Mr. Atkins, born in Hollywood, CA, has been part of the entertainment industry his entire life, starting out as a child and teen actor. After attending University of Southern Californiaís Cinema-Television School and later earning an MBA from the USC Graduate School of Business, Mr. Atkins moved behind the camera. While at USC., Mr. Atkins won numerous awards, including The Marshall Best Business Plan Award for creating a start-up entertainment company that received venture funding, and the Marcia Israel Award as best all-around student.
Upon successfully writing and acting in his first feature film "Godmoney" for distribution by Overseas Film Group, Mr. Atkins moved into a permanent programming position with Disney/ABC Cable, where he was part of a team that grew the Disney Channel to 70 million subsidiaries and its highest-ever ratings. While at Disney, Mr. Atkins developed numerous programming and brand initiatives, including the first international cable partnerships in Japan (WOWOW) and Europe, the first international Disney Channels in Asia, Australia and Europe, the interactive TV joint-venture, Americast, and several original and co-produced shows. At the age of 24, Mr. Atkins was the youngest department head at the networks, having founded the Disney/ABC Cable New Media group; this group was responsible for managing all of the cable network's interactive, cross-media and emerging networks programming, branding, and business development. During this time, Mr. Atkins was part of the founding corporate initiative that launched and grew Disney.com to a Top 10 Web destination.
Building on his success at Disney, Mr. Atkins moved on to start up an independent programming and new media development practice, working with clients such as Sony/Columbia Tri-Star, Yahoo!, Coca-Cola Japan, and idealab! After this brief and successful independent stint, he was wooed back into the studio system as head of programming development for Warner Bros Online, where he established a venture that ultimately spanned all of Time Warnerís interactive and digital assets. Mr. Atkins pioneered projects such as the original "Marvin the Martian" cartoons, the first 3D Superman cartoons, the first streaming of the Looney Tune library online, the first usage of MP3s and streaming music for WB Music artists, the first DVD/online TV show, and the first new Chuck Jones animated shorts. Additionally, Mr. Atkins managed interactive editorial and brands for properties, such as CNN, People, Style, WB Music, DC, and Entertainment Weekly. In his first six months with Warner Bros, Time Warnerís digital entertainment properties experienced 25% growth
Heeding the call of another entrepreneurial opportunity, Mr. Atkins left Warner Bros to become the founding CEO of a media start-up company called Mediaconnex. Mediaconnex provided cable and television networks with technology and services that maximized marketing efforts, programming expenditures, and sales revenues. As CEO, Mr. Atkins was responsible for raising the companyís venture capital funding, developing key patented product technologies, and recruiting over 150 charter customers, including Warner Bros., the Hispanic Television Network, and the American Independent Network. Having developed a revenue pipeline and customer base four times that of the initial funding benchmarks, Mr. Atkins moved on to his next opportunity.
Mr. Atkins is currently Senior VP/COO for A. Smith & Co, one of the most successful TV entertainment ventures in Los Angeles. A. Smith & Co. is a diversified entertainment firm formed in 2001 by the former EVP of Fox Cable Networks and Universal Television. As Senior VP, Mr. Atkins manages the operations of a partnership between A. Smith & Co., venture capitalists and a major entertainment company, exploring new entertainment business and investment opportunities. He also currently sits on the boards of Action Training, Ascent Media and Symbion Research International.