Digital Asset Management Conference Speakers-Eu

Pieter Casneuf, ADAM Software

ADAM Founder - Pieter Casneuf holds a degree in chemistry and biotechnology. He continued his program with a PhD and he applied to the Vlerick School for Management for his MBA.In a first job, Pieter Casneuf was appointed as Financial Officer in a media company (OFUP, 1990). After three years, he managed a buyout, and sold the company five years later.

In 1998, he joined ADValvas as Business Development Manager and became soon the CEO of AdValvas Group (2000), a venture capitalist active in the IT and internet sector. In early 2002, Pieter Casneuf joined DOMO Group, a major European carpet mill. He started as Business Unit Manager and became member of the executive committee of the group. Pieter was responsible for the floorcovering unit, residential business. As General Manager, he had responsibility over four production units, in Belgium and Germany, and was also responsible for the worldwide sales of carpet and vinyl (in more than 80 countries).

Pieter Casneuf left DOMO Group and looked around to set up his own business. He came in contact with Dirk Noppe of ADAM Software, Dirk and Pieter found an agreement to roll out ADAM as a digital asset management system worldwide.Pieter Casneuf is now partner and shareholder of ADAM Software NV and responsible for the business development and commercial rollout worldwide.

Nigel Cliffe,CEO, Cliffe Associates Ltd

Nigel Cliffe is CEO of Cliffe Associates Ltd, the force behind the world’s leading blog on DAM - http://digitalassetmanagement.org.uk . Calling himself a Marketing Technologist he is at the forefront of technical developments in the Marketing & Communications Industries, particularly in Digital Asset Management, Print, Pre-Press & Production work-flows.

A DAM 'veteran', installing his first system in 1996 (Imation’s Media Asset Manager), he now provides consultancy services to some of world’s largest companies wishing to develop their DAM strategies and solutions.

Cliffe, with his partner Mark Davey (Digitalassetman), is behind the establishment of the DAM Foundation, a body created to establish standards and best practice in all things digital.

Cliffe says “DAM is truly the foundation of content, if not business management. The world’s leading organisations are waking up to the value of managing content explosion” Cliffe delivers simplicity of language and understanding to an often over-complicated subject that sometimes confuses all but the nerdy. “DAM is simple; it is businesses that are complex. Strategies need to cut through the hype and deliver on the bottom line. Period.”

Michael Fingerhut, Bibliomus (Paris, France)

Michael Fingerhut, a trained mathematician and computer scientist, is an information technology consultant in digital preservation and distribution of cultural heritage: digitization projects management support (process and workflow modelling and design, networked information systems and portals, standards, metadata, ontologies, digital libraries...), technological newswatch, legal and social aspects of IT, etc.

After having developed real-time command and control systems, he founded the Multimedia Library of IRCAM (Paris, France) in 1995 and subsequently became its director as well as that of its Engineering Bureau until 2011, where he managed both collection and infrastructure developments.

From 1993 until 1999 he was the editor of L’Œil du Système, the IRCAM technological newswatch newsletter and from 2003 until 2009 of the newsletter of IAML (the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centers). From 2001 until 2009 he was a member of the Steering Committee of ISMIR, a yearly international conference on music information retrieval, and from 2008 until 2011, of the Steering Committee of the Centre Pompidou Virtuel project.

His most recent and current projects include the design and development management of an in-house workflow for the preservation, documentation and online distribution of the IRCAM text, sound and video archives, and of a portal of contemporary music resources in France held by ca. 40 partner organizations. He is currently a member of the User Advisory Board of The European Library, of the Core Expert Group of Europeana and of its Council of Content Providers and Aggregators, as well as of the Scientific Council of Enssib (the French National Library and Information Systems School).

Luc Keustermans, CEO of Alligence (Antwerp – Belgium)

Luc Keustermans started his career in 1995 as an IT consultant for a leading solution provider in Belgium.

In November of the same year he founded ‘Webwise’, one of the first Belgian web agencies, and worked for a number of clients pioneering with first-generation websites and online applications. Among these were the Belgian Government (fgov.be) and ‘Central Station’, an initiative of the leading Belgian newspapers ‘De Tijd’ and ‘Vacature’. Around the same time he also co-founded ‘Zirkus’, a creative platform of 14 start-up companies specialising in advertising, booth construction, music, fashion, imaging, photography and e-business.

In 1998, he co-founded the multimedia department of Vintage Productions, an agency specialising in pan-European communications. The company mainly provided consultancy and delivered a range of online applications for international brands including Ricoh Europe, Honda Motorcycles Europe and J&J.

