If Viewers Are in Control, Where Will They Take Us?

About the Panelists

David Lipkin
Founder and Principal
Method
@davidlipkin

With nearly 20 years of experience working in creative services, David knows how design can be leveraged as a strategic advantage for his customers. He currently leads business development efforts from Method’s New York office, applying his strong financial and legal background to the needs of Method’s current and prospective clients.

In founding Method, David drew upon his experience working in brand, print, and interactive to build a firm dedicated to the creation of brilliant cross-media, communications and products. During his tenure, he has performed in such roles as Chief Technology Officer, Chief Operating Officer, General Manager of Method’s New York office, and (most recently) as VP, Business Development.

Prior to founding Method, David was Director of Technology at MetaDesign. He was part of the team that guided the company’s growth and expansion from the startup phase to their current position of leadership within the industry. Within the role of Director of Technology, David was key in establishing and building MetaDesign’s transformation from a print-oriented studio to one that created brand-oriented multimedia, Internet-based, and application-based products.

Recent speaking engagements have included a discussion of User Experience and Branding issues for Interactive Television presented to the Interaction Design Association (IXDA), a discussion of Interface Innovation at the Usability Professional’s Association and a lecture about Design, Branding and User Interface at Harvard Business School. David has a B.A from Reed College, where he studied history, anthropology, physics, and chemistry.

Rany Ng
Group Product Manager, Display Advertising
Google

Avner Ronen
CEO & Co-Founder, Boxee
@avneron

Named one of Rolling Stone’s Top Agents of Change, Ronen is the Internet generation's everyman - fighting to make personalized, Internet-delivered TV a reality - bringing video from everywhere, to any device, at any time. Boxee has won numerous awards each year since it’s founding including the 2008 Consumer Electronics Association's Innovation award, G4’s Best of the Best products of CES in 2009, and 2010’s Last Gadget Standing. 

Prior to co-founding Boxee, Ronen was the Head of Corporate Development and M&A for Comverse, Inc. a leading provider of software and service to Telecom service providers. Ronen was responsible for acquisitions valued at $450M, which were key to the company's evolution from a Voicemail company to a Billing and VAS provider.

Ronen joined Comverse in 2002 when they acquired Odigo, a company he co-founded in 1998. Odigo was one of the early Instant Messaging services on the web serving over8M users worldwide, and earned Ronen the 2002 honor of being a member of Crain's 40 under 40.

His fascination in harnessing the Internet to make peoples’ lives better started when Ronen served 4.5 years in the Israeli Defense Force in the special computer unit, MAMRAM.