Napa Valley Film Festival names new CEO, board members
Tom Tardio is taking over immediately as the new Napa Valley Film Festival CEO, the group announced July 9.
Tardio comes to the festival after serving 28 years as CEO at Rogers & Cowan, an entertainment, technology and consumer communications firm. He was also a managing director at Peoplefluent and the chairman and CEO of Socialtext, a communication software provider.
According to his provided biography, at Rogers & Cowan, “he played a major role in the development of strategic plans for Columbia Pictures and Coca-Cola Telecommunications that resulted in the acquisition of new entertainment business ventures and co-financing arrangements with the Wall Street Community.”
Tardio will report to the Cinema Napa Valley board of directors, which presents the annual film festival. The selection came after a six-month nationwide search, the group stated.
In the announcement, Tardio stated his vision for the festival, slated to be held in Napa from Nov. 13-17:
“Ultimately, my vision is reimagineering Napa Valley Film Festival with the proper worldwide brand image and reputation deserving of the Napa community as we approach our 10th anniversary in 2020. The fundamental goals still remain to develop strong relationships with established and emerging filmmakers, structure the proper promotional vehicles for consumer brands, and to accelerate our support of community educational initiatives.”
Cinema Napa Valley also announced four new board members:
Robert Bassett, founding dean of Dodge College of Film and Media Arts at Chapman University, helped develop new facilities at the film school, founded a feature film company to produce films in the $1 million range to provide students with post-graduate experience, and taught a wide range of courses.
Zoë Fairbourn, head of brand partnerships, Hello Sunshine, held a senior role at DKC Integrated Marketing in New York; worked at Condé Nast, where she created and executed multi and single advertiser integrated marketing programs; and for WME where she oversaw a wide range of branded entertainment programs. She also worked with Relativity Media and at The Weinstein Company.
Geyer Kosinski's biography describes him as a Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning CEO connected with over 80 feature films and television series including “Goliath,” “Magic City,” and “Fargo,” as well as feature films including “Beyond Borders,” “Bad News Bears,” “School for Scoundrels,” “Changeling and “Bad Santa.”
Daniel Schryer is managing partner of Bali Venture Partners, a company that invests in real estate and technology startup companies in U.S. and Australia. The biography states he was involved in the redevelopment of China Basin Landing in San Francisco, was a co-founder and senior vice president of business development at Urban Media Communications and formed Venture Asset Partners to sell the assets of failed data center companies.
