Amy Castillo has managed some of the most exciting entertainment franchises of our generation. During her decade-long tenure at Disney she led brand strategy and franchise management for Marvel and Star Wars. She played an integral role in the integration of these acquisitions into The Walt Disney Company and the evolution of Disney to a house of brands. Following that, she joined Warner Bros. where she led the marketing strategy for global film campaigns on franchises such as Wonder Woman, Fantastic Beasts, Batman, and Godzilla. Amy's ability to harness the power of fandom to increase customer lifetime value and drive revenue has also extended to brands in Finance and EdTech. She began her career consulting for Accenture and holds an MBA from UCLA Anderson.

Specializing in Content Strategy & Marketing, Content Acquisitions, Merchandising, Programming, Business Development, Film and Television. Includes Theatrical, Digital (TVOD, AVOD, FAST Channels) and Physical Sales, Product Management & Development, Consumer Marketing and Category Management.

Laura Florence is currently the General Manager and SVP of Chicken Soup for the Soul managing the Crackle, Redbox and Chicken Soup for the Soul Digital Platforms. She joined Redbox in 2019 to lead the company’s digital content partnerships & acquisitions team in the launch of FAST Channels and the Ad Supported On-Demand platform.  In 2021, she was promoted to Vice President Content Strategy, Merchandising and Programming handling all content strategy and merchandising for Kiosk, Transactional, FAST, Ad Supported and Redbox Original content, and programming of Redbox Linear Channels.

Laura has been in the entertainment industry for over 15 years, with extensive experience in in both the physical and digital categories of content strategy, acquisitions, operations, marketing & distribution. She has partnered with some of the largest retailers in the industry including, Walmart, Amazon, Costco, Vudu and Apple. Laura has also represented such brands as Millennium Films, PBS (”Downton Abbey”), Dreamworks/Classic Media and more than 30 other independent studios. Prior to Redbox, Florence was the Vice President of North American sales and marketing for Gravitas Ventures running Theatrical, TVOD/Cable/Sat, Home Entertainment and Ad-Supported/FAST. Additionally, she worked at Comcast/E! Networks on live events and programming surrounding the Academy Awards, Emmy Awards and Grammy Awards, shows such as “E! True Hollywood Story” as well as coverage of Comic-Con and Star Wars 30 for G4.

Brian Hirsch, FAST Strategist and Marketing Leader (FEMBA ’14)

Brian Hirsch is a marketing and communications executive and leader with a diversified background in international and domestic brand marketing, communications, media, and sports entertainment. Hirsch is currently a marketing and development strategist in the FAST (free ad-supported TV) channel space and serves as an Adjunct Lecturer at USC Annenberg, where he leads a graduate course on the “international entertainment marketplace.”

Hirsch is an entertainment industry veteran, spending two decades at Sony Pictures Television, most recently serving as vice president of marketing partnerships and brand strategy for Sony Pictures Television’s worldwide television networks.

In his role at Sony Pictures Television, Hirsch led media strategy, promotional marketing, and platform partnerships for Sony’s international and domestic foreign language FAST channels. In his centralized home office role, he also oversaw content marketing, PR and talent-led initiatives for Sony Networks’ originals and licensed series.

Hirsch holds an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management (FEMBA 2014) and received his BS from The University of Arizona with a double major in marketing and entrepreneurship.

Shelby Powell, Vice President Global Marketing oversees Portfolio Dolls at Mattel: an exciting mix of licensed and IP dolls brands. Heavily routed in entertainment her portfolio includes brands such as Disney Princess and Trolls; as well as Monster High, which includes a host of product and content including a GLAAD nominated live action movie, and beloved heritage brand Polly Pocket.  Prior to running Portfolio Dolls, Shelby spent 11 years marketing Barbie in a variety of rolls focusing on communicating brand messaging through product, partnerships, digital narratives, events and retail experiences. Keeping Barbie at the forefront of culture is Shelby’s passion. To do so she oversaw break frame activations such as sending Barbie to space as an official partner of the International Space Station, introducing the first Barbie NFT as part of a multi-faceted partnership with French luxury house Balmain, and introducing global Role Model Campaigns through which the Brand has honored over 50 women to date in its mission to inspire the limitless potential in every girl.  Her time spent outside of Mattel as an Executive in the CAA Marketing Group for clients such as smartwater, Cadillac and financial institution, Umpqua Bank, instilled in her the power of entertainment and culture to tell meaningful brand stories.

