Meet our management
Todd Tappin
CEO
Mr. Tappin was most recently a Managing Director of The Gores Group, an LA based private equity firm. Prior to the Gores Group, Mr. Tappin was the founding CFO of Helio, a telecommunications company, and the founding CFO of Overture, the pioneer in paid search. More
Mr. Tappin helped lead Helio from start up to a $200 million wireless company. During his tenure at Overture, the company grew from start up to over $1 billion in annual revenue, over 1400 employees, and was operating successfully in 9 countries. Mr. Tappin built and oversaw all strategic planning, finance, legal, M&A and administrative functions, led the company's IPO and secondary public offerings, was instrumental in the company's international expansion and key affiliate deals, and co-led the sale of the company to Yahoo!.
Prior to Overture, Mr. Tappin spent six years as a senior executive at News Corporation, where he ultimately held three simultaneous positions as the Senior Vice President of Finance for Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, the Senior Vice President of Finance for Fox Interactive, and General Manger for Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, Canada. Mr. Tappin began his career at Deloitte, Haskins and Sells. Less
Ed Davis
SVP and GM, Product and Technology
Ed leads the product development for the SocialVibe. In the ten years prior to joining SocialVibe, Ed held progressively senior positions within the Walt Disney Company and ESPN, most recently as Vice President and General Manager for social media within ESPN.
Chris Rooke
SVP Global Business Development
Chris manages biz dev and strategic partnerships to expand the reach of SocialVibe. Prior to SocialVibe, Chris was SVP of Interactive Media at CBS Television Distribution and King World Productions where he transformed the company’s network of sites into a profitable new media operation. More
Chris headed the company’s business development initiatives aimed at building alliances across consumer websites, social media networks, mobile applications, and widgets, and he built a video content distribution network for the company that grew to over 130 websites, aggregators, and portals with over 16.5 million monthly views. Prior to his role as SVP of Interactive Media, Chris was VP of Domestic Sales at King World Productions and also served as Chair of the King World New Media Group which implemented some of the company’s first online and mobile initiatives. Less
David Levy
Co-Founder
David manages SocialVibe’s Business Development relationships, working with social media properties to build SocialVibe’s reach. He also manages key relationships with charitable organizations and facilitates their involvement within the SocialVibe community. Before joining SocialVibe, David was with Bainbridge Capital, a merger and acquisition advisory firm.
Mike Barbeau
SVP, North America
A 12-year veteran of the advertising industry, Mike is helping clients like Sprint, Visa, MTV, Nestle and Macy’s get into engagement based social media. Mike is also a member of the Social Media Advertising Consortium (SMAC) and speaks regularly at social media conferences around the country. With SMAC, Mike helped develop a standardized list of terms and definitions for the social media space. More
Prior to joining SocialVibe in January of 2008, Mike worked for 6 years at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco as an Account Director on Comcast, the NBA, Adobe Systems and eBay, among others. Less
Rob Steinberg
VP Market Strategy
Rob leads the Market Strategy group, a team focused on expanding the growth of SocialVibe's engagement advertising business through research and insights. Rob joined SocialVibe in 2008 and has spent his career driving strategic and innovative client advertising from both the media and agency sides. Prior to SocialVibe, Rob led global advertising for Yahoo! Music and held a senior leadership position at advertising agency JWT.
Aaron Stein
VP, Application Engineering
Aaron Stein is VP of Application Development at SocialVibe, where he leads the development of its web and client-side technologies. Prior to joining SocialVibe, Aaron was at Yahoo!, helping to build the Yahoo Publisher Network. Before Yahoo!, Aaron worked for Siebel Systems, Inktomi Corporation, and Cisco Systems. Aaron holds a degree in Computer Science from UC Berkeley.
