Directors Symposium Panelists bios
Here's a lineup of panelists, along with some biographical info:
Panel 1:
Laura Belsey, director, Shadow Pictures and C-Entertainment
Belsey has directed impactful work in short and long-form, a prime example of the latter being her documentary Katrina's Children. Her ad directing endeavors also span assorted mainstream clients as well as emotionally moving storytelling such as four web videos for Voices of Meningitis out of Publicis Modem, N.Y., and a classic Coalition for the Homeless spot which unfolded to the strains of "New York, New York." She has been teaching at NYU for four-plus years in a spotmaking class she developed at the request of the school.

Bob Giraldi, director, Giraldi Media
An agency creative who made a successful transition to the director's chair, Giraldi has a filmography that includes classic commercials, breakthrough music videos (Michael Jackson's 'Beat It"), feature filmmaking (Dinner Rush), YouTube video sensations (Second Guessing Grandma) and short films (this year's The Grey Coat). He and exec producer Patti Greaney created the original website StarChefs, featuring celebrity chefs and cookbook authors, which continues as a foremost site used by professionals and food aficionados. Giraldi has been on the faculty of the School of Visual Arts for more than 30 years. He is chair of SVA's newly formed MPS Independent Short Film Program.

Panel #2
Wayne Best, executive creative director, JWT New York
As executive creative director at JWT New York, Best headed a team which created for client Macy's the CBS primetime animated Xmas special Yes, Virginia, which garnered stellar reviews and is primed to be an annual holiday television event. Prior to JWT,  he was exec creative director at Taxi NY where under this leadership the AAAA voted Taxi the best small agency in America two years in a row. He earlier worked at Fallon New York, Wieden+Kennedy, KBP, Cliff Freeman and Partners, and Ammirati & Puris on such notable accounts as Fox Sports, ESPN, Starbucks, Pepsi, Time Magazine, SoBe, Virgin Mobile, Staples and Coca-Cola. His work has won One Show Pencils in entertainment, TV, print and radio, Cannes Lions for both traditional and non-traditional content, as well as Clios, ANDYs and Effies, among other awards.

Jeffrey A. Greenbaum, partner in the Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations group at Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz, and also serves as the law firm's managing partner.Greenbaum counsels advertisers, media companies, ad agencies and production companies on a wide variety of advertising, marketing, branded entertainment and intellectual property matters. He previously served as chair of the Committee on Consumer Affairs of the New York City Bar, and is currently a Committee member.

Stacey Mokotoff, president/production consultant, Bird Bonette Stauderman (BBS)
Mokotoff joined consulting group Bird Bonette Stauderman in 1991, serving in various capacities before becoming its president in July '09. Her production knowledge spans experience on the production house side of the business as a former exec producer at such shops as Michael/Daniel and Jenkins Covington Newman, and president of Gerard Hameline Productions. She is an authority on training on commercial production, serving marketing personnel at such companies at AT&T, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Gillette, Reckitt Benckiser, Kodak and Bestfoods.

Allison (Ally) Polly, head of strategy and brand partnerships, Filmaka Entertainment Studios
At online global talent community Filmaka, Polly brings directors and creators together with major brands such as Ford, Trojan, Mars, Discover and Klondike. In her multi-faceted role at Filmaka, she is responsible for collaborations with agencies and brands, as well as for forging strategic alliances with creative communities and organizations. Her background includes extensive agency experience, including having served as senior VP/creative manager at McCann Erickson. Filmaka is a global digital entertainment studio and robust online creative community for aspiring filmmakerfs.  Filmaka is committed to inspiring, celebrating and rewarding creativity and talent by providing professional opportunities for undiscovered filmmakers and writers from around the world.

Kristi VandenBosch, CEO, Publicis & Hal Riney
VandenBosch joined Riney in 2009, becoming one of the first CEOs of a "traditional" advertising agency drawn from a non-traditional background. Her experience includes leading a regional network for TBWA Worldwide, as North American president of digital agency TEQUILA\, as well as managing director tenures at Omnicom's Direct Partners, and Draft Worldwide. Her integrated marketing services background led to roles on global marketing teams for Nissan, Infiniti, Sony and Pioneer, and her category expertise ranges from automotive to packaged goods, consumer electronics to financial services, dot-coms to fashion.

Panel #3 
Keith Bearden, director. Skunk, Annex & Big Productions
A SHOOT New Directors Showcase helmer back in 2008, Keith Bearden has seen his career progress with continued spotmaking and his feature film directorial debut, Meet Monica Velour, which made its world premiere at the recently wrapped Tribeca Film Festival. Meet Monica Velour was one of just 14 features selected for Tribeca's Encounters section, which offers original films that reflect pop culture and contemporary issues. Bearden is represented for commercials in the U.S. via production house Skunk, is handled in the U.K. by Annex, and in France by Big Productions.
  
Bonnie Goldfarb, executive producer/CEO, harvest
In 2001, Goldfarb and director Baker Smith founded production house harvest which has earned hundreds of awards, including Cannes Lions, Clios, D&AD Pencils, to name just a few. More than 15 harvest-produced commercials have received AICP Show honors and been inducted into the film archives of MoMA, New York. At harvest, Smith also earned distinction with such accolades as a DGA Award for Best Commercial Director of the Year. Goldfarb is a first A.D./UPM with the DGA, a Women in Film associate member, and an AICP West Coast board member.