Tiina Piirsoo is Vice President, Business Development & Global FAST Strategy at Sony Pictures Entertainment. Prior to taking on a global strategic role, Tiina was the GM of the Sony-branded free ad-supported streaming television channels in the US, Canada, and Latin America, providing programming for Hispanic and South Asian audiences. 

Tiina has over 20 years of media & technology experience, leveraging emerging technologies to develop businesses and digital products. Earlier in her career at Sony, she served as Vice President of Product Development, responsible for building products and streaming services in support of Sony Pictures international television networks, including AVOD & SVOD services globally. 

Before joining Sony Pictures, Tiina worked at NBC Universal, ABC Television, and The Walt Disney Company building mobile games, ad networks, messaging services, and first-to-market video streaming platforms. A former professional ballet dancer, she’s an avid skier and is actively involved in the Finnish and Estonian communities in Los Angeles.

Harry Lang is the VP of Product Management for Pluto TV, the leading free streaming television service. Under his leadership, his team of product managers implements all initiatives and innovations across every platform on which Pluto TV is available globally, delivering new capabilities across all devices including Web, Mobile and Connected TV. With over 25 years of product experience, Lang has been positioned at the forefront of emerging technologies and has launched digital products across every major platform with some of the biggest brands, technology giants and studios in the entertainment industry. He was previously VP of Product at Hallmark Labs where he led a complete redesign and build-out of ‘Hallmark Movies Now,’ The Hallmark Channel’s SVOD service, across 15 platforms. Prior to Hallmark, Lang was Sr. Director, Special Projects/Program Management at Trailer Park where he helped launch mobile apps for MTV, The Grammys and CBS. He previously spent 18 years at Paramount Pictures, where he began his career and served as Vice President, Product - International & Mobile. In that role, he helped launch interactive games across all devices for movies and TV Shows such as Mission: Impossible, The Godfather, Top Gun, Star Trek and The Warriors. Lang resides in Los Angeles with his family.

René Santaella serves as Chief Digital & Streaming Officer for Estrella Media. Santaella was previously EVP, Digital & Streaming Media, and is credited with launching the company’s successful streaming and AVOD platforms and leading the digital transformation of Estrella Media’s content and distribution strategy, operations and new revenue initiatives. Under his guidance, Estrella Media has quickly become a leader in multi-platform, Spanish-language, ad-supported content distribution, streaming over 1.5 billion minutes per month across FAST, AVOD, social and audio platforms.

Among the platforms that have launched under his guidance are: the EstrellaTV APP available on Roku, Fire TV, Android TV, Samsung, Vizio, iOS and Android mobile and tvOS; four Estrella Media curated live streaming TV networks - EstrellaTV, Estrella News, Cine EstrellaTV and Estrella Games – seen across The Roku Channel, Samsung TV Plus, LG Channels, Vizio WatchFree, Freevee, Xumo, Xfinity Flex, PlutoTV, Amazon News, Tubi and FuboTV. Estrella Media is a top 20 leader in streaming audio with stations like Que Buena Los Angeles, La Raza and El Norte – all available on TuneIn, the EstrellaTV APP and EstrellaTV.com.  

Prior to joining Estrella Media, Santaella was the Senior Vice President, Head of Ad Sales & Business Operations, at Sony Pictures Television Digital Networks, and built Crackle into a leading free ad-supported streaming network with the Emmy nominated hit, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.  He also led the creation of a premium video network for advertisers targeting a large audience of “connected gamers” that included PlayStation, Funimation, Pluto TV and Crackle. Before Sony, he was Director, Ad Sales Marketing for Disney Interactive, leading digital and cross-platform advertising and integrated marketing solutions across the company with corporate alliance partners. 

Santaella is based in the company’s Burbank headquarters and reports to Peter Markham, CEO of Estrella Media. He holds a Master of Business Administration from the Anderson School of Business at UCLA and a Bachelor’s degree from UCLA. He was also a member of the Puerto Rican National Swim Team and UCLA Men’s Swim Team.

