Advisory Council

The School of Communication's Advisory Council consists of School of Communication alumni and friends of Hofstra. They are responsible for advising administrators and providing input concerning educational programs, events, student opportunities, and facilities and operations. The Advisory Council is essentially responsible for ensuring that the school continues to flourish in the rapidly changing world of communications and media convergence. The Council is also a networking tool for students seeking internships and job opportunities upon graduation. Each Council member brings something unique to the school and we are proud to introduce each one of them to you.

Advisory Council Chair
DONNA M. IUCOLANO

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DONNA M. IUCOLANO
Founder and Principal
SPINACH CANDY, LLC

DONNA M. IUCOLANO is a serial entrepreneur, corporate strategist, and e-business expert at the forefront of customer-centric, innovative marketing, and technology-driven growth and business transformation for more than 15 years. Today, she applies her diverse experiences as change agent within nationally-known companies with her passion for innovation through SPINACH CANDY, LLC, the consulting, interim management and business development company she founded.

Donna’s visionary leadership, entrepreneurial spirit, strategic insight, and passion for people and ideas have led to a nationally-recognized and award-winning reputation beginning with her 6-year tenure at floral and gift powerhouse, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, in 1994. She followed this experience with another 6-year tenure in media / publishing at the world’s largest children’s book publisher and global media company, Scholastic Corporation, and at global specialty publisher and direct marketer, IMP/International Masters Publishers. She then moved to a third industry with her most recent role as Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Direct Group for New York & Company, a manufacturer and specialty retailer of women’s apparel and accessories. Donna founded Spinach Candy in 2005, and for 3 years prior to joining New York & Company worked with early stage and growing companies. She resumed the company in 2010. Donna was a founding member of e-commerce industry association, SHOP.ORG, and served as the founding chairperson of the research committee, introducing The State of Online Retailing. Before joining 1-800-FLOWERS, Donna enjoyed a successful first career as a high school teacher and non-profit administrator.

Donna has been recognized for her work and industry contributions. A well-known and respected industry leader, she has participated in speaking engagements nationwide and abroad. She is an alumnus of the Fashion Institute of Technology and Hofstra University. Donna was born, raised and educated in the New York City area where she resides.

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BETH CAREY

Beth Carey is currently an Editorial Producer at HLN (formerly Headline News), on its highest-rated show, Nancy Grace. As a producer for cable's only legal analysis program, she is responsible for booking many of the top newsmakers featured on Nancy Grace.

Carey came to HLN's Nancy Grace from Court TV (later renamed truTV) where she developed a fascination for crime stories and a tremendous respect for the justice system. For almost seven years, she was a producer on their long-running legal news program, Catherine Crier Live. During her tenure at Court TV, she covered some of the biggest trials of our time including the cases against Scott Peterson, Michael Jackson, Robert Blake, and Andrea Yates.

Prior to Court TV, Carey worked for WNBC-TV's Health & Science Editor, Dr. Max Gomez. She wrote and produced daily pieces about innovative medical procedures and the latest consumer health news for their 5 o'clock newscasts.

A self-professed foodie, she launched her career at the Food Network where she worked on many of their popular cooking programs as well as their celebrity talk show, Bill Boggs Corner Table. While at Bill Boggs Corner Table, she traveled to some of the countries top restaurants and met high-profile celebrities including Sophia Loren, Robert Duvall, and Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York.

Carey has a B.A. in Communication Arts from Hofstra University. She resides in New Jersey with her husband Bill Niebuhr and their three-year-old daughter, Caitlin.

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HEATHER COHEN
Executive Vice President, The Weiss Agency

Heather Cohen is Executive Vice President of The Weiss Agency, a broadcast talent agency which represents and develops the careers of many of the industry's most successful local and syndicated personalities.   Their  client list includes Casey Kasem, Montel Williams, Stephen A. Smith, Rita Cosby, Hollywood Hamilton, Jagger, TJ Taormina, Dana DiDonato, Lisa Paige and Christine Nagy.  Heather is a special consultant to McVay Media on syndicated programming including the Donny Osmond Radio Show and the Mark McGrath Radio Show. The Weiss Agency has offices in NY and Los Angeles.

