with millions of fans worldwide. Jericho is one of the most popular performers in the history of World Wrestling Entertainment. In 2001 he was crowned the WWE Undisputed Champion and in 2017 become the first ever “Double Grand Slam” champion in WWE history. He has been named one of the top five most charismatic performers of all-time by wwe.com. He recently signed the biggest contract of his career with the brand new All Elite Wrestling company. Jericho hosts the hugely popular “Talk Is Jericho” podcast on Westwood One, that has amassed over 220 million downloads. Topics are diverse and past guests include Dennis Miller, Larry King, William Shatner, Donald Trump Jr., Chris Tucker, Stormy Daniels, Method Man, Paul Stanley, Lars Ulrich, Kiefer Sutherland, Mike Tyson, Cheech Marin, and Slash.

Cody is a writer, comedian, host, musician, and podcaster currently living in Southern California. He worked at Cracked.com for about eight years making figuratively countless sketches, narrative shows, video essays, animations, songs, columns, and eventually a satirical news show. In 2018 he independently launched the Some More News video series and its companion podcast Even More News with his co-host and producer Katy Stoll. Together they navigate the newsscape with a mix of wit, dread, hope, and compassion. In his spare time Cody co-hosts the Worst Year Ever podcast, guests on other podcasts, and writes/plays music solo and with several bands that only he and his bandmates listen to.

Rich Kleiman is Kevin Durant’s manager and co-founder in Thirty Five Ventures. Founded in 2017, Thirty Five Ventures incorporates the duo’s business entities across sports, tech, media, philanthropy and more.

Key initiatives under the Thirty Five Ventures umbrella include: The Boardroom – a sports business platform that includes video interviews & infographics, The Boardroom University college program, events, an e-newsletter and a podcast network; the recently debuted BASKETBALL COUNTY: In The Water documentary on SHOWTIME and the upcoming basketball-themed scripted series “SWAGGER” with Imagine Entertainment and Apple; an equity partnership with premium audio brand Master & Dynamic; and a minority stake in and consulting agreement with the Philadelphia Union.

Kleiman also serves as the Executive Director of the Kevin Durant Charity Foundation, helping to complete new basketball court renovations across the globe and expanding the Durant Center in Maryland’s Prince George’s County, which helps low-income and underserved students enroll and graduate from college.

Kleiman also sits on the Board of Directors at New Heights Youth, Inc., a non-profit dedicated to sports-based youth development and education in New York City.

Sarah Koenig is the host and co-creator of the Serial podcast. Launched in 2014, Serial is credited with kicking off the current boom in podcasting. She is Executive Producer of Serial Productions [, part of the New York Times audio division.]

As Chief Revenue Officer at Veritonic, Korri oversees Business Development, Sales, and Marketing operations. Korri is responsible for driving the company’s growth and revenue by designing and implementing business process models and operational blueprints while establishing strategic partnerships, expanding client business & heightening the visibility of the company’s brand and technology. Prior to joining Veritonic, Korri was COO at ART19, which she transitioned to after serving as CRO at Midroll Media/Stitcher.  A visionary strategist and operations-focused leader, Korri has more than two decades of experience in fast-paced and high growth environments, with a particular focus on scale and monetization. She resides in NYC with her family.

Lynne Kraselsky is a veteran media executive with over 30 years in the industry with leadership roles at Turner Broadcasting (WarnerMedia), ESPN and NBCU.

Over a 15 year career at Turner Broadcasting, Kraselsky led a Hong Kong based team for both CNN International and Cartoon Network and went on to lead a London based team as Vice President of Sales and Partnerships for Southern Europe, Israel, The Middle East and Africa.

Kraselsky also served as Senior Vice President, Sales and Partnership International for ESPN, leading sales across all of ESPN’s multi-media platforms and Senior Vice President, NBCUniversal Global News Sales, charged with co-leading US and International sales efforts for The Today Show, MSNBC, Nightly News, Meet the Press and CNBC.

Prior to joining Forever Dog, Kraselsky was the CRO for Levo League, a leading digital and on-the-ground community-based startup network for professional millennial women.

Born in London, Hari Kunzru is the author of the novels The Impressionist, Transmission, My Revolutions, Gods Without Men, and White Tears, as well as a short story collection, Noise and a novella, Memory Palace. His new novel Red Pill will be published in September 2020. He is an honorary fellow of Wadham College Oxford, and has received fellowships from the Cullman Center at the New York Public Library, the Guggenheim Foundation and the American Academy in Berlin. He is the host of the podcast Into The Zone, coming in September from Pushkin Industries. He lives in New York City.

Nishat Kurwa is the VP and Executive Producer of Audio at Vox Media. For the past 3 years, she’s played a lead role in establishing the Vox Media Podcast Network, one of the largest and fastest-growing collections of high-quality podcasts — currently, with more than 200 active shows.

Previously, Nishat spent more than a decade as News Director/Senior Producer at the Peabody Award-winning independent production company Youth Radio (NPR’s Youth Desk). After Youth Radio, Nishat joined APM’s Marketplace, where she led the digital publishing team. Nishat is a mentor for the Third Coast International Audio Festival’s Radio Residency and also publishes the women of color-centered newsletter Talk Story.

Francis Lam is the host of The Splendid Table, produced by American Public Media. A regular contributor and frequent guest host on The Splendid Table since 2010, Lam is the former Eat columnist for The New York Times Magazine and is Editor-at-Large at Clarkson Potter, a division within Penguin Random House that is a leader in cookbook publishing. For two seasons, Lam was a regular judge on Bravo’s hit show, Top Chef Masters. An award-winning writer, Lam has written for numerous publications, including Gourmet, Bon Appetít, Food & Wine, Lucky Peach, Saveur, Salon, Men’s Journal, and the Financial Times. He graduated first in his class at the Culinary Institute of America and holds a bachelor’s degree in Asian Studies and Creative Writing from the University of Michigan. He lives with his family in New York City.

