Sanford R. Climan

Sanford R. (Sandy) Climan is President of Entertainment Media Ventures, Inc. Founded in 1999 by Mr. Climan, EMV is active in media investment and strategic advisory work, with a particular focus on disruptive technologies and entities currently impacting the traditional boundaries of business, media, and entertainment. He is an investor, producer, and considered a media visionary.

Throughout his career, Mr. Climan has held senior management positions in the media and entertainment industry. Mr. Climan served as Corporate Executive Vice President and President of Worldwide Business Development of Universal Studios, where Mr. Climan oversaw corporate international strategy, strategic marketing, and five studio operating divisions.

Mr. Climan was the founding head of the corporate practice at Creative Artists Agency, working with global companies including Sony Corporation on its acquisition of Columbia Pictures, Matsushita Electric on its acquisition of MCA/Universal, Credit Lyonnais on its restructuring of MGM, Coca-Cola, NYNEX, Bell Atlantic, Pacific Telesis and other Fortune 500 companies. While at CAA, Mr. Climan was part of the senior management team for 12 years, representing talent including Robert De Niro, Robert Redford, Kevin Costner, Danny DeVito, and Michael Mann, as well as many prominent film and television production companies.

Mr. Climan served as the first CEO of 3ality Digital, a pioneering company in the development and commercialization of technologies which enable perfect 3D image capture, broadcast and software, and led the company to be recognized as a global leader in 3D technology.

Mr. Climan started his entertainment career at MGM, holding executive positions in motion picture production and the distribution of films and television.

Notable achievements include: Executive Producer of the first digital live-action 3D feature film, “U2 3D,” and Producer of “The Aviator,” directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, for which Mr. Climan was awarded a British Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award. Mr. Climan received an Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 2018.

In addition, Mr. Climan has been an active investor in, and advisor to, venture capital firms and early-stage companies in media, technology, and healthcare.

Mr. Climan serves on several charitable boards, including The American Cinematheque, the UCLA School of Theater, Film & Television, and the UCLA Longevity Center of the Semel Institute for Neurosciences and Human Behavior. From 2000-2012, Mr. Climan served as a member of the Advisory Committee to the Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For over twenty years, Mr. Climan served on the board of The Fulfillment Fund, the leading organization for mentoring at-risk public high school students in Los Angeles. Mr. Climan serves as an advisor on entertainment and media to the World Economic Forum and its Annual Gathering in Davos, Switzerland, as a member of the Reuters Editorial Advisory Board, the philanthropic Advisory Board of Lifestyles Magazine, the Ellis Island Medals of Honor Advisory Committee, and the Advisory Board of the Yale CEO Leadership Institute of the Yale School of Management.

Mr. Climan holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard Business School, a Master of Science in Health Policy and Management from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard College.

Nelly Kim

Nelly Kim is the Senior Vice President of Strategy & Business Development for Entertainment Media Ventures, Inc. Founded in 1999 by Sanford Climan, EMV is active in media investment and strategic advisory work, with a particular focus on branded entertainment, innovative technologies, and entities currently impacting the traditional boundaries of business, media, and entertainment.

Ms. Kim brings more than fifteen years of business development, marketing, licensing, and advertising experience to EMV, where she provides strategic consulting services to companies ranging from private equity and venture capital firms, to Fortune 500 companies, and early-stage companies in media, technology, and healthcare. During her time at EMV, Ms. Kim has managed multi-million dollar, transmedia digital marketing initiatives for several leading brands and has forged strategic partnerships with leading media, sports, and entertainment figures including Dwayne Johnson, James Franco, Denis Leary, Kate McKinnon, Justin Verlander, and Prince Fielder. In 2016, Ms. Kim became one of the founding members and Senior Marketing Advisor of SleepScore Labs, an industry leader in the measurement of sleep and providing guidance on healthy sleep.

Prior to working at Entertainment Media Ventures, she worked at Genex (now Meredith Xcelerated Marketing), an interactive advertising agency ranked as one of the top 50 interactive agencies by AdWeek and Ad Age magazines. Clients included: Acura, Nestle, ING, Cessna, Ford, KB Home, Allergan, and Lowes. Before Genex, Nelly honed her marketing and licensing skills at Original Retrobrand, where she worked with trademarks of over 200 Universities, NBA, NFL, NHL and MLB teams, and various pop culture brands worldwide. Nelly has also served as Advertising Director at Shavua Israeli, where she worked closely with the publisher and account team to execute campaigns, deliver marketing solutions, and strategically drive sales. She also oversaw the development and creative execution of advertising schedules and launched Shavua Israeli’s English edition. With a passion for branding and advertising, Nelly began her career as an Account Manager at The Los Angeles Business Journal where she specialized in negotiating and creative execution of long-term, multi-platform campaigns for leading companies including Bank of America, American Express, Prudential, Los Angeles Metro, and Sprint.

Meta Valentic

Meta Valentic is the Senior Vice President of Development and Production of Entertainment Media Ventures, Inc. Growing up in Washington DC, Meta Valentic developed a love for politics and global affairs that still persists today—her insight into these topics is a driving force for EMV. With an expertise in budget development and scheduling, she is a crucial asset in taking EMV’s projects to the ﬁnish line.

Meta began her career as the youngest member of the DGA Assistant Director Training Program. Her assistant director credits include Nixon, Castle, Lost, Bones and the Emmy and Golden Globe winning musical comedy Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Meta recently executive produced The Donors, a female driven comedy web series for Kevin Hart’s LOL network and Lionsgate. She has produced numerous independent feature ﬁlms, including the critically acclaimed Urbania, which played the Sundance and Toronto ﬁlm festivals and was released by Lionsgate.

Meta has been selected as a Fellow for both the Producers Guild and Sundance Film Festival. She is a screenplay judge and conference panelist at the annual Austin Film Festival. And she continues to be active in the Producers Guild of America’s Mentorship Committee and Women’s Impact Network.