RESUME
Elizabeth A. Osder
4918 Imlay Ave
Culver City, CA 90230
elizabeth@osder.com
PROFESSIONAL HISTORY
2002- Visiting Professor, Annenberg School University of Southern California
2001-2002 John S. Knight Fellowship, Stanford University
1998-2001 Freelance Editorial and Consulting (Concurrent Employment)
1999-2001 Scient, Vice President, General Manager, Global Managing Partner
1995-1999 The New York Times Company, Director and Editor
1994-1995 Advance Publication, Executive Producer
1992-1994 Associated Press, Photo Editor
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
August 2002 - Present
Visiting Professor
Annenberg School for Communcations
University of Southern California
August 2001- June 2002
John S. Knight Fellowship
Department of Communications
Stanford University
Areas of study include: Technology, Communication and Change
Relevant seminars and courses to date include:
1999 - 2001
SCIENT INC. (formerly known as iXL Inc)
New York, New York
Clients included:
See Consulting for Listing of Representative
Consulting Engagements:
Oct 2000 - Jan 2001
Global Managing Partner
iXL Media & Communications Practice
As Global Managing Partner for iXL's Media & Communications Practice, Osder was charged with integrating iXL's Telecommunications, Digital Media Solutions and Media & Entertainment practices into a single Media & Communications practice with centers in London, New York and Los Angeles. In addition, Osder was tasked with developing industry specific offerings that leveraged iXL's CRM, Globalization/Localization, B2B E-Learning and Change Management practices.
Jun 2000 - Sep 2001
General Manager
iXL Media & Entertainment Practice
As General Manager for iXL's Media & Entertainment Practice, Osder managed the sector's P&L and supervised company-wide projects and initiatives including market-entry strategy, offerings development, business development, staffing and technical certifications. She also provided thought leadership to approximately 40 consultants and client services professionals managing relationships with media and entertainment clients.
Jan 1999 - May 2000
Vice President
iXL Media & Entertainment Practice
Osder joined iXL as Vice President specializing in the development of e-business initatives and interactive media strategies for clients in the media and publishing industries. She led iXL's business, offerings and practice development in the sector and served as engagement leader and client partner for initatives with Fortune1000 media and entertainment companies.
Under Osder's leadership, iXL's media and publishing practice grew to $4 million in revenue and included offerings in business and product strategy; market and revenue analysis; marketing and branding; digital media solutions including rich and text media content management, tools selection, editorial workflow and tools development; and editorial operations, process and content development.
Osder's thought leadership initiatives included workshops and positions on editorial training and operation, media asset management, and cross media revenue generation.
1994-1999
THE NEW YORK TIMES COMPANY
New York, NY
Oct 1998 - Dec 1998
Director of New Media
The New York Times News Service
As Director of New Media for the Time's News Services division, Osder conducted
evaluation of existing Internet initiatives including Computer News Daily, Your
Health Daily and Entertainment News Daily and implemented a multi-year staffing
and development plan for the division. Projects included site development for
the News Service and Syndicate and e-commerce initiatives emphasizing improved
customer service and cost reduction. Osder also worked to develop process and
infrastructure sharing with The New York Times Company Digital.
Dec. 1997- Sep 1998
Director of Product Development
The New York Times Digital (formerly known as The New York Times
Electronic Media Company)
As Director of Product Development, Osder developed and managed the editorial product development group responsible for creating all new sites, sections, features and services. Osder directed a team of editorial product managers drawn from editorial, advertising and technology in planning, justifying and launching all new site initiatives. Osder implemented a five-stage development methodology to guide product development cycles and developed initiative plans that balanced the requirements of each constituency improving cycle time, editorial integrity, interdepartmental communication, QA and supported and profitability of new initiatives.
Development initiatives included:
The New York Times on the Web: Led the 1998 nytimes.com re-launch that introduced
a new design, numerous new sections and services, improved advertising opportunities
and more stable publishing tools. Site enhancements included integration of
breaking news from the AP and Reuters; more robust and customizable international,
technology and business sections; an improved user interface that divided the
site into news, features and services; improved navigation and features such
as Quick News and Today's Paper and improved production tools allowing for an
increase in multimedia and site enhancements of the daily news report.
The New York Times Learning Network: As part of a company wide initiative to
address future readership, developed and implemented a plan for an education
site in cooperation with Bank Street School and The Times Newspaper in Education
programs. The site included daily lesson plans to aid the use of the newspaper
in the classroom and sought to develop community between students, teachers
and parents. It also launched a suite of learning tools that used hypertext
to provide meaning and context to often complex news stories.
Content Management and Publishing Systems: Led The Times effort to replace its original in-house systems with a scalable commercial content management and publishing system. Developed selection criteria through an analysis of systems and end-user requirements.
Channel Development: Developed distribution opportunities and content partnerships via new technologies and site affiliation. Projects included Microsoft's IE 4.0 Channel and desktop applications and the first newspaper content implementation on hand held devices with AvantGo.
1995-1997
Content Development Editor
The New York Times Digital
(formerly known as The New York Times Electronic Media Company)
As the Content Development Editor, Osder was responsible for those site features
and services not drawn directly from the daily printed edition of The New York
Times.
Her overall responsibilities included editorial integration, content development, creative direction and business development for New York Times sites. Initiatives often included partnerships, third-party content integration, applications development, automation and user interface and interactive community building features.
