VEF Presents A Fireside Chat With Leonard Brody and Michael Tippett October 27, 2009

Leonard Brody is a highly respected entrepreneur, venture capitalist, best-selling author and Emmy nominated media visionary. He has helped in raising millions of dollars for startup companies, been through one of the largest internet IPOs in history and has been involved in the building, financing and/or sale of five companies to date. Much critical acclaim has followed him in his endeavours. At Onvia (where he was part of the initial executive), the company was voted Canada’s number one startup in 2000 and subsequently closed a $240 Million IPO on NASDAQ. In 2004, Leonard co-founded NowPublic.com which is a pioneer in the field of user generated news. The company was named by Time Magazine as one of the top 50 websites in the world, was inducted into the Newseum in Washington and was recently acquired by the Anschutz Corporation. Currently Leonard sits as the President of the Clarity Digital Group responsible for overseeing one of the largest online news conglomerates in the world including Examiner.com and NowPublic, which between them, share over 20 million unique visitors a month and over 200,000 contributors.

Michael Tippett is an Emmy nominee and successful entrepreneur for almost two decades, and he is recognized an as international expert on emerging news models. In 1995, Tippett founded the WebPool Syndicate, one of Canada’s first Internet companies. Tippett co-founded NowPublic with Leonard Brody. The company has been named one of the top five most useful new sites on the web by The Guardian. Tippett was recognized by New Media BC with an award for visionary leadership in 2009. Outside of his role at NowPublic, Tippett is a member of the University of British Columbia’s School of Journalism Advisory Board, Capilano University, Bachelor of Professional Communication Advisory Committee and is also a board member of CABINET, a Vancouver-based arts organization. He has also contributed to digital culture in fields such as media arts.
Conducting the fireside chat is Kirk Lapointe, Managing Editor of the The Vancouver Sun since 2003, responsible for the day-to-day operations of western Canada’s largest print and online newsroom. Lapointe is the Executive in Residence and an adjunct professor at the graduate school of journalism at University of British Columbia, the author of themediamanager.com blog on news industry change, and an avid participant in social media.

Official Website: http://www.vef.org/?page_id=27