Michael Grindon is the head of Legendary Worldwide Television. He was the past President of Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI)

Mr. Grindon was responsible for all aspects of international television sales, marketing, syndication and worldwide pay television activities, including negotiation of all major sales agreements in territories around the world and the supervision of all U.S.-based SPTI sales and support personnel.

Mr. Grindon oversaw SPTI’s growing network of channel investments, strategic television alliances and proprietary electronic distribution platforms now being established throughout the global marketplace, including AXN, the premiere action and adventure network now seen in over 87 million homes in 46 countries across Asia, Latin America, Europe and the Middle East. SPTI also owns a majority interest in the ANIMAX all-anime channels in Japan and Asia and Sony Entertainment Television (SET) branded platforms throughout Latin America and in India, the latter of which also provides original Hindi programming to over 29 million subscribers in the UK and United States, as well as throughout Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Australia. Also among SPTI’s channel investments are HBO Olé in Latin America and HBO Asia in the Far East.

In addition, Mr. Grindon managed SPTI’s rapidly expanding international production operations with signature and joint ventures in place in Europe, Asia, and Latin America.

Before his promotion, Mr. Grindon had been executive vice president of SPTI since 1991. He joined the Company in 1986 as director of international television sales and was named vice president and senior vice president over the next two years. In 1988, under his first full year of management, SPE's international television sales increased by more than 100 percent.

Previously, Mr. Grindon spent six years at HBO, first as manager, special markets, then as director of national accounts. Prior to HBO, Mr. Grindon served as a marketing analyst in the consumer video division of Time Life Films and as a systems analyst for Bechtel Corporation.

Mr. Grindon received a BA degree in economics from Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, California, and a master’s degree in business administration from Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration.

General Lord Guthrie was born on 17 November 1938. He was educated at Harrow School and went to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 1957 and was commissioned into the Welsh Guards in 1959. He served with his Regiment as a young officer in the United Kingdom, Libya, Germany and Aden. In 1966 he joined the SAS and served in the Middle East, Malaysia and East Africa.

In 1970 he returned to the Welsh Guards and for two years commanded an armoured infantry company in Germany. After a year as a student at the Staff College, he served in the Ministry of Defence as the Assistant to the Head of the Army, the Chief of the General Staff. From 1975-1977 he was the Brigade Major of the Household Division and from 1977-1980 he commanded the Welsh Guards in Berlin and Northern Ireland.

He was appointed as a Colonel to the branch overseeing operations worldwide and during his time there became briefly the Commander British Forces New Hebrides (Vanuatu) and recaptured the island of Espirito Santo, which had been taken over by insurgents.

In 1981 he was appointed Commander of the 4th Armoured Brigade in Munster, West Germany, following which he was Chief of Staff, Headquarters 1st British Corps in Bielefeld.

He became the General Officer Commanding the 2nd Infantry Division and North East District in 1985. In 1986 he became Colonel Commandant of the Intelligence Corps. After a further tour in the Ministry of Defence he became in succession the Commander of the 1st British Corps, the Northern Army Group, the British Army of the Rhine before becoming the Chief of the General Staff and finally the Chief of the Defence Staff (1997-2001).

He is Colonel of The Life Guards, Gold Stick to The Queen and Colonel Commandant of the SAS.

He is a Director of N M Rothschild ; Sons Limited; a Council Member of The International Institute of Strategic Studies; a Visiting Professor and Honorary Fellow of King’s College London University; Chairman of the Trustees of The Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives; a Member of the Steering Committee of The Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington DC. He is President of The Army Benevolent Fund; Action Research; Federation of London Youth Clubs and a Governor of The Charterhouse, Clerkenwell.

He is married with two grown up sons.

A keen sportsman. He played rugby for the Army. Today he regularly rides and plays tennis. He attends the opera as often as he can.

Andy Heyward is the CEO of Genius Brands International.

After graduating from UCLA in 1975, he joined Hanna-Barbera Productions, where he worked as a writer and story editor. During his five years with Hanna-Barbera, he was involved in the development and writing of numerous series.

In 1980 Heyward moved to France, where he joined DIC Audiovisual, a production company specializing in children's animated programming. Heyward's assignment was to develop new programs for the U.S. and foreign markets. One of the shows that Heyward developed while in France was "Inspector Gadget." In 1982, Heyward returned to Los Angeles to produce and sell DIC product in the American market. He subsequently led a management buyout of the company from its then owners Radio Television Luxembourg.

Under Heyward's leadership, DIC has produced more than 3000 half hours of family programming.