Larger projects included:
The New York on the Web Books: Led the development and staffing of the award winning online book section of the nytimes.com, participated in the deal negotiations and lead the co-branding discussions with the Times' e-commerce partner Barnes & Noble. The site exploits a century of literary coverage and has been a leader in the use of multi-media, original content programming, and community building features.
New York Today: Led the early planning and requirements development for The Times local information site New York Today. Know as "Gotham" in its early incarnation, The Times developed several concepts and considered numerous partnerships before moving forward with a final product in 1998.
The New York Times on the Web Forums: Launched and grew the Times Web community from an initial panel of expert hosts covering a handful of topics to a robust community with proven audience retention covering over 50 topics moderated by expert hosts. As part of this effort, also participated in the development of community standards and policy that set the standards for online community for editorial and news sites.
The Downsizing of America: Launched a multi-part award winning series developed by the newsroom and enhanced with community discussion on the Web. The site was recognized as a pioneering model of collaboration between new and old media newsrooms. Through this collaboration, comments and new sources identified from the web companion site could be integrated into later installments in the series demonstrating how a community feedback can further develop stories.
Web Specials: Served as editor and producer for numerous web-only special features that exploited the two-way interactive and multi-media capabilities of the web. Award winning sites included 1996 Campaign Coverage, Bosnia: Uncertain Paths to Peace, Hong Kong and numerous special issues of The New York Times Magazine.
1994-1995
ADVANCE PUBLICATIONS INC.
Advance Internet (formerly known as Newhouse Newspapers New Media)
Jersey City, New Jersey
Executive Producer and Analyst
Osder served as an analyst on a four-person corporate new media team charged with researching and reporting developments in on-line publishing to the principals of Advance Publications, Inc. As Executive Producer for Newhouse Newspapers New Media, Osder provided new media, Internet and on-line service information, training and support to the newspaper chain and developed content plans and sites that served as prototypes for the creation of the award winning New Jersey On-line and Cleveland Live.
Additional responsibilities included the development of business plans for Plain Dealer New Media, Cleveland On-line and the web syndication and production house Journal Square Interactive.
Award winning projects included:
Weather with the Old Farmer's Almanac: The Internet's first graphical five-day forecast launched March 1995. Offering fully automated weather for 700 cities around the world plus key content from the Old Farmer's Almanac, the site was later developed into Rainorshine.com an early Internet syndication and affiliate offering.
Rockhall.com: Created for the opening of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, this site contained 123 audio clips and robust community discussion and provided a forum for early experiments with "Live" Internet reporting from the opening festivities. The site received praise from numerous publications including USA Today, The New York Times, PC Week.
The Yuckiest Site on the Internet: Yucky remains one of the Internet's top children's destinations and was the first site to develop original, credible multimedia content for a young audience and received a Webby award nomination in 1999. Yucky was heralded as something fun, interactive and educational for kids by over 100 newspapers and magazines including Wired, Newsweek and the Washington Post.
1993 - 1998
INDEPENDENT CONSULTANT
Answering a demand for her insights into new media publishing, product development, creative direction and newsroom operations, Osder consulted for numerous Internet ventures, often in addition to her other professional roles.
1993-1994
THE POYNTER INSTITUTE FOR MEDIA STUDIES
St. Petersburg, Florida
Jan 1993 - May 1994
Producer and Researcher
ViewPoynt Project
Osder developed and designed the Institute's beta-test on-line service called ViewPoynt. Responsibilities included Internet, email and networked computing training session for institute staff and students and coordinating the overall organization, content, graphics and telecommunications configurations. Systems utilized The Major BBS by Galacticomm with Rip-Graphics and offered members full Internet access, e-mail, forums and teleconferencing related to Poynter Institute sponsored seminars. While at the Institute, Osder also authored a practical policy and procedures manual for future ViewPoynt SYSOPs.
Sep 1993 - Dec 1993
Executive Producer
The Electronic Times
Osder created a business plan and prototype for an on-line service of the St. Petersburg Times. The Electronic Times targeted young readers in schools and libraries. Its goal was to cultivate future readership for the Times Publishing Company.
Jan 1993 - May 1993
Producer
Pictures of the Year
Osder produced an interactive CDROM on the Fiftieth Annual Pictures of the Year Competition. The CDROM included graphics, audio, still photographs and video and was the first CD project produced by the University of Missouri School of Journalism.
OTHER PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
1992-1994
Photography Editor
Associated Press
Responsibilities included: Filing domestic and international photo report; assigning
domestic and international special assignments; coordinating advance packages;
editing and scanning film.
1989-1990
Production Coordinator
McEwen Inc.
Oversaw workflow between sales and production staff, budgeting and vendor contracts
for photographic, billboard and print production in an advertising agency handling
local and national accounts.
1986-1989
Operations Manager
The Progressive Group Inc.
Coordinated and supervised a staff of seven and all work in the production of
telemarketing direct mail support (design, printing, mailing, data entry) for
non-profit fundraising. Managed and supervised in-house print shop, vendor negotiations
for out-of-house work and supplies, data entry and special shipping.
Clients included: National Women's Political Caucus, World Wildlife Fund, and Environmental Defense Fund.
1982-1994
Freelance Photography
EDUCATION
May 1994
University of Missouri, School of Journalism
Columbia, Missouri
Master of Arts in Journalism
New Technology, Visual Communication, Management
Fall 1994
The Poynter Institute for Media Studies
St. Petersburg, Florida
Graduate fellowship in Media Management and Operations
May 1986
Mount Holyoke College
South Hadley, Massachusetts
Bachelor of Arts in History
REFERENCES AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST