Best Startup
At Best Startup US we track over 1,000,000 US startups and over 3 million people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top United States based CEO’ operating in the Media and Entertainment space. If you think a CEO’ is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on editor@beststartup.us.
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Falon Fatemi
Co-Founder and CEO of Fireside
Falon Fatemi is Founder and CEO of Node and Fireside.
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About Fireside, Forbes Magazine, Node: Fireside is where the world’s greatest creators go to bring the audience into the story through live, interactive, virtual shows.
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Steve Gatena
Founder & CEO of Pray.com
Steve is the founder of pray.com, the digital destination for faith. Steve is an American Entrepreneur, Media Producer, and NCAA Champion. In 2019, Steve was honored as a CSQ 40 Under 40 Visionary. Steve has also received an Entrepreneur of the Year Award at the United Nations in a program sponsored by Dell & Intel, and been named #8 on the Forbes list of Famous Multi-Generational Entrepreneurs.
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About Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Pray.com: Pray.com is the #1 app for daily prayer & faith-based audio content
Guru Gowrappan
CEO of Verizon Media
Guru Gowrappan is CEO of Verizon Media, a powerhouse of trusted media and technology brands, including Yahoo, HuffPost, and TechCrunch. Prior to this role, he was Global Managing Director of Alibaba where he focused on international expansion and e-commerce for key consumer and enterprise products. Gowrappan began his career co-founding two start-ups in India and has since held multiple leadership roles at Quixey, Zynga, and Overture. He has an M.S. in computer science from the University of Southern California and was in the business bridge program at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.
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About Verizon Media, Verizon Media: Verizon Media offers services in content, advertising, and technology with its brands such as Yahoo, TechCrunch, and more.
Jake Paul
CEO & Founder of TeamDom
Jake Paul is the Founder and CEO at TeamDom. He dropped out of high school and relocated to Los Angeles at 17, without a single meeting lined up. Jake became a Viner before becoming a Vloger. Also Jake has racked up over 15 million social media followers, and 3.5 billion video views, categorizing him as one of the top 20 social media influencers and a leading brand ambassador. Jake also lends his efforts to the acting world — starring as “Dirk” on Disney Channel’s Bizaardvark, “Lance” in the YouTube Red Original Movie Dance Camp and “Dugan” on Fox Digital’s new movie Mono.#Bloodynosegang
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About TeamDom: TeamDom is a media conglomerate that builds brands, stories, celebrities, and businesses around teen entertainment and media.
Richard Bernardino
Founder & CEO, Software Architect of Orchidware Studios
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About Orchidware Studios, Project Blue Butterfly, Project Shrub, Project Umami: Fun, exciting, fascinating video games for players of all ages to enjoy.
Steven Galanis
Co-Founder & CEO of Cameo
Steven Galanis is the CEO of Cameo, the world’s leading marketplace for personalized video shoutouts. He launched the company in 2016 with co-founders Martin Blencowe & Devon Townsend after seeing a personalized video message taped by a prominent NFL player congratulating a friend on the birth of his son. To date the company has sold over 75,000 Cameos and seen over 4,500 athletes, actors, and influencers join the platform. He was named to Chicago Inno’s 2018 “50 on Fire” list. He is LinkedIn alum who previously worked as a trader on the floor of the Chicago Board Options Exchange, and founder of two film investment companies where he produced movies featuring stars such as Bruce Willis and Robert De Niro. Outside of work he is an avid Chicago sports fan and serves on the Board of Directors for Habitat for Humanity Chicago. Steven is a 2010 graduate of Duke University where he majored in History.
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About Cameo: Cameo is a marketplace where fans can book personalized video shoutouts from their favorite people.
Jack Conte
Co-Founder & CEO of Patreon
Jack Conte is the Co-Founder and CEO of Patreon.
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About Patreon: Patreon is an online platform connecting musicians and other artists with their fan base.
Jeff Zheng
Co Founder & CEO of NewsBreak
Jeff Zheng is the Co-Founder and CEO at NewsBreak.
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About NewsBreak: News Break is the Nation’s #1 Intelligent Local News Platform
Kristopher B. Jones
Founder & Co-CEO of Special Guest App
Kristopher Jones is the Founder at LSEO .
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About Forbes Agency Council, French Girls, iFartMobile.com, KBJ Capital, LavCup, LSEO, ReferLocal.com, ReferLocal.com, Special Guest App, The Accelerator at Wilkes Barre, WVIA: Special Guest App makes it dead simple for anyone, anywhere to discover and book live entertainers.
Damon Wayans, Jr
Founder and Co-CEO of Special Guest App
Damon Kyle Wayans Jr. is an American actor, writer, and stand-up comedian, most widely known for starring as Brad Williams in the ABC comedy series Happy Endings and as Coach in the Fox comedy series New Girl. In 2014, he starred in the comedy film Let’s Be Cops and provided the voice of Wasabi in Big Hero 6. In October 2018 Damon will star in his own sitcom “Happy Together” on CBS.
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About Special Guest App: Special Guest App makes it dead simple for anyone, anywhere to discover and book live entertainers.
Farhad Massoudi
CEO & Founder of Tubi
Farhad Massoudi founded adRise with a vision that the future of TV advertising will be targeted, measurable and interactive ads, just like the web on TV. Farhad holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from UC Berkeley.
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About Tubi: Tubi is the world’s largest ad-supported video on demand (VOD) service. Available on Connected TV devices, Mobile, and the Web.
Gil Hirsch
Co-Founder & CEO of StreamElements
Gil Hirsch is an angel investor. Gil has over ten years of experience in software architecture, product and general management in computer technology. Before co-founding face.com, Gil held multiple R&D, Product and Sales executive roles at Amdocs, Xacct Technologies and Telrad Networks. Gil is also the co-founder of the garage geeks community in Israel to drive non-commercial innovation activities.
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About StreamElements: StreamElements provides content creators the tools they need to engage, grow, and monetize their audiences.
Halsey Minor
Founder and CEO of Live Planet VR System
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About Live Planet VR System, VideoCoin Network: Live Planet’s VR System is the first end-to-end solution for easily capturing, storing, streaming, and recording immersive VR video
Bob Bradley
CEO of NewsBreak
Bob Bradley has spent the last 25 years honing his business development skills and serving as an executive leader in the media, entertainment, and technology industries. He has held both domestic and international positions with well-known organizations, such as Qualcomm, Scripps Networks Interactive, Disney/ABC Broadcast & Cable Networks Group, Landmark Communications, Discovery Networks, and Group W Satellite Communications.
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About Active Media Project, NewsBreak: NewsBreak is a programmatic merchandising platform for the retail industry, specializing in convenience store merchandising
Winder Hughes
Founder and CEO of Relevnt, Inc.
Winder Hughes is the founder and CEO of Relevnt. he is also the current founder & CEO of LIFE IN HI-FI, Inc. Winder evangelizes Order and Vision with great attention to detail alongside a nose for detecting danger. Driven by an entrepreneurial mindset, Winder has over 25 years of investing experience in start-up companies, and founded Relevnt as an outgrowth from his investment partnership, the Focus Fund. He is fascinated by what makes a brand become a global success and thus his lifelong passion has been to create a world-class consumer brand experience that favorably changes the human condition – he has found it with Relevnt. Winder graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and holds a BA in Economics.
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About Relevnt, Inc.: Relevnt is a live audio chat network centered real-time, authentic connection.
Heather Hartnett
CEO and Founding Partner of Human Ventures
Heather Hartnett is the CEO and founding partner of Human Ventures, an early-stage venture studio in NYC that backs and builds industry-changing business. Heather has spent her career in venture capital, technology startups, and philanthropy. She was recently featured in Business Insider as “the first female-led startup studio in New York City” bringing a fresh new perspective to the tech scene. Heather also serves on the Leadership Council for tech:nyc. Prior to Human Ventures, Heather incubated companies within a NYC-based venture fund that invests in companies seeking to generate measurable social impact alongside financial returns. Heather leads the Human team with a knack for identifying innate talent, and a track record of building strong, successful early teams.
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About AARP, Human Ventures: Human Ventures is a business creation platform, comprised of a venture fund, studio and enterprise agency.
Michael Ritter
Founder & CEO of Maple Media
Michael Ritter is the Founder and CEO of Maple Media, a mobile apps and games company backed by private equity firm Shamrock Capital. Maple Media is a mobile media, advertising and technology company that acquires, manages and operates mobile applications focused on the utility, productivity, games and entertainment verticals. Popular titles include Snowboard Party: World Tour, Skateboard Party, Minesweeper Classic, Sudoku 🙂 and CalConvert. Previously he was SVP of Business & Corporate Development for Jam City, a large social and mobile game company based in Los Angeles where he oversaw mergers & acquisition activities, publishing, licensing, distribution, sales, legal and partnerships for social and mobile games. Michael was also the Founder and Publisher of Saturday Night Magazine, which at the time, he built into the largest circulated monthly collegiate lifestyle and entertainment magazine in the country.
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About Fantasy Baseball Arbitration, Maple Media: Maple Media is a mobile media, advertising, and technology company that acquires and operates category-leading, consumer apps.
Robert Kavner
President and Chief Executive Officer of On Command Corporation
Robert Kavner has served on our board of directors since March 2004 and lead independent director since March 2010. Since 1995, Mr. Kavner has been an independent venture capital investor focusing on investments in technology companies. From January 1996 through December 1998, Mr. Kavner served as president and chief executive officer of On Command Corporation, a provider of on-demand video systems for the hospitality industry. From 1984 to 1994, Mr. Kavner held several senior management positions at AT&T, a provider of telecommunications services, including senior vice president, chief financial officer and chief executive officer of Multimedia Products and Services Group and chairman of AT&T Venture Capital Group. Mr. Kavner also served as a member of AT&T’s executive committee. Mr. Kavner served on the board of directors of Earthlink, an internet service provider, from 2001 to 2008, and currently serves on the boards of directors of a number of privately-held companies. Prior to joining AT&T, Mr. Kavner was a partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers. Mr. Kavner received a Bachelor of Arts degree in business management from Adelphi University.
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About On Command Corporation: On Command Corporation provides in-room entertainment and information services to hotels, motels, and resorts.
Tom Shannon
Founder, President & CEO of Bowlmor AMF
CEO Tom Shannon joined Gregg Greenberg of “The Street” to discuss millennials, expansion, and making bowling cool again. “It’s going to be an iconic ad campaign because it’s fresh, unique and legitimate,” said Shannon regarding Bowlmor AMF’s highly-anticipated new ad campaign featuring elite bowler Jason Belmonte.
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About Bowlmor AMF: Bowlmor AMF in bowling and entertainment in North America.
Arjun Mehta
Founder & CEO of Moment House
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About Moment House, Trakfire: Social live media platform for creators.
Chris Beals
CEO and President of Weedmaps
Christopher Beals is the chief executive officer of Weedmaps. Prior to being CEO, he first serves as the company’s president and general counsel from 2015 until his appointment in March 2019.
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About Weedmaps, WM Technology: Weedmaps is the world’s first marijuana technology and media brand.
Brad Griffith
Chief Executive Officer of Gametime
Brad Griffith After nearly missing a San Francisco Giants NLCS game because he didn’t have access to print his tickets, Brad Griffith reimagined a simpler process for buying tickets on the go. Focusing completely on the mobile experience, Brad wrote v1.0 of the Gametime iOS application in 2012 and now leads a passionate team focused on mobilizing the ticket buying process for fans. He’s fascinated with fan experience – answering the question: How can we make it faster and easier to attend games? Brad is a Santa Cruz native and huge S.F. Giants, Golden State Warriors and 49ers fan. After earning an Engineering degree from Stanford, he followed his dreams to work in sports by helping the Colorado Rockies and Chicago White Sox (2005 World Series Champs!) build statistical infrastructure to analyze player value. In 2010, he helped launch Zappedy, which delivered customer analytics for local businesses (sold to Groupon in 2011). At Gametime, he’s able to combine his love of sports and analytics to help fans attend more games and connect with their communities.
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About Gametime: Gametime sells last-minute tickets to the most popular events in sports, music, and theater.
Ari Emanuel
CEO of Endeavor
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About Endeavor, WME: ENDEAVOR is a global media company in the fields of sports, events, media and fashion.
David Mikkelson
Chief Executive Officer of Snopes.com
David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994 as a creative outgrowth of his wide-ranging interests in a variety of subjects (particularly folklore) and his professional expertise in the computer industry. Handling everything from researching and writing articles about urban legends to managing the site’s technical infrastructure, David saw snopes.com (which antedated the development of automated search engines) quickly become the go-to place for Internet users to query about anything questionable they encountered online, establishing it as the oldest and best known online fact-checking outlet operating today. In additional to his 20+ years experience researching and writing about the facts behind a multitude of topics, David’s educational background includes a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Texas (San Antonio) and about a zillion course hours of post-graduate classes at California State University, Northridge taken with no particular degree program in mind. His previous employment encompassed stints with the News-Chronicle (newspaper), Teledyne Electronics, the U.S. Postal Service, JPL, Digital Equipment Corporation, Rocketdyne, and Health Net (HMO).
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About Snopes.com: Snopes.com is a website for validating or debunking urban legends, internet rumors, and other stories of unknown or questionable origin.
Dan Goman
Chief Executive Officer of Ateliere
Dan Goman is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Ateliere Creative Technologies, a pioneering technological force that’s transforming the post-production and OTT industries with ground-breaking innovations, from digital supply chain solutions to unique, customizable video apps.
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About Ateliere, Cingular Wireless, Ownzones Entertainment Technology: Ateliere is the technology that brings creative visions to life, from the concept to the consumer, on every screen, everywhere in the world.
Leslie Larson
Executive Assistant to CEO of Connecticut Innovations
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About Connecticut Innovations: Connecticut Innovations provides strategic capital and operational insight to to companies in high-tech industries
Matthew J. McCooe
CEO of Connecticut Innovations
Matthew McCooe joined Connecticut Innovations as CEO in 2015.
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About Connecticut Innovations: Connecticut Innovations provides strategic capital and operational insight to to companies in high-tech industries
Ric Elias
Co-Founder & CEO of Red Ventures
Ric attended Boston College and Harvard Business School before beginning his career as part of GE’s Financial Management program. Ric co-founded Red Ventures in 2000, just days before the dot-com bubble burst. The company weathered the storm and by 2007 it was ranked 4th on the Inc. 500 list. In 2009, Elias was a survivor of Flight 1549, an event which drastically changed his life and led to his widely viewed TED Talk “3 things I learned while my plane crashed.” Elias is cited as aspiring to create the “Google of the East Coast” within his company’s culture and facilities. Ric’s leadership style earned him noteworthy recognition in 2011, when he was named an Ernst & Young National Entrepreneur of the Year. His inspirational views on both business and family have been featured on CNN, TED Talks and MSNBC. Ric Elias is the co-founder and CEO of Red Ventures, a portfolio of digital companies headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. With over 3,000 employees in 10 US cities, Puerto Rico, the UK, and Brazil, Red Ventures’s digital platform spans across many industries, including home services, financial services, health services, education, and entertainment. Through its influential brands, strategic partnerships, and powerful technology platform, Red Ventures connects millions of people to premium content, intuitive digital experiences, and consumer advice to help make life’s most important decisions. Over the last decade, Red Ventures has compounded growth at over 30%. In 2010, General Atlantic made a strategic investment in the company, and in 2015 Silver Lake also joined as a shareholder. Ric has cultivated an award-winning and technology-centric company culture, ranking as one of Charlotte’s “Best Places to Work” for ten years in a row. A native of Puerto Rico, Ric graduated from Boston College and earned his MBA from Harvard Business School. He co-founded Red Ventures in 2000, months before the dot-com bubble burst. The company weathered the storm; by 2007 it was ranked 4th on the Inc. 500 list. Ric’s leadership style has earned him noteworthy recognition; in 2011, he was named an Ernst & Young National Entrepreneur of the Year, and in 2016 he was inducted into the Carolinas Entrepreneur Hall of Fame. In 2009, Ric survived Flight 1549, also known as the “Miracle on the Hudson,” an event which changed his life and led to his widely viewed TED Talk “3 Things I Learned While My Plane Crashed.” In 2019, he launched a podcast, “3 Things with Ric Elias,” where he shares conversations and insights with top business leaders, athletes, and remarkable guests. In addition to being deeply committed to his family and Red Ventures, Ric is passionate about creating economic mobility opportunities for underserved groups who have the motivation and work ethic to succeed. In 2013, he founded and funded what is now Road to Hire, a 501(c)(3) that connects young adults with on-ramps to professional development and high-earning careers. Programs provided through the Road to Hire platform include career-readiness classes in Charlotte Mecklenberg Title 1 high schools, digital marketing courses at Johnson C. Smith University, on-the-job training and placement with top employers in Charlotte , and scholarships for high-performing undocumented students seeking college degrees. Additionally, in 2018 Ric launched Forward787, a $100M social enterprise committed to building digital businesses based in Puerto Rico. To date, the program has trained and supported more than 100 Puerto Rican professionals, fueling a new economic growth engine on the island.
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About Red Ventures: A portfolio of influential brands, digital platforms, and strategic partnerships that help people make life’s most important decisions.
Ryan Dotters
Chief Executive Officer of Full Swing Golf
Ryan Dotters has spent the majority of his career in the golf industry and joined Full Swing Golf in September 2013 as a Business Development Consultant to oversee new corporate partnerships and establish a new ownership group. In January 2015, Ryan took over as CEO while simultaneously signing a partnership deal with Tiger Woods. Ryan led the acquisition of Virtual Green in March of 2015 and has successfully led significant growth of Full Swing Golf. Previous to Full Swing, Ryan held key positions at Graphite Design(SVP Sales and Marketing), Taylor Made / Adidas Golf (Sales), Adams Golf (Regional Sales Manager – North East), and Callaway Golf (Corporate Sales). Ryan has been able to balance his passion for golf with his love for business.
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About Full Swing Golf: Full Swing Golf is the Worldwide Leader in Golf Simulation.
