12 Aug DEG Marks Its 25th Anniversary With New Board of Directors, Increasingly Diverse Membership
Paramount’s Dan Cohen and Google’s Jonathan Zepp Elected Board Leaders
New Member AWS, Returning Sony Pictures Join Board
LOS ANGELES (August 11, 2022) – DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group, formed in 1997, is marking its 25th anniversary as the leading digital media trade association supporting home entertainment with a new board driving a membership that reflects the diverse, global and fluid digital entertainment marketplace.
The Officers of the DEG Board were elected to a two-year term and will serve through July 2024. Officers include Chair Dan Cohen of Paramount Global (left); Vice Chair Jonathan Zepp of Google (right); CFO Andrea Downing of PBS Distribution; Secretary Rick Hack of Intel; and Chair Emeritus Jim Wuthrich of Warner Bros. Discovery.
DEG’s voting member companies elected the new Board of Directors to serve for the 2022-23 fiscal year (August 1 – July 31). AWS, a new DEG member company, and Sony Pictures Entertainment, a returning member, are newly represented Directors on the DEG Board. AWS is represented by Chris Blandy and Sony Pictures is represented by Jason Spivak. A+E Networks and Fandango/Vudu are long standing members returning to the Board. They are represented by Mark Garner and Mark Young, respectively.
The Board also includes two seats representing DEG’s two Alliances, the D2C Alliance (D2CA) and the Advanced Content Delivery Alliance (ACDA), which play increasingly important roles in focusing DEG membership for the future and broadening the organization’s membership. The Board D2CA Director is Adam Lewinson of Tubi. The ACDA Board Director is Bill Neighbors of Xperi Holding Corporation.
The Directors appointed Robin Tarufelli of Deloitte as a Special Board Advisor for the 2022-23 term. The Special Board Advisor role is intended to provide diversity of input from membership sectors and companies that might not otherwise be represented on the Board.
DEG marks its quarter century with an expanding global membership that includes 81 member companies encompassing all areas of the digital entertainment ecosystem. These companies are diverse in their business segments and in their geographic locations. They include, for example, Israel’s Deepdub, a localization service provider; Argentina’s BB Media, a data science company specializing in media and entertainment; South Korea’s Blintn, a global content marketplace; and U.S.-based TreeTrunk, which introduces a new standard for NFTs that enables blockchain royalty collection and distribution.
“I’m delighted that DEG membership is evolving to reflect the increasingly global nature of the digital entertainment ecosystem,” said DEG Chair Dan Cohen, Chief Content Licensing Officer, Paramount Global. “The new Board is committed to serving all DEG members and to providing the membership even more opportunities for collaboration, education and networking across industry sectors and across borders.”
“We welcome all of our new DEG Board Directors and are thrilled about our expanding base of companies based outside the U.S.,” said Amy Jo Smith, DEG President & CEO. “I’m grateful that they see the value of membership in DEG, which is committed to continuing to deliver high return on investment for members evolving into global providers of direct-to-consumer entertainment.”
DEG BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Officers of the Board (Fiscal Years 2022-24)
CHAIR
Dan Cohen
Chief Content Licensing Officer
Paramount Global
VICE CHAIR
Jonathan Zepp
Media & Entertainment, Global Partnerships
Google
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
Andrea Downing
President
PBS Distribution
SECRETARY
Rick Hack
Head of Media & Entertainment Partnerships
Intel
CHAIR EMERITUS
Jim Wuthrich
President Content Distribution
Warner Bros. Discovery
Board Directors (Fiscal Year 2022-23)
Mark Garner
EVP Content Licensing & Business Development
A+E Networks
Chris Blandy
Global Leader Strategy & Business Development, Media & Entertainment
Amazon Web Services
Rebecca “Bec” Heap
SVP Consumer Products & Propositions
Comcast
Alisa Bowen
EVP Business Operations
Disney Streaming Services
Mark Young
SVP Strategy, Bus & Corp Dev
Fandango, VUDU and GM Rotten Tomatoes Fandango/Vudu
Ron Schwartz
President Global Distribution
Lionsgate
Andres Alvarez
SVP Digital Distribution – Partner Engagement & Strategy
MGM
Matt Strauss
Chairman Direct-to-Consumer and International
NBCUniversal Streaming Services
Bob Buchi
President Worldwide Home Media
Paramount Home Entertainment
Sarah Larsen
VP Integrated Marketing
Samsung Electronics
Jason Spivak
EVP Distribution – North America
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Adam Lewinson
Chief Content Officer
Tubi
Michael Bonner
President Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
Universal Film Entertainment Group
Bill Neighbors
Chief Content Officer
Xperi Holding Corporation – DTS, HD Radio, TiVo, IMAX Enhanced
Special Board Advisor (Fiscal Year 2022-23)
Robin Tarufelli
Managing Director, Media & Entertainment
Deloitte
ABOUT DEG
DEG membership is comprised of: A+E Networks, Altman Solon, AMC Networks, AMC Theatres, Amazon
Prime, Amazon Studios, Amazon Web Services, Anuvu, BBC Studios, BB Media, BIGtoken, BLINTN, Bitmax,
Blu Digital Group, Cinedigm, Cinelytic, Comcast Cable, Deepdub, Deloitte, Deluxe
Digital, Disney+, Dolby Laboratories, DTS, Inc., ESPN+, Fabric, Fandango/Vudu, FilmRise, GfK
Entertainment, Giant Interactive, Google Play, Guts + Data, Intel, Irdeto, IRIS.TV, IYUNO-SDI
Group, LG Electronics USA, Limelight, Lionsgate, Looper Insights, Mediagenix, MGM, Microsoft,
Microsoft Azure, Movies Anywhere, NAGRA, NPD Group, Omdia, Paramount Global, Paramount Home
Entertainment, PBS Distribution, Peacock, Pixelogic, Pixelworks, Plex, Premiere Digital, Redbox,
Respeecher, Row8, Samsung Electronics, Screen Engine/ASI, SmithGeiger, Sonopress, Spherex, STARZ,
Synamedia, Technicolor, TiVo, TreeTrunk, Trusted Partner Network, Universal Pictures Home
Entertainment, Verizon Business Group, Visual Data, Vizio, Vubiquity, Vuulr, Warner Bros.
Discovery, Whip Media, Wondrium, XL8, Xperi, and ZOO Digital.