Rio Caraeff

Rio D. Caraeff is Vice President and General Manager of Universal Music Mobile ‚ US (UMM-US), the newly established domestic division of Universal Music Group (UMG) created to complement Universal Music Mobile International (UMMI), the global leader in mobile music. Mr. Caraeff oversees all areas of UMM-US, liaising closely with UMGís broad array of labels as well as the companyís eLabs division to coordinate mobile music and non-music related initiatives with current and emerging wireless technologies and platforms. He leads all UMM-US initiatives, working with wireless carriers, device manufacturers and infrastructure providers to maximize mobile opportunities, create new products and enable new distribution channels for UMG content.

Mr. Caraeffís background is concentrated, yet diverse, having worked in new technologies in virtually all areas of entertainment including film, television, music and games. He was most recently Vice President, Wireless Services for Sony Pictures Digital, where he established and operated the worldwide mobile entertainment publishing & licensing division of Sony Pictures Entertainment. Prior to that, Mr. Caraeff was Vice President of Business Development and Investments at Sony 550 Digital Media Ventures, having begun his tenure at the company as Senior Director, New Technology Business Development.

In between his stints at Sony, Mr. Caraeff served as Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Fabric, a consultancy firm whose client roster included Sony, Miller Brewing Company and Music Match. His 11 years in the industry also include positions at Capitol Records Group, Propaganda Films/PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, Generator Digital Post, and Crunch Media Group.

Mr. Caraeff was featured in Hollywood Reporterís ìNext Generation: Class of 2003,î as one of the top 35 executives under 35 in Hollywood.