MMA Blog

Hello, my name is James Wynne and I am the VP of Alumni and Student Outreach for the Media Management Association at CBS.  Prior to coming to business school, I worked for 6 years in the entertainment industry in Los Angeles working in feature film development, digital content production, network and cable television, and in representation for actors, writers, and directors.  Most recently, I was an executive in the Television Department of the William Morris Agency and also ran a small digital studio called Smog TV.  This summer, I was an associate at Endeavor Global, the social VC fund based in New York, and was assigned to a media and advertising startup in Brazil called Subway Link.  Subway Link is the sole supplier and distributor for Wal-Mart TV in Brazil and I worked on site in Sao Paulo with the CEO to draft a sales presentation.  When we had completed the case, I presented our results in a series of sales meetings with the top 20 advertising firms in Brazil.  Upon my return to the US, I was hired on as a consultant at the AFI Digital Content Lab in Los Angeles for the rest of the summer.  At the Lab, I was responsible for helping to organize DigiFest, the premiere annual digital conference in Southern California, and also worked with teams of media professionals to help construct working prototype models of new media distribution technologies and social networks.

This summer I worked hard at Ogilvy & Mather’s New York office.  Ogilvy’s a fun and diverse place.  The Reverend Al Sharpton attended a roof top office event, a drag queen performed at happy hour they call “Wet Wednesday”, and salsa lessons were offered at the close one recent team meeting.

My role was in their consulting arm in Marketing Analytics. I took on a few fun projects for a retail client: optimizing return on holiday email and direct mail campaigns, determining correlations between online browse behavior and in-store purchase patterns, using cluster analysis to segment customers and predict trends, and developing best and worst case scenarios for a business pitch.  It was a very data-intensive role with some data sets containing up to 2.7 billion line items with hundreds of variables per line item.

A good portion of my time at Ogilvy was dedicated to a second internal project along with a great team of MBA interns (two kids from Kellogg, one from Medill at Northwestern, and another fellow CBSer).  We were tasked with launching an enhanced knowledge management program for the agency.  It was great because we get to interact with so many key players at the agency worldwide.  I walked away with a great blend of hard and soft skills and great new friends.

Looking ahead to my final year as a business school student, I’m excited about taking advantage of all that we have here at CBS and making the most of it.  Professor Knee’s Strategic Management of Media course should be highlight with amazing guest speakers and content.  Also, heading up the MMA this year we’ve got a great board with two adventurous, thoughtful, well-connected, and funny Co-Presidents at the helm.  With their guidance and energy I’m looking forward to all events coming down the pike, from interacting with the Film School academically and informally, to visiting New York media companies, to connecting with the new class of 2011.  I’m also looking forward to the West Coast trip, which I’ve begun planning.  This trip was a highlight of my first year and I hope to make it a great trip for everyone to enjoy this year.  Despite Columbia being an east coast school, through our professors’, alums’, and our own networks we have a deep and rich contact base on the west coast which makes the trip a great time and creates opportunities.

Hi fellow MMAers, Gillian here. For those who don’t know me, I’m the co-VP Speakers with Rob. We have some big names lined up for the Fall, both executive speakers and panels, so get excited. If it hasn’t been published yet, have no fear – this list should be announced soon. Since we live in NYC, where so many media heads operate their shops, I couldn’t help but want to be a part of bringing them into CBS. You know you feel the same way, so first years, run for AVP.

As all of the board members will be reporting on their summer stints, here’s my schpeal. I spent the summer at Warner Music Group in the corporate 360 department. Google “360 record deals” and you’ll get a better sense, but essentially it’s the restructuring of labels (or at least their deals with artists) to acquire more than just the rights for the master use of a copyright. My job was to evaluate special projects, and my role delved into the areas of corporate strategy and consulting. I got to flex many of my newly acquired skills from year one at CBS, and along with my strong interest in this field, I gained a great deal from this experience. Enjoyed it so much that I will be continuing in some capacity during the Fall. And for those wondering, no, this was not on COIN.

I will be more finance and entrepreneurial leaning this year, and I do plan on continuing my career in music. If you are from or have any
interest in the music industry don’t hesitate to drop me a line – gryan10@gsb.columbia.edu. Before school I was an artist manager at a
NYC-based firm, and before that marketing at a major label, and indie label before that – the one line resume.

See you all on campus, and if you haven’t joined the MMA yet, sign up now to get access to our speakers, events, and other good stuff

- Gillian