Vickie Nauman specializes in the intersection between technology and music, focused on music licensing, rights and relationships; helping grow companies; and global strategy.  She is Founder/CEO of boutique consulting and advisory firm CrossBorderWorks and has an ambitious portfolio of companies in gaming, Web3, platforms, consumer electronics, and music since 2014.   A digital music pioneer, Nauman worked on product for one of the first legal digital services MusicNet (RealNetworks JV), led strategic partnerships for connected device company Sonos, started and ran the US business for global music platform 7digital, and did digital music business in Europe and China. She built one of the first DMCA-compliant services at taste-making Seattle station KEXP and has an executive TRIUM MBA through the London School of Economics, NYU-Stern, and HEC-Paris.  She works with some of the world’s most innovative companies, including Beat Saber/Oculus, Ubisoft, Niantic, Downtown, Spotify, WMG, and more listed on LinkedIn.

Eric Johnson is the CEO and Founder of WON WORLDWIDE, a venture revenue advisory firm that builds revenue strategies and executions for sports media and entertainment buisnesses.  Most notably, WON has just help to launch the ALLIANCE OF AMERICAN FOOTBALL new professional Spring football league on CBS Sports, Turner Sports and NFL Network.

Prior to that, Eric worked at ESPN for 18 years as the executive vice president of Global Advertising Revenue & Sales Operations. In this role, Johnson leads the U.S. and international multimedia ad sales team efforts.  He is responsible for all sales activity across all of ESPN’s businesses, including the ESPN television networks, ESPN Print and Digital Media, X Games, ESPN Syndication Events, ESPN Audio, ESPN Deportes, and espnW.  Outside of the U.S., he works directly with ESPN’s sales offices in Buenos Aires, San Paulo, London, Singapore, Sydney and Miami, Fla., to drive revenue for ESPN’s international properties.

In 2008, he was named #25 on the Mediaweek 50, a list of “the most indispensable executives shaping the future of media,” and was CABLE-FAX’s 2010 VP & Above Sales Person of the Year (Honorable Mention).  Additionally, under his leadership, ESPN’s multimedia sales teams have been honored by a 2012 Jack Myers survey that ranked ESPN’s #1 among TV sales organizations (tied with ABC).  This follows a recognition in 2008 from min (Media Industry Newsletter), which named Johnson’s team the “Multiplatform Sales Team of the Year.”

Currently, Johnson sits on the Board of Directors for IAB and MPA. He is also on the Advisory Board for VIDEONOMICS. Johnson’s tenure at ESPN began in 1999, where he served as an account executive for West Coast account television sales. In 2003, as a vice president of national ad sales, he took over management of the West Coast television sales team and served as senior vice president of multimedia sales, overseeing offices in Burbank and San Francisco, Calif. from 2006-2007.

Prior to joining ESPN, Johnson worked at TIME magazine in Los Angeles, following a term of service on the advertising agency side of the business.  From 1992-1999, Johnson worked as a media planning/strategist executive at Deustch LA, Grey Advertising, and Foote, Cone & Belding. Johnson graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1991 and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics.

Amanda Kozlowski is an EVP of Marketing in the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, where she steers strategic initiatives for the studio’s biggest franchises, including John Wick and The Hunger Games; marketing for Lionsgate’s limited theatrical and multi-platform business; and consumer data, insights and research. 

Kozlowski joined Lionsgate in 2008 as a junior manager in the marketing department. Since then, she has held a variety of roles with increasing responsibility across marketing, distribution, data and strategy. She most recently stewarded the marketing organization during a time of leadership transition as interim co-head of the department. Prior to that, she led strategy and intelligence for the Motion Picture Group.

Before joining Lionsgate, Kozlowski oversaw campaigns for marketing agency A.D.D. Marketing + Advertising as well for the nonprofit organization Film Independent. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of South Carolina and started her career as a newspaper reporter. 

Kozlowski resides in Los Angeles with her husband, a music producer and visual artist. She serves on the corporate advisory council for UCLA Anderson’s Center for Media, Entertainment & Sports.