Nicholas de Wolff

Business Mentor

Summer 2015 - Nicholas de Wolff (T’92) spent 2014 building a digital storytelling ecosystem in the State of Oregon. He launched and mentored more than 25 new creative companies, including Frogtown (a musical, live theater, and new media production company with international shows and releases teaching kids of all ages about the value of cultural diversity), Elbowfish (designer, developer and publisher of meaningful games across all media - www.elbowfish.com), Fourpoint Media (a video production agency working with companies to develop their stories into crafted sharable videos - www.fourpointmedia.com) and XRAY.fm (the Northwest’s fastest growing radio network, promoting community activism, great music, and engaged discourse), among many others. Now back in Southern California, Nicholas continues to mentor creative economy startups, larger corporations, and NPOs in business strategy, marketing, and sustainable growth. He also continues his work with government organizations in advocating for water conservation, multimodal transportation, and community engagement. He has enjoyed speaking to students throughout the country, including at UCLA, USC, U of O, PSU, SOU, and elsewhere.

Summer 2014 - Nicholas was recently recruited by the State of Oregon to create and build an innovative non-profit digital storytelling ecosystem, including an accelerator program, CoWork Spaces, and other programming designed to grow the game, film, TV, interactive, technology, news, and other media industries throughout Oregon. Nicholas has relocated temporarily to Portland to develop the organization, “Oregon Story Board.” For more info visit the web site at http://www.oregonstoryboard.org - and Dukies of all types are warmly welcome to visit!

Summer 2013 - Nicholas de Wolff (T’92) was elected this year to chair the City of Burbank (Entertainment Capital of the World!) Sustainability Commission—driving policy on alternative transportation, energy, and water conservation ("plenty of drama, but not necessarily theatrical in nature"). Last summer he finished up a 5-year run as Senior Advisor to the National Film Festival for Talented Youth, the world’s largest youth film festival and expo http://www.nffty.org. He continues to serve on their Advisory Board. He just co-produced the Production Showcase Competition for Produced By Conference.<http://www.producedbyconference.com/index.php?page=2013-pga-proshow&gt; He continues to advise and coach creative individuals (actors, musicians, etc), on an ad hoc basis, but is otherwise sadly not as deeply involved in the live arts as he once was. His focus these days is on brand building: advising startups and corporations on marketing and business strategy <http://www.nicholasdewolff.com>.

Summer 2010- de Wolff attended for this year's Seattle National Film Festival for Talented Youth, now the world's largest youth film festival www.nffty.org. They screened almost double the number of films screened last year, and due to audience and submission growth, had to add a fourth day to the festival schedule. In his capacity as Chair of the Advisory Board, he presented several of the film screenings, and moderated some filmmaker Q&A sessions, and in his capacity as co-founder of the Producers Guild of America's New Media Council, he sat on a panel entitled "ALTERNATIVE DISTRIBUTION: THE NEW MODEL." Meanwhile, he is busy consulting to a variety of commercial and non-profit entities http://www.nicholasdewolff.com, as he keeps searching for the next place to hang his professional hat!

Winter 2009 - de Wolff has spent the past year on sabbatical, devoting his time to three non-profit projects: The American Lung Association, California municipal sustainability initiatives, and youth film-making. He encourages young Duke artists to learn about NFFTY at www.nffty.org.

Spring 2009 - de Wolff (T’92) has decided, after four years as Chief Marketing Officer of Entertainment and Media Technology Company, Thomson (parent company to Technicolor, MPC, RCA, and others), to take time off to return to supporting the creative side of things. He was recently honored to accept the role of Chairman of the Advisory Board for the National Film Festival for Talented Youth (www.nffty.org), and is working with the organization’s executive team to prepare for this year’s upcoming festival in Seattle.

Winter 2008 - de Wolff has been made Chief Marketing Officer for one of the three divisions of his company, Thomson (parent to RCA, Technicolor, mp3, and a host of other brands). He guesses this finally makes him an honest to goodness “suit.”

Summer 2007 - de Wolff has recently traveled to China, Hawaii (Oahu and Kauai), and France on business. He is still working at Thomson <www.thomson.net> as VP of Marketing and Communications. His daughter, Catherine, turns 2-years-old soon, and he says all is well in Denmark…uhh, Burbank, California.

Nicholas de Wolff (T’92)