Michael Rapino
President and Chief Executive Officer of Live Nation Entertainment
Live Nation President and CEO, Michael Rapino, has led Live Nation since it separated from Clear Channel Communications in August 2005. During his tenure at Live Nation, Rapino oversaw the merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster in 2010 to form Live Nation Entertainment, now the leading concert promoter and live entertainment company in the world. He is also a Director at Sirius XM Holdings Inc, and has served as an Executive Producer on Live Nation Film projects, including A Star is Born and Believer. As Live Nation’s President and CEO, Rapino has led the company through a series of acquisitions and investments to grow the brand’s reach and capabilities. One of these investments was in C3 Presents, the promoter behind prominent music festivals like Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits. Rapino has also supported a number of initiatives that help make live music and entertainment more available to people around the world, increasing Live Nation’s reach to more than 40 countries and nearly 100 million fans each year. Prior to Live Nation, Rapino began his career at Labatt’s Breweries of Canada where he spent ten years working in various marketing and entertainment roles. After leaving Labatt’s, Rapino co-founded Core Audience Entertainment, which was acquired by Clear Channel Communications in 1999. After the acquisition, Rapino served as the head of several divisions at Clear Channel Communications before becoming President and CEO of Live Nation in 2005. Rapino’s work has earned him recognition by several top publications, such as Forbes and Variety. In 2017, he was listed as one of Forbes’ Global Game Changers and one of Variety’s 500 Influential Business Leaders. He was named one of Los Angeles Business Journal’s 500 Most Influential People in Business in 2018. Billboard has recognized Rapino in their Power 100 list every year from 2012 to 2018, with him leading the rankings in 2018. Rapino is a Thunder Bay, Ontario native. He studied business at Lakehead University and graduated with a bachelor’s of administration in 1989. He currently resides in California with his wife and three children.
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About Live Nation Entertainment, Ticketmaster: Live Nation Entertainment is the live entertainment and eCommerce company.
Jaroslaw Gabor
CEO of Bertelsmann
Jaroslaw Gabor is CEO of Bertelsmann Inc., the US headquarters, and CFO of Bertelsmann Education Group. Headquartered in Gutersloh, Germany, Bertelsmann is a media, services and education company that operates in 50 countries around the world. It includes the broadcaster RTL Group, trade book publisher Penguin Random House, magazine publisher Gruner + Jahr, service providers Arvato and Be Printers, the music rights company BMG and e-learning provider Relias Learning. The company has more than 112,000 employees and generated revenues of €16.7 billion in 2014. Jaroslaw Gabor joined Bertelsmann in 2006 as Vice President Mergers and Acquisitions after working in various positions at the energy company Eon and at Deloitte. In the following years he assisted with several of the Group’s large transactions such as the sale of various Direct Group businesses, numerous BMG acquisitions and also the merger of Penguin and Random House to become the world’s largest book publisher. At Penguin Random House he was jointly responsible for the integration of the two publishing groups. In parallel, Jaroslaw Gabor worked on the development of the Bertelsmann Education Strategy and the acquisition of Relias Learning. He currently resides in New York.
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About Bertelsmann: Bertelsmann is a transnational media corporation that operates in about 50 countries around the world.
Christopher Sopher
Co-Founder and CEO of WhereBy.Us
CEO at WhereBy.Us.
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About WhereBy.Us: A platform that enables creators to build a media business for their community.
Steve Stoute
Founder & CEO of UnitedMasters
Steve Stoute has a proven track record of building successful businesses and has garnered significant recognition as one of the most influential brand marketers in the country. As the Chairman of Carol’s Daughter, a Pegasus portfolio company, he has grown the company’s sales by over 15x in under 5 years by expanding distribution and creating marketing partnerships. Mr. Stoute also serves as founder and CEO of Translation LLC, a leading brand marketing firm that creates and executes innovative promotions between Fortune 500 companies and superstar celebrities in music, sports, fashion and entertainment. With a strong focus on the urban and youth markets and multi-cultural consumers, Mr. Stoute and Translation have built programs for Reebok, McDonald’s, Samsung, Procter & Gamble and Target and has worked with celebrities such as Beyonce, Justin Timberlake, Jay-Z and Gwen Stefani. Prior to founding Translation, Mr. Stoute worked with top music artists as an Executive Vice President at Interscope Geffen A&M.
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About Translation LLC, UnitedMasters: UnitedMasters is a technology platform that gives musicians an alternative to exploitative record label deals.
David Nussbaum
Founder and CEO of PORTL Hologram
David Nussbaum is the Founder and CEO at PORTL Inc.
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About PORTL Hologram: PORTL Hologram offers at-home hologram machines.
Michael Lynton
Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment
Michael Lynton is CEO of Sony Entertainment, where he oversees Sony’s global entertainment businesses, including Sony Music Entertainment, Sony/ATV Music Publishing and Sony Pictures Entertainment. Lynton is also Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE), managing the studio’s overall global operations, which include motion picture, television and digital content production and distribution, home entertainment acquisition and distribution, operation of studio facilities, and the development of new entertainment products, services and technologies. At Sony Pictures Entertainment, Lynton has focused on digital transformation, worldwide growth, content diversity and financial discipline, leading the studio through an era of innovation and success, putting Sony Pictures on the cutting edge of an industry experiencing rapid technological and global change. Sony Pictures’ Motion Picture Group has enjoyed a remarkable run in the past several years, releasing such hits as Best Picture Oscar® nominees American Hustle, Captain Phillips, and The Social Network, as well as blockbuster franchises like The Amazing Spider-Man, Grown-Ups, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and The Smurfs. Between movies and TV, SPE received 26 nominations for the 2014 Golden Globes® and won seven awards, more than any other studio. Sony Pictures Television (SPT) is one of the television industry’s leading content providers. It produces and distributes programming in every genre, around the world and for a multitude of platforms. In addition to one of the industry’s largest libraries of award-winning feature films, television shows and formats, SPT boasts a current program slate that includes top-rated daytime dramas and game shows, landmark off-network series, original animated series and critically acclaimed primetime dramas, comedies and telefilms. In addition to its U.S. production business, SPT has 19 wholly-owned or joint venture production companies in 13 countries. SPT’s worldwide media networks include 150 channel feeds available in 178 countries, reaching more than 1.3 billion cumulative households worldwide. Popular channel brands include AXN, Animax, and SET (Sony Entertainment Television), as well as the studio’s ad-supported VOD service, Crackle. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment distributes Sony Pictures produced and third-party acquired theatrical and non-theatrical product on Blu-ray Disc, DVD and other digital media globally. Among the more than 3,500 titles in SPHE’s catalog are the Spider-Man and Men In Black franchises, the Seinfeld TV series, and film classics on such as Lawrence of Arabia, Taxi Driver and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Sony Pictures is also home to Imageworks, the only major studio Academy Award®-winning in-house visual effects unit. Under Lynton, Sony Pictures has been an industry leader in the migration to digital entertainment, from production and distribution to the introduction of new formats. The studio championed the industry’s UltraViolet digital entertainment format, helped re-introduce 3D to the entertainment industry and is deeply engaged in the rapidly expanding 4K marketplace. Prior to joining Sony Pictures, Lynton worked for Time Warner and served as CEO of AOL Europe, President of AOL International and President of Time Warner International. From 1996 to 2000, Lynton served as Chairman and CEO of Pearson plc’s Penguin Group, where he oversaw the acquisition of Putnam, Inc. and extended the Penguin brand to music and the Internet. Lynton joined The Walt Disney Company in 1987 and started Disney Publishing, serving as its President. From 1992 to1996, he served as President of Disney’s Hollywood Pictures. Lynton holds a Bachelor of Arts in history and literature from Harvard College and a Masters of Business Administration from Harvard Business School. Lynton is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on the boards of the American Film Institute, the Smithsonian Board of Regents, the Harvard Board of Overseers, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, J. Paul Getty Trust, USC School of Cinematic Arts and the RAND Corporation. In addition, he sits on the board of directors of Snapchat and Ares Management, L.P. Lynton resides in Los Angeles with his wife, Elizabeth Jamie Alter Lynton, and their three daughters, Eloise Lynton, Maisie Lynton and Lucinda Lynton.
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About 25Madison, Sony Pictures Entertainment: Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) is a subsidiary of Sony Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Corporation.
Tom Ryan
CEO & Co-Founder of Pluto TV
Tom Ryan is CEO and Co-Founder of Pluto TV, the leading free streaming television service in America that is also available in 22 countries across Europe and Latin America. Pluto TV carries and programs more than 250 live channels and thousands of on-demand movies and TV shows in partnership with hundreds of major TV networks, movie studios, publishers, and digital media companies. Each month over 36 million viewers tune in to watch premium news, TV shows, movies, sports, live events, cartoons, and trending digital series on mobile, web, and living room devices. Pluto TV is a top free app on Roku, Amazon Fire TV and Android mobile, and also powers built-in streaming television services on Vizio LG, and Samsung smart TVs. Earlier in his career, Tom served as CEO of Threadless (a popular crowdsourced design and e-commerce company), SVP of Digital Strategy at EMI Music as well as co-founder of Cductive (an early digital music retailer company that he merged with eMusic). He holds an AB from Dartmouth College and an MBA from INSEAD in France.
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About Pluto TV: Pluto TV is the leading free streaming television service in America.