Cassandra LaPrairie is an Audio Marketer at financial technology start-up, TransferWise, where she currently leads the team’s podcast and radio sponsorship program. A self-proclaimed audio evangelist, Cassandra has held previous roles in sales at Vox Media and National Public Media where she worked to drive advertiser interest and investment in digital audio. Cassandra lives in Manhattan with her husband and her dog Arrow (who also loves podcasts).

Payne Lindsey is an Atlanta-based director, award-winning documentary filmmaker, and the co-creator and host of the hit podcasts “Up and Vanished”, “Atlanta Monster” and “Radio Rental”.

Driven by a new-found passion for both the true crime genre and investigative journalism, Lindsey decided to investigate the disappearance of beauty queen and school teacher Tara Grinstead, a notorious decade-old cold case from South Georgia. At the time, he hoped to develop Tara’s story into his own documentary film project.

As Lindsey chronicled his investigation in real-time, week by week, in audio form, he ventured into a new field, podcasting. The events of the next 12 months turned Tara Grinstead’s case into one of the biggest crime stories of the year. “Up and Vanished” propelled Grinstead’s case into the mainstream media, uncovering new evidence that helped to crack the 11-year-old cold case in early 2017 and lead to two arrests. Today, the series has garnered more than 300 million downloads.

On the strength of the podcast’s success, Lindsey launched Atlanta-based content creation company Tenderfoot TV, with his friend and business partner Donald Albright. Since its launch, they’ve successfully released multiple successful true crime podcast franchises including “Up and Vanished,” “Monster,”“Sworn,” and “To Live and Die in LA,” amassing over 500 million downloads in total in three years. Under Tenderfoot TV, Lindsey took on a new missing person’s case in “Up and Vanished: Season 2,” debuting at No. 1 on Apple Podcasts when it premiered, in addition to investigating the Atlanta Child Murders in “Atlanta Monster,” which also debuted at No. 1 on Apple Podcasts.

Most recently, Lindsey transports listeners into a mysterious world with real-life scary stories in season two of “Radio Rental,” which features the voice of Rainn Wilson as a quirky video store clerk. This fall, Payne will partner with “Disgraceland” host Jake Brennan on “Dead and Gone,” in which music and crime collide to investigate the mysterious cases of Grateful Dead fans who have ended up dead, missing, or unidentified.

Lindsey serves as executive producer on various other Tenderfoot TV podcasts including “Monster: The Zodiac Killer,” “To Live and Die in LA, and the company’s latest true crime releases ”Culpable” and ”Insomniac”, among others.

Additionally, using his documentary skillset, “Up and Vanished” was brought to the TV screen as a docu-series for Oxygen Network..

The core of Lindsey’s work, whether it is investigating, podcasting, or directing, continues to be storytelling that serves as a catalyst for change. When “Atlanta Monster” came out, the New Yorker wrote Lindsey and the Tenderfoot TV team are doing a “deeply worthy thing” examining these cases that haven’t gotten the attention they deserve. He hopes to continue shedding light on stories that need to be told.

Hernan Lopez is Founder & CEO of Wondery, the world’s largest independent podcast publisher. Launched in 2016, and known for its immersive podcasts, Wondery became the fastest network to join the Top 10 ranker by Podtrac, propelled by hit shows like Dr. Death, Dirty John, Business Wars and The Shrink Next Door. Twenty-six of Wondery’s shows have hit #1 on Apple Podcasts. Sixteen of them have been, or are in the process of being, adapted for scripted television. Wondery has gained critical acclaim and commercial success for its immersive approach to sonic, emotionally-immersive storytelling which helps listeners to “feel the story”

Nora McInerny is a reluctant expert in difficult conversations. A prolific creator, Nora wrote the critically-acclaimed memoirs It’s Okay to Laugh (Crying is Cool Too) and No Happy Endings, as well as The Hot Young Widows Club. She also wrote Bad Moms, a novelized version of the Bad Moms movie. Nora hosts the award-winning podcast Terrible, Thanks for Asking, founded the non-profit organization Still Kickin, spoke on TED’s mainstage and writes essays published in The New York Times, Cosmopolitan, Time, Slate and Vox. On stage, Nora is a captivating and successful performer, selling out live shows of Terrible, Thanks for Asking in 8 markets across the United States and Canada. A master storyteller, Nora is known for bringing heart and humor to even the toughest topics.

Academy Award winner Adam McKay made his name in the comedy world when he served as head writer at SNL and later writing and directing numerous iconic comedies such as Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and Step Brothers. His work as a writer-director-producer at his multi-platform production shingle, Hyperobject Industries, covers comedy, drama, documentaries and podcasts, many incorporating the politically charged and challenging subjects with which McKay has become synonymous.
McKay’s most recent feature, Vice, received eight Academy Award nominations, six Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations, and a DGA nomination for McKay. The WGA honored McKay with the Paul Selvin Award in recognition of the script that best embodies the spirit of the constitutional and civil rights and liberties. In 2015, McKay and Charles Randolph adapted Michael Lewis’s New York Times best-selling book, The Big Short. McKay earned Academy Award, BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations for Best Director, and he and Randolph won Best Adapted Screenplay at the Academy Awards, BAFTA, WGA and USC Scripter Awards.
Recently, he served as an executive producer on Olivia Wilde’s directorial debut Booksmart, Netflix’s Dead to Me and writer director Lorene Scafaria’s Hustlers. McKay’s upcoming film projects include Don’t Look Up for Netflix, starring Jennifer Lawrence. Don’t Look Up tells the story of two low-level astronomers who must go on a giant media tour to warn making of an approaching asteroid that will destroy Earth.

For television, McKay directed the pilot and serves as an executive producer on HBO’s Succession for which he won the DGA Award for Drama Series. Upcoming projects include an HBO limited series, chronicling the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers and a limited series based on Miami Herald investigative reporter Julie K. Brown’s upcoming book about Jeffrey Epstein. McKay and Bong Joon Ho are partnering to develop an HBO limited series inspired by Bong Joon Ho’s Academy Award Best Picture Parasite.

