You’re Invited:
HEAD OF SCHOOL SOCIETY RECEPTION
Tuesday, March 31, 7:00 - 8:30 p.m., Middle School Library
This intimate, TEDTalk-style event is designed to spark curiosity, foster connection, and reinforce the shared value of community that is critical to MKA’s mission. Join Jon Kelly and Dan Cesareo in a special event The Next Era of Information is Here.
As we transition from the age of mass media to a decentralized creator economy, we face a landscape defined by noise and the rise of AI-generated content. In this session, Jon and Dan explore why “trust” has become the world’s most valuable commodity and how our ethical compass remains an irreplaceable asset. While technology can synthesize data, only humans can hold institutions accountable and define why a story truly matters. To lead in this new frontier, we must adopt an entrepreneurial mindset, one that pairs the courage to challenge the status quo with the calculated risk-taking necessary to navigate a world where authenticity is the ultimate competitive advantage.
Dan Cesareo
Jon Kelly
Dan Cesareo, P'25, '28, is the CEO of Whale Road Ventures, a holding company and consultancy through which Cesareo spearheads and manages a slate of content and media projects, strategic partnerships, joint ventures, and investments.
Prior to Whale Road, Cesareo made waves in the entertainment industry as founder and president of Big Fish Entertainment, one of the industry’s boldest producers of unscripted content, which he sold to MGM/Amazon Studios in 2018. Under his visionary leadership, Big Fish redefined the unscripted genre by merging cutting-edge technology with compelling storytelling, delivering a diverse slate of groundbreaking projects. The company has produced over 2,000 hours of top-rated unscripted programming across documentary, reality, and lifestyle genres for platforms including A&E, ESPN, History, Amazon, Hulu, HGTV, Food Network, Discovery, MTV, TLC, and more.
Cesareo’s work has earned him industry acclaim, including being named Broadcasting & Cable’s Producer of the Year in 2019 and recognition as one of Hollywood’s New Leaders by Variety in 2017.
Jon Kelly, P'32, '37, is the founder of Puck, the media company that The New York Times has called "Vanity Fair for the Substack era" and The New Yorker dubbed the new platform for "the mogul set." With nearly one million subscribers, the company's newsletters, podcasts, articles, and live events cover various power corridors across the country — from Hollywood to the White House, the media industry to the fashion business, the art world to the business of sports and Wall Street.
Puck is regularly heralded as among the most innovative media businesses of its generation, not only for its content but also for a transformative business model that incentivizes journalists as equity holders.
Before founding Puck, Kelly held senior roles at Condé Nast, Bloomberg Media, The New York Times, and TPG.