Binu Girija
Founder & CEO of Way
Mr. Binu Girija is the Founder and CEO at Way.com, Inc. Mr. Binu is responsible for building products that meet the changing demands of Way.com’s users and partners. Prior to Way.com, he was an Enterprise Architect at BEA Systems, Oracle Corp and Computer Sciences Corp., and led the Enterprise Infrastructure, ERP, CRM and Database team. He has started multiple successful software companies that continue to grow and thrive today. He has a Bachelor of Engineering Degree in Computer Science.
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About Way: The No.1 Car Insuretech, Fintech Super App
Ned Kenney
Co-Founder & CEO of Laughable
Finance/biz dev background + tech nerdery + comedy fanaticism + millennial mandate to ‘do what I love’ –> starting Laughable. If you like comedy or podcasts, you should download our iOS app here: laughable.com/download _ _ _ The evidence is building that we’ve built something special: – 92% of our 275+ reviews are for 5 stars — a higher percentage than that of any other app focused on comedy or podcasts. – Our average user spends 3.5 hours per week listening to podcasts and 25 minutes per week directly engaging with our UI (i.e. tapping, typing, swiping, etc.). – Apple has featured us in the App Store multiple times, including in the ‘New Apps We Love’ section of the App Store homepage, an honor reserved for only a few hundred apps each year out of of more 2m+ iOS apps total. _ _ _ Other Links: – Android users can sign up to be notified when we have an app ready for them: laughable.com/android – We recently announced Laughable 2.0, which allows you to subscribe not only to podcast series, but also to individual artists. You can read more about 2.0 here: laughable.com/blog/april2017announcements – More on our long-term vision for Laughable: laughable.com/blog/helloworld – The ‘Unified Theory of Laughable’: laughable.com/blog/unifiedtheory – My thoughts about the future of comedy and podcasting: laughable.com/blog/nkthoughts16 – An FAQ for podcasters and comedians: laughable.com/artist-resources Instagram: @nedkenney Email: n@laughable.com
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About Laughable: A better way to discover comedians and podcasts
Jay Peterson
Founder and CEO of Matador
Jay Peterson founded Matador in 2013 and in the past two years has produced a wide range of programming, from Lip Sync Battle on Spike and Nail’d It on Oxygen to the HBO documentary Banksy Does New York and A&E’s Country Buck$. Prior to starting Matador, Jay served as the Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President of Production and Development at Original Media, an Endemol Company. During his tenure at Original, Jay developed and produced several hit television series, including History’s Swamp People, Spike’s Inkmaster, AMC’s Comic Book Men and Discovery’s Dual Survival. He expanded Original’s portfolio into new categories such as sports (MMA Uncensored Live), talk (The Gayle King Show), music (Unplugged) and live television (Nokia’s Rihanna Live for MTV, VH1 and Palladia), and strengthened the franchises and economics of existing shows such as Storm Chasers, LA Ink and The Rachel Zoe Project. Before joining Original, Jay was the President of K2 Pictures, where he served as Executive Producer on numerous projects, including the Showtime feature documentary Same Sex America, the daily ESPN series Classic Now and the Kennedy Center’s 9/11 memorial special, Concert for America (NBC).
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About Matador: Matador is a full-service content production company with offices in New York and Los Angeles.
Jordan Brown
Founder, CEO of Lugg
Jordan Brown is the Founder, CEO at Lugg
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About Lugg: Lugg provides anything moved with the push of a button. Download Lugg on the App store and instantly get connected to a truck and 2 movers.
Jonathan Steinberg
Founder and CEO of Cheddar
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About Altice USA, Cheddar, CNBC, DropBoxee, SocialGreat: Cheddar is a live video news network focused on covering products, technologies, and services.
Billy Hawkins
CEO & Co-founder of Arsenic
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About Arsenic, Narrate: Arsenic Magazine is a by-the-people, for-the-people, online lifestyle and culture magazine based in the Arts District.
Jon Vlassopulos
Founder & CEO of Tribalist
Jon Vlassopulos is the founder and CEO of Trailerpop, where he leads a mission to revolutionize the way people discover entertainment and engage with advertising. Jon has spent the last 17 years building businesses in and around the mobile, entertainment and advertising industries and as a founder, senior executive, investor and advisor, his work has driven hundreds of millions of dollars worth of innovation and delighted tens of millions of consumers. Prior to founding Trailerpop, Jon has served as CEO of award winning mobile entertainment studio skyrockit, where he managed major US carrier content platforms for companies like Sprint and built innovative branded entertainment products and experiences for companies like GAP, Intel, Coca Cola, Kraft and Zippo. Dubbed a digital media and advertising visionary by The Hollywood Reporter, Jon has created successful industry firsts in the areas of mobile, games, advertising, TV and music. Before skyrockit, Jon was the SVP of digital media and branded entertainment for Endemol, the world’s largest independent production company, where he was responsible for its worldwide digital & advertising business. Jon is credited with launching interactive TV in the US with shows like Deal or no Deal and 1 vs. 100 and with creating some of the first live, multi-platform game formats for networks like BET and TBS. He also produced games that were successful on multiple platforms including Xbox, online, and mobile and sold and produced some of the first online web series. Jon served as senior director of business development & strategic partnerships at AT&T Wireless, establishing the first phase of messaging and mobile data. At AT&T Jon ran the mobile content business and mobile marketing where he established the first mobile marketing campaigns with major brands and led the youth marketing team responsible for tracking and implementing new applications and business models Early in his career Jon was at Bertelsmann, where he helped to create BMG’s global digital strategy and held multiple executive positions with other Bertelsmann divisions in New York, Hong Kong and Tokyo. Jon has served on the board of NATPE, the Producer’s Guild and was a founding member of the Mobile Marketing Association. He holds a degree from Durham University and is fluent in French, Spanish and Mandarin. Jon got his start as a DJ and radio host, from where he nurtured his love of music & entertainment, building a career that blended interests in original content, emerging platforms and marketing innovation.
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About A-Force Ventures, Fabric, Roblox, Tastemates, Trailerpop, Tribalist: Tribalist is a site that offers the best entertainment & lifestyle lists from top publishers to help people discover new things to do.
Jim Wilburn
Founder & President & CEO of Winnercomm
Jim Wilburn is the Founder and President of Winnercomm, as well as the General Manger and visionary behind Major League Fishing. After graduating from the University of Tulsa with a B.S. in communications, Jim became the top advertising sales performer for ABC affiliate KTUL. In 1981, Jim left KTUL and co-founded Winner Communications as a syndicator of American Quarter Horse racing telecasts. Twenty years later Winner Communications had become Winnercomm and produced almost 50 percent of the ESPN Outdoors program block as well as 25 award-winning one-hour SportsCentury programs. Winning 13 Emmy Awards and 2 Eclipse Awards, Winnercomm produced over 500 hours of programming annually for ESPN and 13 other networks. During this time, Jim also served on ESPN Outdoors senior staff. In 2004, Winnercomm acquired the camera platforms Skycam and in 2006 Cablecam; cable-controlled camera systems used extensively on NCAA Football, Monday Night Football and Super Bowl coverage. The acquisitions of Skycam and Cablecam furthered Winnercomm’s reach into live sports coverage. In 2006, Parallel Partners & Harbert Management acquired Winnercomm. In 2009 Parallel and Harbert sold Winnercomm to Outdoor Channel Holdings. Jim has worked tirelessly in creating the hottest property in professional fishing, Major League Fishing. Major League Fishing brings real time scoring to the sport for the first time and boasts 24 anglers who have made almost $50 million dollars fishing. Major League Fishing is a huge success both in viewership and sponsorship revenues. Jim has been inducted into the University of Tulsa Business Hall of Fame, as well as their Distinguished Alumni Association. Jim has served on the board for Holland Hall Preparatory School for five years and currently serves on the University Of Tulsa Board Of Trustees for the past nine years.
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About Major League Fishing, Winnercomm: Winnercomm is in the emotion transportation business. We move people to watch, to engage, to join, to purchase.
Chris M. Willliams
Founder & CEO of pocket.watch
Chris M. Williams is the Founder & CEO at pocket.watch.
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About pocket.watch, pocket.watch: Pocket.watch is a new studio creating global franchises from the YouTube stars and characters loved by Generation Alpha.
Anastasia Leng
Founder & CEO of CreativeX
Anastasia Leng is Founder & CEO of CreativeX.
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About CreativeX: CreativeX is a developer of a smarter visual communication platform.
Don Katz
Co-Founder & CEO of Audible
Donald Katz is founder and CEO of Audible, Inc. Katz was previously a journalist and author for twenty years, writing five books and serving as contributing editor at Rolling Stone and other publications; his work won a National Magazine Award and was nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award. For his leadership of the company since inception, Katz won the 2004 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for New Jersey. Katz graduated from New York University in 1974, where he studied with novelist Ralph Ellison.
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About Audible, Newark Venture Partners: Audible is an internet provider of spoken audio entertainment, information, and educational programming.
Sean Doherty
CEO of Wurl
CEO at WURL, Inc.
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About Wurl: The Wurl Network connects the world’s largest digital brands with the world’s largest streaming services.
Austin Criden
Co-Founder, CEO of Palm Tree Crew
Austin Criden is the Co-Founder & CEO at Palm Tree Crew Holdings.