Jon Meacham is a Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer. His latest work, His Truth Is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope, will be published August 25, 2020 with Penguin Random House. He is the author of #1 New York Times bestselling books including The Hope of Glory: Reflections on the Last Words of Jesus from the Cross; The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels; Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power; American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House; Franklin and Winston; Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush; and Songs of America: Patriotism, Protest, and the Music That Made a Nation. He is the host of Cadence13’s Hope, Through History documentary podcast franchise, a distinguished visiting professor at Vanderbilt University, a contributing writer for The New York Times Book Review, and a fellow of the Society of American Historians. Meacham lives in Nashville with his wife and children.

Shereen Marisol Meraji tries to find the humor and humanity in reporting on race for the NPR Code Switch team.
Her stories center on the real people affected by the issues, not just experts and academics studying them. Those stories include a look at why a historically black college in West Virginia is 90 percent white, to a profile of the most powerful and most difficult-to-target consumer group in America: Latinas.
Prior to her time with Code Switch, Meraji worked for the national business and economics radio program Marketplace, from American Public Media. There, she covered stories about the growing wealth gap and poverty in the United States.
Meraji’s first job in college involved radio journalism and she hasn’t been able to shake her passion for story telling since. The best career advice Meraji ever received was from veteran radio journalist Alex Chadwick, who said, “When you see a herd of reporters chasing the same story, run in the opposite direction.” She’s invested in multiple pairs of running shoes and is wearing them out reporting for Code Switch.
A graduate of San Francisco State with a BA in Raza Studies, Meraji is a native Californian with family roots in Puerto Rico and Iran.

Brad Mielke is an ABC News correspondent based in New York and hosts ABC’s award-winning daily news podcast “Start Here,” which takes a straightforward look at the day’s top news in 20 minutes.

Brad has interviewed some of the country’s biggest newsmakers including James Comey, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Bill Gates, Kathy Griffin and more. Since its launch in March 2018, “Start Here” has posted special episodes on some of the world’s biggest events including the Singapore Summit, the testimony of Brett Kavanaugh & Christine Blasey Ford, the State of the Union, the Mueller report, and most recently the 2020 presidential election with Brad at the center of the podcast’s reporting.
During the 2016 election, he served as a Campaign Digital Journalist, where he interviewed nearly every presidential candidate including Donald Trump. Since then he has remained on the front lines of ABC’s political coverage, hosting several politics shows on ABC Radio and covering political stories across the country.
On ABC News Digital, Brad reports on breaking news events. He has also taken viewers behind-the-scenes of “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” on Facebook Live and even hosted “Bachelor Forecast,” a digital recap for ABC’s diehard “Bachelor” fans.

In 2015, Brad won an Edward R. Murrow award for his inventive, sound-rich documentary on extreme obstacle course racing – suffering a lot of aches and pains in the process.
Prior to his time at ABC News, Mielke worked at New York Public Radio, where he helped produce The Takeaway. A native of San Juan Capistrano, California, he graduated with a journalism degree from New York University. He lives with his wife and dog in Brooklyn.

Marty Moe is the President and the head of Vox Media Studios, the company’s entertainment unit that develops, produces and distributes premium original programming for TV, OTT, podcasts and brand partners. Moe’s fast-growing division produces, sells, and develops original programming both independently and in collaboration with Vox Media’s editorial properties.

Previously, Marty was Senior Vice President of AOL’s content publishing division, where he ran the company’s original news, finance, sports, and technology content offerings, as well as Weblogs, Inc., then the largest professional blog network in the US.

Before joining AOL in 2001, Marty served as Deputy Chief of Staff for U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, and earlier practiced corporate law at Skadden Arps in Washington, DC. He clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit after graduating Magna Cum Laude from NYU School of Law, where he was Executive Editor of the NYU Law Review. Marty lives in Washington, DC, with his two children.

Wesley Morris is a critic-at-large at the New York Times and a staff writer at the New York Times magazine, where he writes about popular culture and hosts the podcast “Still Processing,” with Jenna Wortham. For three years, he was a staff writer at Grantland. Before that, he spent 11 years as a film critic at the Boston Globe, where he won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for criticism. He lives in Brooklyn. NY.

KC Murphy is the Director of Performance Marketing at Barstool Sports and oversees the development and growth of direct response campaigns across Barstool’s portfolio of performance advertisers activating on podcasts, social media, and integrated video. Before Barstool, KC worked in brand strategy and digital advertising execution & optimization for VaynerMedia.

Erika Nardini, CEO of Barstool Sports, is known for her tenacious passion for growing consumer brands.

In July 2016, Erika joined Barstool Sports as the company’s CEO. Known for its original takes and unfiltered view, Barstool Sports is a driving force in comedy, sports, entertainment and culture. Under Erika’s leadership, Barstool Sports has experienced explosive brand and business growth as one of the fastest growing companies on the internet. It is the 6th largest podcast platform in the world with the number one sports podcast and female podcast, and the 10th largest distributed media company in the US. Barstool Sports drives 1.6 billion social views and 26 million video views monthly and 11.9 million listeners across its platforms, owning the 18-34 year old demographic.

In under 3.5 years, Nardini has grown its employees from 15 to 201 with its revenue is approaching 100 million. She has launched over 35 brands, including breakout franchises in
entertainment, sports, and sports betting. Nardini has been named one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People and one of the Most Powerful Women in Sports by AdWeek and Forbes Magazine. Prior to Barstool Sports, Erika held several notable positions at top internet companies including AOL, Demand Media, Yahoo! And Microsoft.

Akoto Ofori-Atta is a journalist and music lover. She was a 2014-15 John S. Knight journalism fellow at Stanford University. Currently, she is Managing Editor at The Traceand previously held positions in music and culture at The Root and Essence.

Respected marketing guru, Justina Omokhua, is synonymous with “strategist.” She maintains an insatiable curiosity and a thirst, drive and need for information – that has been central to the success she’s manifested in her career.

