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CHRISTINA CALIO // Director, Entertainment Marketing, Zune, Microsoft Corp.

Christina M. Calio is the director of music and entertainment marketing for Zune®, Microsoft Corp.’s music and entertainment brand. She is responsible for artist and industry relationships, artist development programs, and the sale and promotion of music on the Zune Marketplace. Calio’s team is committed to supporting new music and will continue to introduce high-impact music promotion programs that enable artists to connect with a substantial consumer audience. These include the Ignition program, which highlights new artists each month to a potential audience of more than 30 million on Zune.net, Xbox® and MSN®, and the On the Road program, which supports up to 20 artists on tour each year.

Calio has been a key participant in Microsoft’s music initiatives since joining the company in 1999. Most recently, she was director of business development for the Entertainment & Devices Group, with an emphasis on licensing music from major and independent record labels leading to the Zune launch in November 2006. Before that, she was at MSN, during which time she licensed music from independent and major record companies and built promotional campaigns for MSN Music. Calio first joined Microsoft as business development manager for the Windows Digital Media Division, arriving just as the company launched the Windows Media® Player, codec and digital rights management technologies. During those early years, she managed relationships with major record labels and digital services such as Napster and pressplay, as the industry dipped its collective toe into digital distribution. This included incorporating industry feedback as Microsoft developed Windows Media technologies required to encourage and build a worldwide media-rich marketplace and building promotional opportunities on WindowsMedia.com and in the Windows Media Player.

Calio’s music industry experience runs deep and includes more than a decade of firsthand marketing experience at Geffen Records in Los Angeles, where she worked on releases from Geffen, Almo Sounds, DGC, DreamWorks Records and Outpost Recordings imprints for a broad range of artists such as Nirvana, Guns N’ Roses, Beck, White Zombie and Aerosmith.

Calio earned a bachelor of arts degree in political science and international relations, and a minor in German, from the University of Washington.