Heather joined the Weiss Agency directly from GreenStone Media, LLC, where she was Vice President, Programming. Recruited by GreenStone to develop programming targeting women, Heather oversaw all program content, talent and production.  Under her creative leadership, GreenStone was awarded 3 Gracie Awards.

Heather joined GreenStone from New York's legendary WOR where she was Assistant Program Director and responsible for the station's local and national on-air content, programs, and production. She also served as Executive Producer for WOR's award-winning The Joan Hamburg Show.

Heather is a frequent participant in numerous industry seminars as a moderator and panelist.  She consulted Radio & Records on their 2008 Talk Radio Seminar in Washington D.C., and was presented with a 2008 Industry Achievement Award for her work on the seminar. 

Heather is a graduate of Hofstra University and has served on the Hofstra University School of Communication and America's Voices in Israel Advisory Boards. Cohen also judged the Tony Awards for eight seasons, and has also been a judge for the American Women in Radio & Television's Gracie Allen Awards.  She has also mentored New York City school children as part of NYC's Principal for a Day program and has been a Safe Space committee member. Heather is a member of the Alliance for Women in Media. Heather also appeared on The Jane Pauley Show and was featured on the cover of the April 18, 2006 edition of Woman's World magazine. 

Heather is based in Manhattan at the company's New York City office.

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MISSY COHEN

Missy Cohen has for more than 20 years worked as a sound and music editor in the feature film and television industry. She moved to New York City in 1990, just three weeks after graduating with a B.A. in Communication Arts from Hofstra University, where she took a job as an apprentice sound editor on Jonathan Demme's "The Silence of the Lambs." From there, Missy continued refining her skills by working with such top industry professionals as the Coen Brothers ("Barton Fink" and "The Big Lebowski"), Alan Pakula ("The Devil's Own"), and Ron Howard ("A Beautiful Mind" and "Cinderella Man").

In the mid-'90's, Missy discovered that her love of music could be extended to her work, and so, she redirected her focus towards music editing. More specifically, she began taking music editing jobs for feature films and television shows, including work on Rob Marshall's "Chicago", Robert Duvall's "Assassination Tango", and the last season of HBO's "Sex and the City", to name just a few. She has achieved success in the music editing field, as is attested to by the fact that she is a four-time nominee for, and two-time winner of, the coveted MPSE Golden Reel Award, which acknowledges excellence in sound and music editing.

Missy is a staunch supporter of independent films, and she often lends her expertise to the development of smaller features and even of graduate student thesis films. When possible, she has the director assist in the sound and music editing process; her philosophy is that every director should know every facet of filmmaking. Always ready to encourage young filmmakers, Missy has been a guest lecturer at Hofstra University and Columbia University on numerous occasions over the last 20 years.

Missy is a board member of her neighborhood block association, and is an avid photographer. She has exhibited her photographs in several venues around New York City, and many of her works are in private collections. She also is keenly interested in New York City history as seen through the eyes of earlier generations of her family. In 2006, she was honored by her hometown high school in Alexandria, Virginia, by being asked to deliver the commencement address upon the 20th anniversary of the school's founding.

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MARY DIMINO

Mary Dimino is a familiar face on television. Mary is an actress and comedian most recently starring in the PBS documentary Fat: What No One is Telling You, currently up for Emmy consideration. As a contributing writer in the film, Mary uses her own weight gains and loses as a source of humor. After achieving and maintain a weight loss of 115 lbs., Mary offers insights into the role of body image in our society. As Meredith Vierra narrates, "Mary exemplifies the hard work people do to lose pounds and stay healthy" once they've been overweight. Fat: What No One Is Telling You gives viewers a window into the intense human dramas that rage inside people who are overweight and explains why their weight problems are so hard to solve. Even the most disciplined effort is beyond the abilities of many people-not because of weakness, but because of the complex mix of environmental factors and biology that make it much easier to gain weight than to lose it. This documentary brings together medical experts, doctors, psychologists, and pioneering medical researchers as well as community activists and public health leaders to explore what needs to be done on the personal level, the family level, the community level and the public policy level to help children avoid the life long traps of obesity. Mary was chosen by PBS to represent the network at the TV Critics Press Tour in Pasadena this past January where she performed her stand-up and gave various press conferences. Mary also appeared in numerous radio and TV interviews promoting the film, including NBC's The Today Show.