In her current role as SVP of Brand Marketing at Endeavor, Justina works across the ecosystem of the platform to create synergy across the various businesses in the portfolio including but not limited to 160/90, WME, IMG, UFC, Professional Bull Riders, Miss Universe and Frieze.

In the words of Endeavor CMO Bozoma Saint John, “Justina is the best kept secret in the industry. She’s a proven marketing thought-leader who operates with masterful precision and detail. She brings the intersection of consumer strategy, technology and innovation to brands that move culture.”

Prior to Endeavor, Justina worked at Apple as the Global Head of Content Strategy & Lifestyle Marketing for Apple Music and iTunes. She has also worked for some of the largest brands in the world – including Verizon, Nokia, Pepsi and L’Oreal.

Erica Osher is the Vice President of Sponsorship Products & NPM Creative at National Public Media (NPM), the sponsorship subsidiary of NPR. In her role, Osher leads the in-house creative team that provides research, strategy, design, creative, and audio production services to NPR sponsors. Osher is committed to creating and maintaining a robust line-up of innovative NPR sponsorship integrations that respect the user experience and engage the discerning NPR audience. Throughout her tenure at NPM, Osher has grown NPR’s digital sponsorship offerings to provide brands with more options to natively integrate messaging on NPR platforms, increased reach for sponsor campaigns and delivered strong engagement for brands. Since launching NPM Creative in 2018, Osher has spearheaded audio storytelling projects for Capital One, Subaru, WeWork and more, and launched new sponsorship products on emerging platforms – such as Voice Landing Pages – for brands. In 2018, Osher was named to the inaugural Admonsters Power List for her contributions to the digital advertising industry and her continued leadership at NPM. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland.

Monica Padman is an actress, writer, producer and co-creator/co-host/producer of the Armchair Expert podcast. Her acting credits include ChiPs, The Good Place, Bless This Mess and Ryan Hansen Solves Crimes on Television. She produces Momsplaining staring Kristen Bell, a digital series on EllenTube about motherhood. She created Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard in February of 2018. It was the most dowloaded podcast of 2018 and won the I Heart Radio Award for Best new podcast that year. She released a 10 episode podcast in 2020 called Monica and Jess Love Boys about the journey to healthy relationships/dating.

Nilay Patel is co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Verge, the technology and culture brand from Vox Media. He has grown The Verge into one of the largest and most influential tech sites, with a global audience of millions of monthly readers, and award-winning journalism with real-world impact. Honored in Adweek’s “Creative 100” under Patel’s leadership, The Verge received its first Pulitzer and National Magazine Award nominations. Patel is an expert voice in the tech space, hosting The Verge’s flagship interview podcast Decoder and co-hosting its award-winning podcast The Vergecast.

Dave Portnoy, also known as El Presidente, is the founder of the preeminent digital media brand, Barstool Sports. With a rich 15 year history, Dave created a brand that is extremely influential with a deeply authentic voice.

With humble beginnings as a gambling newspaper in Boston, Barstool Sports has grown to a massive media juggernaut that creates innovative content with massive distribution on multiple platforms including blog, apps, podcasts, radio, video, social, events, pay per view and TV to a fierce, loyal and incredibly engaged audience.

Dave Portnoy and his creative business mind helped build Barstool Sports ‘brick by brick’ into a disruptive company that is thriving in a time when digital media is experiencing layoffs, repositioning and have become reliant on advertisers.

Portnoy, known to most as the ‘pizza guy’ has turned eating and rating a slice of pizza into a pop culture phenomenon with his slogan ‘one bite everybody knows the rules’. His pizza reviews have gained so much notoriety that Barstool Sports created the One Bite app, the single largest database of pizza in the US. One good review from Dave Portnoy and it changes local pizzerias – spurring a giant increase in sales and customers coming from states away to try pizza deemed worthy by Dave.

Dave Portnoy is synonymous with creating a movement. Fans of Barstool continue to read, watch and listen to Barstool Sports content waiting to see what Dave will come up with next.

Dave consistently ranks as the #1 most influential social media account at major US sporting events like the Kentucky Derby, Super Bowl, PGA Championship, U.S. Open Golf, Stanley Cup Finals, NASCAR’s Daytona 500 and more.

Stephanie Preiss is the vice president of TV and Audio at the New York Times. In her role, she is leading the expansion of audio and the Times’s film and TV business, and was integral in the conception and launch of “The Weekly.”

Since joining the Times in 2014, Stephanie has worked in the intersection of the newsroom and business in various roles, helping to launch new ventures and products for the company. Previously, in her position as director of Strategy and Business Development, she worked on multimedia partnerships with Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat and was responsible for exploring opportunities in the film and TV business. Prior to that, she was the manager for Video Business Operations, where she helped to transform the company’s video operation.

Before joining the Times, Stephanie worked at a start-up digital video company, IconicTV, where she was the first employee.

Born in New York City, Stephanie attended Middlebury College, where she graduated with a BA in Philosophy.

Sean Rameswaram is co-host of Today, Explained and creative director for Vox Audio where he blends curiosity, humor, and wild creativity to deliver the news in unexpected ways (even including an original song from time to time). Before joining Vox, Rameswaram reported for WNYC’s Radiolab series More Perfect and PRI’s Studio 360. At WNYC, he also covered culture for the newsroom, starred in videos for the digital team, and hosted live events.

Friends and creative partners since 2006, the Forever Dog co-Founders began their creative partnership in High School in Philadelphia where they produced 2 full-length feature films, produced and recorded an entire musical comedy album, and started a Film Festival.

In 2010, they continued this partnership as a theatre troupe: premiering Off-Broadway, touring plays across the country, and producing 100+ original shows in the New York City comedy scene.

In 2016, Brett, Alex, and Joe started Forever Dog and have since produced over 50 podcasts that have yielded over 70 million total downloads and listeners across the entire globe.

