Get the Inside Story on doing business with China

PANELISTS

Anne-Marie Boysen - Lionsgate

Anne-Marie Boysen is the Vice President of International Film Sales for Lionsgate. Boysen oversees feature film sales for Eastern Europe and Asia, and previously handled Latin American territories for Lionsgate. Boysen has been instrumental in the foreign sales and launches of some of Lionsgate’s most successful films to date including the Academy Award winner MONSTER’S BALL (2001); the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award nominee AMORES PERROS; and most recently the three-time Academy Award® nominated HOTEL RWANDA (2004).

Boysen currently oversees sales on Lionsgate’s most substantial international film slate to date which includes the third installment of the Company’s record-breaking global franchise phenomenon, SAW III, which stands as one the most successful horror series in film history. SAW III, which is approaching the US$150 Million worldwide box office mark, will outgross both SAW and SAW II.  Currently playing in 40 territories worldwide, SAW III opened at the #1 spot at the box office for Lionsgate in 10 international countries including the U.K, Australia, Spain, Brazil, Greece, Argentina, Turkey, Colombia, Panama, and Romania smashing previous local records for horror franchise openings along the way.  Lionsgate UK, the company’s UK distribution arm, had its biggest opening for the franchise to date with SAW III when it opened at the #1 spot and went on to surpass the total cumulative box office for SAW II in just 17 days. . In Japan, for which Boysen oversees sales, the film opened 135% stronger than SAW II. In Eastern Europe, which Boysen also oversees, SAW III opened at the number 2 spot at the box office in Russia was where it was the biggest Lionsgate opening to date, doubling the cumulative gross of SAW II in 11 days.  Most recently, SAW III performed 89% stronger than SAW II in its opening weekend in Poland.

At the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival, Boysen oversaw the international sales for her territories on Lionsgate’s critically acclaimed documentary THE US V JOHN LENNON (2006), which has its North American premiere at the festival. At the 2006 Cannes International Film Festival, Boysen saw a record-breaking sales market for her Lionsgate slate including the feature BUG, from Academy Award ® winner William Friedkin, which was awarded the Fipresci Prize in Cannes by the international critics association of the Quinzaine (Directors’ Fortnight).

Other features on the 2007 Lionsgate slate, for which Boysen will oversee sales at the upcoming European Film Market in Berlin include: PRIDE starring Terrence Howard; 3:10 TO YUMA starring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale; the action thriller ROGUE starring Jet Li and Jason Statham; the thriller CATACOMBS starring Shannyn Sossamon and Alecia Moore (aka Pink): the recently DGA nominated documentary DELIVER US FROM EVIL; the werewolf action horror feature SKINWALKERS with special effects from award-winning effect house, WETA; the comedy FIDO starring Billy Connolly and Carrie-Anne Moss and the Spanish language thriller FUERA DEL CIELO.

Prior to Lionsgate, Boysen was Manager of International Operations at Porchlight Entertainment. She began her industry career for All American Fremantle International  in international television sales. After graduating from University, she worked for a year in Hong Kong for General Star Development, Ltd.

Boysen speaks Mandarin and has a Masters degree in Chinese History from University of California Irvine. She also attended Peking University for a year as part of her Bachelors degree in Chinese History from University of California Santa Cruz.

Lionsgate is the leading independent filmed entertainment studio, winning this year’s Best Picture Academy Award ® for Crash, generating two consecutive years of $300 million-plus domestic theatrical box office, operating a $500 million-plus home entertainment business and producing a broad slate of prime time television series for fiscal 2007.  It is a premier producer and distributor of motion pictures, television programming, home entertainment, family entertainment and video-on-demand content.  Its prestigious and prolific library of more than 5,500 titles is a valuable source of stable, recurring revenue and a foundation for the growth of the Company’s core businesses.  The Lionsgate brand name is synonymous with original, daring, quality entertainment in markets around the world.

Dr. Yougheng Deng - Marshall School of Business, USC

Dr. Yongheng Deng is associate professor and director of Doctoral Program at the School of Policy, Planning, and Development, and associate professor at the Marshall School of Business (by courtesy), University of Southern California. Many consider Professor Deng to be the leading expert in Southern California regarding the housing/real estate market in China. He brings to the faculty a distinctive capability in applied econometrics and financial economic modeling. While his primary research interest is in the empirical exploration of the behavior of households and mortgage borrowers,  Deng’s research has explored a wide variety of issues in real estate finance and urban economic policy, including asset pricing of mortgage-backed securities and derivatives, structured finance and security design in RMBS and CMBS markets, of CMBS and CDO market analysis, econometric analysis of competing risks of mortgage prepayment and default with unobserved heterogeneity, behavioral finance and economics with applications to real estate and housing markets, structural model of real option in real estate development, enhancing mortgage credit availability among underserved and higher credit-risk populations, racial difference in homeownership in the US, rent control in the mobile home market, as well as the property and mortgage markets in China.