Joshua Rangsikitpho
VP, Platform Engineering
Joshua Rangsikitpho is VP of Platform Engineering at SocialVibe, where he is in charge of platform services and infrastructure. Prior to joining SocialVibe, Joshua worked at Yahoo!, where he led the design & development for the Publisher Review System – the abuse detection and fraud-prevention system, which was critical to Yahoo! Publisher Network's success. More
Previous to Yahoo!, Josh worked with companies such as Sun Microsystems, Thirdvoice, PROMATIS Corp., and Microdisplay Corp. Josh holds a degree in Computer Science from UC Berkeley. Less
Corey Caffrey
Corporate Development and FPA
Corey leads the Corporate Development and FPA group at SocialVibe. Previously, he was at Broadway Advisors working on the financial and operational restructuring of several national retailers including Z Gallerie and Daphne's Greek Restaurants. More
Prior to Broadway Advisors, Corey worked at Trinity Capital as an investment banker and PricewaterhouseCoopers in the assurance and advisory practice. Less
Jesse Adams
VP, Campaign Operations and Business Analytics
Jesse leads the group responsible for Campaign Operations and Analytics, ensuring day-to-day operational success while building the team for scalability and international expansion. Previously, he was in Corporate Development at MGM Studios in Los Angeles, where he helped guide the green-light process for feature films and major strategic initiatives. More
Prior to moving out west from NYC, Jesse worked at Barclays Capital and Cohen & Steers as an investment banker who always wanted to own a beach cruiser. Less
Richard Reeves
Managing Director, EMEA
Richard leads SocialVibe’s expansion into Europe and the surrounding territories and leads our London based sales team. Richard’s media career began in 1984 and includes the illustrious global brands of The FT, National Geographic, CNN and News Corp. Prior to SocialVibe, Richard was most recently Group Commercial Director for C Squared Communications, a role that included being a founding partner of the much acclaimed Festival of Media Global. More
During his career Richard has held various professional appointments including President of the OPMA (Oversees Press & Media Association), and he was a founding representative of the IOAB UK chapter (now the IAB). Richard has also served as a Development Officer at the Rugby Football Untion (RFU) in the southeast and as Head Coach for the Regions Elite Player Development Academy where he was a mentor to three of the England U20 players. Less
Mike Wade
VP Sales, Midwest and East
Mike leads our Midwest team and pioneers engagement advertising for key brands and agencies so they can take advantage of and benefit from SocialVibe's unique platform. He has spent over 15 years in various sales and marketing roles where he has worked with clients like Ford, Allstate, McDonald's, RadioShack, General Motors, Kimberly-Clark, Unilever and Kellogg's. Previously, Mike was at PointRoll where he led the Major Accounts team.
Star Marcus
VP, Human Relations
Star is VP of human relations at SocialVibe where she leads the company's efforts to be a place where creativity and a sense of possibility thrive. She manages all aspects of talent management, recruitment and human resources. Star has nearly 20 years of leadership and organization development experience working with Fortune 500 companies and start-ups including leadership roles at Thomson Elite, Pinkberry and Zag.com.
Molly Heintz
Director, Communications
Molly leads our PR and communications efforts to make sure you know all about the cool things we’re working on here at SocialVibe. Prior to joining SocialVibe, Molly was at FOX Broadcasting Company where she did publicity and integrated marketing for American Idol, House, The Simpsons and other primetime TV shows. More
Molly earned her B.A. at Yale University and holds an M.A. in communication management from the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism. While at Annenberg, Molly was elected to work on a major graduate research project on consumer behavior and interaction across social media communities for the top 100 global brands. Less
Larry Lieberman
Consumer Engagement Advocate
Larry is lead SocialVibe's political sales efforts by initiating large-scale engagement advertising campaigns across the political spectrum. Additionally, Larry works with brand marketers, agencies and media platforms as an advocate of consumer engagement to help broaden the understanding and adoption of the pay for performance engagement model across digital media. More
Larry brings over 25 years of experience in connecting major brands with emerging technologies including his role as CMO for cloud-computing virtual animation studio Aniboom and CMO for Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Comics and Virgin Animation. He has also held senior marketing positions at Comedy Central, Warner Music Group and MTV where he built media brands and led sales teams with over $1 billion in revenue from the U.S. and overseas. Less
Board members
Brad Jones
Founding Partner, Redpoint Ventures
www.redpoint.com
Brad Jones is a Founding Partner of Redpoint Ventures. Prior to founding Redpoint, Brad was a general partner with Brentwood Venture Capital, a firm he joined in 1981.
Brad currently focuses on technology opportunities located in Southern California. Brad has managed successful investments in biotechnology, communications, Internet commerce, internet infrastructure, medical devices, semiconductors, software, and wireless. More
He has served on the board of ten public companies funded by Brentwood and Redpoint, and currently is a board member of Stamps.com and a number of private companies.