David Raphael is President and CEO of PMM and leads a sponsorship team who offers advertising in the biggest and most successful Podcasts in the industry including The Joe Rogan Experience, Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert, Anna Faris is Unqualified, Smartless and comedy podcasts from top comics including Tom Segura, Bert Kreischer. PMM also sells sponsorship in TV national programs on PBS. PMM is committed to delivering outstanding results to their shows and sponsors everyday.
In the past, David lead national sponsorship at both WBEZ (Chicago Public Radio / NPR) and WNET (PBS New York). David has a background in commercial television and radio enjoying a tenure at both Fox Television Syndication and CBS Radio.

Emily Rasekh is Senior Vice President of Business Development and Operations, Podcasting at Sony Music Entertainment. Based in New York, Emily focuses on driving the strategic expansion of Sony Music’s partnership, distribution and monetization in the podcast space. She is also responsible for managing day-to-day relationships with various podcasting partners and overseeing the podcast sales and marketing teams.

Prior to Sony Music, Emily was Vice President of Digital Partnerships at Entercom where she oversaw digital content distribution strategy across digital, mobile and emerging platforms. Before that, she helped launch CBS Radio’s audio-on-demand business, growing total podcast listenership from 4 million monthly listens to over 25 million monthly listens within two years. She previously held business development roles for CBS from 2011-2016 and MTV Networks from 2009-2011.

Emily graduated Colby College with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and minor in Business Administration.

Donnell Rawlings is a comedian, actor, and host of The Donnell Rawlings Show. He is best known as a cast member on Chappelle’s Show, the Comedy Central sketch comedy TV series, and on The Wire, the HBO drama.

Gary Reisman joined Forever Dog as CEO in November 2018, bringing to the company more than 30 years of experience in media, entertainment, and strategic marketing.

Prior to Forever Dog, Reisman was founder and CEO of LEAP® Media Investments, a premiere, strategic data and analytics company. LEAP’s clients included NBCU, FOX, FX, Ovation TV, TV One, FUSE, AOL and Yahoo, and the company also provided strategic guidance for Sony Pictures, along with numerous other TV networks and internet properties.

Before launching LEAP, Reisman was vice president of strategic marketing at Turner and vice president of sales and marketing for CNN.com International, where he guided the expansion of CNN.com across Europe, Asia and Latin America.

Erik is the Founder and CEO of Media Tradecraft, a direct and exclusive full service publisher ad management firm and Principal at Tradecraft Advisory, a programmatic advertising advisory. Erik works directly with Publishers to exclusively represent their inventory to buyers and manage connected ad technologies. He is widely regarded as one of the top programmatic experts in the country. He’s a frequent contributor to publications like Beet.TV, The Drum, AdAge, AdExchanger, Admonsters, ExchangeWire and Digiday, and collaborates with industry groups and associations. He is also the Co Creator of What Happens in Adtech, a show deep diving into industry related topics and co-founder / co-host of Minority Report Podcast which highlights people of color, women & LGBTQ community within media, business and technology. Erik is affiliated with and active on adtech advisory councils. He also serves as a strategic adviser to several top ad tech companies helping them to improve their tech for both buyers and publishers.

Paul Riismandel has been a podcast researcher since before the medium even had a name. He’s worked at Midroll, now a Stitcher company, since 2014 where he built and established the marketing and research strategy that laid the foundation for the company’s podcast advertising business. Heading up Stitcher’s B2B marketing efforts, he conducts market research and advertising effectiveness research that continues to demonstrate that podcasting is one of the most robust platforms for brands of all sizes.

As the Vice President of Ad Operations for NPR, Brett Robinson oversees strategy, campaign execution and monetization for all NPR digital properties – including podcasts, NPR.org, smart speakers and apps – which have increased in revenue by over 400% since 2015. Since joining NPM in 2007, Robinson has played a key role in the development of new digital revenue models, spearheaded the implementation of new ad serving technologies and inventory management strategies, and the establishment of client services standards. As a member of the IAB’s Podcast Working Group, Robinson actively contributes to the development of industry standards and best practices in digital audio.

Michael Rosenbaum has shared the screen with Bradley Cooper, Kristen Bell, Charlize Theron, Christopher Walken, Steve Martin and Clint Eastwood. He’s acted in over 20 feature films, including Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Urban Legend, Bringing Down the House, Sweet November, Sorority Boys, Poolhall Junkies, and most recently played opposite Bill Fichtner in the Indie thriller, The Neighbor. Known for portraying what many journalists, fans and the late Stan Lee believed to be the best Lex Luthor, Rosenbaum shaved his head and transformed himself for the role for seven seasons on the smash hit Smallville.

After Smallville, Rosenbaum shared his comedic talents, playing the fan favorite Dutch Nilbog on the show Breaking In and as the lead role of Buddy Dobbs on Impastor, also serving as the show’s Executive Producer. Rosenbaum wrote, directed and starred in the film Back In the Day, opposite Morena Baccarin and Nick Swardson.

A man of many talents, Rosenbaum is also the lead singer for the band Left On Laurel. The band just completed a tour in Germany and recently released their first studio album “Saved By The Ground”. The album is available on all platforms.

The Inside Of You with Michael Rosenbaum podcast is a fan favorite because Rosenbaum keeps it real and is unapologetically vulnerable, which creates a relaxing atmosphere where guests feel comfortable sharing the most intimate details about their lives. With over 10 million downloads, guests include Henry Winkler, Jenson Ackles, Rainn Wilson, Dax Shepard, Kristen Bell, Bob Odenkirk and many other Hollywood notables. You can listen on almost every platform and watch Rosenbaum’s interviews on Youtube.

Hilary Ross is the vice president of podcast media for Veritone One. She has nearly a decade of experience in advertising and is a podcast aficionado. She leads Veritone One’s team of podcast buyers and frequently provides guidance to partners and podcasters on topics including growth tactics, sponsorship models, podcast timing, show length, ad unit innovation, and monetization. When she is not thinking about podcasts, Hilary enjoys exploring new hiking trails in Los Angeles, where she lives with her husband, pet cat, and goldfish.

