Malibu Beach, California 760-826-9491
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Victor Valles

Mr. Valles is the founder and General Manager of Operations & Licensing for Gidget MARKS LLC. As a life-long entrepreneur, he purchased the Gidget brand to develop it into an entertainment and merchandising company that could compete with surf brands, such as Roxy, OP and Billabong, as well as entertainment brands targeting little girls, such as Disney’s fairies and princesses; and Nickelodeon’s Dora the Explorer and iCarly.

Mr. Valles has been a contractor, manufacturer, distributor and licensee in the action-sports industry for over 30 years. He was raised in Orange County, CA where his mother Sunanta started a manufacturing company creating products for brands such as Quiksilver, T&C Surf Designs, Offshore, Gotcha, Maui & Sons, Billabong, Vision Streetwear, Mossimo and many more major brands. Mr. Valles founded and ran his own factory sewing exclusively for Quiksilver and their design and development team. After selling that business, he started sourcing suppliers and contractors in India, Hong Kong, and China for children’s products. It was there that Mr. Valles initially saw the massive opportunity and need for a cool kids brand outside of Disney’s fairy and princess brands. Mr. Valles was key in distributing brands like Volcom, Hawaiian Island Creations and Counter Culture, and in helping to open the action sports market in those territories.

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Peter Liapis

Mr. Liapis has been active in the film industry for over 35 years. His areas of accomplishments include all facets of motion picture production; from taking on the starring role, writing the scripts, directing the film to eventually assuming the presidential mantle of a major film production division. He received a Bachelor of Arts from California State University at Fullerton. He began his acting career winning a starring role opposite the legendary Mae West in her last film entitled 'Sextette'.

Over the next several years he starred in numerous feature films until he moved behind the camera as co-writer and executive producer for Cinetel Films, where he wrote and directed several feature films: Captured, Stranger in the House and Stepdaughter for the Image Organization, Pierre David, and WIN International Pictures. In 2004 Mr. Liapis joined Global Universal Film Group (GUFG) as Senior Vice President and Head of Development and was instrumental in driving the company public under the name Global Entertainment Holdings (GBHL). In November of 2010 Peter became President of Allied Artists Pictures, an iconic name in the Hollywood film industry. In August 2013 Peter stepped down from Allied Artists and returned to the GBHL team as an in-house producer / writer / director.

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David Schreff

Mr. Schreff is the President of Bedare Sports & Entertainment which specializes in Digital Media Rights Management, M&A deals, Sponsorship and Licensing. He has been President/COO/CEO of four different intellectual property organizations, an inventor, patent holder, intellectual property rights content developer, an expert in monetizing new technologies across platforms, and a seasoned expert in driving strategic alliances, licensing and merchandising and media initiatives across entertainment, sports, media and consumer products organizations. Having served as an executive at global organizations including Walt Disney, Marvel Entertainment and the National Basketball Association (NBA), he's directed and grown revenues and EBITDA for virtually every facet of entertainment programming, content development, global and venue strategic alliances, gated event management, and licensing and merchandising programs worldwide. With proven innovation, leadership and strategic management skills in complex B2B and B2C marketing/sales driven and matrixed organizations, he was a key revenue and profit driver at key points in each company's history.

He also served as President/COO and Board member of Notara, an e-software customer relationship management business that offered licensors and their business partners a suite of digital rights management products. In 2008, he was elected (non-executive) Chairman of the Board of Directors of USA Volleyball, the national governing body of the sport and a key member of the United States Olympic Committee with a term that extended through the London Olympic Games in 2012. David graduated Wesleyan University (Middletown, Connecticut) with a B.A. in Government and graduated the University of Connecticut School of Business with an MBA in Marketing.

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Barney Cohen

Cohen has been active in film and television for over 30 years. For television, Cohen created the vampire-detective series, Forever Knight, which debuted as a CBS movie. He was also the writer/producer of the Showtime movie, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, resulting in the Sabrina the Teenage Witch series that ran seven years as a sitcom on ABC, and for which Cohen served as an Exec. Cohen also wrote and produced Doom Runners, Nickelodeon's first-ever television movie.

His motion picture work includes the screenplay for Friday the 13th: the Final Chapter which was set to be the last of “Jason” but set a box office record that spawned six sequels, with still more to come. He has written and/or produced other movies in the horror genre such as MGM’s Killer Party. Cohen's writing/producing work also includes major television movies like Next Door (for Showtime, with James Woods and Randy Quaid directed by Oscar winner Tony Bill).

His animation credits include Thunder Cats and He Man and the Masters of the Universe. Prior to his film and television career, Cohen was a journalist for The New York Times.

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Nat Norfleet

Authentically rooted in the Hawaiian surf industry, Nat Norfleet began his fashion career with his father, the founder of Kahala Sportswear, nearly 40 years ago. As the first garment manufacturing firm in the Hawaiian Islands, his designs became some of the first true fashion silhouettes and looks in the business. Norfleet went on to start his own apparel label in the late 70's and his eponymous Norfleet brand shirts remain icons standards of that era' surf fashion. He was eventually recruited by OP in 1990 to design the newly acquired Jimmy'z apparel brand. On the heels of Jimmy'z success, he was handed the design reins of Ocean Pacific's much-lauded Newport Blue line.

Based on his many achievements, OP appointed Norfleet as design director in 1998, charged with overseeing design or the entire OP worldwide product. He supervised the shaping of the Company's licensed products and served as the creative liaison between OP and its licensees, providing seasonal corporate overviews of colors, themes, design strategies and continuity. After the sale of the company to Iconix Brands, Norfleet helped Iconix sell the OP license to Walmart. Today, Norfleet runs his own brand development company in Laguna Beach and continues to be active in the industry.

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Brian P. Kinder, Legal

Mr. Kinder is the founder of The Kinder Law Group and has practiced intellectual property law for more than a decade. He serves clients around the world and has been named as a Super Lawyer Rising Star in the area of intellectual property – an honor bestowed on only the top 2.5% of attorneys in California. Mr. Kinder handles all aspects of brand protection, from counseling and clearance searches to registration and litigation. He has not only protected numerous trademarks domestically and online, but has also coordinated global branding initiatives spanning over 120 countries around the world.

Mr. Kinder also has extensive experience in successfully litigating cases before various Federal District Courts, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and the Trademark Trial and Appeals Board (T.T.A.B.). He has resolved numerous infringement disputes, false advertising claims, misappropriation of trade secret cases, unfair competition, franchise disputes, and various administrative actions involving Opposition and Cancellation proceedings before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. In addition to trademark matters, he has represented clients in various complex cases involving right of publicity and copyright infringement. He has also successfully resolved several high-profile domain name disputes against some of the most aggressive cybersquatters in the industry. Mr. Kinder also works closely with associated foreign counsel with regard to the international disputes.