DIC works with all the major creators and advertisers in the kids' business including Nintendo, Sega, Hasbro, Mattel, Playmates, Bandai, and General Mills. Among the prominent series produced by DIC are Ghostbusters, Dennis the Menace, Madeline, Where On Earth Is Carmen Sandiego, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Captain Planet, Super Mario Brothers, Sonic the Hedgehog, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Hello Kitty, G.I. Joe, Action Man, Super Duper Sumos, Strawberry Shortcake, and Inspector Gadget.

In addition, DIC produced the first special on Barbie for Mattel, and, for McDonald's, the only special on Ronald McDonald. Among DIC's current production slate is Liberty's Kids, a series depicting the real adventures of the birth of democracy in America, for PBS. The series features the voices of Walter Cronkite, Michael Douglas, Billy Crystal, Dustin Hoffman, Ben Stiller, Annette Benning, Whoopi Goldberg, Arnold Schwartzeneggar, Liam Neeson, Sylvester Stallone, and Warren Buffett. The music is being performed by Aaron Carter.

In September of 1993, Capital Cities/ABC, Inc. and DIC formed a limited partnership. Then in February 1996, Capital Cities/ABC, Inc. was acquired by The Walt Disney Company in what was, at that time, the largest merger of entertainment companies ever recorded.

In 1995 DIC's "Where On Earth Is Carmen Sandiego?" won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Children's Program while "Madeline" won the Cable Ace Award for Outstanding Children's Series, and subsequently won its own Emmy. DIC-produced programs have been nominated for Emmys for the last five years. DIC not only ensures that its programs are always age-appropriate, but has been a leader in the recent industry-wide focus on program content. In 1994, DIC convened the National PTA, National Education Association, UCLA and producers from throughout the industry to draft the first voluntary set of program guidelines for children's television. In 1996, DIC hosted the first meeting between then FCC Chairman Reed Hundt and children's television producers.

DIC currently has programs on ABC, WB, FOX, NICKELODEON, PBS, DISNEY CHANNEL, CARTOON NETWORK, TOON DISNEY, as well as ongoing programming on all the major international broadcasters. This year DIC has launched the DIC Kids Network, an educationally compliant three hour weekly block of children's programs which is distributed on over 400 stations nationally.

Andy sits on numerous boards including the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Mediascope (an entertainment industry watchdog agency), and the Museum of Television and Radio. In 2002, Andy was awarded Outstanding Alumnae of the Year by UCLA.

Elbrun Kimmelman combines a professional background and expertise in advertising and marketing with her life-long experiences in travel and volunteerism, to work in the areas of education, community development, health and cultural preservation.

As a member of the New York marketing and advertising community for over 20 years, she worked on both the client and agency side of major companies for brands, products and corporate image, and as a strategic planner for new products, market definition, positioning and development. As a member of management, she was active in new business strategies and development.

In the 1970’s Elbrun began working in what has since become known as social marketing. She was a consultant to the governments of various developing nations on the use of American advertising and marketing techniques, for development and nation building programs. She implemented programs including, in-country feasibility studies, training of local administration and implementers, material development, testing and overall product evaluation. Projects were implemented for the governments of Ecuador, Brazil, the Philippines, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Dominican Republic, and the United States of America.

After marriage to Peter Kimmelman, who heads an established asset management firm, she retired from business to raise their two children and began to allocate increasing amounts of time to the non-for-profit sector.

In the last ten years, Elbrun has spent one to two months a year in India. First, developing a program for American high school students to learn about Indian culture and second, organizing and raising funds to restore a former British Residency which now houses the oldest women’s liberal arts college in South India of more than 5,000 Hindu and Muslim students.

Elbrun continues to participate in foreign fact-finding missions and currently works for a wide variety of organizations, including Friends of Osmania Women’s College, Hyderabad (Founder and President), Foreign Policy Association (Trustee), American Associates of the National Galleries of Scotland (Founder and President), Pasteur Institute (Trustee and Advisor), American Turkish Society (Trustee), New York Council on the Humanities (Trustee and Committee Member).

Elbrun was raised in New York City in the winters and in northern Minnesota in the summers. She attended Hunter, a public school for gifted children, and went on to graduate from Hunter College with a B.S. in Economics.

For most of her life she spent three to four months a year traveling and working throughout the world. A long time lover of India, Elbrun Kimmelman has long been involved in reaching out to the world to teach, to learn, to help and to share. She is a world citizen and a full time volunteer.

Rajan Bharti Mittal is the Managing Director of Bharti Enterprises - Bharti Enterprises is one of India’s leading business groups with interests in telecom, agri business, insurance and retail.