Professor Deng is elected to serve on the board of directors of the American Real Estate and Urban Economic Association. He also serves on the advisory board of the Real Estate Research Institute, and on the board of real estate council of advisors for the Gerson Lehrman Group. He is a Fellow at the Homer Hoyt institute. He was the sole recipient of the Best Ph.D. Dissertation Award from Homer Hoyt Institute and American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association (AREUEA) (1995), and a recipient of the Homer Hoyt Best Paper Award (with Stuart Gabriel) in the AsRES-AREUEA Joint International Conference (2002). Prior to joining the USC faculty in 1999, he served as an Economist and Expert in the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) in Washington D.C., and was a Post-Doctoral research fellow at the Zell/Lurie Real Estate Center at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley.

Professor Deng is currently on the editorial board of Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, and has served as referees for many academic journals including American Economic Review, Journal of Finance, Journal of Econometrics, National Science Foundation, Journal of Urban Economics, Regional Science and Urban Economics, Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Real Estate Economics, Journal of Real Estate Research, International Real Estate Review, Journal of Policy Analysis & Management, Annals of Operations Research, Tsinghua Science and Technology, Risk Magazine.  Several times a year, Deng travels to China to work with such agencies as the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ Financial Research Institute to assist China's burgeoning home-finance market.

Joy Kovaleski, founder and president of Fun Zone Inc.  Fun Zone Inc. develops and sources toys, accessories, home décor, seasonal and promotional products for companies like Cost Plus World Market, Gymboree, and PetsMart.

Prior to founding Fun Zone, Inc., Joy was vice president of product development and design at the gift company Applause at a time when the company grew from $60 to $280 Million in sales, and licensed characters from Disney, Warner Brothers, and Sesame Street.

She graduated from UC Berkeley Haas School of Business in 1977 and obtained her Master in International Management from American Graduate School of International Management (Thunderbird).  Joy has over 25 years experience doing business in the Greater China region.

Mr. Hsu has extensive experience representing domestic and foreign clients in a broad range of corporate matters, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, technology licensing, and general business corporate counseling. He has also represented issuers and investors on various types of debt and equity offerings, venture capital transactions and formation of offshore private equity funds. Mr. Hsu has worked in Taipei and Shanghai and he regularly advises major U.S. and Asian companies on a variety of cross-border business transactions.

Mr. Hsu frequently lectures on corporate matters, and some his recent speaking engagements include Digital Media Wire and socalTECH - "Digital Asia: Recent Developments and New Business Opportunities" (June 2001), Caltech/MIT Enterprise Forum - "Corporate Formation and Strategic Tax Planning" (May 2002), Shanghai Jiao Tung University - "Venture Capital Financing: Process and Issues" (December 2002) and Taiwan Daily Economic News "Global Business - Global Disputes" (August 2004).

Mr. Hsu is a member of the board of directors of the Asian Business League of Southern California and the advisory board of California State University Northridge's Center for China Finance and Business Research. Mr. Hsu has been recognized as a Southern California Super Lawyers Rising Star by Los Angeles magazine in 2004.  Mr. Hsu received his undergraduate and J.D. degrees from UCLA. Mr. Hsu is fluent in Mandarin Chinese and Spanish.

Jack Sheng - Eforcity

Jack Sheng is an Entrepreneur and senior executive at Eforcity Corporation, a rapidly growing, vertically integrated, Los Angeles based e-tailer with customers in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.  Eforcity is a customer-focused, e-commerce company that provides quality, innovative personal electronics accessories and products to its global customers quickly and at very competitive prices.

Eforcity is ranked number 90 on the Inc 500 list as one of the fastest growing private companies in the US. Eforcity is also ranked number 9 on the LA Business Journal as one of the fastest growing companies in Los Angeles. Annual revenues of Eforcity have increased five-fold from $5 million to $25 million since Sheng made his first business trip to China 4 years ago.  In 2006, Eforcity opened distribution facilities in Hong Kong and China in order to facilitate export sales as well as China domestic sales.  45% of Eforcity’s 100+ employees are based in China and Hong Kong.

Sheng serves as the senior executive in charge of operations, supply chain management, IT, customer intelligence, and alliances. Sheng has established a strong network of nimble suppliers in China who provide high-demand products in volume with consistently high quality at attractive terms. Sheng has also partnered with suppliers to develop and introduce new products.

Prior to Eforcity, Sheng was a senior Business Process and IT consultant with Price Waterhouse. Sheng established an IT department at Eforcity and developed proprietary technology to scale its operations, be very responsive to customers, closely track customer buying behavior and inventory trends, and maintain fiscal and operational control.

Sheng is a graduate of the Haas School of Business in 1997 with a Bachelors of Science degree.  Sheng spoke at Catch the China Wave 2006, and at this years event will update the attendees on Eforcity’s efforts to enter the China market.