USC ANNENBERG CENTER FOR THE DIGITAL FUTURE - Key Persons


Andrew Kaplan - Chairman

Job Titles:
  • Chairman
  • Shamrock Capital Advisor

Andrew Lenchewski

Job Titles:
  • Creator and Executive Producer

Anne L. Peters

Job Titles:
  • Professor, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California / Director, USC Clinical Diabetes Programs

Bob Bookman

Job Titles:
  • Independent Producer

Brad Berens

Job Titles:
  • Center Strategic Advisor
  • Strategic Advisor and Senior Research Fellow
  • Writer
Strategic advisor and senior research fellow Brad Berens helps to shape how the Center works with partners and the media. Brad is principal at Big Digital Idea Consulting, a boutique strategy shop, and advises companies, including Glasswing Ventures, Ascendant Network, Ad Fontes Media, and Purpose Worldwide. Recently, Brad spent two years as the Editor in Chief of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). Previously, Brad was the worldwide head of programming for dmg events' portfolio of events focused on the intersection of interactive media with marketing and advertising, including ad:tech, the iMedia Summits, and the CMO Collective. He began his time at dmg events as the editor in chief of iMedia Connection, a daily media property covering the intersection of technology and advertising. Before that, Brad was the editor of all things digital at EarthLink. Berens began his career as a teacher and Shakespearean scholar at UC Berkeley, where he earned a Ph.D. He has worked as a Hollywood story analyst for studios like DreamWorks and New Regency, and smaller production houses like Mirage and Scott Free. Brad is also a writer. He hopes that you will check out his novel, Redcrosse. Currently, he is working on a non-fiction book called The Shakespeare Startup. You can see an early version of the topic on this popular TEDx talk. Center strategic advisor Brad Berens joined Bryndan D. Moore on The Black Futurist Podcast to talk about what was memorable at this year's CES

Bruce Ramer

Job Titles:
  • Senior Partner / Gang, Tyre, Ramer, Brown & Passman, Inc.

Casey Wasserman

Job Titles:
  • Chairman and CEO / Wasserman Media Group, LLC

David Katz

Job Titles:
  • Executive Vice President, Digital

David White

Job Titles:
  • National Executive Director

Dwight Witherspoon

Job Titles:
  • Vice President, Strategic Communications / Ericsson

Ira Kurgan

Job Titles:
  • Consultant

Jeffrey Cole - Founder

Job Titles:
  • Center Director
  • Director
  • Founder
  • CNN Business: Center Director
  • Director and CEO / Center for the Digital Future
  • Director of the Newly Formed Center for the Digital Future
Jeffrey Cole has been at the forefront of media and communication technology issues both in the United States and internationally for the past three decades. An expert in the field of technology and emerging media, Cole serves as an adviser to governments and leading companies around the world as they craft digital strategies. In July 2004 Cole joined the USC Annenberg School for Communication as director of the newly formed Center for the Digital Future and as a research professor. Prior to joining USC, Cole was a longtime member of the UCLA faculty and served as Director of the UCLA Center for Communication Policy, based in the Anderson Graduate School of Management. Cole founded and directs the World Internet Project, a long-term longitudinal look at the effects of computer and Internet technology, which is conducted in over 35 countries. At the announcement of the project in June 1999, Vice President Al Gore praised Cole as a "true visionary providing the public with information on how to understand the impact of media." CNN Business: Center director Jeffrey Cole describes the key role of Disney+ in the company's future -- and present Cole describes the escalating war for original content among streaming-video providers Cole goes on a ride to show how driverless cars will change the world in ways never before imagined

John F. Cooke

Job Titles:
  • Chairman Emeritus

Jonathan Strauss

Job Titles:
  • Consultant

Lindsay Conner

Job Titles:
  • Partner and Co

Liuning (Matt) Zhou

Job Titles:
  • Research Director
holds a Ph.D. in communication from the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. As research director, Zhou oversees the development and execution of Center's research projects, coordinates the research process with partners, and leads quality control efforts. Zhou's research focuses on international telecommunications, communication technologies, communications policy, and new media for marketing, and he has presented and published research on those topics. Zhou has a deep understanding of research methodology, and teaches research methods and data analytics classes in the Communication Management program at the USC Annenberg School.

Lynda Resnick

Job Titles:
  • Co - Owner and Vice Chairman / the Wonderful Company

Marc Nathanson

Job Titles:
  • Chairman Emeritus

Michael Bowling

Job Titles:
  • President, DIRECTV Latin America / at & T

Rica Rodman

Job Titles:
  • Executive Director / Wasserman Foundation

Saul Rosenzweig - President

Job Titles:
  • President

Stephen Kim

Job Titles:
  • Associate Director for Information

Walt Disney

Job Titles:
  • Company Executive