Peter Schiff is an economist, financial broker/dealer, author, frequent guest on national news, and host of the Peter Schiff Show. His podcast focuses on weekly economic data analysis and unbiased coverage of financial news, both in the U.S. and global markets.

Ari Shapiro has been one of the hosts of All Things Considered, NPR’s award-winning afternoon newsmagazine, since 2015. During his first two years on the program, listenership to All Things Considered grew at an unprecedented rate, with more people tuning in during a typical quarter-hour than any other program on the radio.
Shapiro has reported from above the Arctic Circle and aboard Air Force One. He has covered wars in Iraq, Ukraine, and Israel, and he has filed stories from dozens of countries and most of the 50 states.
Shapiro spent two years as NPR’s International Correspondent based in London, traveling the world to cover a wide range of topics for NPR’s news programs. His overseas move came after four years as NPR’s White House Correspondent during President Barack Obama’s first and second terms. Shapiro also embedded with the campaign of Republican Mitt Romney for the duration of the 2012 presidential race. He was NPR’s Justice Correspondent for five years during the George W. Bush Administration, covering debates over surveillance, detention and interrogation in the years after Sept. 11.
Shapiro’s reporting has been consistently recognized by his peers. He was part of an NPR team that won a national Edward R. Murrow award for coverage of the Trump Administration’s asylum policies on the US-Mexico border. The Columbia Journalism Review honored him with a laurel for his investigation into disability benefits for injured American veterans. The American Bar Association awarded him the Silver Gavel for exposing the failures of Louisiana’s detention system after Hurricane Katrina. He was the first recipient of the American Judges’ Association American Gavel Award for his work on U.S. courts and the American justice system. And at age 25, Shapiro won the Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize for an investigation of methamphetamine use and HIV transmission.
An occasional singer, Shapiro makes frequent guest appearances with the “little orchestra” Pink Martini, whose recent albums feature several of his contributions, in multiple languages. Since his debut at the Hollywood Bowl in 2009, Shapiro has performed live at many of the world’s most storied venues, including Carnegie Hall in New York, The Royal Albert Hall in London and L’Olympia in Paris. In 2019 he created the show “Och and Oy” with Tony Award winner Alan Cumming, and they continue to tour the country with it.
Shapiro was born in Fargo, North Dakota, and grew up in Portland, Oregon. He is a magna cum laude graduate of Yale. He began his journalism career as an intern for NPR Legal Affairs Correspondent Nina Totenberg, who has also occasionally been known to sing in public.

Dax Shepard is the host of the hit podcast Armchair Expert. He is an actor, writer, director and podcast host. He is best known for his work in the feature films Without a Paddle , Zathura: A Space Adventure (2005), Employee of the Month (2006), Idiocracy (2006), Let’s Go to Prison (2006), Hit and Run (2012), and CHiPs (2017), which he also wrote and directed, and the MTV practical joke reality series Punk’d (2003). He portrayed Crosby Braverman in the NBC comedy-drama series Parenthood from 2010 to 2015. Since 2018, he has hosted Armchair Expert. He played Luke Matthews in the Netflix show The Ranch and co-starred in ABC’s Bless This Mess.

Nate Silver is the founder and editor in chief of FiveThirtyEight and the author of “The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail — But Some Don’t.”

Silver first gained public recognition for developing PECOTA, a system for forecasting the performance and career development of Major League Baseball players, which he sold to and then managed for Baseball Prospectus from 2003 to 2009.

Silver was named one of The World’s 100 Most Influential People by Time in 2009 after an election forecasting system he developed successfully predicted the outcomes in 49 of the 50 states in the 2008 U.S. Presidential election.

Michael Smith is Chief Marketing Officer at NPR. He has more than 30 years of experience in entertainment brand marketing, content, digital and revenue generating brand extensions.

Prior to joining NPR, Smith served as SVP, GM Digital Channels for Scripps Networks, where he developed strategies to reach younger and more diverse audiences on new digital streaming platforms. Before that, Smith was SVP, GM Cooking Channel and Food Category Brand Extensions. In that role, he oversaw marketing, brand strategy and programming for the Cooking Channel, a network he helped create and launch. Before Cooking Channel, Smith was SVP Marketing, Creative and Brand Strategy for Food Network. He also worked in various marketing roles with Disney Channel both domestically and in Asia.

Smith’s media career began in Affiliate Relations with CBS, working to strengthen relationships between local stations and the national network. He served on the boards of Food Bank for New York and the International Radio and Television Society.

Smith earned his MBA in Marketing and Finance from the University of California at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, and received his bachelor’s degree in Science, Technology and Society from Stanford University.

Julie Snyder is the executive editor of Serial Productions, and the co-creator of their hit podcasts, Serial and S-Town. Julie is overseeing the expansion of Serial Productions at The New York Times, with a growing slate of ground-breaking serialized podcasts.

Katy is an actress, producer, and podcaster living in Los Angeles, California. After 10 years working with the popular comedy site Cracked.com , she launched Some More News and the companion podcast Even More News with Cody Johnston in 2018. Together, they have built a network with hundreds of thousands of subscribers and a community of viewers and listeners seeking clarity on the onslaught of the news from like minded individuals. Where Cody brings his trademark acerbic wit, Katy balances conversations with her own brand of thoughtful, empathetic analysis which their listeners have come to know and love.

In her free time Katy co-hosts the Worst Year Ever podcast and is a frequent guest on shows like Behind The Bastards, The Daily Zeitgeist, The Bechdel Cast and Creature Feature. You also may have seen her in various commercials, TV shows and movies. We would list those credits but that’s what IMDB is for.

Kara Swisher is the co-host of Pivot, co-founder of Recode, editor-at-large at New York Magazine, and co-executive producer of the Code Conference. Revered as one of the world’s most powerful tech journalists, she has spent over 30 years covering the tech industry. Her interviews with tech’s biggest players break news and dissect the truth about how technology is changing the world and changing us.

