Nickerson, Westlake, Best Buy honored
PHYSICAL: Sold-out Video Hall of Fame event raises money for AIDS research
By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 12/8/2009
DEC. 8 | PHYSICAL: BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.—Video Business congratulated its 2009 class of Video Hall of Fame inductees with a packed house on Monday night at the Beverly Hills Hotel here.
Video Business’ Marcy Magiera (3rd from r.) and EAA’s David Bowers (l.) hosted VHOF inductee (l. to r.) Steve Nickerson of Summit, EAA Visionary Award winner Michele Bell, VHOF inductee Blair Westlake of Microsoft and Chris Homeister on behalf of VHOF inductee Best Buy. Click for more photos
The sold-out event drew 460 attendees to honor the achievements of Stephen Nickerson, president of home entertainment at Summit Entertainment; Blair Westlake, corporate VP of media and entertainment group at Microsoft; and retailer Best Buy.
Michele Bell, senior VP of worldwide creative services at Paramount Home Entertainment, also was feted with the Entertainment AIDS Alliance (EAA) Visionary Award.
Video Business and the EAA jointly presented this year’s Video Hall of Fame event.
|
Video Hall of Fame 2009 |
In just over two years into his role as Summit home entertainment chief, Nickerson is already behind one of the year’s top-selling DVD/Blu-ray Disc titles with Twilight.
While accepting his award, Nickerson credited numerous mentors, such as Consumer Electronics Assn. chief Gary Shapiro and former Warner Home Video president Warren Lieberfarb, for steering him along a path of success.
“You can’t get to this point without getting help from a lot of people,” said Nickerson. “I’ve had close associations with about 50% of the Hall of Fame inductees. They’ve helped me over the course of my 25 years in this business.”
Westlake is part of one of the most successful film/TV downloading efforts yet with Microsoft’s Xbox Live.
He likewise expressed gratitude to his colleagues for Microsoft’s evolvement from pure technology firm to family entertainment leader.
“I don’t know of any other team that has accomplished as much as we have in the last five years,” said Westlake upon accepting his honor.
Best Buy has revolutionized the business with its aggressive merchandising of Blu-ray and other new consumer electronics technologies. Chris Homeister, the retailer’s senior VP of entertainment, accepted the award on Best Buy’s behalf.
“We started with VHS, and then started wtih embracing DVD and now today it’s Blu-ray,” said Homeister. “It’s transforming the home entertainment business. Blu-ray is a cornerstone to our retail strategy.”
EAA honoree Bell, who helped steer the Transformers franchise and Star Trek, among other hits for Paramount, has extensively devoted herself to EAA and its fight against AIDS.
Not about to rest on her laurels, Bell committed herself to EAA for the long-term.
“If my little efforts were able to make that much of an impact, then watch out, I"m going to do a lot more in 2010,” said Bell.
Proceeds from the Video Hall of Fame gala dinner will help AIDS charities.
