PGA NMC Event

Producers Guild of America
New Media Council East
Presents the
2008-2009 Panel and Salon Series
****EXCLUSIVE MEMBERS ONLY EVENT****

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

HARVESTING A GREEN CHANNEL IN THE MULTI-PLATFORM AGE

A Conversation With Laura Michalchysyn, President and
General Manager, Discovery Communication’s Planet Green

The urgencies represented by rapid climate change have created a veritable flood of media addressing solutions to the problems wrought by greenhouse-gas emissions. However, to date, only one major cable television network represents the growing eco-lifestyle community. Launched in June, 2008, Discovery Communication’s Planet Green delivers multi-platform content – ranging from expert tips on how to go green and online forums – from a
24-hour cable channel with more than 250 hours of original green lifestyle programming and the web sites PlanetGreen.com and TreeHugger.com.

Laura Michalchyshyn, President and General Manager, Discovery Communications’ Planet Green

Laura Michalchyshyn is responsible for all aspects of the creative and business strategy for Planet Green, Discovery Communications’ multi-platform businesses including the 24-hour television network. As chief editorial executive, she manages the overall direction of the network, including programming, operations and content development, as well as interfacing with ad sales and affiliate sales to further develop the brand and its appeal to advertisers, operators and viewers.

Prior to Discovery, Michalchyshyn served as executive vice president and general manager of Sundance Channel where she was responsible for day-to-day operations, including program development, creative strategy scheduling and marketing both on- and off-channel. Since joining Sundance Channel in 1995, Michalchyshyn doubled original programming hours and tripled the number of programming hours on the network overall. Under her leadership Sundance Channel was the largest aggregator of independent films on television acquiring as many as 250 films in a given year.

Moderator: Kendall Allen, PGA NMC East Executive Committee Member; Founder, Influence Collective, LLC

A leading digital media and marketing executive, and a member of the PGA NMC East’s executive committee, Kendall has led online content development and campaigns since the web’s inception. She helped found Thrive, an AOL/Time Inc. joint online venture in the mid-‘90s, and held top positions at USWeb/CKS and EuroRSCG Circle, while based in San Francisco. Kendall was a founder of Fathom Online and a director at iCrossing. She recently built out the agency and creative studio at Incognito Digital and has gone on to establish her own business advising publishers and agencies in digital channel development – Influence Collective, LLC. Her career roster of clients includes Ask Jeeves, Chandon, Intel, Intuit, VOOM, American Express, Fairmont, Colgate-Palmolive, Bloomberg, Haier America, OKI, Fox, FX, Carolyn & Co. Media and ‘mktg.’

Recognized as a leader in media circles, Kendall is a weekly contributor to MediaPost, as well as a regular speaker at digital media and marketing conferences, including Search Engine Strategies and Ad:Tech. She is a periodic lecturer at New York University and serves on the board of the Ad Club of New York Digital Marketing and Media Council and on the Ad Council for the Association for Downloadable Media. Kendall also serves on the Board of Directors of 212NYC, where she oversees the Professional Development programming series.
Wine and light refreshments will be served during a networking mixer prior to the programming.

This event will take place at the Core Club in New York City.

****YOU MUST BE A MEMBER OF THE PRODUCERS GUILD OF AMERICA TO ATTEND THIS EVENT.****

Previous events from our 2005-2009 event series can be accessed on the web at:

http://www.scribemedia.org/pga

For more information about ScribeStudio Productions, please visit: http://http://www.scribestudio.com/.