Graziadio’s Dr. Demos Appointed Chair of Entertainment Alliance With China
The Media and Entertainment Services Alliance (MESA), a group of leading industry service and technology solution providers, has appointed Graziadio School of Business and Management’s Demos Vardiabasis, Ph.D., to chair the new MESA China Entertainment Technology Alliance. This appointment comes as an initiative to foster connections between MESA members, its various special interest groups and the China Consortium of businesses.
With Vardiabasis at it’s helm, MESA China Entertainment Technology Alliance will seek to expand and deepen relationships between Hollywood, US service providers and the entertainment industry in China. This is anticipated to happen by fostering the exchange of entertainment industry technology, services and professionals.
“There are tremendous opportunities for U.S. companies to do business in China. The knowledge, experience, and technology of California companies are exactly what China needs today. China understands that in order to become a world economic leader along with the U.S., it needs to develop a top-notch entertainment industry,” Vardiabasis said.
A professor of economics, chair of the Presidents and Key Executives MBA program and former associate dean at Pepperdine’s Graziadio School of Business and Management, “Dr. Demos,” as he is popularly know by, led the California Commission on Economic Development under former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. He fronted the first California Entertainment and Tourism Advisory Committee and, as its chairman, he oversaw a group of top industry executives who were charged to advise the Governor and the Lieutenant Governor on critical economic issues such as the state’s runaway film production crisis and tax credit incentives.