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About Palm Tree Crew: Palm Tree Crew operates and invests in companies at the intersection of consumer, entertainment, and technology.
Renee Wang
Founder & CEO of Castbox
Renee Wang is the CEO and Founder of Castbox, an award-winning global podcast platform that enables anyone to easily find, access, create and enjoy spoken audio content. Prior to founding Castbox, Renee was a global app monetization expert at Google in user acquisition, optimization, and publisher engagement where she contributed to 42% of Google’s new app revenue. Renee holds a BS degree from Peking University, with a double major in Psychology and Mathematical Statistics.
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About Castbox: Castbox is a global podcast platform that enables anyone to easily find, access, create and enjoy spoken audio content.
Suren Markosian
Co-Founder & CEO of Epic
Suren is the CEO and co-founder of Epic!, the first all-you-can-read e-book service built specifically for school-aged readers. He is a successful, serial entrepreneur and founder of several consumer tech startups, including CrowdStar, which rose to become one of the largest social gaming companies with over 200M users, second only to Zynga. Having created and successfully scaled large entertainment and e-commerce businesses to serve hundreds of millions of customers, Markosian is an expert in product design, gamification, technology, scalability, consumer growth and marketing.
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About Epic: Epic is an internet company that specializes in books, eBooks learning, and educational technology.
Angelica Nwandu
Founder, CEO & Owner of The Shade Room
Angelica Nwandu is the founder of The Shade Room, an Instagram-based media empire reaching over 15+ Million active followers (“Roommates”) and a highly-engaged website. Founded in 2014, The Shade Room (TSR) is anchored on celebrating Black culture and entertainment but transcends all celebrity news and society. Serving viral posts daily, Angelica and her company offer a range of content from breaking headlines, exclusives and feel-good posts (TSR Positive Images, Morning Inspiration, Daddy Duties for an unmatched balance of entertainment, and enlightenment. Angie Nwandu, named to Forbes’ “30 under 30” list and called, “the Oprah of our generation,” byRefinery29, is enlightened herself. She is open about her spirituality and often refers to a scripture in the Bible that helped carry her through TSR’s early stage, specifically, a section that advises to not despise small beginnings.
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About The Shade Room: The Shade Room is a media company that offers celebrity and entertainment news on an hourly basis.
Trevor Kaufman
CEO of Piano
Mr. Trevor Kaufman is CEO of Piano in 2015, based in New York. Prior to becoming CEO of Piano, he was CEO and President of Tinypass. Mr. Kaufman was the Founder of Schematic and served as its CEO. Mr. Kaufman served as Co-Chief Executive Officer of Kaufman-Patric of Enterprises (KPE), a successful New York-based Web design and consulting firm backed by Grey Advertising. He served as CEO of The Content Project. He served as Global CEO of Possible Worldwide, where he led global strategy and guided future efforts for the agency’s 1,200 person staff. He is a leading authority on the future of interactive television and a pioneer in Web site design and development, with over a decade of experience overseeing cutting-edge projects for the world’s leading companies, including Microsoft, Disney, Intel, Discovery, Electronic Arts, Sony, CBS, ABC, Accenture, Yahoo!, Panasonic, Comcast, CNN, PBS, Motorola, Fox, AOL, MTV, BMW, Target, Volkswagen, Pfizer and the NFL. He often serves as a consultant to other organizations seeking to ensure the success of their critical interactive projects, including having worked directly with Al Gore on the 1996 Clinton/Gore online campaign, and with AOL senior management on 2005’s global Live8 event. He has been recognized as one of The Hollywood Reporter’s “Next Generation,” featuring the 35 top Hollywood executives 35 and under, and one of Newsweek’s “Net 50: The Fifty People Who Matter Most on the Internet.”.
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About Piano: Piano helps organizations understand and influence customer behavior through one complete platform.
Austin Ayers
President & CEO of Butler Dispatch
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About Butler Dispatch: Butler Dispatch is a large and reputable news media outlet in Pennsylvania.
Gary Liu
CEO of South China Morning Post
Gary is the CEO of Digg, a New York based content discovery startup. He joined Digg originally as Chief Operating Officer, leading revenue strategy and operations across all functions. Previously, Gary was Head of Spotify Labs, where he led emerging technologies and new business strategies for Spotify’s global markets. Prior to that, he was Spotify’s Global Director of Ad Product Strategy. Before Spotify, Gary was the Director of Sales Strategy and Operations at AOL (Patch), and was a business and sales operations leader at both Clickable and Google. Born in California, Gary grew up in Taiwan and New Zealand, but has called the US Northeast his home for the past 19 years. He now lives in New York City with his wife Katrina, a pediatric dentist, 2 cats, and a dog. Ironically, he is extremely allergic to animals, and deathly afraid of dentists. Gary holds a BA in Economics from Harvard University.
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About South China Morning Post: South China Morning Post is an internationally-recognized English language newspaper in Hong Kong.
Jon Gosier
Founder & CEO of FilmHedge
Jon Gosier is a serial entrepreneur and investor in FinTech and media, author, screenwriter, and philanthropist. He is leveraging decades of experience to reimagine how investment, technology, and media intertwine. His newest company, FIlmHedge, is revolutionizing the business model of investing in media, creating a technology-driven process that increases transparency and efficiency for investors and creating an access point to capital for creators to access quickly and that doesn’t rely upon their own relationships in the industry. FilmHedge provides fixed-interest loans of up to $1 million and lines of credit up to $5 million to help finance movie and TV productions.
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About FilmHedge, HarperCollins, Pavillon Afriques, Sound Media Ventures, Southbox, Strawberry Pictures Global Media, WOCstar Fund, WoundMetrics Inc.: 2-sided Fin-tech Marketplace providing financing to Film/TV
AF_initDataCallback({key: \’ds:1\'” alt=”” class=”wp-image-14850″ width=”154″ height=”152″/>Michael Golomb
Founder and CEO of FanVestor
A hands-on company builder, Michael’s background as an entrepreneurial CFO with three exits behind him, is the culmination of twenty years of senior management experience across a broad spectrum of industries. His expertise has been successfully applied across verticals ranging from startups to large public corporations including Blockchain, manufacturing, digital health & medical devices, consumer electronics & hardware, software/SaaS, and real estate. In addition to Michael’s global experience in raising equity though variety of public and private equity/debt instruments, as well as experience in handling complex M&A transactions, he also brings exceptional knowhow of Blockchain technology to DASAN Zhone Solutions. Earlier in 2017, (prior to joining DASAN) together with the other Blockchain industry veterans, Michael co-founded the ICO Governance Foundation, a non-profit decentralized global organization with a protocol-based global community mission that performs a self-regulatory function for ICOs in decentralized capital markets. In Oct 2016, Michael founded EdenCoin – a global cryptocurrency quantitative market-maker start-up with offices in San Francisco and New York: a proprietary liquidity aggregation platform to consolidate trading volume and data from major cryptocurrency market sources to run algorithmic market-making and liquidity provisioning, as well as other, quantitative strategies. From June 2015 to May 2017, while CFO at Breathometer, a hyper-growth digital health and medical device company, he helped take that company from pre-revenue to shipping in the FDA regulated space, forming OEM partnership with Philips, raising capital from venture capital firms and global strategic investors, as well as successfully achieving the ISO13485:2003 Certification milestone. Prior to Breathometer, Michael was the first employee (CFO, Board Member, and Head of SF Office) at BitFury, and helped build the market leading full-service Blockchain technology company, and one of the largest private infrastructure providers in the Blockchain ecosystem, taking it from zero to over $500M valuation and from 3 to over 120 employees in 7 countries between December 2013 through April 2015. Other notable roles include: ” Co-Founder and Co-President at Mayak RE, where he led the formation of JV with Morgan Stanley and MCP Private Equity Fund in Europe. ” CFO of Sistema Hals, he directed a highly successful London/LSE IPO with market capitalization at $2.7B. ” Head of Compliance / Sr. Finance Manager at Trimble, he effectively implemented global Sarbanes-Oxley compliance program, participated in private debt placement, as well as acquired/integrated several international technology companies. Michael received MSc in Management from Stanford Graduate School of Business in 2013, his MBA from Santa Clara University in 2000, and his B.A. with double major in Economics and Diplomacy & World Affairs from Occidental College in 1996. He is also a CPA (inactive) in California.
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About FanVestor: FanVestor is a FINRA-regulated crowdfunding platform that enables entertainment and sports celebrities to capitalize on their fanbases.
Victor Gajendran
Co-founder and CEO of Ticketmaster
Co-founder and CEO at Gento.
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About Gento, Ticketmaster: Ticketmaster is the world’s largest ticket marketplace and the global market leader in live event ticketing.
L.A. Reid
Chairman & CEO of Epic Records
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About Epic Records: Epic Records Group operates a recording studio that markets DVDs and videos in jazz and classical releases, as well as rock, pop.
