board of advisors
Jim Friedlich
Jim Friedlich is a partner at ZelnickMedia, focusing on investments in business information, business services and digital media. Prior to joining ZelnickMedia in 2001, he held a series of senior executive positions at The Wall Street Journal overseeing global sales, marketing, and business development for Dow Jones' online, print, event and TV properties.
Geraldine Laybourne
Geraldine is the co-founder of Oxygen Media, a 24-hour cable television network for young women. She served as chairperson and CEO of Oxygen Media until she sold it to NBC Universal in 2007. She served as president of Disney/ABC Cable Networks (from 1996-1998) where she ran cable programming for the Walt Disney Company and its ABC subsidiary. She also led the team that created Nickelodeon and "Nick at Nite" in the 80s and 90s. Geraldine was ranked No. 1 among the 50 most influential women in the entertainment industry by The Hollywood Reporter in 1996 and named one of the 25 most influential people in America by Time magazine that same year.
Jon Mandel
Jon has most recently been CEO of NielsenConnect, a change-forcing unit of the Nielsen Company responsible for connecting all of the different information resources across Nielsen. Prior to this corporate role, Jon was chief of strategic solutions for GroupM, one of the world's largest media communications companies. Before GroupM, he was chairman of MediaCom US. He joined Grey Advertising in 1974 and by 1979 was promoted to vice president/director of national broadcast, where he remained until MediaCom's formation in the U.S. in 1997. During his years at MediaCom, he advised numerous accounts in various roles including co-managing director, chief negotiating officer, co-CEO, co-CEO of MediaCom Latino, chief global buying officer of MediaCom Worldwide, in addition to his role as chairman of MediaCom US.
Nishant Mani
Nishant runs online advertising for Capital One's US Card businesses, with a focus on lead generation, direct marketing and acquisitions. He has extensive experience with data-based online advertising solutions and analytics, and has partnered with many established and emerging digital firms. He is currently leading Capital One's charge to leverage varied online-offline consumer information in designing targeted advertising campaigns. Prior to his online life at Capital One, he gained rigorous expertise in the company's information-based strategy across many lending practices. He has also conducted multiple engagements in the entertainment industry in companies such as MTV Networks, Warner Music and Sony BMG, focusing on business development and digital strategy.
Marta Martinez
Marta is the EVP of global business development at HAVAS, one of the top three global agency holding companies. She works closely with the group's executive and operational management on identifying and executing strategic development opportunities across Havas Digital. Her breadth of marketing experience grew from her work in several different business units within the Havas Media group across Europe, Latin America and the U.S. Prior to joining MPG, Marta was a management consultant for marchFIRST in the U.S. and Cluster in Europe, where her observations and insights were sought by clients including The Walt Disney Company, AT&T, Universal Studios, Aprilia, Planeta Publishing and the city of Bilbao.
Joseph Plummer
Joseph is a professor of marketing at Columbia University's School of Business. Prior to taking an academic title, Joseph was executive vice president, director of research and insight development for McCann-Erickson WorldGroup and a member of the firm's executive committee and board of directors. Before this, he was director of brand strategy on global accounts for McCann-Erickson WorldGroup. His responsibilities included helping global clients develop brand vision and values, creating growth strategies for the future and developing communication strategies to build brand equity. Prior to joining McCann-Erickson in 1997, Joseph was vice chairman and worldwide planning director at DMB&B advertising and a member of the DMB&B board of directors and the executive committee.
Professor Foster Provost
Foster is a Professor at NYU's Stern School of Business, where he holds an NEC faculty fellowship and a Paduano fellowship in business ethics. His research and teaching focuses on data mining, machine learning, network analysis, and social-network marketing. Foster is also editor-in-chief of the Journal Machine Learning. He has written over 100 technical papers, tutorials, and patents, and has applied machine learning technologies to many business and government applications, including fraud detection, counterterrorism analysis, on-line advertising, targeted marketing, network diagnosis, and customer contact management.
Julie Roehm
Julie is a marketing strategy consultant that works with all industries and segments to provide strategic insight, planning and execution particularly in the areas of marketing, new media, insight and positioning. She is a frequent contributor on Fox Business News regarding consumer insights, marketing strategies and performance results. She was most recently the senior vice president of marketing communications for Wal-Mart Stores. Prior to this, Julie was the global director of marketing communications for Chrysler Group, responsible for all branded marketing for the Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge brands.
