ACC CLE SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
Staying in the Game:
What Your Business Must Do to Survive
in the Digital Age
August 1, 2007
Tamera Alexander
Counsel
Turner Broadcasting System
Tamera Alexander received her Bachelors of Science degree from Florida State University and her Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School.
After law school, Tamera began her career as an associate in the Atlanta office of the law firm McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP (then Long Aldridge & Norman LLP) where she practiced in the Government Affairs practice group as well as in the Technology and Intellectual Property practice group.
In 2004, Tamera joined the Program Acquisitions Practice Group of Turner Broadcasting System, specializing in the acquisition of licensed programming for exhibition on Turner’s live action entertainment networks. In addition to her work with the Program Acquisitions Practice Group, Tamera also serves as counsel for Turner’s new online broadband comedy network, Super Deluxe, which launched earlier this year. In that role she works on the production of original content for exhibition on Super Deluxe.
Jim Dudukovich
Marketing Counsel
Coca-Cola North America
Jim Dudukovich is Marketing Counsel with Coca-Cola North America, where he negotiates sports and entertainment marketing transactions and advises and counsels his clients on advertising, marketing, sponsorship and general intellectual property law issues, including issues relating to talent rights (including application of the SAG and AFTRA Commercials Contracts), rights of publicity, copyrights, trademarks, music law and product claims.
Jim is a member of the Entertainment and Sports Law and Intellectual Property Law Sections of the Georgia Bar Association, is a member of the Association of Corporate Counsel, and is a former Associate Member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. He was born and raised near Cleveland, Ohio, and earned a B.S. in Systems and Control Engineering, with High Honors, from Case Western Reserve University in 1990, and his J.D., cum laude, from Michigan Law School in 1992.
Greg Heller
Vice President and General Counsel
Atlanta Braves
As Vice President and General Counsel for the Atlanta Braves, Greg Heller manages and oversees all legal affairs for the Braves and its four wholly-owned minor league affiliates which include the Richmond Braves, the Mississippi Braves, the Rome Braves and the Danville Braves. Greg’s responsibilities and duties include providing guidance and counsel on baseball operations matters, sales and marketing, stadium and business operations, intellectual property, employment and litigation.
Prior to serving as Vice President and General Counsel of the Braves, Greg spent seven years with the TBS sports legal group which included the Braves, the Atlanta Hawks, the Atlanta Thrashers, Philips Arena, the Goodwill Games, the Turner Sports television group (and its NBA, NASCAR, PGA, British Open and MLB properties), and the Turner Sports new media group (and its NASCAR, PGA and PGA TOUR properties).
Greg began his career in sports law as an undergraduate at Indiana University where he graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in Sports Marketing/Management. While at Indiana, Greg completed internships with the Peoria Chiefs, a minor league affiliate of the Chicago Cubs, and with the Indiana University athletic department. Upon graduating from IU, Greg entered law school at Marquette University. While at Marquette, Greg was an active participant in the sports law program, including serving as a member and Student Articles Editor of the Marquette Sports Law Journal, serving as a member of the Sports Law Society, authoring a law review article on the NCAA enforcement process and completing internships with the National Sports Law Institute, Harley Davidson, the Milwaukee Brewers and Reece & Lang PC, the legal division of an Atlanta-based sports management firm. In 2004, Greg was named by Marquette University as its Sports Law Alumnus Of The Year
Upon graduating from Marquette, Greg became an Associate Attorney with the Atlanta firm of Powell Goldstein Frazer & Murphy where he concentrated his practice on general corporate, mergers and acquisitions, securities and sports and entertainment law matters from 1996-1997. In the Fall of 1997, Greg joined the Chicago law firm of Horwood Marcus & Berk and continued his practice in general corporate, mergers and acquisitions and sports and entertainment law matters before joining TBS in the Fall of 2000. Greg and his wife Krista have four children, Madelyn, Charlie, John and Elizabeth.
