I'm a Streaming Media All-Star!

This is the 10th anniversary of the Streaming Media organization, with its eponymous web site, trade shows, and magazine.

In celebration of this, they've started an annual "Streaming Media All-Stars" list. In their own words:

Streaming Media magazine is proud to announce the selection of the first annual Streaming Media All-Stars—the unsung heroes who’ve worked behind the scenes to move the online video industry forward over the past ten years. From more than 130 nominations, Streaming Media editors picked the 25 people who’ve had the most significant impact in the field, be it due to technological innovation, business acumen, or a selfless commitment to helping others learn what online video could do for them, long before it had become mainstream.

“We weren’t interested in giving attention to the people who’ve already gotten credit in the eyes of the public,” says Streaming Media editor Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen. “Instead, we wanted to honor the people who’ve been doing the work in the trenches, the ones who’ve been around since the beginning and stuck with online video even when it was an uphill battle.” While future All-Star teams will highlight current leaders in the industry, the magazine’s staff wanted the inaugural team to reflect a historical perspective.

“I suppose if you extend the baseball metaphor, these 25 people would really make up the streaming media hall of fame,” says Schumacher-Rasmussen.

I was pleasantly surprised to find I made the list. It's an auspicious one with a lot of familiar faces from the last decade (I've had beers in the hotel bar at a Streaming Media show with at least half of them, and worked on projects with a third). It's humbling to be so recognized by my peers, and even more so thinking of all the heroes of the industry who aren't on there.

Check out the official announcement. There's a mini-interview with each All-Star and a baseball picture of each. It's well worth reading everyone's thoughts about what's changed in the last decade, and what today's challenges are. There's a lot of consensus, and some interesting divergences.

The full list is:

• Stephen Condon, VP of Marketing, VeriSign
• Dave Gardy, Chairman & CEO, TVWorldwide
• Bernard Gershon, SVP Business Development & Technology, The Walt Disney Co.
• Rob Glaser, Founder, Chairman & CEO, RealNetworks
• Mike Gordon, Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer, Limelight Networks
• Todd Herman, Chairman and Chief Creative Officer, Technomedia Trends
• Chris Hock, SVP, Product Management, BlackArrow, Inc.
• Tony Klejna, Director of Educational Technology, Daemen College
• George Kliavkoff, Chief Digital Officer, NBC Universal
• Christopher Levy, CEO & Founder, BuyDRM
• Tom Leighton, Chief Scientist & Co-Founder, Akamai Technologies (also to Co-Founder Daniel Lewin, in memoriam)
• Mike Lorenz, Chief Technology Officer, Accordent Technologies, Inc.
• Steve Mack, Principal, LUX Media, Inc.
• Rich Mavrogeanes, Founder, Chief Evangelist & CTO, VBrick Systems, Inc.
• Doug McIntyre, Editor-in-Chief, 24/7 Wall St.
• Nico McLane, CTO & Director of Interactive Marketing, Imagine 360
• Don Michels, Chief Technology Officer, Medialink Worldwide
• Craig Moehl, Managing Director, Groovy Gecko
• Andrew Olson, SVP, Comcast Interactive Media and COO, thePlatform
• Neal Page, CEO, Inlet Technologies
• Patty Perkins, VP and Special Products Manager, Wachovia Bank
• Greg Pulier, CTO and Founder, Interactive Video Technologies, Inc.
• Nick Rockwell, EVP and CTO, Digital Technology, MTV Networks
• Tom Streeter, Application Specialist, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
• Ben Waggoner, Principal Video Strategist, Silverlight, Microsoft.

My info and baseball card is at the bottom of this page.

And there's this amusingly over-the-the top video of all the All-Stars. Although it looks like rate control is getting thrown off during the card fly-ins, making the image really blurry. I'll see if I can get the source and do it right in VC-1.

I hope to see a number of the other All-Stars at the NAB Compressionist's Party on Tuesday.

And hopefully lots of people at the upcoming Streaming Media events. They really are some of my favorite trade shows of the year, with a nice focused audience where it's really possible to get business done without the overwhelming din of NAB. I've been to most of the US shows they've had, and have long participated in the excellent Streaming Media Advanced list.

Streaming Media has a page for me listing some of the articles, panels, and webcasts I've done for them over the years. For a real blast from the past, check out this video from 1999. Oh, to be young again .