School of Cinematic Arts Directory Profile

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Kyle Ackerman

Adjunct Assistant Professor

Affiliated Divisions:

Interactive Media & Games Division

Email: kackerman@cinema.usc.edu

Kyle Ackerman joined the USC School of Cinematic Arts in 2012 as the Senior Director of Corporate Relations. He connects the School’s many exciting programs with the School’s global corporate partners.

Kyle worked extensively in corporate and structured finance for companies including G.E. Capital and Deutsche Bank Securities. His past finance activities encompassed work in both conventional and esoteric finance, including entertainment finance.

Kyle is also a writer and journalist, covering and contributing to the field of games and interactive media. He was the founder of FrictionlessInsight.com, an online source of news and reviews for the interactive entertainment industry, and has contributed to many magazines and online sites.

As an undergraduate at Yale, Kyle majored in Archaeology and Drama. His acting credits range from Sophocles to Tim Rice, and his interests include most aspects of technical theater and dramaturgy. He performed with the Theatre de la Jeune Lune as a puppeteer, operating the title character of The Green Bird designed by Julie Taymor and he directed Ted Talley’s Terra Nova at the Yale Repertory Theater.

Kyle was also the Director of Just Add Water, an improvisational comedy group at Yale that tours nationally. While a doctoral student in Archaeometallurgy at the University of Arizona, Kyle co-founded and directed the Charles Darwin Experience, also doing improvisational comedy. He has worked on archaeological excavations in Israel, Germany, the United States and Russia.

Born in Cambridge, England, Kyle grew up in Southern California and is a member of the Chickasaw Nation. He is the proud parents of two sons, James and Kepler.