Contact: Cristal Logan
Vice President, Aspen
The Aspen Institute
[email protected]

Tel. 970-544-7929

The Aspen Institute to Welcome Olivia Ma, Bryn Mooser, Sterling Proffer, and Julia Turner on August 8

Bright Minds in New Media to be featured in Hurst Lecture Series panel 

ASPEN, CO, July 25, 2016 –– The Aspen Institute is pleased to feature Google News Lab Head of Partnerships Olivia Ma; Co-Founder and CEO of RYOT News Bryn Mooser; VICE Media Head of Growth Sterling Proffer; and Slate Editor in Chief Julia Turner, in conversation with Aspen Institute President and CEO Walter Isaacson. The panel discussion will focus on the future of new media and how it has transformed our lives and the way we consume information. 

Part of the Hurst Lecture Series, this event is open to the public and will take place on August 8, 2016 from 4:00-5:30 p.m. in the Doerr-Hosier Center on the Institute’s Aspen Meadows campus. The Hurst Lecture Series is generously underwritten by the Hurst Family Foundation.

Tickets are $20 and are on sale now at www.aspenshowtix.com, (970) 920-5770, or in person at the Wheeler Opera House. Early ticket purchase is encouraged, as a full-capacity audience is expected for this event.  Doors will open at 3:15 p.m., and any unclaimed tickets will be sold at the door.

Olivia Ma is one of the founders of Google News Lab, Google’s effort to empower innovation at the intersection of media and technology. In her role as Head of Partnerships for the News Lab, Olivia leads a team that works with news organizations to apply the latest technology to reporting and storytelling; from VR to data journalism. Previously, she was Head of News and Media Partnerships for Google+, where she oversaw the social network’s partnerships with the media industry. Before joining Google+, Olivia was a founding member of YouTube's News and Politics team, where she spent five years overseeing the site's news programming and product strategy. As YouTube’s News Manager, Olivia ran YouTube's 2012 Election strategy, managed YouTube's response to major breaking news stories like the Arab Spring and Hurricane Sandy, and produced four YouTube Interviews with President Obama, including his first social media interview. Prior to joining YouTube and Google, Olivia was the product manager for Plum, a social media-sharing website acquired by Nokia, and ran Current, a national college news magazine published in partnership with Newsweek. She graduated from Harvard University with a degree in History and Literature.

Olivia is also Co-Chair of the Board of Directors for the Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalism nonprofit The Center for Public Integrity, the parent organization for the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which recently broke the Panama Papers.

Bryn Mooser is the CEO and co-founder of RYOT, the first immersive media company linking content to action. Recently acquired by AOL for the Huffington Post, RYOT has grown to become one of the most prolific virtual reality and 360° content studios over the past year. Bryn has overseen the production of more than 60 virtual reality films created by RYOT in collaboration with some of the most well-known brand partners in the world. As a documentary filmmaker, Bryn has co-directed and produced 10 award-winning documentaries from Liberia to the Arctic, including "Body Team 12" which took home the Tribeca Film Festival award for Best Documentary Short and was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Documentary Short category. Bryn was named one of Esquire Magazine's "Americans of the Year" as well as a "Hollywood Maverick" by Details Magazine. Before starting RYOT, Bryn spent years as a humanitarian, serving in the Peace Corps in Africa and working in Haiti, where he helped build the country's largest secondary school in Port-au-Prince, which now educates 3,000 Haitian youth per year.

Sterling Proffer is the head of growth for VICE Media, the world’s preeminent youth media company and content creation studio. Over the past seven years, Sterling Proffer has worked across the business development, sales, operations, and strategy for VICE's digital channels. In 2012, he oversaw the launch of VICE on YouTube, leading them from launch to over 6MM subscribers and 500MM views in 24 months. In 2014, Sterling became the General Manager of VICE News, launching and overseeing business & operations for VICE's global news channel. In its first year, VICE News built the largest and most critically acclaimed news brand in a generation, with 250MM views, 1MM YouTube subscribers, 2 Webbys, 2 Peabodys, a Frontline Club award, 4 Emmy nominations, and most recently, a duPont. Building on the success of VICE News, Sterling was appointed Head of Growth for VICE Media, overseeing marketing, distribution, and growth operations across VICE's global network of digital properties.

