Our Team

Jeffrey Cole is one of the world’s leading voices on media, technology, and the digital future, and has spent more than three decades tracking change and anticipating what comes next.

Cole illuminates the forces that disrupt industries, transform economies, and change the way people live, work, and communicate. Today, he is recognized as one of the world's foremost authorities on technological disruption and the digital future.

As Director of the Center for the Digital Future at the USC Annenberg School for Communication, Cole leads pioneering research into the impact of technology on business and society. He is the founder of the World Internet Project, the world's leading ongoing study of the Internet and digital technology, conducted for more than 30 years in 35 countries. His research helps business leaders and policymakers anticipate the trends that drive lasting change rather than simply react to them.

An advisor to governments and global corporations, Cole has presented his research to the White House, Congress, the FCC, the U.S. Department of Defense, and heads of governments around the world. He has also advised many of the world's most influential organizations—including Microsoft, Sony, AT&T, Coca-Cola, HP, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, Unilever, and more than 40 other companies—as they navigate disruption and develop long-term digital strategies.

Cole co-founded the Global Disruption Investment Fund, identifying companies poised to disrupt and be disrupted. He is a partner in V42 Films and an executive producer of The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd, starring Amanda Seyfried, which opened the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival.

Cole has delivered more than 1,000 keynote presentations across North America, Europe, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa, earning a reputation for translating complex technological shifts into clear, practical insights that help leaders prepare for what's next. His latest book, Disrupters at the Gate, explores why transformative change so often comes from unexpected places, why even the world's most successful organizations fail to recognize disruption until it's too late, and how leaders can anticipate and capitalize on the forces reshaping the future.

In recognition of his contributions to technology, education, and public service, Cole received the 2022 Ellis Island Medal of Honor.

Lindsay Conner co-founded the Center for Sports Intelligence after a multi-decade career as one of America’s leading sports, media and entertainment law partners, most recently at the global firm of O’Melveny & Myers. He served as outside counsel for major entertainment and sports television networks, major film studios, multinational telecommunications companies, regional sports networks, university and college athletic departments, rights holders and content owners, as well as private equity companies and funds, investment banks, high net worth investors, financial center banks and other financial institutions.

In the world of sports, Lindsay has led high-stakes transactions for media rights licensing and acquisition, network and cable/satellite carriage deals, agreements with conferences, leagues and teams, college conference realignment deals and grant of rights agreements, NIL and sponsorship deals, and private equity investments in sports organizations and intellectual property.

In the broader media world, Lindsay has led transformative deals for the production and distribution of a multi-billion-dollar television franchise, billion-dollar feature film slate financing and distribution, and international television finance, production and distribution. Lindsay’s clientele has spanned the globe, from North America and Europe to Latin America and Asia, including groundbreaking deals between Chinese and American companies.

In the United States, Lindsay has represented clients including AT&T, Disney, Sony, CBS, Goldman Sachs, DIRECTV, four Regional Sports Networks, Stanford University, UCLA, USC, Boise State, Colorado State, Utah State, Fresno State and San Diego State universities.

Lindsay was honored by The Hollywood Reporter multiple times as one of the “Top 20 Dealmakers of the Year” and “Top 100 Power Lawyers in Entertainment”, and by Variety as one of the “Variety 500, the 500 most important people in the global entertainment and media industries”.

Lindsay is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School, where he served as an Editor of the Harvard Law Review. He is a summa cum laude graduate of UCLA, where he served as Student Body President and proudly spent three years as a sportswriter for the UCLA Daily Bruin, covering football, basketball and soccer.

David Katz brings more than 25 years of experience in sports media, technology, and sports investing to the Center for Sports Intelligence. He has served as a senior executive at FOX Sports, Yahoo! and CBS, founded a sports content and marketing agency, and advised sports-focused funds and companies.

Throughout his career, David has anticipated many of sports media’s biggest shifts. He negotiated a landmark deal between CBS and Yahoo! to livestream the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament online, the first major televised U.S. sporting event available on the internet. He led Yahoo! Sports and Yahoo! Fantasy Sports to #1 rankings among online sports sites and fantasy platforms. At FOX Sports, he created the industry’s first digital “Watch Parties,” the alternative live broadcasts now known as “Manningcasts.”

Through his sports-focused investment firm, 1 For 1 Ventures, he was a seed investor in StubHub/Viagogo, the leading global secondary ticketing platform. He currently advises and raises capital for NFL, NBA, and NHL teams, Premier League and NWSL clubs, youth sports, and other live event businesses.

As Executive Vice President and Head of Digital at FOX Sports, David led digital deal-making with the NFL, MLB, FIFA, MLS, NASCAR, and college sports. He also ran the network’s sports betting strategy with Flutter’s FOX Bet, launched partnerships with Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, and oversaw the FOX Sports Podcast Division.

As Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Sports Media Ventures, David launched ThePostGame, one of the first daily digital magazines focused on sports, lifestyle, and culture. It reached 24 million monthly unique visitors within its first year. David later transitioned the company into a full-service content and marketing agency, producing more than 750 videos for major clients such as the NBA, NFL, PGA, IOC, and ESPN.

David received Sports Business Journal’s prestigious 40 Under Forty Award twice, and was named to The Hollywood Reporter’s Next Gen 35 Under 35 list. He is a four-time Webby Award winner, an Emmy-nominated producer, and sits on the Board of The Center for the Digital Future at USC Annenberg.

David earned a Master’s degree in Management with First Class Honours from Cambridge University, where he captained the basketball team. He graduated first in his class and summa cum laude with a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he played on a nationally ranked Penn basketball team that reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Marina Kosten is a senior global insights and strategy executive with nearly three decades of experience across media, entertainment, video games, AI, and consumer packaged goods. She has led consumer insights strategy for some of the world’s most recognized entertainment brands.

Kosten currently serves as a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Digital Future at USC Annenberg, where she researches key trends in entertainment, data, technology, marketing and communication strategies. She is also an Adjunct Professor at USC Annenberg’s Graduate School for Communication and Journalism.

Previously, as Head of Research and Strategy at StoryFit, Marina led the AI and NLP company’s work in transforming how film and television industries develop and market content to maximize audience reach.

For nearly a decade at 20th Century Fox, Kosten served as Vice President of International Theatrical Research, where she ran consumer research for the studio’s annual theatrical film portfolio across top 15 global markets. She worked on films and franchises such as Deadpool, X-Men, Planet of the Apes, Avatar, Die Hard, Bohemian Rhapsody, Titanic, Star Wars, Kingsman, The Greatest Showman, and Ice Age.

Marina’s career also includes Activision-Blizzard - one of the world’s largest video game publishers - where she drove global consumer insights and strategy for Call of Duty, Guitar Hero, and the company’s portfolio of licensed products.

Her background in psychology and early career as a consumer researcher at several Major Global Research Organizations drives Kosten’s passion to understand human behavior and apply it to successful business outcomes. Marina’s career has been focused on ensuring that the voice of the consumer is represented in operating today’s businesses and innovating for those of tomorrow.