Chandler Tuttle
CEO of Freethink Media
Chandler Tuttle is a partner at Freethink, a digital media company based in New York City and Washington, DC. Tuttle previously served as the Creative Director for the Oslo Freedom Forum, a yearly international gathering of world leaders, journalists, activists and entrepreneurs, described by The Economist as “a spectacular Human Rights Festival, fast on its way to becoming the Davos of Human Rights.” Prior to that, he spent two years as the Assistant to the President at Focus Features before leaving to write and direct the short film 2081, based on Kurt Vonnegut’s acclaimed classic “Harrison Bergeron”. Tuttle currently resides in New York City with his wife and child.
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About Freethink Media: Freethink Media is a creative media company for the people and ideas that are changing their world.
Chris Albrecht
President, CEO of Starz Entertainment
Chris Albrecht changed the television landscape when he was CEO at HBO, transforming the company from a movie-focused cable TV service into a worldwide leader in original programming and creating such hit series as “Sex and the City,” “The Sopranos,” and “Six Feet Under.” This summer — just after Albrecht reupped as CEO of Starz, which he joined in January 2010 — the company was bought by Lionsgate in a deal that creates a vertically integrated global content platform with one of the largest independent television businesses in the world, a 16,000-title film and television library and a premium pay network serving nearly 25 million subscribers.Previously, Albrecht worked at International Creative Management where he signed and represented comedians including Whoopi Goldberg, Eddie Murphy and Billy Crystal; he also co-founded Comic Relief, which in 20 years raised more than $50 million to benefit the homeless.
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About Starz Entertainment: Starz Entertainment is a provider of premium subscription video programming through the flagship.
Chris Baker
CEO of SoftServe
Chris Baker serves as the Chief Executive Officer at SoftServe.
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About SoftServe: SoftServe is a digital authority that advises and provides at the cutting-edge of technology.
Bryan Goldberg
Founder and CEO of Bustle Digital Group
Bryan Goldberg is an entrepreneur in New York and San Francisco. He is the founder and CEO of Bustle.com. He previously founded Bleacher Report, and currently advises several startups.
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About Bustle Digital Group: Bustle Digital Group is a news, entertainment, lifestyle and fashion website that caters to women.
Jared Augustine
CEO & Co-Founder of Thuzio
Jared is the CEO and Co-Founder of Thuzio, and the Founder of Julius.
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About Julius, Thuzio: Thuzio is a client entertainment platform for b-to-b sales organizations and professionals.
Sam Mallikarjunan
CEO & Co-Founder of OneScreen.AI
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About HubSpot, OneScreen.AI: The world’s first Market Network for real-world media. Performance marketing meets out-of-home on the internet of places.
Cenk Sidar
Co-Founder & CEO of Enquire AI
Cenk has been global risk executive for 12 years before launching GlobalWonks as the CEO. He has worked extensively assisting top financial institutions, multinational corporations, risk management firms, and legal firms operating in high-risk regions. Cenk holds an MA degree in international economics and international relations from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, a postgraduate degree in European studies from SAIS’s Bologna Center in Italy, and a BA degree in business administration and international relations from the Istanbul Bilgi University.
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About Enquire AI, Sidar Global Ventures: An insights software company that provides enterprises a comprehensive toolkit to easily discover and leverage expert knowledge in real time
Lance Johnson
CEO of Recurrent Ventures
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About Recurrent Ventures: Recurrent is an innovative digital media company that helps brands to grow, and connect with consumers.
Andy Dinh
Co-Founder and CEO of Blitz App
Andy Dinh is the founder and CEO at Blitz App.
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About Blitz App, Team SoloMid: Your personal gaming coach for League of Legends, Valorant, CSGO, Fortnite and more— powered by AI and built with professional players.
Mathu Rajan
Founder & CEO of Stream TV Networks
Mathu has a strong science background and was the co-inventor of a proprietary technology that was the basis for the company that he helped found. In developing technology into a business he obtained four patents that now are in products sold at various retailers nationwide in the United States. Mathu also has a background in finance and has been successful in the raising of substantial amounts on corporate financing. Mathu founded Stream TV Networks, Inc. with the aim of bringing new media experiences to consumers around the world. He uses his science background to push the expansion of the Ultra-D 3D technology. He has brought together skilled engineers in Europe, Silicon Valley, and Asia to create a technology team committed to introducing industry-changing solutions for media.
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About Stream TV Networks: Stream TV Networks, Inc. is a Philadelphia-based new media company.
Bertram Meyer
Co-founder and CEO of ONEDOME
Bertram is a serial entrepreneur. He is the Co-founder and CEO of Onedome. Prior, he co-founded Taulia and led it as CEO for 7 years. He has raised $100M+ for various companies and had a successful exit in 2006 as one of only 5 executives and equity holders in Ebydos (sold to Readsoft which was then acquired by Lexmark). Bertram is passionate about impactful and mission-driven businesses…and in showing that they can be very profitable at the same time.
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About ONEDOME: ONEDOME is a location-based entertainment and immersive media company.
John Shahidi
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Shots Studios
John Shahidi is CEO and Co-Founder of Shots Studios, a global entertainment company at the center of a new age of media and content. Along with his brother, Sam, Shahidi’s leadership guided Shots’ transition from a successful selfie-sharing app to an original comedy and music production studio. In 2018, Billboard called Shahidi an “internationalist” for his role in dance music’s expansion. He was also recognized by Billboard as a part of “music’s new power generation” as an innovator for launching Venezuelan-American digital creator Lele Pons’ music career, introducing Brazilian superstar Anitta to new markets, and propelling Swedish producer Alesso to new heights.
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About Shots Studios: Shots Studios is a Los Angeles-based, data-driven entertainment company that produces online comedy and music videos.
George Laughlin
CEO of YEA Networks
George Laughlin is the CEO of YEA Networks, a media content company established in 2006. Before taking on this role in 2011, George Laughlin raised $100 million+ in order to create GAP Broadcasting where he was president. Laughlin has a BA in Journalism from Louisiana State University (1991) and has worked in the radio industry for more than two-and-a-half decades.
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About High 5 Media, YEA Networks: Yea Networks has been a creator of iOS applications for a while now. There application Kiddnation has had more than 50000 downloads in the
Eli Dawson
Co-Founder and CEO of StatMuse
Co-Founder, CEO at StatMuse.
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About StatMuse: StatMuse is a sports statistics website that allows users to search for players and view customizable statistics.
Charles Kim
CEO of CRAVE Global
Charles Kim currently works as Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Crave Global, Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Extol Capital, Executive Vice-Chairman of the Black Kestral Group, and is a Steering Committee Member of the White Kestral Summit.
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About Black Kestral Group, China Renaissance, CRAVE Global: CRAVE Global is a full-service celebrity platform that represents celebrities, influencers, sports, and entertainment properties in China.
Brian Graden
Founder and CEO of Brian Graden Media
For generations of young people, the name Brian Graden might not ring a bell. A glance at his resume certainly will. This longtime production pacesetter has spent a career developing and fostering cutting-edge television as well as steering the programming divisions of major entertainment networks: with his talented hand, some of the most forward-thinking, edgy, and plain entertaining television of the past 25 years has come to life. His accomplishments each stand on their own as signposts of a career that’s anticipated every major turn. From his earliest days as a junior executive overseeing the trailblazing COPS and America’s Most Wanted, to his guiding hand in the development of South Park, to transforming the formerly staid VH1 into a pop culture powerhouse, Brian Graden’s work has consistently helped to define it’s time while also pointing to what’s next. During his time as MTV Networks President of Entertainment, he oversaw the creation of a new canon of young people’s programming with shows like TRL, Pimp My Ride, Punk’d, Jackass, Jersey Shore, and countless others. Striking out on his own, Brian started Brian Graden Media in 2013. BGM’s forays into the digital world have continued the success he started on television, garnering an Emmy award for the genre-bending interactive show HitRecord on TV, and developing a suite of YouTube Original programming and unconventionally fascinating cable shows, each tuned into what’s driving views and clicks in today’s evolving media landscape. With his track record, it’s hard to bet against BGM. It’s not entertainment alone that defines Brian Graden. A passionate advocate for equality, Brian personally spearheaded MTV’s Fight for Your Rights: Take a Stand Against Violence campaign while at the network. He’s been the recipient of numerous awards for his advocacy including the GLAAD Media Vito Russo Award for Excellence in Media, the EQCA Award for Commitment to Advancing LGBT Equality, and the Equality Forum’s National Role Model award. He’s also delivered keynote addresses at the Harvard Gay & Lesbian Caucus Annual Commencement, the Reaching Out MBA Conference, and the Cellcom Media Conference. When he isn’t working, Brian is an avid musician, having manned the keyboards for cover band Ace Oxygen and the Ozones in high school before turning his ambitions towards Hollywood. Today, his musical tastes are as varied and diverse as his shows’ audiences. Brian Graden currently lives in Los Angeles, California.
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About Brian Graden Media: Brian Graden Media an Emmy award-winning television production company based in Hollywood, CA.
