Judi Wunderlich, Aquent, Moderator; Jeff Epstein, Digital Bootcamp; Matt Irvine, DePaul University, The Center for Cinema & Interactive Arts.
Chicago New Media Summit : Monday, September 15th, 2008 : 1:00 pm : Education & Employment
Jeff Epstein |
Judi Wunderlich |
Matt Irvine |
The Talk: Whenever new technology booms, as New Media is doing, there is often frustration on the part of companies seeking to utilize this great new technology, because their employees aren't trained or well-versed in it. For Chicago to be the New Media capital of the world, both our industry leaders and educators must act quickly to create programs that will train existing workers and current students. Our panel will discuss where we are now, and where we must be in order to meet the worker supply and demand in the New Media field.
--The job and talent market today - where do we stand
--What type of schooling/training programs are available today
--What do we need to do to create a viable workforce to meet the demands of a robust New Media industry in Chicago
Judy Wunderlich: Judi is the Director of Recruiting Strategy for Aquent, a niche global staffing and recruiting organization, the largest of its kind in the world. Aquent focuses on matching professionals in the Interactive, Creative and Marketing fields with companies needing to hire contract staff or permanent employees. She has been with Aquent/Chicago for 9 years, directs a team of recruiting managers to source talent and fill jobs for Aquent's clients, and teaches, trains and mentors other recruiters within the company.
Judi, who started her career as graphic designer, has over twenty-five years of blended experience in design and design management plus recruiting and job placement. Her 16 years of staffing/recruiting experience includes starting and running her own successful creative staffing firm.
Currently Judi focuses on working with digital media and interactive Talent and the growing number of businesses in the Chicagoland area who need their services to meet the demands of online marketing and advertising. She has also worked with local colleges to help them develop relevant curriculum to meet real-world business demands.
On CNMS: Chicago is already on it's way to being the leader in New Media, and with the help of industry leaders, government officials, and educators, we can help bring more jobs and prosperity to our wonderful city.
On Judi: “I've always enjoyed working with Judi, but the true test of a person is how well they work with others. I've had the pleasure of feeling the kind of confidence in Judi that one only knows when they earnestly recommend and share contacts with their friends and professional contacts--and Judi has not even come close to disappointing. Not only do I strongly recommend Judi, but people I have referred to her consistently send back glowing reports of their experiences with her. As if that wasn't enough, Judi is a staunch supporter of Chicago's Interactive and User Experience Design community. We need more people just like Judi!”
--Russ Unger, Information Architecture/User Experience Design Practitioner and Author
http://webdesign.meetup.com/473
http://www.linkedin.com/in/judiwunderlich
Jeffrey Epstein: "When I graduated from college, if you were a reasonably intelligent, smart-ass, know-it-all with an instinct for marketing, you found a job either in advertising or design. That’s what I did. I worked as a copywriter for advertising agencies in New York and Chicago and wrote commercials for beer, cars, cameras, beer, toys, lipstick and beer. I was also a Creative Director at agencies like Leo Burnett and creative directed advertising for fast food, cereal, detergent and more beer.
Thankfully, If I were graduating now, advertising or design would not be my only choice. I could make websites, web apps, SaaS, podcasts, vcasts, blogs, viral videos, games, social networks, internet radio or TV.
Today, I’m the Director of Digital Bootcamp and Chicago Portfolio School. Our programs teach people to think, design and build. We help them get jobs making advertising, design and everything else smart marketers ask of them."
On CNMS: The biggest problem facing most traditional media businesses is they don’t know what they don’t know. The CNMS can be instrumental in showing them what’s out there, what’s possible, and inspire them to get started.
Matt Irvine, is an award-winning writer/director of feature films, television commercials and music videos. He is one of the principal founders of the Digital Cinema Program at DePaul University, and currently serves as the program chair.
Matt has over fifteen years of experience in the motion picture industry ranging from directing and editing to screenwriting. He has written over ten feature-length screenplays including ”The Hazing”, winner of the Producer's Access Program, ”No Tomorrow”, and ”Vincent ‘52”. Matt was one of the main people involved with the restoration of the cult classic film, ”Carnival of Souls” (Criterion Collection) and is currently writing the script for its re-make. Matt’s feature motion picture (writer/director), “Bludgeoned” (aka ”No Tomorrow”) was recently released by Spectrum Entertainment, and is currently available on DVD and VHS. His most recent script “Scott’s Dead”, a co-authored adaptation of Matt’s stage play of the same name, is scheduled to go into production during the summer of ’09 with Matt slated as director.
A staunch supporter of technology in the motion picture industry, Matt’s award-winning film ”Still Water” was one of the first movies in the Midwest to be edited on the Avid editing system. Matt’s passion for the integration of computer technology and cinema was one of the driving forces behind the creation of the Digital Cinema Program at DePaul. The DC program is fastest growing undergraduate program at the university and is the largest program in the School of Cinema and Interactive Media. Matt has been teaching at DePaul since 1997 and is currently Director of the Center for Cinema & Interactive Arts at the university.
On CNMS: It’s my hope that Chicago becomes the place for new media production and distribution in the near future. I believe with new academic programs in this area sprouting up in the city, the number of potential employees and their level of talent will make this hope a reality.