Jonathan Taplin - Director of the Annenberg Innovation Lab

"Five Billion Smartphones & the Future of Media & Entertainment" 

In my life I’ve had three careers that have interwoven over the past 35 years. After graduating from Princeton in 1969 I worked for fifteen years as a producer of music and film with people like Bob Dylan, The Band, George Harrison, Martin Scorsese, Wim Wenders and Gus Van Sant. From 1984-2000 I was immersed in the business of media, first as an Investment Banker in the Merrill Lynch Mergers and Acquisition department and then as the CEO of the worlds first Video On Demand Company, Intertainer. The third stage of my life is as a teacher and consultant. I’m on the faculty of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California and a co-founder of the Annenberg Research Network for International Communication. I consult for various business and government organizations on the role of digital media in the economic infrastructure.

Jonathan Taplin - Clinical Professor, School for Communication