Kevin Kerwin, writer/director, Authentic Films
Kerwin earned inclusion into last year's SHOOT New Directors Showcase due in part to a documentary-style campaign for Akron Children's Hospital which was recognized with coverage in both the trade (SHOOT) and consumer press (The New York Times). His debut feature, Filmic Achievement, screened at 20 film festivals and will be released this year. Kerwin has won the Milos Foreman Screenwriting Award and the Austin Film Festival's Best Comedy Screenplay honor.

Panel# 4
Bill Bennett, ASC
A lauded cinematographer whose work spans assorted commercials, TV and features, Bennett is also an inventor of camera equipment, and has helped in the conceptual development and design of what became the Arri 435 camera. In August 2004, he had the honor of being the first cinematographer who has made a career of primarily shooting TV commercials to be invited to join the American Society of Cinematographers.

Nick Iannelli, VP, Deluxe Toronto, Iannelli is responsible for a postproduction workflow that meets the creative and technical requirements for filmmakers. A former editor, Iannelli is a key member of the Deluxe Toronto team that has recently launched a range of 3D post services, from dailies through the Digital Intermediate process, re-recording and deliverables. He is currently overseeing the post of two 3D stereoscopic feature films, Saw VII 3D and Resident Evil: the Afterlife.

Craig Leffel, senior colorist/partner, Optimus
An accomplished postproduction artist, Leffel is also deeply entrenched in maintaining a dialogue about the constant changing technology and roles within a post house. He has also served as DP and/or director on a number of agency projects, including commercials, webisodes and music videos.

Sam Levy, cinematographer
Among Sam Levy's diverse credits are a series of films for The Sundance Channel--Isabella Rossellini's Green Porno (and this year's Seduce Me sequel), and Kelly Reichardt's Wendy and Lucy (which received rave reviews for its cinematography upon its opening at the Cannes Film Festival). Levy recently wrapped Galt Niederhoffer's The Romantics, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. He is also known for lensing the documentary Oasis: Dig Your Soul Out In The Streets, part of the grass-roots campaign from BBH New York, which scored assorted awards, including an AICP Show honor.  Adept as a film shooter, Levy also has amassed extensive digital lensing experience spanning such cameras as RED, Phantom, Genesis, Viper, the Sony F35, Arri D-21, Panasonic HVX 200 models (which he deployed on the Oasis documentary) and the Canon 5D Mark II digital camera (on Rossellini's Seduce Me series). He is represented by Dattner Dispoto and Associates.

David Perry, executive VP/director of broadcast production, Saatchi & Saatchi, New York
One of the industry's most respected and knowledgeable agency production professionals, Perry has been with Saatchi since 1989, contributing his expertise to such accounts there over the years as Procter & Gamble, General Mills, JCPenney, Wendy's, Johnson & Johnson, Becks, Delta Airlines, Burger King, Bell Atlantic and Gallo Winery. He is active in Saatchi New Directors Showcase at Cannes and is chairman of the 4A's Broadcast Production Committee. Perry earlier served as director of broadcast production at JWT Chicago and Scali, McCabe, Sloves, New York, and was executive producer at BBDO New York.

Closing Session: One-on-One Interview
with Caleb Deschanel, ASC; director/co-founder, Dark Light Pictures
An accomplished director/cameraman whose cinematography has earned five Academy Award nomination--for The Right Stuff in 1984, The Natural in '85, Fly Away Home in '97, The Patriot in '01, and The Passion of The Christ in '05. Among his mentors were such lauded cinematographer as Haskell Wexler, ASC and Gordon Willis, ASC, as well as director Carroll Ballard. Deschanel has also been in the director's chair encompassing short and long-form content, including features, TV and commercials. He directs the latter through Dark Light Pictures, a spot production house he founded with exec producer Vince Arcaro.

Evening New Directors Showcase Panelist bios
In addition to the six directors mentioned above, the Evening New Directors Showcase Panelists are:

Bonnie Goldfarb, executive producer/CEO, harvest
In 2001, Goldfarb and director Baker Smith founded production house harvest which has earned hundreds of awards, including Cannes Lions, Clios, D&AD Pencils, to name just a few. More than 15 harvest-produced commercials have received AICP Show honors and been inducted into the film archives of MoMA, New York. At harvest, Smith also earned distinction with such accolades as a DGA Award for Best Commercial Director of the Year. Goldfarb is a first A.D./UPM with the DGA, a Women in Film associate member, and an AICP West Coast board member.

Lora Schulson, co-executive director of content production, Young & Rubicam, New York
Schulson lives comfortably on the edge of technology and style, and enjoys guiding clients through the constantly evolving media landscape. Before joining Y&R in 2008, she produced some of the most awarded creative of the last decade while at TBWA\Chiat\Day, NY.  Prior to that she was a senior producer in the TBWA\Chiat\Day L.A. office on Apple, Earthlink, Nissan and Sony Playstation.