Elektrobit and NVIDIA Join the Connected Car Expo Advisory Board

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 29, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Continuing the successes of the last two years, the Los Angeles Auto Show (LA Auto Show) announced two additions to its Connected Car Expo (CCE) advisory board for 2015. Manuela Papadopol of Elektrobit and Danny Shapiro of NVIDIA will join eight other influential thought leaders from top companies shaping the connected car conversation, including Aeris Communications, AT&T, the City of Los Angeles, Ellis & Associates, Google, MERA, Pandora, and Strategy Analytics.

Alongside returning Conference Director Andy Gryc of CX3 Marketing, the advisory board will set the strategic direction and focus of CCE's conference agenda. CCE will be held in conjunction with the Los Angeles Auto Show Press and Trade Days on November 17, 2015 and was recently named the Best Car Tech/Connected Car Trade Show by AUTO Connected Car News.

"The goal of this advisory board is to bring together the top experts that can elevate and further the connected car discussion," said Lisa Kaz, President of the LA Auto Show and CCE. "2015 is sure to be a year of rapid growth, driven by technology, for all automotive and transportation industries."

CCE Advisory Panel Members:

• Michelle Avary, Vice President, Automotive Strategy, Aeris Communications
  Avary is responsible for the overall management of Aeris' automotive strategy, product planning, and business development. A 16-year veteran of automotive telematics, Avary previously led Toyota Motor Sales, Inc. telematics strategies.  Most recently she was the Director of Technology Strategy for Harman International where she led the development of technology strategies for all of Harman's business lines.
• Chris Cook, President, Mobile Electronics Retailers Association (MERA)
  As the president of the U.S. trade association representing over 1,000 mobile electronics companies and owning and producing the annual tradeshow, KnowledgeFest®, and the trade publication Mobile Electronics® Magazine, Cook combines his 28-year automotive consumer electronics experience with expertise with in-vehicle consumer electronics integration for both Aftermarket and OEM.
• John Ellis, Founder & Managing Director, Ellis and Associates
  Ellis was most recently Global Technologist, Ford Motor Company. In this role, he oversaw a team which delivered a number of automotive industry firsts including SmartDeviceLink, the open source version of Fords award-winning AppLink technology connecting brought-in devices to vehicles, developer.ford.com, Ford's developer program with over 10,000 unique and global content providers, as well as a 2014 software developer conference attended by over 175 world-class developers from 15 countries. Today, Ellis is serving clients in the world where automotive, consumer, connectivity and software all intersect.
• Brian Greaves, Director Product Development Emerging Devices, AT&T
  Greaves is responsible for leading the development and implementation of connected vehicle services and enhancements in the telematics and infotainment sector. This includes managing all development programs and initiatives on the AT&T Drive Platform and overseeing the AT&T Drive Studio.
• Roger C. Lanctot, Associate Director, Global Automotive Practice, Strategy Analytics
  With more than 25 years of experience in electronics industry market research, consulting and journalism, Lanctot advises clients on in-vehicle safety, infotainment and connectivity systems anticipating market, regulatory, and technological developments in hardware, software and business models.
• Peter Marx, Chief Innovation Technology Officer, City of Los Angeles
  Marx is the city's first Chief Innovation Technology Officer, overseeing the implementation of new tools and technologies across L.A. city government to better solve problems for residents and make City Hall work more efficiently and effectively. In addition, he partners with L.A.'s growing tech industry to deploy innovative technology and promote local job creation. Before joining the Mayor's Office, Marx served as the Vice President of Business Development at Qualcomm Labs, Inc. & was the Vice President of the Technology and Digital Studio at Mattel, Inc.
• Chris McKillop, Manager, Android Platform, Google
  McKillop leads an engineering team responsible for Living Room and Entertainment products within Google's Android organization.  He was previously Vice President of Software at Jawbone; Sr. Director, webOS Linux at Palm; Team Lead, iOS WiFi & Bluetooth at Apple, and a Software Engineer at QNX Software Systems.
• Manuela Papadopol, Director, Global Marketing Automotive, Elektrobit
  Papadopol is responsible for the overall development and execution of EB Automotive's global marketing strategy. Prior to joining EB Automotive, she served as a global marketing manager for automotive programs at Microsoft and as global marketing manager at the Tweddle Group. She began her business career in public relations and marketing at BMW in 1996 before moving to Mercedes Benz as a public relations manager in 2000.
• Danny Shapiro, Senior Director of Automotive, NVIDIA
  Shapiro is the Sr. Director of NVIDIA's automotive business unit focused on deep learning computer vision solutions for autonomous vehicles, as well as next-generation digital cockpits.  He is a 25-year veteran of the computer graphics and semiconductor industries having served in marketing, business development and engineering roles.
• Geoff Snyder, Vice President of Automotive Business Development, Pandora
  Snyder is focused on the extension of Pandora into vehicles. As consumers demand a better in-car music experience, he has developed relationships with representatives of the world's top automotive brands working as a liaison between engineering and business teams to make personalized radio on-the-road a reality.

CCE Conference Director:

• Andy Gryc, Co-founder, CX3 Marketing
  Gryc is a well-known automotive technology evangelist whose reputation in the industry is rooted in his hands-on experience in the automotive and embedded trenches – software architecture and engineering, technical sales, and product marketing – for well over two decades at companies like QNX, OnStar, and HP. Through CX3 Marketing, he lends his industry knowledge, technology insights, and marketing expertise to analysts, journalists, and companies throughout the automotive industry.

Over the next few months, the LA Auto Show and CCE will announce more details, including session and discussion topics and industry expert participants. For more information visit www.ConnectedCarExpo.com  and www.LAAutoShow.com.

About the Los Angeles Auto Show and Connected Car Expo
Founded in 1907, the Los Angeles Auto Show is the first major North American auto show of the season each year.  Press Days for the 2015 LA Auto Show® will be held on Nov. 17 – 19. The show will be open to the public Nov. 20 – Nov. 29. The third annual Connected Car Expo (CCE) will unite automotive and technology professionals in an effort to increase development and foster relationship-building in the connected car industry, providing attendees with access to the key players and top media constructing the future of the connected car. CCE will take place Nov. 17, in conjunction with the 2015 LA Auto Show Press Days.  The LA Auto Show is endorsed by the Greater L.A. New Car Dealer Association and is operated by ANSA Productions. To receive the latest show news and information, follow LA Auto Show on Twitter at twitter.com/LAAutoShow or via Facebook at facebook.com/LosAngelesAutoShow and sign up for alerts at www.LAAutoShow.com. For more information on CCE please visit http://connectedcarexpo.com/.

Media Contacts:
Breanna Buhr/Sanaz Marbley
JMPR Public Relations
(818) 992-4353
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SOURCE Los Angeles Auto Show