Andre Mika

André Mika was born on June 25, 1966 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. An Emmy-Award1 winning television producer and musician, he is a multimedia professional currently living in New York City.

Life and Early Education

Mika was raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and attended Tara High School (Baton Rouge, Louisiana) where he was active as a choral student and sports medicine athletic trainer. After graduating in 1984, Mika attended the University of Missouri at Kansas City Conservatory of Music on a vocal music scholarship until 1986, when a devastating back injury and lower lumbar surgery forced Mika into physical therapy for a 2 year period, where he learned how to walk after suffering paralysis from his injuries. In 1988, Mika returned to school, enrolling at Western Michigan University where he spent two years as a tenor in the nation's premier collegiate vocal ensemble "Gold Company", under the direction of Dr. Stephen Zegree. At WMU, Mika crafted his studio production skills (working and singing for several commercial music houses in the region), and in 1988 was awarded a Collegiate Grammy Award by NARAS for his work as an audio producer.

Career Path

In a diverse career, Mika was hired at age 25 as Audio Director at J.W. Messner, Inc. in Grand Rapids, Michigan where he produced over 40 radio and television commercials a week for Chevrolet USA, 25% of the nation's co-op advertising. Recruited to Chicago in 1992, Mika began as a staff producer at Moore Music Group in Chicago, Illinois as a commercial writer and singer (Sears, McDonald's, Hallmark). After a stint as a restaurant owner and Chef (the award winning "Beignet's Louisiana Kitchen") with wife Jami, the couple moved to Southern California in 1994. Mika then went to work for The Walt Disney Company as a producer, earning several Gold Records for his work on projects including "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" and "Winnie The Pooh". Mika was active within the company and was also a speaker with Disney Management Program "Disney Way One".

Mika left Disney in 1997 to join DreamWorks SKG as a music producer, and would launch the first International Productions Department with colleague Catherine Foulkes. Mika would build a team of dubbing professionals to dub the studio's first animated feature "The Prince of Egypt" into 30 languages around the world for a day and date release. It would be the first day and date release of its kind in animation history. Mika would also write and produce consumer products for the studio, including ["The Prince of Egypt Read Along"]2 and ["Chicken Run"]3, and also assisted in the casting of "Shrek" in select languages.

After leaving DreamWorks in late 1999, he worked in the internet technology world as a Business Development professional for then start-up Liquid Audio, where he helped shape and market eCast, a digital dubbing solution he helped develop while at DreamWorks. Focused in digital asset management, Mika worked with record labels and broadcast networks creating server based solutions.

In 2000, Mika would join forces with Planet Grande Pictures of Malibu, CA as a producer and writer. His first project as writer and producer would prove to be the first online kid-mystery series ever produced for a major network (HBO) and would debut in 2001 as [The Deadwood Mysteries]4. He followed this project working on shows for CBS, ABC, NBC and WE 5 including "The Andy Griffith Show Reunion- Back to Mayberry", "Mix It Up" (Courtney Cox), "Great Women of Television Comedy", "Breaking The News" and "Birthday Live". During this time, he served as Lead Audio Producer for Steven Spielberg's Starbright Foundation and produced two books, "The Emperor's New Clothes" and "Once Upon A Fairy Tale", projects that included Spielberg, Barbara Streisand, Kelsey Grammer, Nathan Lane, Whoopi Goldberg, Jeff Goldblum, Madonna, Rosie O'Donnell, Harrison Ford, Joan Rivers, Jason Alexander, Robin Williams, Jay Leno, Angela Lansbury, Carrie Fisher, Penny Marshall, Liam Neeson, Glenn Close, Oprah Winfrey, Nick Cage and others.

Before returning to Louisiana, Mika was hired as a special consultant by Louisiana State University to help create LCAT, a project that would become a the Center for Art and Technology at the university. The center which focuses on multimedia based solutions is part of a comprehensive technical program at LSU.

Mika was hired by producer Rick Gentile and asked to return to Louisiana in the fall of 2002 for a brief stint as a producer for "The Football Network", before accepting a post as Executive Director6 for The Shaw Center for the Arts, a 55 million dollar performing arts facility in downtown Baton Rouge. While taking a break to serve as a Director at the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens for NBC, Mika would see the building through its construction and grand opening phase, [before resigning in 2004]7 to work on independent projects of his own, including a restaurant and lounge (The Lava Room). He would leave Baton Rouge in the fall of 2004 after Hurricane Katrina and move to New York to accept a position with America Online (AOL) as Director of Current Programming and Production.

At AOL, Mika would Executive Produce over 70 AOL Music "Sessions"(Pussycat Dolls, Dixie Chicks, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Neil Diamond), as well as 15 of their live concerts (Jay Z, Nelly Furtado, Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance). He additionally oversaw the build out of two broadcast production studios, and produced full blown web shows in food (Tyler Florence), music (The DL), Black Voices (The Bridge) and living (Home Improvement with Eric Stromer). The sponsor-based programming produced by Mika and his web studio was seen by millions.

After a massive reorganization at AOL, Mika departed the company in the spring of 2007 to be hired 10 days later by Kevin Wall to produce what is now the largest media event in history, Live Earth. With 156 musical acts, including Madonna, Foo Fighters, Genesis, Alicia Keys, Lenny Kravitz, John Mayer, Shakira, Linkin Park, Bon Jovi, Black Eyed Peas and The Police, the event drew an estimated worldwide audience of nearly 2 billion for the radio, TV and internet live and on-demand broadcasts that were all overseen by Mika as Executive in Charge of Production 8. On the event day itself, [Mika was in London, England at the BBC]9 producing the 22-hour world feed with director Paul Flattery. On the project, Mika would also help compose the music and produce the broadcast and in-arena graphics, seen by millions.

Today

In the fall of 2007, Mika joined the National Hockey League and serves as Senior Vice President/Executive in Charge of Programming, New Media.... heading NHL.com and NHL Studios NY, while assisting the league with its digital strategy. Mika lives with his wife, Interior Designer Jami Mika in Manhattan. Recently named one of the 20 Most Influential People in Digital Media by the Sports Business Journal10, he is a board member of the Integrated Media Systems Center at the University of Southern California and has spoken at several worldwide conferences, including IBC11 in Amsterdam (2006). In February 2009, NHL.com was named by Fast Company Magazine as one of the Top 10 Sports Companies in the United States 12 as well as receiving a 2009 Webby Award nomination for Best Sports Website. As a vocalist he has performed live in concert with Bobby McFerrin, Take 6, Mark Murphy, The Manhattan Transfer, Barry Manilow, Hal Linden, Don Shelton and Bonnie Herman of The Singers Unlimited, and made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2007 with the New York Choral Society.

Andre Mika's Food Blog at http://www.ForkNewYork.com

Andre Mika Celebrity Gallery at http://www.geocities.com/~worldmikas/starbright.html