Margaret Heffernan
President and Chief Operating Officer
iCast
As president and COO, Margaret Heffernan oversees iCAST's production, programming
and business development operations. Her career in multi-media includes
film, television, radio, multi-media software and the Internet.
Heffernan conceived of and produced CMGI's first multi-media Internet
site, ZineZone, where she served as its president and CEO.
Heffernan began her career in Britain, where she worked with its leading
writers and performers to produce films, documentaries and comedy
programs for the BBC. Her most notorious program was a two man epic
history of the French Revolution for the bicentennial. She then ran the
Independent Program Producers Association and was a consultant to the
independent film and TV production communities, including Bob Geldof's
Planet 24 Production Company. In search of greater opportunity,
Heffernan moved to the United States in the early '90s and began
consulting for multi-media software companies.
She was a new product advisor to (among others) Twelve Tone Systems and Pilgrim New
Media. She also served as vice president of acquisitions
for Vertigo Development Group, where she spearheaded multi-media product
partnerships with companies like Intuit, The Learning Company and
Standard & Poor's.
Convinced the Web would evolve quickly from a print format into an
entertainment medium, Heffernan decided she would use her production
expertise to create an interactive, multi-media rich Web site. She
joined forces with CMGI and soon delivered ZineZone, its first
multi-media site. As president and CEO, Margaret grew a loyal audience
with daily updated, customized content, state-of-the-art multi-media,
self-publishing areas, live email chats and more. After a year of
mastering the nuances of mult-media production on the Internet, ZineZone
has been integrated into iCAST and now serves as the heart of its
multi-media production operations.
Heffernan received a B.A. and an M.A. from Cambridge University,
England. She is married with two children.
Margaret Heffernan answers these questions:
1. What was your first job in technology?
2. Who has been your most significant mentor? Why?
3. What has been your greatest challenge and what strategies
did you use to overcome obstacles?
4. Who has been the most influential person in your life?
Why?
5. What lessons have you learned that would be valuable to
women beginning their careers in technology?
6. What new technology do you believe will have the most positive
impact on the world in the next 20 years? The most negative impact?
On the lighter side:
1. If you could have dinner with any 2 people (living or not),
who would they be?
2. What was the last book you read? What books do you love to recommend?
3. If you were to choose a different profession, what would it be?
4. What is your definition of success?