David Tennant is a Scottish actor. He played the roles of the tenth incarnation of The Doctor in the BBC sci-fi series Doctor Who (2005–2010), Giacomo Casanova in the BBC comedy-drama serial Casanova (2005), Hamlet in the RSC’s 2009 adaptation of Hamlet (2009), Barty Crouch, Jr. in the fantasy film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), DI Alec Hardy in the ITV crime drama series Broadchurch (2013–2017), and Kilgrave in the Netflix superhero series Jessica Jones (2015–2019). He has also starred in the HBO hit, Camping and in 2019 starred in the Amazon Prime title Good Omens, which will be returning for a second season.
Tennant has also worked extensively as a voice actor and in theatre, including a portrayal of the title character in a 2008 production of Hamlet and the voice of Scrooge McDuck in DuckTales (2017–present). In 2015, he received the UK National Television Award for Special Recognition.

Marlo Thomas is an award-winning actress, author, and activist whose body of work continues to impact American entertainment and culture. She has been honored with four Emmy Awards, the George Foster Peabody Award, a Golden Globe, a Grammy, and has been inducted into the Broadcasting Hall of Fame. In November 2014, President Barack Obama awarded Marlo the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor a civilian can receive.

Sebastian Tomich was named global head of Advertising and Marketing Solutions at The New York Times in November 2017. In this role, he guides the strategy and revenue generation of the entire advertising team across media, partnerships and services, including T Brand Studio, ad innovation, marketing solutions and sales.

Previously, Tomich was senior vice president of Advertising and Innovation, starting in April 2015. In that role he led The Times’s branded content business and studio, overseeing Hello Society and Fake Love—the two agencies the Times Company acquired in 2016—and steered the company’s advertising innovation efforts.

Tomich was previously vice president of advertising where he led the launch and rapid expansion of T Brand Studio, The Times’s commercial content studio. He also managed sales teams across multiple categories.

Before joining The Times, Tomich was the director of East Coast advertising at Forbes Media. In this position he led the company’s largest regions advertising sales and business development efforts with their new native advertising platform, BrandVoice. During his tenure at Forbes, Mr. Tomich held a number of positions, including Regional Sales Manager and National Digital Director.

In 2017 he was named an Ad Age “40 Under 40” and in 2014 he was named to Ad Age’s “Creative 50.”

Pablo S. Torre is a multi-platform commentator at ESPN. He regularly appears on Around the Horn, Highly Questionable and Outside the Lines, as well as a guest on other programming across the network. Prior to that, Torre hosted a daily studio show, High Noon, alongside Bomani Jones from 2018-20. Torre has also been a senior writer for ESPN.com. He originally joined the network in 2012.
Torre wrote and produced his first 30 for 30 short film, Friedman’s Shoes (2016), while contributing to other ESPN Films projects. In 2012, he appeared in Broke, a 30 for 30 feature documentary, which was based on his own reporting on athletes and financial health. Those stories also led the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to sue the firm Triton Financial for defrauding investors in a multimillion-dollar scam. A federal jury would find Triton’s CEO guilty on 39 charges.
Torre previously worked at Sports Illustrated from 2007-12 where he was a staff writer.
Features written by Torre have been honored by GLAAD; the Society of Professional Journalists; the Best American Sports Writing (Notable); the U.S. Basketball Writers Association; the Boxing Writers Association of America; Mental Health America; the Association of Health Care Journalists; the Society of American Business Editors and Writers; and the Associated Collegiate Press and ASNE. He was included on lists of Sports Media’s 13 Rising Stars of 2013 (by Awful Announcing) and the Top 30 Sportscasters Under 30.
Torre has spoken at Harvard Law, Stanford Business School, the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, Columbia Journalism School, the Tribeca Film Festival, Williams College and the Asia Society.
Born and raised in Manhattan, Torre attended Harvard University. There, he wrote a thesis about child homicide and graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude, with highest honors.

Avery Trufelman is the host and creator of Articles Of Interest, named a best podcast of 2022 by The New York Times, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic. Previously she was a producer of the design podcast 99% Invisible, and former host of The Cut from New York magazine, and Nice Try! from Curbed.

Alexis is the CEO of AdsWizz, a global audio ad-tech company. Alexis brings over 15 years of experience incubating, building and managing the growth of emerging technology businesses, with a focus on internet and mobile industries. Under his leadership, he has guided AdsWizz through two powerful acquisitions – in 2018, Pandora acquired AdsWizz, and in 2019, SiriusXM acquired Pandora and AdsWizz. Prior to joining AdsWizz, Alexis was at eBay for nearly 6 years, where he served as the Director of Global Advertising Innovation and the Managing Director of ProStores, an eBay company. Alexis studied Engineering at Université Catholique de Louvain in Belgium, and has an MBA from INSEAD. In his free time, Alexis enjoys outdoor activities, such as sailing, kiteboarding, snow skiing and rock climbing.

Scott Van Pelt is host of the midnight edition of SportsCenter, bringing his unique perspective to the world of sports since September 7, 2015. The program showcases Van Pelt’s passion for sports, with his self-deprecating wit and disposition toward celebrating stars and storylines.
In addition, Van Pelt serves as main host of ESPN’s golf coverage, including the Masters and the PGA Championship, two of professional golf’s majors, and he hosts SportsCenter reports and specials from the events.
Van Pelt joined ESPN in early 2001 as the network’s lead professional golf reporter, shortly thereafter becoming a SportsCenter anchor and later a co-host on ESPN Radio of Tirico and Van Pelt each weekday afternoon..
In July 2009, The Scott Van Pelt Show made its debut on ESPN Radio and in a simulcast on ESPN2. The show was re-named SVP & Russillo in October 2012, and ended in the summer of 2015 when Van Pelt was preparing for the launch of the new midnight SportsCenter.
Van Pelt also contributed to ESPN College GameDay for several years with his “Bald Man on Campus” feature.
Van Pelt came to ESPN from The Golf Channel, where he was an anchor and reporter for the sport-specific network from 1994-2000. During his years there, he was the co-host of studio programs Golf Central, Leaderboard Report and occasional host of Viewer’s Forum.
Van Pelt began his sports broadcasting career at WTTG-TV (FOX) in Washington, D.C., in 1990. He worked in WTTG sports studio production department contributing content for the station’s The 10:00 News, Sunday Night’s Sports Extra and specials on the Washington Redskins.
A native of Brookeville, Md., Van Pelt graduated from the University of Maryland with a bachelor’s degree in radio/television and film. He is proud of his Maryland Terrapins sports teams and often attends games as a spectator when his schedule permits.