Bharti has been a pioneering force in the telecom sector with many firsts and innovations to its credit. Bharti Airtel Limited, a group company, is one of India’s leading private sector providers of telecommunications services with an aggregate of 44.67 million customers as of end of June 2007 spanning mobile, fixed line, broadband and enterprise services.

Bharti Airtel was recently ranked amongst the best performing companies in the world in the BusinessWeek IT 100 list 2007. Bharti Teletech is the country’s largest manufacturer and exporter of telephone terminals. Bharti has a joint venture with ELRo Holdings India Ltd. – ‘FieldFresh Foods Pvt. Ltd’ - for global distribution of fresh fruits and vegetables. Bharti also has a joint venture - ‘Bharti AXA Life Insurance Company Ltd.’ - with AXA, world leader in financial protection and wealth management. Bharti has recently forayed into the retail business under a company called Bharti Retail Pvt. Ltd. It also has an MoU with Wal-Mart for the cash & carry business. Airtel provides end-to-end telecom solutions to corporate customers and national & international long distance services to carriers. Airtel’s high-speed optic fibre network currently spans over 40,000 kms covering all the major cities in the country. The company has two international landing stations in Chennai that connects two submarine cable systems - i2i to Singapore and SEA-ME-WE-4 to Europe. Airtel is also providing telecom services outside India in Seychelles and Jersey in Channel Islands.

Rajan is an alumnus of Harvard Business School, Boston, USA.

Rajan born on 5th January, 1960, joined Bharti Enterprises after graduating from Punjab University. He is actively involved in overseeing the activities of the group at the corporate level and has rich experience in marketing activities.

Rajan is the Chairman of FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry) Retail Committee and Member of FICCI’s Executive & Steering Committees. He is a Member of the Managing Committee and Standing Committees of PHDCCI. He is also a Member of the Council of Management of All India Management Association and a Member of Executive Committee of International Chambers of Commerce – India Chapter. He was the Chairman of FICCI Telecom Committee in 2001, 2002 and 2003 and Chairman of Telecom & IT Committee in 2004 & 2005 and Chairman of Infrastructure Committee in 2006. He was the past President of Association of Basic Telecom Operators (now its known as Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India - AUSPI) during the period 1999-2000.

Sir Evelyn Robert de Rothschild hails from one of the most prominent banking familes of England.

Sir Rothschild has been the Chairman of the The Economist from 1972 to 1989.

He served as the Director of IBM UK Holdings Plc. 1972-1995, Executive chairman NM Rothschild & Sons, London 1976-2003. Chairman of the Delegacy of St Mary's Hospital Medical School from 1977 to 1988. Chairman United Racecourses from 1977 to 1994. Director De Beers Consolidated Mines from 1977 to 1994. Co-founded the Interfaith consultations between Jews, Christians, and Muslims in 1984, together with HRH Duke of Edinburgh and HRH Crown Prince El Hassan.

Sir Rothschild has been the Chairman of the British Merchant Banking & Securities House Association 1985-1989. Governor of the Imperial College of London from 1988 to 1998 and governor of the London School of Economics.

In 1989 Sir Evelyn de Rothschild became a Knight of the British Empire.

As chairman, Walt Disney International, Andy Bird is responsible for Disney’s businesses outside of the United States. Reporting to Disney Chairman and CEO Bob Iger, Mr. Bird and his global team develop and implement strategies to increase Disney brand affinity and awareness in key international markets, introduce new customers and guests to Disney’s unique storytelling legacy and iconic characters, and invest in and maximize opportunities in emerging markets.

Since joining The Walt Disney Company in 2004, Mr. Bird has greatly expanded Disney presence around the world. During his tenure, Disney has: acquired UTV, one of India’s premier media and entertainment companies reaching almost 250 million consumers through film, television and interactive media; launched free-to-air Disney Channels in Russia, Turkey and Spain; launched Dlife, Japan’s first foreign-owned and free-to-air channel targeting women and families; increased local production, particularly for television content; and reorganized and integrated Disney’s international structure and leadership ranks.

Prior to joining Disney, Mr. Bird spent nearly a decade with Time Warner, joining in 1994 as senior vice president and general manager of Turner Entertainment Networks Limited. He rose to president of TBS International in 2000, and became responsible for all TBS broadcasting outside of the continental U.S.

Between 1989 and 1994, Mr. Bird held a number of positions in radio and television in Europe, including helping to start a music channel, producing and directing a popular London-based morning TV program, and producing a Saturday morning children's TV show. In 1992, Mr. Bird was tapped by Unique Broadcasting, the largest independent radio production company in the United Kingdom, to start up and operate Unique Television.

