Gina Ragusa

One of the foremost rights and music clearances experts in the country, Gina has over 20 years experience working with advertising agencies and corporations, worldwide. Over the course of nearly two decades, she has cleared rights to music, film and TV clips, personalities, and numerous other forms of intellectual property. As such, she has worked on major, international campaigns for some of the world's top brands including GE, American Express, Mercedes, Microsoft, Hallmark, Mont Blanc, Absolute, Applebee's, Sprint, Trivial Pursuit, and Heineken, to name a few.

Prior to founding Six Degrees, Gina was Director of Rights & Music Clearances at Corbis, a stock photography company privately owned by Bill Gates. Hired to create and grow their clearance division, Gina built and managed a team of rights-clearance specialists around the world whose expertise crossed multiple mediums. She was also Sr. Project Manager at Sekani, formally known as Second Line Search, for many years where she learned the burgeoning intellectual property licensing business from the ground up. Proficient in all aspects of clearances, her specialties include client consulting, negotiating, budgeting, project management, proofreading contracts, and problem solving.

George Bartko

George has over two decades of experience in the media industry. Prior to founding Six Degrees, he served as COO and Partner of New York based Sekani, Inc. (Consolidated company of Second Line Search, Action Sports Adventure, Hot Shots and Film Bank) for nearly fifteen years before the company sold to Corbis, a stock photography company owned by Bill Gates. He was responsible for all areas of research, rights and clearances, sales, database management, library management, acquisition integration, training and business strategy. George leads the technology, operations and business growth of Six Degrees.

Team

Maria Burke

Research Specialist
Maria handles research and intellectual property clearances. She worked in the fashion industry in the beginning of her professional career and in 2003 started her own business where she studied trends and researched fashion collections. Maria is also proud of her public service as a school board member for many years. As an avid researcher, Maria brings this ability to the Six Degrees Team with her relentless passion to find everything and anything our clients require.

 

James King

Research Specialist
James handles all technical details and the previewing and editing for our media research department. James has over 20 years experience in the stock footage industry and was a senior content editor for Sekani which was later acquired by Corbis.

  

John Brosnan

Research Specialist
John handles intellectual property rights (third party, copyright, trademark, property) and music clearances. A native of the Bronx, John earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film & Television production from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Trading New York City’s snow for Hollywood’s sunshine and palm trees, John has worked on a myriad of feature films, television series and commercials. John utilizes his industry experience & knowledge to great advantage in his role as a Six Degrees Clearance Specialist.

 

Brian Patterson

VP Business Development, Canada
Brian is a media-sales and marketing professional with over 20 years of experience within the advertising, communications and entertainment industries in Canada. He was President of his own artist representation company called "Patterson & Partners" with a roster of top commercial photographers and commercial film directors for several years before being hired by Corbis in 2004 as Senior Account Manager. Brian is currently handling all Six Degrees business development in the Canadian market.

 

Karen Alters

Research Specialist
Karen handles intellectual property rights (third party, copyright, trademark, property) and music clearances. She is tenacious in her ability to negotiate terms and conditions with estates and agents representing composers, musicians, actors, and various other artistic professionals. She holds a Master of Arts in Cinema Studies and a Certificate in Intellectual Property Management from NYU. Karen is a rabid Mets fan, and also a proud member and singer in The New York Choral Society and an AIDS Walk NY walker.