NYC Media Lab Names Rosenbaum Executive Director
New York, NY, October 20 — Steven Rosenbaum has been named Executive Director of the NYC Media Lab, becoming just the third to hold that title in the organization’s ten-year history.
The announcement, effective immediately, was made by the Steering Committee of the consortium. Rosenbaum had been serving as NYC Media Lab’s Managing Director since 2019. Founded in 2010, NYC Media Lab is dedicated to driving innovation and job growth in media and technology by facilitating collaboration between the City’s universities and companies.
The consortium was created through a partnership between the New York City Economic Development Corporation, NYU Tandon, and Columbia University, which served as the founding academic partners. The consortium has grown to include five additional New York City universities and 22 leading media and technology companies.
“Never has the nexus of technology and media been more complicated or important than it is today,” says Kurt Becker, who represents the Dean of the NYU Tandon School of Engineering on the NYC Media Lab Steering Committee and is the Vice Dean for Research, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship the NYU Tandon.
“The NYC Media Lab plays an important role connecting talent pipelines from universities across the City with companies that are driving innovation and creating industry jobs,” said James Patchett, President and CEO of New York City Economic Development Corporation. “As the City looks towards the economic recovery that lies ahead, the Lab’s mission will have even greater significance. We want to congratulate Steven on his appointment and we look forward to our ongoing work building New York City’s workforce in this space.”
We offer our sincerest congratulations to Steven who has done tremendous work in guiding the team at the NYC Media Lab through a moment of historic challenge.” said the Commissioner of the New York City Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, Anne del Castillo. “Now, more than ever, our city needs the NYC Media Lab to create the energy and innovation that will help lead our economy back to being better than it was before.”
In the past twelve months, the Media Lab has added significant new members, programs, and challenge grants including ASCAP, Consumer Reports, and Channel. The recently held Media Lab SUMMIT featured keynote presentations from Andrew Yang, Tristan Harris, and guitarist Vernon Reid, as well as panels and presentations from technology leaders, startup founders, and media and technology journalists.
Under Rosenbaum’s leadership, the Media Lab hosted a virtual panel on the future of government regulation and media at SXSW on the changing regulatory environment and changes to the new pivotal Section 230 law featuring the chairwoman of the Federal Elections Commission, convened 200 journalists from around the country to explore the dangers and opportunities of deploying Artificial Intelligence in Local News, hosted almost 500 attendees to their spring open house, featuring companies from across New York, graduated 8 companies from their Combine Accelerator program, and programmed five hours of programming with partner Bloomberg to explore media, tech, and social good.
Rosenbaum was New York City’s first Entrepreneur at Large for NYCEDC. He has started five companies, all in the video platform and digital storytelling space. He has two patents in video technology and has written two books — Curation Nation (McGraw-Hill) and Curate This (Amazon). Rosenbaum holds two EMMY awards and was honored with the Science Journalism Laureates at Purdue University. He holds a BA in English from Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY.
“There is no doubt, the world we live in is changing at a speed never before seen,” says Rosenbaum. “Technology’s ability to connect people, and lift up new voices is exhilarating, but at the same time the coming advances will also have us facing increasingly complex challenges in fake news, misinformation, and social media manipulation will require a new level of academic and industry engagement.”
“There is no doubt that Rosenbaum has shifted the work of the Lab into high gear,” says Eric Vieira, Columbia University’s Director of Strategic Collaborations and a Media Lab board member. “His unique resume as both a startup founder, and livelong journalist, filmmaker, and author gives us resources to both ask big questions, and share that intellectual exploration with New York’s business and academic community.”
“The Media Lab has an exciting year ahead,” says Ken Bronfin, Senior Managing Director at Hearst Ventures and a Media Lab founding board member. “Rosenbaum’s vision of growth for the Media Lab is timely and relevant.”
“New York’s position as a leader in Media and Technology has never been more important,” says Rosenbaum. “But it’s hardly assured. As remote work, connected teams, and economic challenges face the city’s largest media companies, we need to explore and embrace new ways to attract and retain both students and companies as we plan for a new generation of media companies to grow the next chapter in NYC media and techNew York is a city with an extraordinarily diverse population of people, backgrounds, perspectives, and voices. That diversity is our secret sauce. Media and Tech will thrive if we’re powered by and challenged by new ideas — and New York is, above all else, a City of Ideas.”
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About the NYC Media Lab
NYC Media Lab connects media and technology companies with New York City’s universities to drive innovation, entrepreneurship, and talent development. Comprised of a consortium including New York University, Columbia University, The New School, CUNY, School of Visual Arts, Manhattan College, and Pratt Institute, NYC Media Lab’s goals are to generate research and development, knowledge transfer, and talent across all of the city’s campuses. Created in partnership with the New York City Economic Development Corporation and the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, the Media Lab is built on corporate membership. Member companies — which include Bloomberg, Havas, The New York Times, Verizon, and more — participate in roundtable events on technology issues; connect with one another and with faculty, students, and other university resources; and direct prototyping projects on various areas of interest from AI and spatial computing to 5G and immersive XR. More information is available at nycmedialab.org.
Contact:
Bill Daddi
President
Daddi Brand Communications
Bill@DaddiBrand.com
917–620–3717
Sayar Lonial
Associate Dean for Communications & Public Affairs
NYU Tandon School of Engineering
Sanyar.Lonial@nyu.edi
646–997–3721
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