As a 20 year veteran of stand-up comedy, Mary is a favorite New York studio warm-up comedian for Comedy Central's The Graham Norton Effect. Her charm and lovable tell-it-like-it-is attitude has won her a spot as a finalist in the prestigious Ladies of Laughter Awards at Caesar's Palace (2000). Mary was nominated for the 2007 AWE Award for Best Comic in Staten Island. Mary performs regularly at Stand-Up NY, New York Comedy Club, Broadway Comedy Club and nationally on the road.

Mary is also an accomplished teacher and motivational speaker who coaches comics at various industry engagements. Mary Dimino is a graduate from Hofstra with a BA in Communications. She was active in the radio department, WRHU, The Chronicle, and Nonsense. She graduated a Provost Scholar. Mary grew up in Queens, currently resides in her Staten Island.

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MITCH FRIED
Senior Vice President, Promotion Marketing

Mitch Fried is senior vice president, promotion marketing, at COMEDY CENTRAL. Fried is responsible for all integrated marketing and sponsorship opportunities that support the network's advertising revenue, including movie studio relations, promotions and stunts. In addition, Fried oversees the network's live comedy touring business and works with the business development and consumer products groups to maximize ancillary revenue opportunities.

Fried attributes the success of his department to its creativity. "We push the boundaries of marketing and third party relations," he says. "We strive to develop distinct irreverent promotions that offer viewers opportunities they can't find elsewhere."

Before joining COMEDY CENTRAL, Fried was senior vice president, marketing for Golden Books Entertainment Group in New York and prior to that he was vice president, promotion marketing at Broadway Video Entertainment, "Saturday Night Live's" production company. He was the director of marketing at Viewers Choice and before that was with MTV Networks for Nickelodeon/Nick at Night and director of corporate merchandising MTV, VH-1, Nickelodeon/Nick at Night.

Fried holds a BBA in Marketing from Hofstra University's School of Business. He resides in Huntington New York with his wife and two children.

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SHERRY GOLDMAN
President
Goldman Communications Group

Sherry Goldman is president of Goldman Communications Group, a New York-based public relations
agency she founded in 1996. Known for her strategic counsel, communications acumen, and public
relations expertise, Sherry has developed and implemented public relations, corporate communications,
environmental, and issues/crisis management programs for many leading corporations, brands, and nonprofit associations, as well as smaller entities. They include: the Writers Guild of America East, Municipal Credit Union, First Brands Corporation, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Canon USA, Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Prestone, STP, Olsten Health Services, the International Trademark Association, and launching Orangina Soda, bag-based residential recycling, and antifreeze recycling in the U.S.

Her work on behalf of the Writers Guild of America East during its 2007-2008 labor strike was awarded the Silver Anvil Award (the PR industry's Oscar) for Outstanding Crisis Communications by the Public
Relations Society of America. For clients Glad Wrap and Bags and Keep America Beautiful, she ran the
country's largest organized cleanup and recycling program with one million volunteers annually, which
won the U.S. Department of the Interior's Take Pride In America award twice and high recognition from the Public Relations Society of America.

Sherry's path into public relations took many turns. A broadcast journalism junkie and broadcasting major at Hofstra, Sherry first worked in television at WCBSTV on the local news assignment desk and then in journalism as an editor at trade publisher Gralla Publications. Public relations was a natural transition, and Sherry worked at G.S. Schwartz & Company, followed by tenures as senior management at Ruder Finn and Rowland Worldwide before starting Goldman Communications Group.

Sherry is an active member of the Public Relations Society of America and recently served as National
Chair of its Honors and Awards Committee and as Board Director of its New York Chapter.

