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Jeff Braun, Chairman and Co-founder Jeff founded MX Entertainment with Zane Vella in September 2001. As Chairman, Jeff is responsible for the strategic direction of the company. In 1987, Jeff co-founded with partner Will Wright, Maxis, a leading computer game publishing company with the flagship title SimCity. Under his leadership as CEO, Maxis redefined video games and grew to become one of the pre-eminent publishers of packaged goods entertainment software in the world. Maxis' game "The Sims" is now the best selling PC game of all time.  Ole Lütjens, VP Product Development Ole is an accomplished designer, creative director, and development manager with extensive experience in interface design for DVD, set-top-boxes and application design. He specializes in simplifying and visualizing complex ideas and systems and leading production and development teams through specifying, designing and producing high-end user experiences. Ole is currently overseeing MX product development and he is a key part of MX's ongoing R&D, especially in next-generation disc user experience. By applying his unique creative and technical skillset to the challenges of the new formats he is playing a key role in the evolving field of producing HD DVD and Blu-ray titles at MX. Prior to helping launch MX, Ole provided interface design and creative services for clients including German Telekom, Der Spiegel, Lucasfilm, Disney and SmashTV. Under his creative direction MX DVD's have won multiple Special Feature and DVD Excellence Awards. Joe Rice, VP Technology Drawing upon a 15 year background in audio and video production and post-production, Joe provides technical direction for MX's product development and ongoing R&D, including supervision of compression and authoring for DVD, Blu-ray, and HD DVD. Representing MX in both the DVD Forum's and Blu-ray Disc Association's technical committees, he has been closely involved in the shaping of both next-gen formats and works closely with our partners and customers to create products which realize the fullest potential of DVD, Blu-ray, and/or HD DVD. Prior to joining MX at its inception, Joe served as Technical Director for digitiz-it!, an audio and video compression firm. Previously, Joe was Director of Research and Development at ednet, an audio and video networking company whose clients include high-end film, video, audio and post-production facilities. Charlie Kulas, Patent Counsel Charlie provides intellectual property strategy and legal services and has helped guide the development of MX's IP portfolio since 2002. Mr. Kulas has seven years of professional experience as an electrical engineer and computer programmer. From 1995-1997, Mr. Kulas was an IP attorney for the Sony Corporation of America responsible for instituting programs to patent Sony's technology and products especially in areas including computer architecture, software, digital audio, interactive entertainment, professional broadcast products, data compression and transmission, semiconductor design and other R&D. Zane Vella, Executive Producer and Co-founder Zane is an award-winning innovator of entertainment and technology and an accomplished producer and director. Zane was President of MX from 2001 through May of 2006 and worked closely with the company's technical and creative leads to identify opportunities for innovation. In 2006, Zane founded the Related Content Database Inc. to pursue business and technology concepts incubated while with the company. Prior to MX, Zane was founder and creative director of SmashTV, a media technology and development company specializing in music and entertainment applications. SmashTV was know for its work with high-profile entertainment brands such as Apple, EXPN, MTV Networks and Wired Ventures. The company produced one of the first live webcasts in history from the Lollapalooza Festival in 1994, developed the "Live@Exploratorium" series for NASA and the NSF, and created Noggin Radio for Viacom. |
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