James Norman
CEO / Co-Founder of Pilotly
James Norman is the Founder & CEO at Pilotly .James Norman is a serial entrepreneur who at the age of 16 built his first online company, an aftermarket automotive e-commerce site called MJH Sound.com. While previously he may have been known as a visionary in automotive product planning, over the past 9 years in the media and entertainment industry he has become a thought leader in over-the-top media and consumer video consumption behaviors. In 2008, James founded Ubi Video, one of the first aggregators of all things streaming video. After a MVPD offered to acquire Ubi’s technology, he moved on to develop GroupFlix, an a-la-carte streaming service. By cleverly bundling EST content, allowing users to select the shows they love in a low monthly subscription, GroupFlix was the first viable a-la-carte TV model. His latest venture, Pilotly, is a consumer insights platform that enables content creators to get feedback from audiences at scale. Today, the platform provides insights to the NBCUniversal family, Ovation TV, OtterMedia and others. James earned his BSE in Electrical Engineering from University of Michigan and is a proud member of the 500 Startups family. He was given the OTT Genius Award by the OTT Executive Summit in 2014. He has also been recognized for excellence in special automotive projects by Mazda Design North America and Sony Gran Turismo
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About Black Operator Ventures, Pilotly, Transparent Collective: Enabling content creators to get feedback from audiences at scale
Pete Cashmore
Founder & CEO of Mashable
Pete Cashmore is the founder and CEO of Mashable, the leading source of news, information & resources for the Connected Generation. Pete founded Mashable in 2005 in Aberdeenshire, Scotland when he was 19. His passion for sharing how web tools and social networks were transforming human interactions and reshaping cultures drove him to create Mashable. Always an entrepreneur, Pete has continued to push Mashable to evolve from a tech blog to a global media company built around technology. He leads Mashable’s strategy and his innate sense of the web and its community, are core to the company’s operations and future growth. He has been described as the “Sage of Media” and considered one of the most influential voices of his generation– on and offline. Pete was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in 2012. He was featured on Forbes 30 under 30 list, named one of Ad Age’s 2011 influencers, and was named a Young Global Leader by The World Economic Forum.
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About Mashable: Mashable is a media company for the connected generation and voice of digital culture.
Robert Bakish
President and Chief Executive Officer of Viacom
Bob Bakish is president and CEO of Viacom, home to global entertainment brands including Paramount Pictures, MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, and BET, and the leading free-streaming TV service in the U.S., Pluto TV. In August 2019, Viacom and CBS announced an agreement to merge. Upon completion, Bakish will become president and CEO of the combined company, ViacomCBS. He was appointed to his current role in 2016 after leading Viacom International Media Networks since 2007. In this position, he doubled revenues and guided a significant expansion of the company’s international footprint. He joined Viacom in 1997 after serving as a partner with Booz Allen & Hamilton. A graduate of Columbia’s business and engineering schools, Bakish is on the boards of both and is a director on the board of AVID Technologies.
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About Viacom, ViacomCBS: Viacom is an American media conglomerate specializing in cable, satellite television networks, and cinema.
Perkins Miller
CEO of Fandom
Perkins Miller is the CEO of Fandom.
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About Fandom: Fandom is a developer of a global entertainment media platform designed for fans to explore, contribute to, and celebrate.
Julia Enthoven
Co-Founder and CEO of Kapwing
Julia Enthoven is the Founder of Kapwing.
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About Kapwing: Online editor for modern videos, GIFs, and images
Don Russell
Chairmen, CEO of IndyBuild
Mr. Russell has more than 25 years of experience and a strong track record of success that includes streamlining operations and maximizing productivity. Prior to launching IndyBuild Corp, he served as President and CEO of Piracy Control Technology. Also, Mr. Russell served as Director of Marketing at Rockstar Beverage Corporation. There, Mr. Russell was responsible for researching and understanding product brand study demographics, producing promotions to target key areas, coordinating product breakouts to maximize productivity, and acting as a liaison between various departments. Mr. Russell gained additional experience by serving as the Creative Director of Expo Theatre Productions, where he prepared and presented client presentations and maintained responsibility for hiring independent contractors. He was also the President and Owner of PM Studios for more than five years, while serving as an A&R director at MCA/Universal Music Grou. Mr. Russell attended Columbia College in Chicago and the University of Phoenix – Chicago campus. He has extensive experience as a performer, producer, manager and director in the entertainment industry. He has performed in or directed several notable productions over the past 10 years. Some of his production credits include: • “Riverdance,” where he served as a principal artist • “Satin Suite,” where he performed as headliner on the Olive Garden Theater stage at Walt Disney World • “Broadway Soul Jam,” where he performed in Amsterdam as a headliner in the very popular and successful musical directed by Maurice Hines Mr. Russell’s innovation in the area of musical theater has captured the attention of many great icons such as: • Oprah Winfrey, on whose show Mr. Russell performed • Gregory Hines, with whom he has performed • President Bill Clinton, for whom Mr. Russell performed for at the opening ceremony for the 1996 Democratic National Convention As sole owner of one of California’s premier recording studios, Mr. Russell has had the opportunity to work with such talents as R. Kelly, Dr. Dre, Jamie Fox, Randy Jackson, Common, Kid Rock, Ludacris, Jermaine Dupri, Be Be Winans, Glenn Jones, Al B Sure, Faith Evans, Jon B, The Brat, Onyx, Ideal, 112, Savion Glover, LeVert, The Gap Band, Terrance Howard, Malik Yoba, Brian McKnight, The Nicolas Brothers, Sinbad, Bernie Mac, and Steve Harvey. Mr. Russell has also directed or produced industrials and tradeshows for such companies as Honda, Seagram’s, McDonalds, Coca-Cola, Fujitsu, Nupremis, AMD, Unisys, and IBM.
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About IndyBuild: IndyBuild is a free entertainment industry platform developed to fully showcase creative and performing artists
Luke McDonough
Founder, CEO of AIR.TV
Luke McDonough is Founder & CEO at AIR.TV.
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About AIR.TV, IFILM: AIR.TV enables the distribution and monetization of viral videos on websites.
Kirill Avery
Founder & CEO of fjklw
Entrepreneur, Software Engineer Forbes 30 under 30 Nominee at 17 y.o.
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About fjklw, Lalabox: aa
Justin David Blau
CEO & Co-Founder of Royal
Justin David Blau, better known by his stage name 3LAU, is an American DJ and electronic dance music producer.
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About Royal: Royal is a developer of an NFT-based music platform used to allow buy ownership in songs.
Maverick Carter
Founder & Chief Executive Officer of SpringHill Entertainment
Carter, CEO of SpringHill Entertainment and its premiere digital media company UNINTERRUPTED, oversees the expanding entertainment companies’ overall strategic direction, spearheads their new business and content development partnerships, and guides their growing multi-platform global distribution efforts. In addition, Carter plays a vital role in all project, partner and talent developments, leveraging key relationships and providing unique insight to create original, exclusive, and authentic content across a variety of mediums. With a steadily expanding portfolio of innovative projects, Carter has quickly become an influential figure in the media and entertainment industry. One of SpringHill Entertainment’s fastest growing ventures is UNINTERRUPTED, the multimedia content network created by Carter and James in 2015 that provides unique personalities in sports and entertainment the platform to develop and amplify their stories. Since its debut, UNINTERRUPTED has forged partnerships with a growing list of industry-leading companies including Warner Bros. Entertainment, Facebook, and Verizon to create and distribute its unique, creative and captivating content globally across multiple platforms with a particular focus on mobile, web, and social distribution streams.
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About PureBrands, SpringHill Entertainment: They pride ourselves on incubating, developing, and producing work that speaks to a cross-cultural audience.
Meg Whitman
CEO of Quibi
Meg Whitman has served Hewlett-Packard as Chairman of the Board since July 2014, as President and Chief Executive Officer since September 2011 and as a member of the Board since January 2011. From March 2011 to September 2011, Whitman served as a part-time strategic advisor to Kleiner, Perkins, Caulfield & Byers, a private equity firm. Previously, Whitman served as President and Chief Executive Officer of eBay Inc., from 1998 to 2008. Prior to joining eBay,Whitman held executive-level positions at Hasbro Inc., a toy company, FTD, Inc., a floral products company, The Stride Rite Corporation, a footwear company, The Walt Disney Company, an entertainment company, and Bain & Company, a consulting company. Whitman also serves as a director of The Procter & Gamble Company.
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About Gen Cap America, Quibi: Quibi is a media company developing short-form media content designed for smartphones.
Paul Budnitz
Founder & CEO of Superplastic
PAUL BUDNITZ is an American entrepreneur, artist, designer, filmmaker, photographer, author, and database programmer. He has founded over a dozen companies including the world’s top animated celebrity & synthetic media brand Superplastic, art toy brand Kidrobot, luxury bicycle manufacturer Budnitz Bicycles, and Ello, the social network for creators. Budnitz’ designs appear in permanent collection of MoMA, and his films have won awards worldwide. He wrote backend software that runs most of his companies, is the author of four books, and lectures on creativity worldwide. Budnitz studied art Yale University and lives in Burlington, Vermont.
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About Budnitz Bicycles, Ello, Superplastic, Superplastic: Superplastic is a character-based product and entertainment company that creates limited edition art toys, apparel, games, and animation.
Ishaan Sutaria
Co-Founder, Co-CEO of Wave Sports + Entertainment
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About Wave Sports + Entertainment: Wave Sports + Entertainment is a media company built for the next generation of digital superfans.