In August 2002 he founded Alligence, a communication agency serving both national and international organisations, trade association and the European institutions. As a content, production and technology consultancy, Alligence creates solutions for demanding communicative business challenges. Alligence is headquartered in Antwerp and has offices in Tokyo and Osaka. Its IT-departments are located in Ieper and Chennai, India.

Alligence customers include: the European Commission, the European Parliament, the European Food Safety Authority, the European Food Information Council, IFAH International, CropLife International, the European Crop Protection Association, Pioneer Europe, Nikon Europe, Lexus Europe, ExxonMobil Chemical, Abbott International, Viessmann, Weight Watchers, …

Luc Keustermans is CEO, shareholder and partner of Alligence Communications.

When he is not working he enjoys spending time with his family, listening to music and savouring great architecture, a good book and a fine glass of wine. The last year his golf has improved considerably.

Ed Lantz, CEO of Vortex Immersive Media

Ed Lantz is an entertainment technology engineer, entrepreneur and pioneer of large-format digital cinema. He is President and CEO of Vortex Immersion Media, a new venture bringing next-generation entertainment experiences to the cinema, experiential marketing and themed entertainment markets. He is also co-founder of IMERSA, a trade association promoting the fulldome format.

Ed has pioneered large-format digital cinema and immersive experiences for mass audiences over the past 20 years. Through Vortex, IMERSA and other endeavors he continues to nurture the development and standardization of the fulldome format that has already surpassed the number of IMAX screens by replacing film and analog star projectors with large-format interactive computer graphics projected onto domed screens.

Ed has a background in hardware and software engineering, quantum physics and electromagnetics. He spent seven years leading photonic signal processing R&D at Harris Corp. in Melbourne, Florida. At the Astronaut Memorial Planetarium and Observatory in Cocoa, Florida, he led the development of the first polychromatic acousto-optic modulator (PCAOM) for laser graphics, an advanced DSP-based celestial motion control system, and design of Florida's largest domed theater utilizing next-generation video graphics.

At Spitz Inc. (E&S Spitz), Ed developed new products that transformed old-style planetariums into immersive visualization environments. He also founded Harmony Channel, a television network delivering mood-elevating digital media, including MoodZones - which has been described as "MTV for the Soul" - and Visual Bandwidth Inc., an immersive cinema and fulldome video advisory group.

Ed has published and presented numerous papers on VR and entertainment technologies and is a regular contributor to ACM SIGGRAPH papers, panels, and courses. He founded the International Planetarium Society's Fulldome Video Committee and the first Fulldome Standards Summit held in Valencia, Spain, in 2004; co-organized the first Immersive Cinema Workshop in Espinho, Portugal, in 2005; and moderated the NASA Explorer Institutes focus group on fulldome video held at Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland, California.

Ed received a BS and MS in Electrical Engineering from Tennessee Tech University (1984), serves on the boards of IMERSA, the Center for Visual Music and c3: Center for Conscious Creativity, and holds two U.S. patents on immersive video-based theater technology.

Dieter Reichert is one of the co-founders of censhare AG.  He is responsible for strategic planning and world wide marketing of the censhare Communication and Publication System. Dieter draws on more than 30 years of media experience. As founder and guiding force behind media-specific IT companies, he is a welcome guest at international meetings, conferences, panel discussions, workflow change management and strategy planning sessions. He has an international reputation for clear thinking, straight talking, and anticipating trends. He regards censhare software as part of a unified way of life in which cooperation, sharing, and communication are at the heart of the business.

Dieter Reichert has succeeded in blending science, research, mythology, personal experience, and intuition into an exciting look at what the future could hold. Informed audiences will find his lectures an enlightening experience.

Hans Westerhof is Deputy Director at the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision. He is primarily responsible for the departments of ICT and infrastructure and Collections and for all corporate and R&D projects. He is also responsible for Images for the Future, a large scale audiovisual preservation and digitisation project. In the course of this 7-year project 124.000 hours of audio, 137.000 hours of video, 17.500 hours of film and 1.2 million pictures will be preserved, digitized and made available to the public.

Hans Westerhof was formerly employed as financial director and treasurer at Amsterdam-based thinktank KnowledgeLand. Also, he worked as management consultant at Andersson, Elffers, Felix and as political advisor to the alderman of housing and urban planning in the city of Amsterdam.

Hans Westerhof received his Master’s degree with honours in Political Science in 1992, University of Amsterdam.