Vaughn Halyard, Entrepreneur in Residence
Under StoryLounge CEO Vaughn Halyard, "the lounge" inspires and supports creative collaboration and story telling by enabling production of stories into cinema, music and interactive consumer entertainment. Currently, his team is executive producing a number of projects; a sports themed dramatic feature film, projects with FoxSports, and a joint production deal with the Orange County Choppers (OCC) gang of TLC's "American Chopper" for a multi platform project.
Mr. Halyard is an Executive Producer on the Indie film "Duck Farm No. 13" written and directed by Iowa native Becky Smith. He is also an associate producer on the feature film "The Final Season" released theatrically in October 2007 and April 2008 via Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Recently in support of the creative and film industries craft, he was part of a coalition that worked to successfully conceive, draft and celebrate the signing into law by Iowa Governor Chet Culver, a progressive set of Iowa Film Tax Incentives.
A former Walt Disney Studios Senior Vice President of Strategy and Buena Vista Music Group Senior VP of A&R, Mr. Halyard supported, advised and developed new business for numerous Disney business units such as; Buena Vista Studios, Disney R&D, Buena Vista Interactive Games, Disney/Steamboat Venture Capital, ESPN's X-Games, Disney Imagineering, Dimension Films, Disney Stores, Disney Channel, corporate mergers, acquisitions, strategic planning, Disney World and Disneyland.
A respected member of the creative community Mr. Halyard has two Grammy Awards and an Oscar nomination for producing with Stevie Wonder. A former Columbia Record's senior director of A&R and staff producer, Mr. Halyard worked with American Idol's Randy Jackson, supported artists such as Mariah Carey, The Fugees, and soundtracks for Bad Boys, Clerks, and Cool Runnings.
Mr. Halyard holds a B.A. from Dartmouth College where he continues as a Research Fellow and lecturer at Jon Appleton's Electro-Acoustic Media Institutes at Dartmouth College and Stanford University. He currently sits on the Board of Directors of The Science Station, Jane Boyd Community House and the Advisory Council of the Entrepreneurial Development Center where he is also the Entrepreneur in Residence.