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ROBERT M. GUTKOWSKI

Robert M. Gutkowski is one of the true visionaries and significant asset builders in sports and entertainment. Mr. Gutkowski served as President & CEO of Madison Square Garden, as President & CEO of the Marquee Group, and in senior leadership positions for Paramount Television, NBC Sports, and ESPN.

Among Mr. Gutkowski's key achievements was the landmark $486 million New York Yankees-Madison Square Garden Network cable distribution deal, which forever changed the sports economic landscape, increased the value of the MSG Network by 2,000%, and helped enable the Yankees to dominate Major League Baseball during the past decade.

Mr. Gutkowski was the creative impetus behind Bob Sillerman's "roll-up" of regional, independent concert promoters to create the first nationwide, vertically-integrated concert promotion company for SFX Entertainment, which transformed the multi-billion dollar live music concert industry. Mr. Gutkowski was also the designer of the New York Yankees' YES Network for George Steinbrenner and Goldman Sachs, which has become the template of a "year-round" regional sports network.

Today, Mr. Gutkowski serves on a variety of corporate boards; is a highly sought after senior advisor to leaders in sports and entertainment, private equity funds, and investment banks; and is President & CEO of Marketing Group International.

Mr. Gutkowski founded and served as President and CEO of The Marquee Group, a worldwide sports and entertainment firm that managed, produced and marketed sports and entertainment events and provided representation for athletes, entertainers and broadcasters. The Marquee Group, which became a public company in 1996, acquired many related companies, including Athletes and Artists, Sports Marketing and Television International, QBQ Entertainment, Tollin-Robbins Entertainment, Park Associates, Alphabet City Records, Cambridge Golf and ProServ. In early 1999, The Marquee Group was acquired by SFX Entertainment for over $100 million.

Mr. Gutkowski was President of Madison Square Garden from 1991-1994. He was responsible for the operations of the New York Knickerbockers basketball team; the New York Rangers hockey team, which won the 1994 Stanley Cup Championship; MSG Communications, including MSG Network, the nation's largest regional cable network; MSG Entertainment; and the MSG Facilities Group, which operated The Garden Arena and The Paramount Theater.

While President of the MSG Network, Mr. Gutkowski negotiated the landmark twelve-year $486 million deal to telecast New York Yankees baseball and the Network grew to become the nation's largest and most profitable regional sports network.

After joining the Company in 1985 as President of MSG Network, Mr. Gutkowski held various positions at Madison Square Garden. He was named Executive Vice President of the MSG Communications Group in 1987, overseeing the operations of MSG Network, MSG Radio and MSG Boxing, and became President of that group in 1990. Under his leadership, the subscriber base of the Network - the oldest and largest regional sports network in the country - more than doubled, to 5.1 million subscribers. During his tenure, the MSG Network attained a reputation for creating innovative coverage of sporting events, including wiring athletes for sound and split-screen coverage of simultaneous events.

In order to produce entertainment product, rather than rely on traditional bookings, Mr. Gutkowski led a two-year development project of a Christmas show to compete with Radio City's Christmas Show. In November 1994, "A Christmas Carol" with music by Alan Menken (composer of Aladin, Beauty and the Beast) opened for its initial six-week $25 million revenue-producing run. A Christmas Carol ran profitably for over a decade.

Over 1993 and 1994, The Garden was the most active building in the country in bookings and revenues, and was named "Arena of the Year" by Pollstar magazine.

Prior to joining The Garden, Mr. Gutkowski spent 15 years in the sports and television business, serving from 1983 to 1985 as vice president of the Paramount Television Domestic Distribution Advertiser Sales Group. The Department, created by Mr. Gutkowski, was responsible for the selling of advertising inventory in all of Paramount's first-run programming, and the unit eventually became "Premiere" advertiser sales, the country's leading barter sales company.

From 1981 to 1983, Mr. Gutkowski was vice president of programming at ESPN, where he directed programming and scheduling for the Network. He was responsible for ESPN's acquisition of NBA Basketball and USFL Football, and developed ESPN into the premier college basketball network by negotiating the rights for PAC 10, Big 10, Atlantic Coast Conference and Big East games.

