Chaz Austin has spent his entire career working in electronic media, since 1992 as an advisor to companies on eCommerce strategies, integrated media and online marketing.

He is a communications and digital media educator and curriculum designer, who combines real world experience with the ability to engage and inspire audiences.

He is a public speaker, columnist and journalist who has lectured and written extensively about branding, digital entertainment, and online promotion and marketing.

After graduating from The City College of New York with a B.A. in Sociology, Chaz worked brief stints in radio (WABC, the #1 rated station in the U.S. at that time) and commercial film production (PDR Productions), before relocating to the San Francisco Bay area. There he earned an M.A. in Broadcast Communication Arts/Radio & Television from San Francisco State University. His Master's thesis was entitled, "Marshall McLuhan: An Analysis of his Theories about Television." Chaz relocated to southern California (where he has lived ever since) to enter network television production.

At Dick Clark Productions, he was Production Coordinator on the network series "American Bandstand," created montages for the two-hour prime time special "American Bandstand's 25th Anniversary Special," and was Talent Coordinator and Film & Video Coordinator on network specials including "Dick Clark's Good Ol' Days," and "The Golden Globes." He was later a Writer/Producer of promotional campaigns for the CBS Television Network, and the ABC Owned & Operated Television Stations.

Chaz entered the home video industry in the early 1980's, first at Nickelodeon, which was named "Number One Video Music Retailer in the U.S." during his tenure, and later as Western Regional Sales Manager at both Sony Video Enterprises and Embassy Home Entertainment. At Embassy, he produced the largest sales volume of pre-recorded video cassettes and discs for any territory in the country.

Chaz was Production Manager, Video Editor, and finally General Manager of Video Pipeline, the number one preview tape service in the home video industry, where he negotiated custom programming contracts with national retail chains including Waldenbooks and Turtles.

Chaz then moved to the post-production side of the video business as Sales Executive with Complete Post, American Sound and Video, and The Video Tape Company.

Transitioning to digital media, he was Director of Marketing at First Light Video Publishing, the world's leading publisher of media training videos and CD-ROMs. Their titles included "How To Produce A CD-ROM," "What Is Multimedia?" and "Multimedia In Education."

He was Vice President of the Los Angeles Chapter of the International Interactive Communications Society (IICS), the leading professional association in the field, from 1992-1993. There he produced meetings with marketing and programming executives on subjects including IBM Ultimedia, 3DO, Tandy VIS, Kodak Photo CD, Video Dialtone & Telcos, Nanotechnology, and Interactive Television.

In 1994, Chaz was elected the IICS' International Vice President and during that year produced and Co-Chaired the First International IICS Convention as part of Infocomm. He was also a member of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences from 1993-1996.

Chaz was one of the very first New Media Agents in the industry. At The Agency For The Performing Arts in 1995, his clients included Hal Holbrook, Greg Roach/Hyperbole Studios ("The Madness Of Roland"), Brilliant Media ("Peter Gabriel's Xplora"), Robbie Weaver ("Voyeur" director), Borst & DePalma (writers of "Wing Commander III & IV"), Rupert Holmes, composer and playwright ("The Pina Colada Song," "The Mystery Of Edwin Drood"); Adair & Armstrong (writers of Broderbund's "In The First Degree"), and Kinetic Visuals ("NASA Flight Sim").

Chaz has been president of his own company, Austin Digital Media, since 1996. It specializes in B2B and B2C strategic business development and marketing, leveraging an extensive database of contacts to connect people and companies and advance client projects. His extensive list of clients has included Avery Dennison Worldwide Office Products Software Development Group, SusanLoveMD.com, Cinovation, Inc. (makers of Scriptware), World Wide Learn, Digital International Graphics, CenterStage LA, Wedding411.com, homedelivery.com, United Internet Technologies, Hypertouch Corporation, Intershop.com, Woodstock.com, The Internet Development Group, 4therapy.com, and Stayhealthy.com.

