NEW YORK, NY--Nov 12, 2003 -- G-SAM (www.g-sam.org), the world's first international trade association dedicated to accelerating the adoption of digital asset management (DAM) technologies, has named its first Executive Governing Board, composed of leaders in the DAM industry. The announcement was made at the initial G-SAM Annual Conference, held as part of the annual SMPTE conference at the New York Hilton. The G-SAM Executive Governing Board, which will serve the association for a one-year term beginning in January 2004, includes Bob Long, CTO, News Division, Avid Technology; Gail P. Whipple, Vice President, Global Digital Media, IBM; and Tom Moran, Vice President, Strategic Development, WAM!NET, a division of SAVVIS Communications. Other board members include David Lipsey, Vice President, Media & Entertainment, Artesia Technologies; Gavin Schutz, CTO, Ascent Media; Jonathan Bender, Vice President, Universal Music; and Dennis Pannuto, CIO, BBDO. "G-SAM is thinking correctly in approaching the DAM industry through the user communities across a variety of vertical markets, then bringing in the vendors and services communities to address the challenges and opportunities presented by these user community needs," said BBDO's Pannuto. "The challenge lies in finding and celebrating the solutions while they are still in a seedling stage in order to further and encourage growth in this space." The new initiatives surrounding DAM are "an idea whose time has come," added IBM's Whipple. "With ubiquitous broadband and the advent of more and better digital devices, the IT world and business world are converging rapidly, making this the perfect time for a group like G-SAM to emerge. At IBM, we share almost all of the same initiatives in G-SAM's mission and are looking forward to learning from the customers of these technologies in a collaborative environment." "Avid supports broadening the standards of digital asset management," added Long. "With standards, we get the opportunity to offer solutions to a broader market. We understand that the world no longer comes to the editor, but the editor must go to the world. Our future products will support the standards being developed today." G-SAM Conference Deemed a Big Success G-SAM's inaugural annual conference, held the past two days as a pre-show conference to the annual SMTPE television engineering conference, drew more than 300 attendees, according to executive director Richard Eberhart. "We are pleased to have been able in less than eight months as an organization to bring together an entire industry, including more than 100 member companies, to create a state-of-the-art forum on the best practices of digital asset management, and we are encouraged about the future of both our industry and organization," said Eberhart. "The energy levels were incredibly high and there was an almost universal feeling among users and vendors alike that the digital asset management industry is beginning to take its place as a significant solution driving the adoption, organization and delivery of digital media across the broadcast, publishing, advertising, finance, medical, government and other digital convergence fields."