Before joining ESPN, Mr. Gutkowski was director of sports sales for NBC. Among his responsibilities was supervising the advertising sales and marketing of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. He directed the effort that resulted in a more than 90 percent sell-out six months prior to the opening ceremonies. Mr. Gutkowski also worked for NBC's "The Today Show" and "The Tonight Show" before moving to the sports division.

Mr. Gutkowski is a graduate of Hofstra University. He resides with his wife Laura in Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island.

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KEN KARP

After 25 years in advertising sales, Ken - incorporated as 'zone 10 productions' - does commercial voiceovers. With in-house production and marketing, in less than a year he's heard on spot TV, cable, radio and internet. Ken seeks to combine his passion for advocacy with voice work.

Ken represented Advertising Age, Billboard, National Public Broadcasting, Newsday, Newspapers First, Mass Market Retailers and Spafax International in ad sales and ad sales management, in categories that included media, entertainment, consumer electronics, financial, pharmaceuticals, in-flight, travel and manufacturing.

He was a media planner at Grey Advertising (completing Grey's media training program) and Benton & Bowles, on consumer package goods accounts.

Ken holds an MA ('77) from the Annenberg School of Communications (since named the Annenberg School 'for Communication'), University of Pennsylvania. With full academic scholarship, Ken completed anthropologist Ray Birdwhistell's ethnographic research track (25% of program), a program including lecturers Gregory Bateson and William Labov; and Eric Trist's track at the Wharton School's Social Systems Sciences doctoral division (25% of program). Ken was a coder in George Gerbner's violence in media/cultural indicators/cultivation analysis study, and studied questionnaire development, content and statistical analysis. At Penn, Ken represented ASC in the Grad Council (pan-university student government) and worked concert security for Midnight Sun and Electric Factory Concerts.

At Hofstra (BA '75), Ken completed a dual major in the L.A.S. (Liberal Arts & Science) One/Social Science and Religion track (minor in psychology), one of the then six L.A.S. programs, and in communications. In the communications department, Ken studied under department chairman George Gordon, whose passion for, and scholarship in, mass media, propaganda and media institutions raised communications studies at Hofstra beyond a production-only communication department model. Ken also studied film production and co-produced a weekly high school football program for Cablevision. He ran Hofstra Concert security 1973-75 and Concerts East security at the Calderonne Theater in 1975.

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LAINIE KAZAN

LAINIE KAZAN is the embodiment of the word "entertainer." She has come a long way since she was Barbra Streisand's Broadway understudy in Funny Girl – from her early nightclub stints and guest appearances on virtually every top variety and talk show in network television, including an unparalleled 26 appearances on The Dean Martin Show, to serving as the host of her own variety special for NBC. The sensual magnetism Lainie exuded in her variety shows and nightclub performances attracted film directors and producers, and an astonished Francis Ford Coppola offered her a major role in One From the Heart.

In 1983 Lainie received a Golden Globe nomination for her performance in My Favorite Year, starring Peter O'Toole. Other films include Lust in the Dust with Tab Hunter and Divine; Delta Force with Chuck Norris; Beaches with Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey; and Harry and the Hendersons directed by Steven Spielberg. Additional credits include the Disney film The Cemetery Club; 29th Street with Danny Aiello; The Associate with Whoopi Goldberg; Love is All There Is with Renee Taylor, Angelina Jolie and Paul Sorvino; The Big Hit with Mark Wahlberg; The Crew with Burt Reynolds, Richard Dreyfuss and Jennifer Tilly; What's Cooking? with Mercedes Ruehl, Julianna Margulies, Kyra Sedgwick and Alfre Woodard; and Gigli with Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez. Lainie received critical acclaim for her role in the blockbuster comedy My Big Fat Greek Wedding and reprised her role in My Big Fat Greek Life on CBS. She recently completed filming The Engagement Ring with Patricia Heaton, Vincent Spano and Tony Lo Bianco.

