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If youve ever met Beach Demon in Virtual Laguna Beach or Virtual Hills, you might be surprised to learn that the person behind the avatar is Matt Bostwick, the senior vice president of franchise development for MTV Networks Music Group. Bostwicks team is responsible for Virtual Laguna Beach and Virtual Hills, which have earned acclaim in the media/entertainment industry for creating environments where viewers can live out the story arcs and programming they see on-air.

An expert in media/entertainment and technology convergence, Bostwick leads the team that is charged with creating platforms like Virtual Laguna Beach and Virtual Hills. The platforms combine television, 2D web and 3D virtual communities in one integrated system and are also helping define next-generation media and advertising models.

Virtual Laguna Beach and Virtual Hills are just two of several next-generation platforms that Bostwicks team is developing at MTV Networks. Other virtual worlds under development include: a global music-based experience that will unite music lovers worldwide; and LogoWorld, the ultimate exercise in user-generated content because it will be conceived from the ground up by members of the LGBT community.

Prior to MTV Networks, Bostwick served as President of the Sweet Spot consulting group specializing in the convergence of media, consumer marketing and technology. As President of Sweet Spot, Bostwick counted among his clients MTV Networks Music Group, for which he developed and tested a multi-platform networked audience strategy for the launch of Season 2 of MTVs Laguna Beach: The Real OC. The program resulted in an unprecedented multi-platform success with record ratings, web traffic and broadband streams, DVD sales, mobile phone downloads, and formation of a 650,000-strong member online fan community.

Bostwick has worked in entertainment, consumer marketing, media technology development and start up ventures with Disney (Kingdom Hearts I and Tron 2.0); Coca-Cola Japan (C-Mode interactive vending program with Ntt DoCoMo); Nabisco and Kraft Foods, where he started a beverage venture now worth more than $1 billion in annual sales.

Bostwick lives in Wilton, CT with his wife Amy and his daughter EJ. He earned an MBA from the University of Michigan and a bachelors of science from Ohio State.

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