| Michael Hirsh CEO, Cookie Jar Entertainment Inc. |
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Keynote Address (September 23rd) |
Michael Hirsh is Chief Executive Officer of Cookie Jar Entertainment Inc.
and Chief Executive Officer of the company's education division, which
includes Carson-Dellosa Publishing and HighReach Learning.
Recognized industry-wide as a leading business and brand-builder,
Hirsh's innumerable achievements have helped shape today's era in
animation production and distribution. In 1971, Hirsh co-founded Nelvana
Limited where he became a major player in a collaborative effort that
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succeeded in redefining the medium of animation. As the company's Co-CEO, Hirsh played a
pivotal role in transforming Nelvana into a world-class animation company. In his three-decade
career with Nelvana, Hirsh developed and produced many of television's most celebrated quality
animated programming, and in the process pioneered many of the worldwide co-production,
marketing and distribution techniques that have become standard industry practice. Hirsh sold
Nelvana in 2000 and continued to serve as Co-CEO until 2002 when he departed the company.
Under Hirsh's leadership, Nelvana was responsible for such multi award-winning animated series
programming as Rupert, Babar, The Adventures of Tintin, Care Bears, Little Bear, Franklin and
Rolie Polie Olie that established the company as a worldwide leader in children's animation.
In 1994, Hirsh, together with colleague and Cookie Jar Entertainment COO Toper Taylor led an
investment group comprised of TD Capital Canadian Private Equity Partners and the Ontario
Municipal Employees Retirement Board to acquire Cinar Corp, giving Cookie Jar rights to such
recognized animation brands as Caillou, Arthur and Mona the Vampire. The company also
maintains a 20% minority interest in Teletoon Canada. The newly privatized company is
dedicated to developing, producing, distributing and marketing children's entertainment and
educational products worldwide.
In addition to spearheading the creation of Cookie Jar and co-founding Nelvana, Hirsh is also a
co-founder of Teletoon, Canada's leading animation network. He is also the co-author of The Great
Canadian Comics. |
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Fred Seibert Executive Producer, Frederator Studios
Keynote Address (September 24th) |
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From being the first employee of MTV, to the first television consultant
to introduce the concept of branding TV channels, Fred Seibert
morphed into a Hollywood studio president, and later an independent
producer. Today he is executive producer for Nickelodeon's top-rated
series The Fairly Oddparents (with creator/exec. producer Butch
Hartman), ChalkZone (with creators/exec. producers Bill Burnett & Larry
Huber), My Life as a Teenage Robot (with creator/exec. producer Rob |
| Renzetti), Oh Yeah! Cartoons!, and the Paramount/ Nickelodeon's Movies feature film Super Santa. His Frederator Studios is the second largest producer of animation next to Nickelodeon, the number-one rated network in all of cable television.
As former president of MTV Networks Online, he was responsible for the growth and direction of MTVi and Nickelodeon web properties. While as president of Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc., he was instrumental in reviving the creative and financial fortunes of the studio and the launch of its most successful slate of hits in 15 years: The Powerpuff Girls, Dexter's Laboratory, Cow+Chicken, and Johnny Bravo which are now the highest rated shows on the Cartoon Network.
Fred continues to produce and develop animated television series and feature films for all audiences. His work has won or been nominated for every major media award: Grammy, Oscar, Emmy, CableAce, Clio, and others. |
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