For her television work, she received an Emmy Award nomination for St. Elsewhere and a Cable ACE Award nomination for The Paper Chase. She guest starred on Will and Grace appearing as Grace's Aunt Honey. She was featured on Beverly Hills 90210 and had recurring roles as Aunt Freida on The Nanny, and as Dottie, Kirstie Alley's mom, on Veronica's Closet. Lainie also secured the starring role as Doris Bernstein in an episode of Touched By An Angel and recently co-starred with Virginia Madsen in the Lifetime original movie Tempted.

Lainie, however, has never forgotten her roots as a live performer. She reprised her role in the Broadway musical version of My Favorite Year, which won her a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress. She also starred on Broadway in The Government Inspector with Tony Randall, and recently starred in the award-winning drama The Exonerated.

Some of her recent nightclub credits include sold-out engagements in Los Angeles (The Cinegrill, The Catalina Bar and Grill); New York City (The Regency, Rainbow and Stars, Tavern on the Green, The Oak Room); Las Vegas and Atlantic City at the Atlantic City Hilton, Harrah's Casino and Resort, and Trumps Castle. Lainie has appeared at performing arts centers throughout the United States and has sung with such symphonies as The Boston Pops, The Palm Beach Pops and The Cleveland Symphony, to name just a few. She has also toured Europe and the Orient, performing to sold-out audiences.

Lainie received the Woman of the Year award from B'Nai Brith and has graced the stage for many AIDS benefits, telethons and nonprofit organizations throughout the United States. In 1990 she was honored with the Israeli Peace Award. She was also named the Queen of Brooklyn in 1997. She serves on the board for the Young Musicians Foundation, AIDS Project LA and B'Nai Brith, to name just a few.

Lainie's CD Body and Soul is a collection of graceful, feline sentiment that smolders with what Rex Reed called "more talent in her little finger than most singers have in their dreams." Her latest CD, Lainie Kazan – In the Groove, was produced by Lainie, David Benoit and Clark Germain. Lainie's daughter, Jennifer Bena, sings on the CD, and award-winning pianist David Benoit also performs.

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BONNIE OPTEKMAN
Vice President of News Technology
NBC Universal

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JOSEPH SPARACIO
CLU, CLF

Joseph Sparacio began his career with Prudential Financial in 1989 as a financial service representative and became a sales manager shortly after his second anniversary. In 1995, he relocated to manage Prudential's Connecticut office and he was asked to lead the company's Boston office in 1996. Joe returned to Long Island in 2000 as the Managing Director of Prudential's Uniondale office. In 2005, he joined MassMutual, and is currently the CEO and Managing Partner of The Island Financial Group, in Woodbury, New York.

As a 22 year veteran of the Financial Services industry, Joe has been the recipient of many company and industry awards, including several President Citations, Ring of Champions, Million Dollar Round Table and Gamma Platinum awards. In 2003 Joe received the "40 Under 40" Award, given annually to 40 Long Island professionals under 40 years of age; in recognition of career achievements and community involvement.

Joe is an accomplished motivational speaker who participates in important industry engagements both in the United States and abroad. Joe is a member of the Long Island Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, the Association for Advanced Life Underwriters, The Society of Financial Professionals and the American Business Women's Association. He is a member of the President's Circle and a Charter Member of the Advisory Board of the new Center for Ethics in Financial Services at the American College in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania where he is also a guest lecturer. In 2006, Joe was selected to be a member of the GAMA Foundation Board of Trustees.

In addition, Joe is very involved both as a major donor as well as an active volunteer for a number of charities; including the Big Bam Foundation's War Against Breast Cancer and The American Cancer Society, who selected him as a 2007 Honoree at the Coaches Against Cancer, Basket Ball Gala. Joe currently serves on the board of directors for the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization of Long Island.

Joe earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Hofstra University in 1989 and has remained active in the alumni organization ever since. In 2006 he was elected President of the Alumni Organization Board. He also serves on the Hofstra Honors College Advisory Board and the Hofstra Pride Club board of directors. Joe has established "The Joseph Sparacio Endowed Scholarship" to assist students majoring in speech communications at Hofstra University.

