Women Elite Class of 2009

If the future growth of home entertainment lies in emerging overseas economies, Disney’s Sandy Barger is working in the right place. What has she been doing lately? “Establishing a direct home entertainment business model in India and Russia and launching new product initiatives in China, India and Russia,” she says. Those accomplishments qualify her for entrance into the Women Elite. Previously in worldwide home entertainment marketing and product development for Disney, Barger is now responsible for leading the unit’s expansion and development in the fast-growing markets of China, India and Russia.

Jennifer Chai has been with Fox Home Entertainment since 2000, rising to senior VP of brand marketing while playing a key role in more than 200 theatrical new release Blu-ray Disc and DVD campaigns. Her work has been a key part of the marketing campaigns for this year’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs and Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. She also has achieved success with the Star Wars franchise.

Julie Cartwright has been instrumental at Anchor Bay in driving double-digit growth in the fitness category for the last three years. She has increased sales to include fitness kits, which has allowed the category to expand into new departments at existing retailers, and has assisted in opening new channels of retail. Most recently, she helped to secure a national partnership with Kellogg’s Special K for Anchor Bay’s proprietary 10 Minute Solution fitness brand. “The partnership was so successful that Kellogg’s extended it through 2010,” she says. Her other responsibilities have included the UFC brand, children’s, TV on DVD and more.

With the recorded music business having been “completely transformed” in recent years, Leslie Cohen notes it is her responsibility “to ensure that Sony Music stays at the forefront of the changes taking place across our industry.” With more and more of the music business becoming digitally focused, she adds that visual elements of Sony artists’ video properties “have become an essential part of our product lineup and one of the keys to our success.” Cohen led her company’s participation in the industry launches for DVD, UMD and most recently, Blu-ray. She also serves on the board of DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group and as chair of its Developing Platforms Committee.

Christina DeRosa is responsible for driving the business roadmap for Microsoft’s Xbox Live, which the company describes as “the largest social network in the living room,” with more than 20 million members. “Last fall, we introduced our custom Netflix streaming offering, which has been wildly successful,” DeRosa says in naming her recent accomplishments. Another highlight was the launch of “a new genre of interactive entertainment” in 1 vs. 100, which “enables the community to jump into a live TV show experience.” She also mentions Avatar Marketplace, “where people have changed their wardrobes more than 150 million times,” and the launch of season three of award-winning independent Web series The Guild.

“This past year has been an extremely rewarding time, in working with such an accomplished team to achieve several firsts for our home entertainment group,” says Nancy Eagle of the division that develops and produces original DVD fare based on Universal Pictures’ franchise properties. Among those firsts was the launch of the Curious George Live national tour. She also oversaw the creation of the business structure supporting the development of the company’s Bring It On stage play and shepherded the division’s first soundtrack, inspired by DVD premiere Bring It On: Fight to the Finish.

Lisa Gibson oversees retail strategies, sales administration and creative services for Vivendi Entertainment. She leads the company’s retail marketing strategies and execution, including Walmart Entertainment Council programs, cross-category promotions at mass merchants and account-specific programs for club, grocery, specialty and online channels. Because of her leadership, distributed brands such as WWE and Classic Media have been able to grow and maintain DVD revenue in a difficult market. Those partners have referred to Gibson and her team as the “best in class” when it comes to building substantial incremental retail programs.

Rentrak’s Advanced Media and Information division provides media measurement and analytic services across the film, television, cable, mobile and advertising industries. “We are providing our customers with the complete picture to help them make more informed business decisions,” division president Cathy Hetzel says. Hetzel is responsible for Rentrak’s Retail Essentials and Home Video Essentials services, which provide fast access to in-depth market data and weekly estimates of gross consumer spending, along with the company’s expansion into box office, video-on-demand, digital download and mobile.

“Our team has built a world-class deployment and operations organization in the contiguous U.S. and Puerto Rico,” says Mary Leonard of leading DVD kiosk company Redbox. In addition to overseeing kiosk deployment, Leonard manages the distribution of DVDs to more than 15,000 Redbox locations. “In 2009, we installed one new kiosk every hour since January, delivering 2 million DVDs every month. Through tremendous teamwork and effort, we continue to meet our customers’ expectations by providing quality entertainment at an affordable price, where and when they want it.”

When Vivendi Entertainment made the deal to distribute titles for Genius Products this year, Yolanda Macias played the lead role. The deal turned Vivendi into one of the leading independent home entertainment distributors. Vivendi credits Macias with being an indispensable part of its successful growth through her leadership in business development. She also oversees the company’s expanding digital department.