Julia Turner is the editor-in-chief of Slate, the award-winning online news site known for its surprising and witty take on news, culture, politics, business and technology. She took the helm in 2014, after having served as deputy editor since 2008. Under Turner’s leadership, Slate has received three National Magazine Award nominations, a George Polk award, a Digiday Publishing Award, and many other high-profile accolades. During her time at Slate, she has written on culture, technology and design. She is also a co-host of Slate’s critically acclaimed Culture Gabfest podcast, alongside culture critic Stephen Metcalf and film critic Dana Stevens. The Culture Gabfest was nominated for a National Magazine Award for podcasting, and Turner’s coverage of Mad Men won an Online Journalism Award for commentary. Before joining Slate in 2003, Turner worked at Time Inc., first in magazine development and later at Sports Illustrated Women. She lives in New York with her husband and two sons.

UPCOMING EVENTS AT THE ASPEN INSTITUTE

Monday, July 25
NEW VIEWS Documentaries & Dialogue

Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise

Distinctly referred to as “a redwood tree, with deep roots in American culture,” icon Maya Angelou gave people the freedom to think about their history in a way they never had before. Dr. Angelou’s was a prolific life; as a singer, dancer, activist, poet, and writer she inspired generations with lyrical modern African-American thought that pushed boundaries. This unprecedented film celebrates Dr. Maya Angelou by weaving her words with rare and intimate archival photographs and videos, which paint hidden moments of her exuberant life during some of America’s most defining moments. From her upbringing in the Depression-era South to her work with Malcolm X in Ghana to her inaugural speech for President Bill Clinton, we are given special access to interviews with Dr. Angelou whose indelible charm and quick wit make it easy to love her. The film also features a remarkable series of interviews with friends and family including President Bill Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, Common, Alfre Woodard, Cicely Tyson, Quincy Jones, Secretary Hillary Clinton, John Singleton and Dr. Angelou’s son, Guy Johnson.

Directors Rita Coburn-Whack and Bob Hercules will be featured in a post-screening discussion.

Paepcke Auditorium, 7:00 pm

Fee: $20. Tickets on sale now at www.aspenshowtix.com.

Wednesday, July 27
McCloskey Speaker Series

A Chat with the Secretary – Sold Out*

In collaboration with Aspen Security Forum

Featuring Jeh Johnson, Secretary of Homeland Security. In his final months in office, the Secretary gives us his assessment of the state of the nation's security.

Greenwald Pavilion, 6:00 – 7:00 pm
*Doors open and waitlist begins at 5:15 p.m.

Monday, August 1
NEW VIEWS Documentaries & Dialogue

A Good American

A codebreaker genius, a revolutionary surveillance program, and corruption across the board of NSA—against this backdrop unfolds the feature documentary A Good American. The film tells the story of Bill Binney and his program ThinThread and how this perfect alternative to mass surveillance got ditched by NSA for money – three weeks prior to 9/11.

Former NSA intelligence official and film subject Bill Binney will be featured in a post-screening discussion.

Paepcke Auditorium, 7:00 pm

Fee: $20. Tickets on sale now at www.aspenshowtix.com.

For more information on Hurst Lecture Series events, please contact Zoe Brown at (970) 544-7935 or [email protected], call the Aspen Community Programs information hotline at (970) 544-7970, or visit the Institute’s website at www.aspeninstitute.org/aspenevents.

The Aspen Institute is an educational and policy studies organization. Its mission is to foster leadership based on enduring values and to provide a nonpartisan venue for dealing with critical issues. The Institute is based in Washington, DC; Aspen, Colorado; and on the Wye River on Maryland's Eastern Shore. It also has an office in New York City and an international network of partners.

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