Joe and his wife Robin currently reside in Garden City their three children; triplets Anthony, Ava, and Elle.

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LANCE ULANOFF
Editor-in-Chief, Mashable.com
Former Senior Vice President of Content, PCMag Digital Network

Lance Ulanoff is a 25-year industry veteran and award-winning journalist. As editor in chief of Mashable, he is responsible for editorial direction and strategy. Before joining Mashable, Ulanoff was editor in chief of PCMag.com and senior vice president of content for Ziff Davis, where he oversaw content strategy for all Ziff Davis websites.

Lance has covered technology since PCs were the size of suitcases, “on line” meant “waiting” and CPU speeds were measured in single-digit megahertz. He’s traveled the globe to report on a vast array of consumer and business technology. His long-running column on PCMag.com has earned him a Bronze award from the American Society of Business Publication Editors. Winmag.com, HomePC.com and PCMag.com have all been honored under Lance’s guidance.

Lance makes frequent appearances on national, international and local news programs including Fox News, Today Show, Good Morning America, CNBC, CNN, Bloomberg TV, NY1, CNN HLN, BBC, New York’s Eyewitness News, News Channel 4 and WCBS, among many others.

Lance also posts to Twitter all day long. You can follow his tech industry activities and thoughts at http://twitter.com/LanceUlanoff.

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GEORGE VECSEY

George Vecsey, a 1960 graduate of Hofstra College, has been a sports columnist at the New York Times since 1982 and has written over a dozen books, including five best-sellers.

His most recent book is "Baseball: A History of America's Favorite Game," published by Modern Library in 2006 as the first sports book in a history series whose authors include Karen Armstrong, Hans Kung, Ian Buruma and Alan Brinkley.

Among his books are: "Coal Miner's Daughter," with Loretta Lynn, which was a New York Times best-seller for eight weeks and was later made into an Academy-Award winning movie.

Vecsey is also proud of "One Sunset a Week," the story of a radical coal-mining family during the Nixon years, and "Five O'Clock Comes Early," written with Bob Welch, a baseball pitcher and recovering alcoholic.

George Spencer Vecsey was born on July 4, 1939, to two journalists. He attended Jamaica High and enrolled at Hofstra in 1956. He worked as a student publicist in the Hofstra athletic department, covering memorable coaches Butch Van Breda Kolff and Howdy Myers. He also began working at Newsday, covering several Yankee games at the age of 20, days before his graduation with a BA in English.

In 1968, Vecsey was hired by the Times, first covering sports, but in 1970 he was recruited to become a national correspondent for the Times, based in Louisville, Kentucky. Later he was a Metro reporter from 1973-76. For the next four years, he covered religion, including Pope John Paul II's first trips to Mexico and the U.S. He also interviewed the Dalai Lama twice.

In 1980, Vecsey returned to sports as a feature writer, and was named to write the Sports of the Times column upon the death of Red Smith in 1982.

Leaning toward international sports, Vecsey has covered seven consecutive World Cups of soccer as well as all the Summer Olympic Games beginning with Los Angeles in 1984, heading toward Beijing in 2008.

Vecsey lives in Port Washington, Long Island, and is married to his co-editor of the Hofstra yearbook, Marianne Graham, an artist and teacher who has made a dozen trips to India as a volunteer with a child-care agency.

They have three children and five grandchildren. Laura Vecsey was a sports columnist in Seattle and Baltimore and is now a poet in Seattle. Corinna Wilson, an attorney, is deputy director of the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association. David Vecsey joined the New York Times in September of 2007 as a copy editor on the Metro staff.

George Vecsey was awarded an honorary doctorate from Hofstra University in 1990 and in 2001 he was voted into the Hall of Fame of the National Association of Sportswriters and Sportcasters.