Brad received the Los Angeles Venture Association's first Lifetime Achievement Award, and he was honored with the Supporter of Entrepreneurship Award by the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year program.
Brad received an A.B. in Chemistry, summa cum laude, and an A.M. in Physics from Harvard University. Brad also holds an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business where he was an Arjay Miller scholar, and a J.D. from the Stanford Law School, where he was elected to the Order of the Coif. Less
Kurt Johnson
Founding Investor and Board Member
www.wovendigital.com
Kurt Johnson has over twenty-four years of professional management experience, including public and private company leadership, initial public offerings, mergers and acquisitions, strategic investments, recapitalizations, and venture stage investing. During his career, Kurt has completed transactions with aggregate value of over $1.1 billion.
Kurt is currently active as an angel investor and Board member for Internet and technology-based companies. More
Previously, Kurt was President and CEO of Fastclick (NASDAQ: FSTC). During Kurt’s leadership of the organization, he tripled Fastclick’s revenue to $85 million, completed a $75 million private placement offering and a $78 million IPO. Kurt then successfully orchestrated the sale of Fastclick to ValueClick in September of 2005, achieving a $285 million valuation.
Prior to joining Fastclick, Kurt was the CFO for ValueClick, Inc. (NASDAQ: VCLK). At ValueClick, Kurt was instrumental in the company’s growth from an early-stage enterprise to a $500 million international media technology company. Specifically, he led the company through its $76 million IPO, negotiated and closed on the company’s $85 million strategic investment from DoubleClick, Inc. (NASDAQ: DCLK), and facilitated the $26 million IPO of ValueClick Japan. Additionally, Kurt helped execute the company’s growth through acquisition strategy by completing six M&A transactions, including the acquisitions of Mediaplex, Inc. (NASDAQ: MPLX) and Be Free, Inc. (NASDAQ: BFRE).
Prior to ValueClick, Kurt was an investment banker with Olympic Capital Partners in Seattle, providing merger & acquisition and financial advisory services for middle-market companies in a variety of industries, including telecommunications, media and technology.
Kurt received his B.A. from Eastern Washington University, earned his M.B.A. from Gonzaga University and completed Executive Programs at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Less
Greg Martin
Founder, Archer Venture Capital
www.archervc.com
Greg Martin is the founder of Archer Venture Capital. Prior to founding Archer, Greg was a partner with Redpoint Ventures, a firm he joined in 1999. Prior to that, Greg was Associate with Brentwood Venture Capital.
Throughout his career, Greg has focused on early stage technology opportunities and has led investments in a variety of categories, including consumer internet, mobile applications, advertising platforms, enterprise software, digital media, semi-conductor and communications businesses. More
Greg is currently a Director of Leadpoint, WebVisible, 2tor, SocialVibe, Impact Radius, and LivePlanet. Previously, Greg led investments in Networks in Motion (sold to Telecommunication Systems) and TelASIC Communications (sold to MTI).
Prior to joining Brentwood Venture Capital, Greg worked with an angel investor focusing on early-stage internet and telecommunications investments. Previously, he was an investment banker with Donaldson Lufkin and Jenrette's Technology Group and before that, with Smith Barney, focusing on cross border M&A and financing transactions. Greg has also owned and operated a high-end men's clothing franchise in the Los Angeles area.
Greg currently serves on the Board of the Los Angeles Venture Association (LAVA) and is an Advisory Board member of the Tech Coast Angels and the San Diego Venture Group.
Greg is a Carter Scholar from the Anderson School of Business at UCLA. Greg also holds a Bachelors of Commerce degree, with concentrations in Information Systems and Accounting, from the University of Calgary. Less
Joe Horowitz
Managing General Partner, Jafco Ventures
www.jafco.com
Joe Horowitz, Managing General Partner, was instrumental in re-launching Jafco Ventures in 2003, bringing 25 years of experience working with early-stage companies as a venture capitalist, advisor and entrepreneur. Joe is passionate about the value-creation process and loves working with talented entrepreneurs.