Donna K. Lewis
Partner
Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP
Donna K. Lewis is a partner in the Atlanta office of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP. Ms. Lewis focuses her practice on strategic commercial transactions, the majority of which involve technology, content, data, or other intellectual property. She has significant experience structuring and negotiating licensing, outsourcing, procurement and services transactions across various industries, representing both buyers and sellers of goods and services. Much of Ms. Lewis’ practice focuses on products and services enabled by new technologies, such as the Internet, wireless, IPTV and digital cable. Her related subject matter expertise includes data privacy and security, digital rights management, and electronic commerce. Representative clients include companies in the technology, services, media, financial services, telecommunications, and health care industries. Ms. Lewis also has significant experience in general corporate matters, including entity structure and formation, venture capital, mergers and acquisitions, and protective commercial agreements.
In 2007, Ms. Lewis was certified by the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) as a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP), which debuted in 2004 and is the foundation certification in the essentials of U.S. and international privacy and data protection laws, standards and practices.
Before joining the Firm, Ms. Lewis was senior vice president and chief legal officer for Turner Entertainment Group, the subsidiary of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. responsible for Turner's entertainment operations including television networks TNT, TBS, Cartoon Network, TCM, and Turner South. She advised senior management on strategic business planning and implementation matters, as well as complex rights issues associated with the distribution of the company's entertainment assets through alternative digital platforms, such as those enabled by the Internet, broadband, video on demand, wireless, and mobile technologies. Her responsibilities included management of the in-house entertainment attorneys and staff based in Atlanta and Los Angeles, and oversight of all entertainment legal work, including original content development and production, program acquisitions, music licensing and administration, network operations, and marketing and promotions. Prior to that position, Ms. Lewis served as senior vice president of business development for CNN, with management and operational responsibility for business development matters for CNN Interactive, including CNN.com and CNN Mobile. During her 14-year career at Turner, Ms. Lewis held other positions in the legal department with various corporate, commercial, and managerial responsibilities.
Prior to Turner, Ms. Lewis was a corporate finance associate at King & Spalding. She is a graduate of the Emory University Law School where she served on the Emory Law Journal staff as managing editor. She earned her undergraduate degree, magna cum laude, and her graduate degree in journalism from the University of Georgia. Ms. Lewis is a May 2004 graduate of the Women in Cable and Telecommunications' Betsy Magness Leadership Institute, the cable industry's premier leadership program for women. Ms. Lewis currently serves on the Board of Trustees for The Children’s School, an independent elementary school in Atlanta. She is also a member of the International Association of Privacy Professionals.
Derek Schiller
Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing
Atlanta Braves
As senior vice president of sales and marketing, Derek Schiller is responsible for the management for all baseball-related revenues such as ticket sales, corporate sales, broadcasting, licensing and merchandising, community relations and the overall marketing strategy for the franchise.
He joined the Braves in November 2003, and, under his leadership, the team has increased emphasis on improving the overall fan experience through enhanced game entertainment, promotions, and guest services and made the Braves’ season-ticket holders a business priority. He has redefined the Braves sports marketing and promotional campaigns and has actively grown the Braves community outreach.
Schiller also manages the Braves television relationships with Turner Sports, FSN South and SportsSouth and their radio relationship with Clear Channel Radio that includes 150 affiliates across the Southeast.
Schiller came to the Braves after having served as vice president of sales and marketing for the Atlanta Thrashers hockey team since 1998. In that position, he engineered highly successful marketing and advertising campaigns, which resulted in the Thrashers setting an NHL expansion attendance record of 705,389 fans for the 1999-2000 season. In addition, he was a driving force behind the team’s community efforts and was responsible for the establishment of the Atlanta Thrashers Foundation, a nonprofit, grant-making public charity that assists charitable, educational and public service organizations.
He also was instrumental in negotiating the team’s first television contracts with Turner South and UPN69 and he oversaw the Thrashers Radio Network, which grew to include nearly 24 affiliates throughout Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina.
Before joining the Thrashers, Schiller served as vice president of business development for the New York Yankees from 1996-97. While there, he was responsible for all revenue-producing and related functions, including sponsorship sales, marketing, ticket and suite sales, publications, concessions and merchandising, fan services and licensing.
Prior to joining the Yankees, Schiller was the executive director of Atlanta’s International Sports Plaza (ISP). He developed the first-ever private press center serving non-accredited press organizations during the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games and managed the hospitality venue during the Games in partnership with several Olympic sponsors.
Schiller earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Vanderbilt University in 1992. He and his wife Kristin and their two children, Luke and Carson, reside in Atlanta.