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MICHAEL WACH
Executive Vice President, Ad Sales, YES Network

Michael Wach was named executive vice president of ad sales for the YES Network in November 2004. He oversees all national, regional and local advertising sales for the most-watched regional sports television network in the country -- featuring the 26-time World Champion New York Yankees and the 2002 and 2003 Eastern Conference champion New Jersey Nets.

Prior to joining the YES Network, Wach was general sales manager at Infinity Broadcasting's WFAN-AM in New York City, the country's pre-eminent all sports talk radio station. WFAN is home to "Imus in the Morning," "Mike and the Mad Dog" (simulcast live on YES), the New York Mets, and New Jersey Nets.

Before arriving at WFAN, Wach was executive vice president of sales for Rainbow Media Group's local and regional business, both nationally and throughout the Tri-State area. Owned by Cablevision, the nation's sixth largest cable MSO, this includes the News 12 Networks, the New York Interconnect, Metro Channels and New York Cablevision Sales for the 32 local cable systems.

Earlier, Wach served as vice president and general manager of WNYW/FOX 5-TV in New York, the flagship station of the Fox Television Network. During his tenure at WNYW-TV, the station experienced unprecedented growth and became the local over-the-air outlet for New York Yankees games.

An experienced station manager prior to joining WNYW, Wach was also managing partner and president of BGI/Alpha Broadcasting, Inc., a company he helped found in 1995 that owned and operated radio and TV stations. He also served as the executive vice president and general manager of WLNY-TV in Melville, Long Island; the vice president of sales at Tribune Broadcasting's WPIX-TV in New York; and vice president of sales and national sales manager at Boston's WHDH-TV. He started his media career with Petry Television in New York, where he rose from research analyst to vice president and group sales manager.

Wach has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and a Master's degree in History from Hofstra University. He currently serves on the Executive Board of the International Radio & Television Society (IRTS), as Chairman of the Executive Board of Child Abuse Prevention Services (CAPS), and as an advisor to the Hofstra School of Communications.

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MARY BETH WRIGHT
Publisher, National Enquirer
American Media

Mary Beth Wright joined American Media as Publisher of the National Enquirer in August, 2010. American Media is leader in consumer magazine publishing producing other magazines as Shape, Star, Men's Fitness, Natural Health, Fit Pregnancy and others. Prior to joining National Enquirer Wright was the Associate Publisher at OK! magazine.

Wright was also the Publisher of Family Fun magazine, a position she held from June 2000 – October 2009.  Wright joined Family Fun as an Associate Publisher in November of 1997.  Under her direction, Family Fun was named Adweek's prestigious "Hot List" of the top ten magazines in 1998, Advertising Age's "A List" of exceptional magazine titles in 2002, and Capell's Circulation Report Outstanding Performer for five-year rate base growth in 2005, among others.  In August of 2006, Wright also assumed Publisher responsibilities for Disney Adventures – the number one selling children's title on newsstands.  Her team helped launch Wondertime, the new parenting magazine for parents of children birth to six that debuted in February 2006.

Prior to joining Family Fun, Wright served as the Associate Publisher of Wenner Media's US Weekly magazine, where she began her tenure as National Sales Manager in 1992.  Prior to her term at US Weekly, Wright worked at Savvy Woman magazine, first joining as an Account Manager in 1985, with promotions to Advertising Director (1987) and Publisher (1990.)  Wright began her publishing career at Omni magazine in 1980 as a Sales Promotion Coordinator.  In 1984 she was promoted to Account Manager for the magazine.

Wright's professional affiliations include: The Advertising Club of New York, Advertising Women of New York, the Fashion Group, The National Association of Female Executives and Women in Communications.  She also serves on the board of "The Dwelling Place," a New York City based homeless shelter for women.

Referenced in a number of books, Wright's credits include Trillion Dollar Moms (Dearborn Publishing, 2005) as well as Big Sister's Guide to the World of Work (Simon & Schuster, 2005.)  A profile of Wright's professional success was also featured in the Lewisboro Ledger (Cross River, NY) in 2006.

Ms. Wright attended Hofstra University and graduated in 1979 with a B.A. degree in Communications Arts.  She resides in New York City and South Salem, NY.