Joe's venture capital experience prior to joining Jafco Ventures includes a 10-year tenure at U.S. Venture Partners (USVP) from 1982 to 1992 and three years with Exxon Enterprises. More
At USVP, the first deal that he worked on was the seed financing of Sun Microsystems. In addition to being a General Partner, Joe took on a management role as a member of USVP's executive committee. Joe also spent several years with Icon Ventures, his own venture advisory firm, and then gained valuable operating experience as Chairman & CEO of Geocast Network Systems, a broadband infrastructure company backed by Mayfield, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Institutional Venture Partners.
At Jafco, Joe is on the Board of or actively involved with Aster Data Systems, Attributor, Avnera, Clicker, Cortina Systems, Devicescape Software, FireEye, Hara Software, MarketLive, Meebo, Ocarina Networks, Oodle, Palo Alto Networks, Proofpoint, RedSeal Systems, SocialVibe and SiTime. Prior Jafco investments include Infinera (INFN), Mimosa Systems (Iron Mountain) and PostPath (Cisco Systems).
Joe's past investments include Avia Group International (Reebok), Encompass (Yahoo!), Gymboree (GYMB), Imedia (Terayon), Micro Linear (MLIN), Microtune (TUNE), Netsys Technologies (Cisco), Pacific Microsonics (Microsoft), Ross Stores (ROST), Starsight Telecast (Gemstar), Stream Machine (Cirrus Logic) and Sun Microsystems (SUNW).
Joe received his MBA from the Wharton Graduate School of Business. As an undergraduate he studied engineering and applied sciences and then earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in economics at Columbia University. Less
Kenneth R. Pelowski
Founder and Managing Partner, Pinnacle Ventures
www.pinnacleven.com
Ken founded Pinnacle while working at Redpoint Ventures. Prior to Redpoint, Ken founded and was Chairman of the Board of Currenex, which was acquired by State Street for $560 million. Prior to Currenex, Ken was Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer and a Board Director of GetThere (a Brentwood Venture Capital/USVP portfolio company), where he led its IPO as well as its $750 million acquisition by Sabre. More
Prior to joining GetThere, Ken was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Preview Travel (a Kleiner Perkins portfolio company) which acquired and changed its name to Travelocity. Ken led Preview’s IPO. Before joining Preview Travel, Ken was a Corporate Vice President and Executive Committee Member at General Instruments and at Quantum Corporation where he was responsible for corporate strategy and business development.
Previously, he held senior management positions in sales and marketing at Sun Microsystems and Intel. He currently is a board member on several privately held companies and nonprofit organizations. He received a BSE in electrical engineering and an MBA from the University of Michigan. Less
Jeff Crowe
General Partner, Norwest Venture Partners
www.nvp.com
Jeff joined Norwest Venture Partners in 2004 and focuses on investments in software, Internet, and consumer arenas. He currently serves on the boards of AdMeld, deCarta, Lending Club, Nano-Tex, Snapfinger, SocialVibe, Turn and Whale Shark Media, and he is involved with portfolio companies myYearbook and Sojern. Jeff’s past investments include Jigsaw (acquired by Salesforce.com), Tuvox (acquired by West Interactive), and he was board observer at Cast Iron Systems (acquired by IBM). More
Prior to Norwest, Jeff served as President, COO and board member of DoveBid, Inc., a privately held business auction firm, which expanded during his tenure via internal growth and acquisition from a $10M revenue run rate to a $120M revenue run rate with 400 employees.
From 1990 to 1999, Jeff was co-founder, President, CEO and Board member of Edify Corporation, a venture backed enterprise software company focused on voice and internet e-commerce platforms and applications. Jeff was responsible for all strategic and operational activities at Edify as the company went from start-up in 1990 to $80M in revenue and 400 employees. Edify held its IPO in 1996 and was sold to S1 Corporation in 1999.
Previously, Jeff worked at ROLM Corporation, IBM and Siemens in marketing and general management. Jeff led the marketing for the voice messaging division within ROLM, which grew from startup to $50M in revenue.
Jeff is on the Management Board of the Stanford Graduate School of Business and is active in alumni affairs at Dartmouth. He is also chairman of the board of Hand in Hand Parenting, a non-profit organization focused on strengthening families, and is past chairman of the board of Theatreworks.
Jeff holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar, and a BA in History, summa cum laude, from Dartmouth College. Less