Mr. Bird began his career with Piccadilly Radio in Manchester, England, as breakfast show producer. After that, he moved to London to join the Virgin Broadcasting Company working at Music Box, a Pan-European music channel. Later, Virgin asked Mr. Bird to help launch and program a satellite-delivered national radio service called "Radio Radio." He became head of programming for the service, producing radio shows for leading comedians and television presenters.

A native of the United Kingdom, Mr. Bird is a Commander of the British Empire. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English language and literature from the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne in 1985.

Described by the San Jose Mercury News as "Silicon Valley personified," and listed among 51 most influential global Indian men, by a respected Indian publication, Vish Mishra came to the United States from India 47 years ago to attend North Dakota State University.

Mishra holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology at Banaras Hindu University, and an MS in Electrical Engineering from North Dakota State University.

He moved to the Silicon Valley in the late 1970s, where he went to work for Amdahl and National Semiconductor and started organically building the kind of support network that is very important to entrepreneurs looking for help.

A respected philanthropist, Mishra is dedicated to several social causes. He is the recipient of the prestigious Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation's Heritage Award and Asian Pacific American Leadership Institute's Civic Leadership award. He joined Clearstone in 2002 with over 30 years of leadership and management experience in the high tech industry including software, Internet, networking and telecommunications. Clearstone has nearly $700M in committed capital with notable portfolio companies like PayPal (eBay), Rubicon Project (RUBI) BillDesk (India), The Hive, and The Fabric. Mishra prides himself on being a "mentor capitalist" who sits or has sat on boards of many venture-backed companies including Telera, Quantros, Novariant and CloudVolumes. He is the founder of companies such as Telera and Excelan and has also been the CEO of five start-ups.

As the former President of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) Silicon Valley, Mishra has served as a director at India Community Center and advisor to Silicon Valley Center for Entrepreneurship at San Jose State. He is the founding board member of San Francisco-Bangalore Sister City Initiative and the Bay Area co-chair for Akshaya Patra, a mid-day school meal program in India serving 1.4 million meals daily.

Mishra is married with three grown children and three grandchildren.

Lakshman Charanjiva is Technology Partner at BC Partners, a leading private equity firm advising funds totaling ca. Euro 17 billion. He joined BC Partners in 2017. BC Partners was founded in 1986 as one of the few truly pan-European buy-out investors, and has grown and evolved into a leader in buy-outs, principally investing in larger businesses in the region and selectively in North America through its established network of offices in London, Paris, Hamburg and New York. BC Partners continues to identify attractive investment opportunities by focusing on the best balance of risk and reward for its investors and is currently advising funds totaling over Euro 17 billion. Since inception, BC Partners has completed 98 acquisitions with a total enterprise value of Euro 121 billion.

Previously, Lakshman was vice president and chief information officer for NextEra Energy, Inc, a leading clean energy company with approximately $16 billion in revenue. NextEra Energy was ranked number 1 for the 11th time in 12 years in Fortune’s 2018 Most Admired Electric and Gas Utilities list. At NextEra Energy, he had corporate responsibility for all aspects of the company’s information technology function, and was a member of the company’s Operating Committee. He joined NextEra Energy in December 2008.

Prior to NextEra Energy, Lakshman served in multiple executive roles, including vice president & global chief information officer for AES Corporation, an Arlington, Va.-based $13.6 billion global power company with operations in 28 countries during his tenure. Before joining AES, he held North American leadership positions as vice president in Capgemini’s telecom, cable, media and entertainment consulting practice based in New York.

Lakshman holds an MBA from Tulane University and is a Chartered Accountant from India, having worked for several years with Arthur Andersen in Mumbai. He is also a graduate of AES's Senior Executive Program at Darden School of Business, University of Virginia. He has served on advisory boards of the Energy Impact Partners, Palm Beach County Schools District, Tulane Energy Institute, Cisco, SAP, and venture capital-backed startups. He also served as co-chair for the Edison Electric Institute’s (industry association) CIO committee. Lakshman was recognized by his peers with the “Top 10 Breakaway Leaders” award at the Global CIO Summit in 2011, and was ranked No. 39 in ExecRank’s “Top 150 Most Distinguished CIO’s” list in 2012. He was named to Computerworld’s “Premier 100 IT Leaders” list in 2013, and received the "CIO of the Year" award from South Florida Business Journals in 2014. Under Lakshman’s leadership, NextEra Energy was named to Computerworld’s 2012 and 2013 lists of Top 100 Places to Work in IT.

Lakshman serves on the Board of Governors of the International Tennis Hall of Fame. He lives in Boca Raton with his wife Piya, daughter Karina, and son Nikhil.