Founder and president of FanTrust Entertainment Strategies, Catherine Warren is a management consultant to the media industry, specializing in digital business. Her work has influenced Fortune 500 clients, major media networks, world-class tourist attractions, advertising agencies and game corporations, providing them with new ways to captivate audiences and capitalize on innovation.

Catherine’s client work includes strategic initiatives for major broadcast and telecommunications companies such as CTV, CBC, PBS/KCTS and Bell Canada; computer corporations such as Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft; as well as game and animation studios Radical, Studio B Productions and Decode Entertainment. An interactive media veteran, Catherine’s executive productions include the Gemini Award-winning CTVNEWS.com. From 1999 to 2001 she was Chief Operating Officer of Blue Zone, an international leader in uniting television with new media. Under Catherine’s leadership, this publicly traded Nasdaq company with a US$300 million market capitalization delivered broadcasters and producers new audiences and new revenue streams through innovative technology and content models.

Working in the United States, the United Kingdom, Western Europe and Canada for two decades, Catherine has published more than 25 books and magazine series for adults and children on science and computing as well as produced numerous award-winning Web sites and interactive broadcasts. In 1987, as founding Bureau Chief for the US-based publisher PCI, Catherine built a stable of European magazines, featuring early new media technology, and directed the company’s international news and sales teams from a base in London.

Board Directorships & Academic Affiliations
A board member of the national Bell Broadcast & New Media Fund, Women in Media Foundation, and formerly of New Media BC, Catherine’s leadership includes identifying the winning concepts for interactive entertainment and awarding significant financing. The Bell Fund remains the pre-eminent influence on the production of interactive content for Canadian TV programming, with $40 million invested to date in English and French language productions. In 2006, Catherine joined Emily Carr Institute as its Chief Industry & Research Officer, responsible for innovative corporate partnerships. In 2007, Catherine was appointed to the international jury of the Emmy Awards with a focus on interactive excellence.

Awards&Recognition
Canada’s number one women’s magazine, Chatelaine, featured Catherine in their millennium cover story: “Heroines: 15 to watch,” acknowledging her for excellence in technology innovation. In addition to winning a Gemini for client site CTV news, web sites produced by Catherine have won numerous prizes, including a Webby award, Macromedia citation and Cool Shopping acclaim. She is also the recipient of the prestigious US Correspondent’s Fund Award for coverage from CERN on the race between Europe and America in high-energy physics.

Education
Catherine has a degree in physics from Reed College in Portland, Oregon and a master’s degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where she broke the story of multimedia on location at M.I.T.