Chaz has been an Instructor in the Entertainment Studies Department at UCLA Extension since 1998. He develops curriculum and teaches semester-length courses for the largest continuing education program of its kind in the world. Lectures, interviews with industry leaders, and web site analyses are blended together as tools for in-depth exploration of topics including eCommerce and branding; major trends in the creation, marketing and distribution of entertainment; digital image creation and effective web site design; game development and production, and creating community and enhancing communication on the Internet. He has booked guest lecturers from Sony Pictures Imageworks, Warner Brothers Online, Digital Domain, Kodak Cinesite, EMI Recorded Music, Vivendi Universal Interactive, etc.

He also designs courses and teaches at: Loyola Marymount University (Marketing for the Modern World), The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (Career-Life Planning, Critical Thinking, Effective Speaking, English Composition, Writing Skills), The Art Institute of California å Los Angeles (Web Marketing, English, CyberTheory, The History of Rock ÇNÁ Roll), Brooks College (Business of New Media, Career Planning, Career Survey of Media Arts, Diachronic Cinema, eCommerce, English, Humanities, International Marketing, Media & Society, Oral Communication, Psychology, and 20th Century American History), and the Westwood College of Technology (Film & Literature, Management, Criminology, Criminal Justice, Technology & Society).

One of his specialties is teaching college students to improve their public speaking, presentation and interviewing skills, and how to create resumes, self-promote and network. He also mentors them on their relationship to the media, their place in it, designing their careers, and potential career opportunities.

Chaz has participated in over forty digital media and eCommerce trade shows and conferences as a lecturer, moderator or panelist, including: Consumer Electronics Show, NAB, NATPE '98 and '00, Computer Game Developers Conference, Internet Commerce Expo, Digital Hollywood '94, '96, '99, '00, Cable Television Marketing Association, AdWeek Conferences, Convergence Technologies Expo, Survey of Mass Communication at Loyola Marymount University, Consultants Special Division of the American Society for Training and Development, Warner Brothers Corporate Training & Development Program, Streaming Media West 2001, Digitization & Distribution of Media & Entertainment/Internet World, eStreamingWorld/CT Expo, eTV World Interactive TV Conference & Expo, Financial & Administrative Management Executives in Entertainment, Intertainment, Hollywood 2000, eMediatainmentWorld, eHealthcareWorld, Digital Content Creation Conference & Expo, Convergence Á99, Multimedia Expo West/Internet San Francisco, Razorfish Broadband Summit 2000: Beyond Bandwidth, Billboard Video/Music Conference, Home Media Expo, Association of Information Technology Professionals, LA Regional Technology Alliance's Biz 101, SoCal Chapter of the Institute of Management Consultants, Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce, International Society For Performance Improvement, Korean Institute for Public Administration, The Swedish Trade Council's Global Executive MBA Program, Taipei Hsien Computer Manufacturers Association, Network of Indian American Professionals, Swedish EmployersÁ Federation, and Fuji Television Media Training Seminar. He has keynoted the MIT Graduate Reception at American Intercontinental University, and UCLA Career Day.

Early in his career Chaz was a music industry journalist for Soul, BAM, Rocky Mountain Musical Express, and Chic. He interviewed Michael Jackson, Shirley Caesar, The Village People, Johnny Paycheck, and Rick James, among others, and wrote artist bios for music companies including Epic, Columbia, United Artists and A&M.

Since becoming a part of the digital media industry, he has authored a white paper and web pages for DataMining.com, and written about convergence as the HollywoodNet's "Hollywood CyberPro" columnist from 1997 - 2003. He was also Convergence Features Columnist for Digitrends.net where he wrote about such topics as wireless, Napster, the dotcom retrenchment, media integration, the role of entertainment on the web, and future trends in digital media.

His articles have been published in Mediaware ("When Media Meet"), The Antenna - The Broadcaster's Guide To The Internet ("The Internet: A New Culture"), Billboard, CyberSweeps ("E-Healthcare Is Alive & Well"), Digitrends, Direct Marketing News ("Immediate E-Mail Response: A Novel Idea"), InterActivity ("Making Money On The Web: Online Business Models That Work"), NAB Interactive Insights - A Multimedia Compendium ("Electronic Commerce: How To Win"), Networker@USC - The Information Technology Newsmagazine of the University of Southern California ("Adventure Capitalists: Burgeoning Online Trades Drive Markets To New Highs And Lows"), New Media ("Realtor.com -- At Home With E-Commerce"), Video Store, and WWWiz.com ("Electronic Commerce"), among others.