Branding Strategies Panel

Michael Araten,
President & CEO K'NEX Brands, L.P.

Michael Araten is the President and CEO of K'NEX Brands, L.P. K'NEX Brands has two primary business units, K'NEX, LPG (the toy manufacturing, marketing, design and distribution company) and The Rodon Group (a highly automated plastics injection molder with a focus on small parts used in over 100 industries, including food, beverage, consumer packaged goods, construction and toys).

Mr. Araten joined K'NEX and the Rodon Group in May 2005 to serve as their Vice President and General Counsel. He became President & COO in January 2006 and assumed his present position as President and CEO in January 2009.

Prior to joining K'NEX and Rodon, Mr. Araten served as Senior Vice President and Corporate Counsel to O'Neill Properties Group, as well as Chief Litigation Counsel to Toll Brothers, Inc. In those capacities, Mr. Araten was responsible for risk management, regulatory approvals, human resource issues and the management of over 100 law firms in 21 states. Mr. Araten also formed numerous joint ventures, led due diligence and acquisition teams, and obtained land development approvals that created over three billion ($3 billion) in new home sales and land value.

As President and CEO, Mr. Araten is responsible for all strategic and day to day operations of the company.

Mr. Araten holds a B.A. in Political Science from Stanford University, and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.

David Bullock,
Co-Author Barack 2.0

David Bullock, co-author of Barack 2.0, brings an engineer's perspective to social media. His focus is helping businesses drive sales and his method is to view social media as tools in his kit - tools that can bring measurable results.

David's work on Barack 2.0 had its origins in early 2008 when he and co-author Brent Leary observed that the web traffic for then-candidate Obama was twice that of his nearest rival. David and Brent began a blog that explored how Obama was using social media to engage the marketplace and identified the lessons his techniques offered for business people.

Barack 2.0 grew out of that blog and is the only book that takes a business perspective on Obama's phenomenal success with social media.

David has a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Delaware and started his career with engineering positions at Mobil Oil and The DuPont Company, as well as Fanuc Robotics North America. He learned about statistical control of manufacturing processes, and ultimately began to figure out how to put in place processes that work the first time, every time.

David has brought his expertise and problem-solving approach to social media. He has become a nationally recognized speaker and trainer and provides coaching and consulting services to businesses.

William A. Scari, Jr.,
Partner Pepper Hamilton LLP

William A. Scari, Jr. is a partner in the Commercial Department of Pepper Hamilton LLP. He is the partner-in-charge of the firm's Berwyn office and is a member of Pepper's Executive Committee, the firm's governing body.

Mr. Scari's practice is devoted primarily to mergers and acquisitions, private equity and venture capital transactions, and providing a wide range of business and intellectual property counseling to private companies. Mr. Scari regularly counsels life sciences and other technology companies in licensing and financing transactions, joint venture and partnering arrangements, and in the negotiation and preparation of their ordinary course agreements, as well as counseling boards of directors.

Mr. Scari is a member, or has served as a member, of several boards of directors. He was the co-chairman of the Early Stage East 2007 Venture Capital Conference, a past president and director of the Entrepreneurs' Forum of Greater Philadelphia and a founder and past director of the Delaware Entrepreneurs' Forum. He has lectured on many occasions in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, technology licensing and private equity and venture capital financing.

Mr. Scari graduated from the Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law after earning an undergraduate degree from the University of Delaware.

Denise Seegal

Denise Seegal is a strategic global leader and CEO with unparalleled achievements in brand building and management across all distribution channels. Her expertise in innovative product development, consumer-focused marketing, and talent development has positively impacted apparel, accessory, and designer lifestyle companies including Ralph Lauren, DKNY, Calvin Klein, Liz Claiborne, and Nautica.

As President and CEO of VF Sportswear Coalition for VF Corporation, Ms. Seegal created a new brand vision, re-energizing the core Nautica Sportswear brand into a $700 million business. Expanding its global presence, she introduced new licensed product categories. She launched a women's label, a domestic full-price retail concept, and an e-commerce business. Concurrently she tripled revenues for Kipling NA.

Previously Ms. Seegal was President and CEO of Sweetface Fashion Company, catapulting volume 700% for the JLO Brand. Using a focused approach to merchandising, distribution, and licensing agreements in 6 categories, she enhanced the celebrity brand's global presence, creating brand vision and financial plans for wholesale, retail, e-commerce, international, and licensing business models.

From 1996 to 2000, Ms. Seegal was President of Liz Claiborne Corporation, where she tripled volume to $3.1 billion. Spearheading the future vision of a diversified portfolio of modern brands, she conveyed "one vision and one message" across all product categories.

Other accomplishments include serving as the founding President of DKNY, where she launched 7 divisions in 6 years, collaborating with Donna Karan on the lifestyle brand vision.

Peter T. Wakiyama,
Partner Pepper Hamilton LLP

Peter T. Wakiyama is a partner in the Intellectual Property Practice Group of Pepper Hamilton LLP, resident in the Philadelphia office. Mr. Wakiyama focuses his practice on intellectual property and technology law including intellectual property and information technology transactions; general counseling, protection, enforcement and commercialization of intellectual property rights; Internet and ecommerce matters; and entertainment and the arts.

Prior to joining Pepper, Mr. Wakiyama was a partner in the Intellectual Property and Information Technology Practice Group at WolfBlock in Philadelphia. Prior to commencing his law practice in 1995, Mr. Wakiyama worked in the technology industry, serving as a senior technical analyst with PRC (now part of Northrop Grumman). At PRC, he worked with leading edge technologies in support of the development of information systems for government clients.

Mr. Wakiyama represents a wide range of domestic and international clients across many industries, including software, Internet/e-commerce, telecommunications, cable television, entertainment, financial services, manufacturing, fashion, retail, health care, consumer packaged goods, packaging, food and beverage, education, hospitality and real estate. In addition to representing established companies, Mr. Wakiyama regularly represents entrepreneurs, start-up companies and emerging growth companies on a wide range of matters.