2018 Esports Production Forum

Keynotes

Yvette Martinez-Rea, ESL, CEO and Managing Director

Yvette Martinez-Rea is chief executive officer at ESL North America, where she leads the strategy and operations of the region. ESL, a part of the international digital entertainment group MTG, is the world’s largest independent esports company. Previously, Martinez-Rea served as chief operating officer (COO) at ESL North America, where she oversaw business operations for the region.

Prior to ESL, Martinez-Rea served as chief operating officer at Violet Grey, a venture-backed luxury beauty content and commerce company based in Los Angeles. She oversaw the company’s growth, as well as business initiatives and the development of the company’s fulfillment, e-commerce systems, and retail operations.

Before joining Violet Grey, Martinez-Rea was a vice president of change management for Yahoo!’s Global Products organization, responsible for leading the cross-functional change efforts to improve engineering quality and overall organizational effectiveness for a 6,000-person global division. Previous roles at Yahoo! include senior director of strategy and business management, global products; senior director of strategy and business operations; and chief of staff to EVP Yahoo! North America. She also acted as the executive sponsor for the southern California chapter of Women in Technology.

Formerly, Martinez-Rea was the VP of operations at United Online, a publicly traded internet services provider, responsible for business and sales operations for multiple brands including NetZero, Juno, Classmates, Photosite, and UOL Web services.

Martinez-Rea also serves on the board of Young & Healthy, a non-profit dedicated to providing health care to underserved children. She holds dual undergraduate degrees in English literature and gender studies from the University of Southern California.

Robert Occhialini, Turner Sports, VP, Esports Products and Technology

Robert Occhialini is the VP of esports products and technology for Turner Sports. A Turner Sports employee for more than a decade, Occhialini was one of the first employees assigned to Turner’s esports initiatives, helping to strategically work through the esports landscape with the Turner Sports senior leadership team. He also worked on the formation of ELEAGUE, the premium esports tournament and content brand formed in partnership between Turner and IMG that launched in 2016.

In addition to being a member of the leadership team for ELEAGUE, Occhialini is currently responsible for new technology adoption, development and deployment of emerging technologies, and new digital products related to the esports market. In this capacity, he led the conception, design, and development of ELEAGUE’s innovative Game Command mosaic video player. Occhialini was also integral in negotiations between ELEAGUE and Twitch, which in early 2018 yielded a multi-year agreement for Twitch to be the exclusive third-party streaming platform for ELEAGUE’s popular live event coverage.

Prior to his career shift into the esports market, Occhialini served as the digital products executive for NBA Digital. He managed the portfolio of digital products and services for the NBA in the United States, including NBA League Pass and the NBA app across phones, tablets, game consoles, TV connected devices, smart TVs, and watches.

Drew Ohlmeyer, Allied Esports International, Head of Content

A veteran sports media executive and producer, Drew Ohlmeyer has spent three decades in sports tv production, most recently immersed in esports. Entering his second year as the head of content at Allied Esports, Ohlmeyer drives the creative vision and execution of Allied’s major live event streams and original content. He also managed the build of the network quality broadcast infrastructure at Allied’s crown jewel, the Esports Arena Las Vegas. Also at Allied, Ohlmeyer served as showrunner for “Ninja Vegas ‘18”, which set a new record on Twitch for Fortnite streams, eclipsing 667K concurrent views.

Prior to Allied, Ohlmeyer enjoyed a brief stint developing content for ESL – Turtle Entertainment and was also a coordinating producer for GoPro Entertainment. One of the original hires of NFL Network, Ohlmeyer spent 11 years with the NFL developing its network and new media platforms, including its coverage of breaking news and live events. He served as a senior producer contributing to NFL Network’s 100-plus hours of training camp coverage and covering major events such as the Super Bowl and the NFL Draft.

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