Canon Club
Canon Club | Where Women in Entertainment and Technology Meet
DEG is dedicated to helping cultivate a vibrant community for women in entertainment and technology. DEG’s Canon Club strives to be a place where women at all levels and in all sectors of our business are welcome to share knowledge and build their business networks. In 2023, after a few years of mostly virtual events, Canon Club will have multiple in-person events all over Los Angeles, culminating with the Hedy Lamar Awards on November 7 at The Skirball Center.
In 2022, Canon Club brought value to its members through a hybrid of virtual and in-person events, including our first in-person Hedy Lamarr Awards presentation since 2019.
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For Sponsorship Opportunities, please email Andi Elliott (Andi@degonline.org).
Get to Know Our Canon Club Advisory Board
More Interviews Coming Soon!
Hedy Lamarr Award for Women in Entertainment and Technology
Austrian-American actress Hedy Lamarr was a Hollywood legend who is best known for her roles in many film classics, including Samson and Delilah, The Strange Woman, and Tortilla Flat. She was also a lifelong inventor whose innovative work included pioneering “frequency hopping,” which became the foundation for spread spectrum technology. Conceived by Lamarr and composer George Antheil for radio guidance systems and patented in 1942, this highly secure technology resists interference and dropout, and is utilized today for a variety of cellular, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth applications.
In the spirit of knowledge sharing and inspiration for all women in the business of home entertainment, DEG has created the Hedy Lamarr Awards to recognize and inspire pioneering work by the multi-faceted female leaders in our industry today.
DEG named Shalini Govil-Pai, VP and General Manager of TV Platforms at Google (top left), the 2023 recipient of its Hedy Lamarr Award for Innovation in Entertainment Technology. In 2023, Dean Elizabeth Daley of the USC School of Cinematic Arts (top row second from the left), also will be honored with the Hedy Lamarr Inspiration Award for her pioneering adoption of cutting-edge technology into curriculum and practice.
DEG presented its first Hedy Lamarr Award in 2017 to Academy Award-winning actor and advocate Geena Davis, Founder and Chair of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media (lower right). The following year, DEG presented Nonny de la Peña, CEO Emblematic Group (lower, second from the right), with the award. The 2019 award was presented to Dean Willow Bay of the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism (lower second from left), with the 2020 award bestowed on Sara DeWitt, VP of PBS KIDS Digital (lower left). Poppy Crum, Former Chief Scientist at Dolby Laboratories (top right) was named the 2021 award winner. Paulette Pantoja, Founder & CEO of Blu Digital Group (top row second from the right), was the 2022 recipient. DEG created the Innovation Award to recognize female executives in the fields of entertainment and technology who have made significant contributions to the industry.
DEG also presents the Hedy Lamarr Achievement Award for Emerging Leaders in Entertainment Technology, which recognizes female college students whose studies in the fields of entertainment and technology have shown exceptional promise. The 2023 award honors Lily Chen of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Memphis Grace MacPherson of University of Southern California.
Recent Canon Club Salons
(l.) Canon Club Spring Salon “Building Your Personal Brand”: Catlin O’Shaughnessy Coffrin breaks down the steps to successfully market yourself and build your own brand; (c.) Canon Club’s Female Founders Salon: Teresa Phillips (Spherex), Paulette Pantoja (Blu Digital Group), Nelly Voukaki (Looper Insights), and Jeff Stabenau (Giant Interactive); (r.) Edelman’s Cydney Roach, and Elena Grotto, joined by Xperi’s Bill Neighbors discuss leading with empathy.
Advisory Board
Robin Tarufelli, Deloitte Managing Director, Media and Entertainment [CHAIR]
Paulette Pantoja, Blu Digital Group, CEO
Karin Gilford, Movies Anywhere, Senior Vice President/General Manager
Michele Edelman, Premiere Digital Services, Head of Growth
Janice Pearson, XL8.ai, EVP Business Development
Carol Hanley, Whip Media, President
Meri Hassouni, Giant Worldwide, Vice President, Business Development [VICE CHAIR]
Yolanda Macias, Cinedigm, Chief Content Officer
Allison Gordon, Intel, West Regional Sales Director
Nadia Haney, NBCUniversal, Vice President Global Marketing, Emerging Technology
Darcy Antonellis, Amdocs, Executive Advisor
Loren Nielsen, Xperi, Vice President, Content Relations and Strategy
Dametra Johnson-Marletti, Microsoft, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Stores Category Management
Andrea Downing, PBS Distribution, President
Teresa Phillips, Spherex, Co-founder & CEO
Jessica Schell, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, EVP and General Manager
Katherine Pond, Vizio, Group Vice President Platform Content, Partnerships, and Programs