Katie Soo is an award-winning global media and tech marketer, recognized for her leadership in both category design and digital transformations. Soo’s work spans across branding and product strategy, building and launching new businesses, while serving as an advisor to startups and a mentor for founders.

She currently oversees Growth Marketing for WarnerMedia’s direct-to-consumer platform HBO Max. Her areas of focus include media, subscriber acquisition, consumer engagement and retention, digital campaigns, social media, partner marketing, and creative design.

Soo was recently recognized on Ad Age’s 40 Under 40 list and Goldhouse’s A100 list honoring the most impactful Asians in culture. She has also received numerous accolades from Promax, Webbys, Digiday and the Shorty Awards for her work in both creative storytelling and digital products. Soo sits on the board of Asia Society Southern California and California State University Entertainment Alliance. She is also a member of Pinterest’s Advisory Board, Vox Media’s Brand Council and is Co-Chair of AWE, Asian Women Empowered, an Asia Society Initiative.

Michael Gisser brings his 25 years of experience as a cross-border business and legal affairs expert. He lived between Hong Kong, Beijing, Los Angeles and New York as Asia Practice leader for global law firm Skadden Arps, building that to seven offices and 200+ people, and was simultaneously a senior mergers and acquisitions partner in Los Angeles. Gisser led innovative, major transactions all over the world involving Trip.com; Baidu, Youku and CNOOC in China; Indosat and Telkom Indonesia; Skype in Scandinavia; Centro Properties in Australia; large-capitalization companies in India and Singapore; and The Walt Disney Company and Juicy Couture in the U.S. A trained musician, Gisser studied at the Juilliard School in New York at the same time as Yo-Yo Ma and performed professionally with the Ringling Brothers Circus and many others.

Gisser has served on the Advisory Board of the ASSC for more than 15 years. He lives in Pacific Palisades, and currently serves in leadership and board positions for a number of established companies, as well as being a senior advisor to an activist investor and to a leading European venture capital firm focusing on technology investing.

Managing Director -- Dasym Media (Los Angeles)
Director & Legal Representative -- Dasym (Shanghai) Business Information Consulting Co., Ltd

Charles Coker is the Managing Director of Dasym Media, the Los Angeles subsidiary of the Dutch TMT investment group Dasym Investment Strategies, as well as a Director of Dasym’s Shanghai office. Dasym’s Los Angeles and Shanghai offices act as a bridge between the Chinese entertainment market and Hollywood and Europe, and are active in cross-border media, fund management, content brokerage and Sino-US/European film & TV projects. Coker served as a producer of the Sino-US co-production film Skiptrace (2016). The film starred Jackie Chan and grossed over $135 million at the Chinese box office. In addition to his duties at Dasym, Coker served from 2013-2017 as a director of the U.S./U.K. independent film company Exclusive Media — Rush (directed by Ron Howard and starring Chris Hemsworth), Ides of March (starring George Clooney), Woman in Black (starring Daniel Radcliffe), End of Watch (starring Jake Gyllenhaal) and Snitch (starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson).

Prior to joining Dasym in 2012, Mr. Coker practiced law in Shanghai and Los Angeles with leading international law firms, where he advised entertainment and media companies (e.g., Lucas Film, 20th Century Fox and NBA China), as well as independent producers, on their China strategy and operations, including Sino-foreign co-productions. He also represented clients in the U.S. and China (e.g., Intel, Walmart, Platinum Equity and The Gores Group) on private equity and venture capital investments, China foreign direct investments and fund formation issues. In addition,

Coker has authored numerous articles and been a guest speaker on the topic of investing in China and foreign-invested RMB funds for The China Business Review, the China Venture Capital Association and the Hong Kong Venture Capital Association.

Coker received his law degree from the Loyola Law School (Los Angeles) and his bachelor and master degrees from the University of Southern California. He was also a Fulbright Scholar to Austria. Mr. Coker also served on the faculty of the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) from 1995-2005.

Richard Drobnick is the director of the IBEAR MBA program at the USC Marshall School of Business. He was the founding director of the School’s Center for International Business (1990-2014), which was supported by the U.S. Department of Education since 1990, as one of its 33 national resource centers on international business. Dr. Drobnick served as USC’s inaugural Vice Provost for International Affairs (1994-2005). He was the inaugural Secretary General (1997-2002) and a member of the Steering Committee (1997-2010) of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), an association of presidents of 45 leading Pacific Rim research universities (www.apru.org). He launched and led APRU’s Pacific Rim research programs on “Sustainability and Climate Change” and “Public Health” (2006-2010).

Dr. Drobnick specializes in Pacific Rim economic and business issues and U.S. and Pacific Rim trade policies. He is the author of numerous articles regarding international economics and business, as well as the co-author of Neither Feast nor Famine: Food Conditions to the Year 2000 and co-editor of Small Firms in Global Competition. Drobnick is a Trustee of the Asia Society and the Chairman of the Asia Society of Southern California Center. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. As a Peace Corps Volunteer in Malaysia (1967-1969), Drobnick served as an economic advisor to the Malaysian Department of Agriculture’s Farmers Association Movement.

Anjali also served as Chief of Staff for an L.A.-based startup producing conferences on international trade and investment. She earned her master's degree in International Relations and Economics from John Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies and bachelor's degree in International Studies and Economics from American University, both in Washington D.C.

In recent years, Huang has crossed over from the Chinese entertainment industry into Hollywood to further facilitate her development of cross-cultural communication skills, stimulate collaborative projects between the U.S. and Asia, and promote multimedia content that resonates with people around the world. Huang earned her master’s degree in Film Producing from the New York Film Academy. She is fluent in English, Mandarin, and Cantonese.