Tom Webster is a partner at Sounds Profitable, the leading voice of significance for the digital audio industry, devoted to growing the podcast sector through audio insights, education and connections. As a 25-year audio research veteran, he is a trusted advisor to the biggest companies in audio and has dedicated his career to the advancement of podcasting for networks and individuals alike. Tom has been a co-author and driver behind some of audio’s most influential studies, including the Infinite Dial® series, Share of Ear® and The Podcast Landscape. Additionally, he has led hundreds of audience research projects on six continents, for some of the most listened-to podcasts and syndicated radio shows in the world, from Howard Stern to All Things Considered. He’s done a card trick for Paula Abdul, shared a martini with Tom Jones, and sold vinyl to Christopher Walken. With Tom’s partnership at its helm, Sounds Profitable is dedicated to set the course for the future of the audio industry.

Jacob Weisberg is co-founder and CEO of Pushkin Industries, an audio content production company. He was previously CEO of the Slate Group, co-founder of Panoply, and editor-in-chief of Slate Magazine. He has written for publications including the New York Times, New Yorker, and Financial Times. He is the author of several books and a lecturer at Yale University. Weisberg is vice-chair of the Committee to Protect Journalists and a member of the PEN Board, reflecting his long-standing involvement with issues of global press freedom and independent journalism.

Marshall got his start nearly 30 years ago an early adopter, salesman and advocate of direct response radio. He quickly became one of the larger buyers of endorsement radio in the US for various companies before venturing out on his own when he formed the Williams Media Group in 1997.
A year later, Williams connected with current business partner Russell Lindley, to form “Ad Results, Inc.” and in 2016 Ad Results, Inc. merged with “Brown Bear Digital, Inc.”, founded by current Partners Steve Shanks, Kurt Kaufer and Michael Kropko.

“Always persevere, always have a great perspective, and always have great purpose in your life.” – Russell Wilson

Indeed, a mantra that has firmly established Russell Wilson’s dedication to excellence as an elite quarterback in the NFL, an innovative business entrepreneur, and a community leader.

Growing up in Richmond, Virginia, Russell developed a love for football at a young age. After high school, Russell went on to play collegiate football at North Carolina State and the University of Wisconsin where he set numerous records and garnered national acclaim. His success led him to be drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in 2012. Russell has led the team to more wins than any other quarterback in team history, including a victory in Super Bowl XLVIII (2013). In 2014, he led Seattle to a second straight Super Bowl berth as a two-time NFC Champion (2013, 2014).

In 2020, Russell Wilson will enter his ninth season with the Seahawks. He holds the NFL record for most regular season wins by a QB in his first five seasons (56) and the record for the most passing touchdowns in a season by a rookie (26). He also holds the second-highest passer rating in NFL history (behind Aaron Rodgers).
Off the field, Russell’s leadership, passion and business acumen have resulted in assembling an impressive and diverse portfolio of business ventures. He has landed major endorsements and global ambassadorships with several companies including Nike, Microsoft, Wilson, Alaska Airlines, Bose and Braun, and he is the lead investor in a Juice Press franchise as well as TruFusion in Seattle.

In 2016, Russell launched a men’s lifestyle apparel line, Good Man Brand, which is sold by major department stores, in addition to having a partnership with Amazon Fashion. The brand’s tagline “Lead. Inspire. Live” is drawn from traits Russell found in the good men in his life and the clothing aims to bring out the best in its customers by helping them look good and feel good, so they can live life, work hard and help others.

As an extension of his work on the field, Russell and famed mental conditioning coach Trevor Moawad recently founded Limitless Minds, a business coaching consultancy dedicated to optimizing performance and enriching culture within some of the world’s top organizations and elite performers.

In 2014, Russell founded The Why Not You Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to creating real and lasting change in the world by motivating and empowering today’s youth. In addition to financially supporting organizations aligned with the Foundation’s mission, Russell and his wife work to extend the Foundation’s impact by making weekly visits to Seattle Children’s Hospital where he lifts the spirits and brings joy to the hearts of patients and their families.

Most recently, Russell established the Russell Wilson Quarterback Academy as a springboard to develop quarterback prospects using unique and cutting-edge curriculum based on his own experiences and knowledge. The quarterback school exists as an extension of the Russell Wilson Passing Academy, a summer football camp for children of all ages. Since its inception in 2012, the RWPA has held camps in nine cities and worked with more than 9,000 children.

In 2019 Russell and Ciara founded Why Not You Productions, their production company focused on scripted and unscripted film, television, and digital content projects. Projects through the shingle will focus on inspiring and aspiring narratives and human interest stories. Russell also heads Seattle-based West2East, a brand management, creative content and production company.

Molly Wood is the host and Senior Editor of Marketplace Tech, a national radio program and podcast that demystifies the business of technology. She also co-hosts the podcast Make Me Smart with Kai and Molly and is an Ideas contributor at WIRED. Molly has spent two decades covering the tech industry on all platforms and is known as a pioneer in podcasting. She has been recognized for her dynamic reporting by the Webbys, the National Magazine Awards, and is a Gracie Award winner. Prior to joining Marketplace, she was a tech columnist at The New York Times and an executive editor at CNET.