EIDR, the source of universal identifiers for digital distribution of movie and television assets, has appointed a slate of new officers to its Board of Directors, additionally welcoming back Creative Artists Agency (CAA) to the EIDR Board.
Bill Kotzman, Partner Product Manager at Google, will succeed Kip Welch of Motion Picture Laboratories (MovieLabs) as Chair, and will be based in Los Angeles. Bill is joined on the EIDR Board with a slate of new officers, including new President – Greg Geier of Sony Pictures Entertainment, Vice President – Scott Maddux of TiVo, and Treasurer – Jeff Stevens of Warner Brothers.
“It’s a tremendous time to be taking on the role of Chairman of EIDR,” said Kotzman. “The necessity of systemic automation of the media and entertainment supply chain is impossible without properly identified content, and the non-proprietary EIDR ID model is the gold standard for making that happen. The new board officers reflect the breadth of EIDR members, with Greg and Jeff representing major film studios, Scott representing a metadata provider and content discovery company, and myself representing a major digital retailer, I bring my years of experience in driving new models of workflow efficiency for Google Play, and know first-hand that EIDR has been a catalyst for value creation at Google. It’s clear that the true “network effect” of EIDR’s global ubiquity is now within reach, and as we plan for the next version of EIDR (v3.0) – I look forward to working with the board and executive director Will Kreth to execute on that vision.”
EIDR is also pleased to announce the addition of Eric Iverson – CIO of Creative Artists Agency to the board. Eric previously served on the board in his capacity at Sony Pictures Entertainment, and his depth of M&E experience and passion for innovation makes him a valuable asset to the EIDR leadership team.
“I look forward to returning to EIDR to help them address the opportunities and challenges ahead,” said Iverson. “Around the industry, I get the chance to talk with senior executives daily about the potential for positive structural improvements in M&E. The respect for what EIDR has created, at nearly 2 million unique content IDs, and more than 3 million alternate IDs, is universal. EIDR is clearly becoming an important part of the data ecosystem. Obviously, the performance of the films and television shows in which our clients participate is significant, and we look forward to helping add value to EIDR’s emergence as a better way to measure that performance on digital distribution platforms.”
“EIDR’s mission is more important than ever as the industry deals with fragmentation in every corner of the ecosystem – from content creation to distribution to consumption,” said Maddux. “TiVo co-founded EIDR alongside MovieLabs and we remain deeply committed to the development of industry-standard ID solutions.”
Will Kreth, Executive Director of EIDR, said: “We’re extremely fortunate in three ways; with Bill taking on the role of Chairman, our slate of new board officers, and CAA not only joining us, but bringing Eric back into the fold. We have a collective powerhouse of a team, and I’m delighted to be working with them to both innovate and bring positive changes to the organization.”