Wared Seger
CEO & Co-Founder of Parrot Analytics
Operating at the intersection of science, technology and entrepreneurship. Author of the world’s first quantitative thesis on founder succession in technology firms. 2017 Variety 30 Under 30 Hollywood Leaders. 2018 Broadcasting & Cable 40 Under 40 Media Execs / 2018 NYC TV Week Awards. Bringing to life The Wisdom of Crowds.
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About Parrot Analytics: Parrot Analytics is a data science company that measures and predicts global demand for content, across all platforms, around the world.
Udaynandan Reddy Padi
Founder and CEO of YUPPTV
Udaynandan Reddy, a visionary philanthropist founded YuppTV in 2006 with the vision to create a company that converges technologies in providing a virtual home based access to Entertainment, information and communication anytime, anywhere across the globe. From Social networking portals, Internet TV, Live mobile TV, to Online advertising; he led YuppTV to create its own identity through continuous expansion and innovation. His specialty is in Market penetration strategies, Top line growth, deployment of 2.5/3G networks in various countries and new product Introduction with go to market strategy. His Complex Contract negotiations has resulted in strong relationships with key players in both operator and vendor communities in the markets of India, Caribbean, Latin America, United States and Asia Pacific regions. Udaynandan Reddy served as a Director for Nortel, where he was responsible for Cable and Wireless Sales in Caribbean. Uday carries more than 15 years of rich experience in Telecom and Networking arena. This visionary philanthropist founded the modernvillagevision2020.com as an attempt to reduce the social and economic disparity between rural and urban sectors through the introduction of technological infrastructure into the rural sector.
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About Turito, YUPPTV: YUPPTV is an online platform providing access to TV channels and magazines of various languages.
Jon Van Caneghem
Founder & Chief Executive Officer of VC Mobile Entertainment
Jon Van Caneghem is a computer game designer and producer. He is most recognized for creating the Might and Magic role-playing game series and its strategy spin-off Heroes of Might and Magic. Van Caneghem founded New World Computing in 1983. The company was acquired by The 3DO Company in 1996. When 3DO went bankrupt in 2003, New World Computing also disappeared. In 2004, Van Caneghem joined NCSoft. Shortly after, he was inducted into Computer Gaming World’s Hall of Fame. In 2005 he left NCSoft. On September 25, 2006 it was announced that Van Caneghem, together with Lars Buttler, former vice president of Global Online at Electronic Arts, formed a new company named Trion World Network, headquartered in Redwood City, California, that would “leverage all the inherent capabilities of broadband, provide original entertainment, and define the future of media in the global broadband era” As of 2009, Jon Van Caneghem Is no longer part of Trion Wold Network
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About Tencent, VC Mobile Entertainment: VC Mobile Entertainment develops mobile, PC, console, and online games.
Ben Antier
CEO of Publica
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About Publica: Publica is a technology company focused on internet-connected TV advertising.
David G. Martin
CEO of RiffTrax
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About RiffTrax: RiffTrax features funny audio commentaries by Michael J. Nelson and other stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000.
Emery Wells
CEO of Frame.io
Emery Wells is the CEO of Frame.io from Feb 2014.
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About Frame.io: Frame.io is a cloud-based video collaboration platform that allows users to upload source media and assets into private workspaces.
Douglas Colbeth
Founder & CEO of MedCircle
Douglas Colbeth became president and chief executive officer of Kinaxis in March 2003. As one of the true visionaries of the Internet explosion in the mid 1990’s, he envisioned the opportunity to be a leader in delivering an on-demand supply chain management service. He then came across what he describes as a “gang of supply chain geniuses” in Canada, who had already developed very powerful modeling and collaboration technology. After going public in 2014 – Kinaxis has a market capitalization of approximately $2 Billion. Doug understood what the Internet’s influence on consumer behavior would be and how it would dramatically increase demand volatility. The problem of effectively responding to consumer demand would be further exacerbated by the dramatic market shift of outsourced manufacturing operations. Under Doug’s leadership, Kinaxis developed a world-class offering which enables companies to build better supply chain plans and quickly respond to constant changes in demand, supply and product — driving breakthroughs in customer service and operations performance. Today, the Kinaxis RapidResponse® cloud service empowers front-line decision makers at brand name companies and contract manufacturers with multi-enterprise visibility and collaborative analysis tools to effectively respond to change across an entire distributed supply chain. Prior to Kinaxis, Doug was chief executive officer of Spyglass Inc., a leading provider of Internet software technologies. Spyglass technologies are utilized inside millions of products including PCs, televisions, telephones, and other hand-held devices. Most notably, Spyglass technology is the foundation of the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser. In June 1995, Spyglass became the first Internet software company to conduct a successful Initial Public Offering. In March 2000, Doug negotiated its merger with OpenTV Inc., at a value of $2.4 Billion. Outside of his work with Kinaxis, Doug and his wife Margaret are pioneer philanthropists in the area of juvenile brain diseases. Established in 2000, the Colbeth Clinic is operated by the University of Illinois Medical Center and serves inner city children in the Chicago area. This state of the art clinic employs a multidisciplinary approach to treating a wide range of brain diseases including: autism, depression, bipolar, OCD, ADHD, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Doug holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Siena College in Loudonville, New York, and studied Quantitative Economics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (R.P.I.) in Troy, New York. While attending R.P.I., Doug was awarded a research grant from Texas Instruments Inc. to develop modeling software for various Texas Instruments products.
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About MedCircle: MedCircle is a San Diego based company redefining the mental health care market
David Hyman
Chief Executive Officer of Chosen
David Hyman, a self-proclaimed music junkie, is CEO of Chosen, a next generation competition platform for performers, launching q1 of 2015. Prior to Chosen, David was CEO and Founder of the award-winning music subscription service, MOG, which he sold to Beats Electronics in 2012. A true music industry innovator, David aims to turn the performance and competition world on its ear and re-invent the genre of performance competition and free it from the constraints of linear based television MOG Inc. was founded in 2005, and under his leadership, David’s company offered an award-winning, unlimited, on-demand subscription music service that provides access to a vast library of over 11 million songs from over one million albums through its mobile apps, online, & on streaming entertainment and consumer electronic devices. MOG Inc., was also provider of The MOG Music Network (MMN), the premier destination for music content online & largest music focused advertising network consisting of over 1700 music sites, reaching over 46 million people each month. Prior to MOG Inc., David served as CEO of Gracenote, the world’s largest music database & music-identification service, which sold to Sony for $260 million in 2008. Previously, he was SVP of Marketing at MTV Interactive, & co-founded Addicted to Noise, the webzine that pioneered multimedia music reporting & around-the-clock music news. Finding himself at the intersection of music and technology, David is a frequent speaker at conferences such as SXSW, CES and Midem. In 2008, he founded Musica Tecnomica, a regular gathering of music-focused innovators in San Francisco.
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About Chosen, Unagi Scooters: Chosen is a video based, crowd judged, competition platform.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Co-founder & CEO of HitRecord
Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s acting career spans the last three decades, and ranges from television (3rd Rock From The Sun) to arthouse (Mysterious Skin, Brick) to multiplex (Inception, 500 Days Of Summer, Snowden). He made his feature screenwriting and directorial debut with Don Jon (Independent Spirit Award nomination, Best First Screenplay). He also serves as the CEO of HITRECORD, a “community-sourced”, online creative platform for collaborative art and media projects of all kinds. HITRECORD’s online community of over 750,000 artists emphasizes creative collaboration over self-promotion, producing content for partners ranging from LG to Ubisoft to the ACLU, and winning an Emmy for its variety show HITRECORD ON TV.
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About HitRecord: HitRecord is an online community working together as a production company.
Rian Bosak
Founder, CEO of Superbam
Rian Bosak began his career in digital media as a co-founder of style haul. From there, he moved to fullscreen, where he oversaw network operations and rights management, capturing millions in revenue for media companies and independent content creators. Since starting superbam, rian has extended his expertise to even more creators and media outlets who are looking to take control of their content.
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About Fullscreen, Superbam: Superbam is a digital rights management provider.
Steve Martocci
Chief Executive Officer of Splice
Steve Martocci is a co-founder of Splice, a technology platform for music creators which streamlines the fragmented process of creating and sharing music, freeing musicians to spend their time and energy on the creative process. Previously he was a co-founder of GroupMe, a group messaging service that in August 2011 was acquired by Skype, which was subsequently acquired by Microsoft in October 2011. Prior to GroupMe, Steve was a lead software engineer at Gilt Groupe and founded Sympact Technologies and Bandwith.us. Steve helps lead SummerQAmp, a nationwide initiative to create tech jobs for American youth and train a new workforce in high-tech skills. Steve is actively involved in the New York tech startup scene, serving as a Techstars mentor, onSwipe advisor and an investor in companies including Codecademy, SmartThings, TransferWise and Timehop. Steve graduated from Carnegie Melon University in 2004 with a B.S. in Information Systems and currently lives in New York City.
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About BLADE, Splice: Splice provides a technology platform for music creators that streamlines the process of creating and sharing music.
Niko Vuori
Founder & CEO of Drivetime
Founder & CEO Drivetime, co-founder & COO of Rocket Games, product at ToyTalk & BranchOut, GM Zynga Poker, founder & CEO Informifi.
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About Drivetime: Drivetime provides an online platform designed to help users play games while they drive.