Jodie Magid is responsible for overseeing all publicity initiatives for Lionsgate’s home entertainment library, which numbers more than 12,000 theatrical, catalog, television, fitness and family entertainment titles, including best picture Oscar winner Crash, the Tyler Perry franchise and TV series Mad Men. “It has truly been an honor to be with Lionsgate during these revolutionary times in the industry,” Magid says, “and in looking back over the past few years, I am proud that publicity has helped the studio achieve record market share while also maintaining its industry leadership in box office-to-DVD conversion.”

Erin McGregor manages and directs the complete supply chain for Anchor Bay, including authoring, mastering, production, distribution, inventory control and external IT services. “My most significant accomplishments in the last year focused on cost management within the supply chain, including reductions in our parcel freight deals for our promotional mailings that resulted in more than $200,000 in annual savings,” she says. “Another focus for cost management was leading the charge to reduce our component print pricing, saving our company more than $300,000 annually.” She also spearheaded the implementation of a new data warehouse system for metadata.

“I think my key accomplishment was successfully integrating the four areas that I oversee—media, digital marketing, consumer research and promotions—to bring greater benefits and value to the SPHE organization than had they been managed separately,” says Sony’s Jane Mohon. The creation of close working relationships between media and digital marketing has helped the company launch integrated online programs for content, editorial coverage and media spending, for example. And having media and consumer research working closely has helped the company identify opportunities to speak to each segment of the market more effectively and efficiently, she adds.

DVDPlay claims a spot as the No. 2 market share leader in the automated DVD rental industry, with more than 1,500 kiosks inside retailers nationwide. Melissa Moore is a member of the executive team responsible for doubling top-line revenue growth in two years, delivering significant bottom-line business process improvements and leading expansion into Canada. She introduced the cross-channel marketing strategy for on-kiosk, online and in-store operations. She also worked with retailers and studios over the last year on affinity marketing programs. “Together,” she says, “we developed strategies focused on the common ground between us and designed programs to drives sales, deliver value and connect the brands in the hearts and minds of our consumers.”

Marie O’Reilly-Thein is responsible for supervising the sales team and managing key retail accounts for First Look Studios’ home entertainment division. “My most significant accomplishment over the past year has been working to develop and launch Millennium Media Services, the new content aggregation and distribution division of First Look Studios, in conjunction with Sony DADC,” she says. The system presents independent product lines to key retailers through a more efficient supply chain solution. “In a challenging retail environment, we have developed new strategies to maintain and grow our business,” she says.

Lea Porteneuve serves as chief spokesperson for USHE, overseeing all business, technology and executive communications and supervising strategic publicity initiatives for the Blu-ray and DVD launches of the company’s film and television releases, such as Fast & Furious and Mamma Mia. She also is the company’s principal PR strategist on cross-studio committees, including serving as a member of the Communications Committee for DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group. “I am particularly proud to have contributed to Universal’s successful launch into Blu-ray and to the subsequent groundbreaking innovations that we have uniquely crafted to date to elevate the format,” she says.

At Warner Home Video for the last 20 years, Ardis Rubenstein has been a leading creative force at every milestone in the development of the industry. She has continued to redefine the in-home presentation of films through innovative packaging and category-defining advertising in traditional media, online and in-store. She helped establish the creative and technical integration that paved the way for DVD, Blu-ray and now digital distribution. “This year has been focused on creating powerful brand consistency for the studio’s titles across divisions and across formats,” she says, “and finding ways to bridge new and old businesses to create the future that is upon us.”

Drawing on more than 30 years of entertainment experience, Sally Seraphim has been instrumental in driving sales for Anchor Bay overall, including Overture Films and most recently, Anchor Bay Films. This year, she has been a key driver behind implementing several groundbreaking pricing and merchandising strategies at the mass-merchant level. Despite the overall DVD market challenges, she believes her strategies have dramatically improved Anchor Bay’s profile and leverage in the marketplace. She also has been a key player in expanding the company’s strong position in the fitness category, where Anchor Bay has over-indexed the market in the last year as its titles have been selling in multiple departments within retail.

Tracy Wilson has a big responsibility on her shoulders as the gatekeeper of all finance-related matters for Disney’s home entertainment business. She is responsible for looking after the growth, profitability and long-term strategic direction of the company on a worldwide basis. With the support of an accomplished team and working closely with markets around the world, she also evaluates new product and business opportunities and monitors trends in the entertainment industry.