Terence Kawaja is Founder and CEO of LUMA Partners, a strategic advisory firm focused at the intersection of media and technology. He is a seasoned investment banker with more than 20 years of experience and has advised on over $250 billion of transactions, including some of the most pivotal deals in the media and tech industries. Throughout his career, Terry has leveraged deep industry knowledge to take a strategic approach to deal making rather than chase transactions. The best compliment people say is that he thinks like a principal.

At LUMA, Terry advises both established media and technology companies as well as digital growth companies. He is a recognized expert in the Internet and digital media sectors and is a popular speaker at leading industry conferences. Terry has a straightforward style and is never afraid to tell it like it is. He also likes to keep things light by using humor to aid substantive presentations.

Prior to founding LUMA Partners, Terry was Co-head of Digital Media at GCA Savvian; Global Head of Media M&A at Citigroup and CSFB; and CFO of publicly-traded Raindance Communications. He received an MBA from the Schulich School of Business, a JD from Osgoode Hall Law School, and a BA in Economics from the University of Western Ontario.

When not negotiating deals or telling jokes, Terry enjoys a variety of activities from skiing to water sports. Terry lives in New York City with his wife and their two sons.

Chris has been on the forefront of emerging technologies since the commercialization of the web and he is currently a Managing Partner at Kicklabs, an early stage accelerator based in San Francisco, California. Chris co founded the AdAuction, the first online media exchange in 1997 which was the precursor to the current auction based and dynamic pricing platforms in online media. Chris was instrumental in restructuring the businesses for Get Relevant (acquired by Lycos) and Aptimus (acquired by Apollo LLC). Chris co founded the first online independent yellow pages, OnVillage (acquired by Super Pages), the first online automated coupon platform, launched the first RSS ad campaigns, and helped develop the first peer to peer ad delivery system. He received Ad Age’s prestigious i20 award for his accomplishments in the development of interactive advertising. Chris has been a successful adviser and investor and he was an adviser and seed investor in Omniture (acquired by Adobe), the web’s leading analytics company. Early in his career, Chris worked for Reebok Int’l and continues to pursue his passion for fitness as an avid cyclist.

Alyson Hyder is a digital industry veteran with a dozen years of digital marketing experience. She currently serves as VP, Ventures for VivaKi Nerve Center. Alyson drives the overall strategy and execution for the expanding VivaKi Ventures portfolio. She is a key member of the leadership team, contributing to the overall business strategy by identifying consumer trends, key opportunities for unique growth, and driving innovation within all digital channels. She began her career with aQuantive in 1999 and led media teams within Avenue A and aQuantive's DRIVE Performance Media. Prior to aQuantive, Alyson worked in offline media at Entercom, Inc and as a publicist for major motion picture companies. Alyson majored in Communications and Spanish at Washington State University.

Brian Morrissey is editor in chief at Digiday, a vertical media company focused on the digital media and marketing industries. At Digiday, Brian leads all content development, both in digital publications and over a dozen events per year. He’s spent the past decade covering the development of the Internet advertising industry. Prior to joining Digiday in February, Brian spent six years as digital editor at Adweek, where he led all coverage of the digital industry, including developments in social media, advertising technology and publisher monetization strategies. Brian is a frequent speaker at industry events, presenting both in the U.S. and abroad.

Brian Morrissey is a graduate of Providence College and has masters degrees from the University of Leuven (Belgium) and Columbia University. He also did graduate research at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland.

Founder and CEO of Mediasmith, David L. Smith is an internationally recognized digital advertising and media expert.  As a pioneer of new media application, media strategy, planning and metrics he participated in the creation the first-generation advertising technology and is an expert on all aspects of metrics in the digital marketplace.

David’s advisory board and industry committee involvement has included the 4A’s, ARF, comScore Media Metrix, Quantcast, IAB, I-COM and Online Publishers Association, where he works to establish and refine standards in metrics, business practices and financial issues for interactive advertising. 

He is consistently called upon by such publications as Fortune, Businessweek, Mediaweek as an expert resource and regularly authors thought pieces for industry publishers including iMedia Connection and Fast Company. He is also a regular speaker at various 4A’s, iMedia, ad:tech, IAB, I-COM and OMMA events. 

David was recently inducted into the sfBIG Hall of Fame in recognition of his trailblazing media career that has included continued digital media innovation and a voice of the industry that has always continued to look forward. He has a number of other awards to his name, including an Effie and the first-ever ad:tech Industry Achievement Award.  

David has a BA from the University of Washington.  He is an avid guitar player and a gourmet Chinese cook.

Founder and CEO of Real Girls Media Network a social content hub for women online. Created in 2006 and recently acquired by Meredith Corp (NYSE:MDP), RGM developed a unique technology platform to publish user-generated content, alongside expert-guided editorial, to offer women a community in which to share experiences and form connections.

Prior to founding RGM, Kate was a Venture Partner with WaldenVC, where she advised many portfolio companies including Pandora & MeeVee. She currently serves as an advisor to Danoo Media and ad:tech. Kate is the former President, Digital Worldwide at AKQA. She oversaw all advertising services across AKQA’s offices in San Francisco, New York, Washington D.C., London and Singapore. She greatly expanded AKQA’s operations and doubled their annual revenue with new clients like ESPN, The Gap, MSN, and Coca-Cola’s global account.

Before joining AKQA, Kate was the Chairman and Chief Marketing Officer of Carat Interactive after the agency she founded Lot21 was acquired in January 2002. She served as president & CEO of Lot21, a digital marketing, media and advertising agency. Her unique background includes experience as television reporter, U.S. congressional aide, writer, media executive, CNET online crusader, co-founder of the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) to starting her own digital communications company Lot21 and a consumer publishing company Real Girls Media Network.

As executive, advertiser, publisher and co-founder of the influential Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), she and her companies have earned numerous accolades; RGM was named both an AlwaysOn Top 100 OnMedia and Top 100 OnHollywood Company. Kate has been inducted into the AAF Hall of Achievement (Hall of Fame for Execs under 40 – in 2000) and the IAB Hall of Fame in 2008. Among her many other awards, she’s been named one of the Top 25 Women to Watch by Advertising Age and a Media All Star by OMMA. Under her command, both Lot21 and AKQA were named Agency of the Year.