HAWKEFEST MASTER MAGICIANS

Chelsea A. Grayson

CEO and Board Member/True Religion

Chelsea A. Grayson the CEO and a board member of True Religion. She is also a member of the board of directors of Vireo Health (CSE: VREO), a leading multi-state cannabis company, where she chairs the Nominating & Corporate Governance Committee and is a member of the Audit Committee. She is a former member of the board of directors of Delta Dental, where she was a member of the Nominating & Corporate Governance Committee. Prior to taking on the CEO role with True Religion, she chaired theAudit Committee for the True Religion board of directors. Previously, she was the CEO and a board member of American Apparel (NYSE MKT: APP). Before that, Ms. Grayson was the General Counsel, Chief Administrative Officer and Executive Vice President of American Apparel. Prior to joining American Apparel, she was a partner in the M&A and corporate governance practice groups of JonesDay and Loeb & Loeb.

Jeff Nicholson

Chief Media Officer/VaynerMedia

Prior to becoming the Chief Media Officer of VaynerMedia, Jeff Nicholson spent the early part of his career running ads, building businesses, facilitating acquisition and sale of multiple companies, and driving marketing performance and strategy for the fortune 500’s.  In his role as Chief Media officer he is currently tasked with overseeing and developing global media investments, as well as, planning, analyzing and providing ad tech services across the VaynerX Portfolio. In this role over the past four years he has had the privilege of working with and directly influencing the growth of some of the largest and most respected brands in the World.

In addition to his current role as CMO, Jefrey also serves as the Chief Executive officer of Tracer Labs, which he built and developed with his Co-Founder Leighton Welch.  Tracer is a revolutionary marketing data aggregation and reporting platform incubated under the Vayner X platform.

Since his graduation from Babson College, Jeff has maintained a fervor for education, coaching and mentoring young professionals.  After regularly spending time on the Babson campus teaching and advising on curriculum, Jeff launched Nicholnotes in 2018. Nicholnotes serves as a true intersection of career and passion, as an education company focused on delivering relevant and current curriculum for business students with a focus on data, digital and platform tools.

Jeffrey sits on the board of Pinterest, Hurricane Group, Captify and Goodlife Clothing.  He regularly speaks at international industry events, consults and speaks to private corporate companies and teaches at universities including Babson College, NYU Stern School of Business, University of Virginia and Miami Ad School.

Drew Leahy

Managing Partner and Co-Founder/Hawke Ventures

Drew Leahy is Managing Partner and co-founder of Hawke Ventures, an early stage consumer and B2B marketing technology fund. He is also the Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Hawke Media. Prior to Hawke, Leahy was Chief Marketing Officer and co-founder of SnapSuits.com, a tech-forward men’s fashion e-retailer with over $2M+ in revenue. He leveraged his seasoned product team, based in Colombia, South America, achieving an 8x ROI with technology-enabled marketing strategies.

Drew was also Entrepreneur-in-Residence at memBrain in Los Angeles, making investments with tech and entertainment angel investors Ken Hertz and Liz Heller.

Michael Carney

Principal/Upfront Ventures

Michael is passionate about working with ultra-curious and deeply convicted entrepreneurs building the products and brands of the future in areas including next-generation commerce, financial services, and vertical SaaS.

Michael joined Upfront in 2015 and is a proud supporter of the Southern California technology ecosystem, working closely with standout local companies including Ring, GOAT, Bird, CloudVirga, ZestFinance, Chownow, and DAILYLOOK. Previously, Michael was an Editor at Pandodaily and was on the founding team at WorldVest, a Los Angeles-based boutique merchant bank. 

Michael holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Catharine Dockery

Founding Partner/ Vice Ventures

Catharine Dockery is the founder of Vice Ventures, a venture fund investing in early-stage vice companies. Catharine has long had a passion for vice investing, personally being involved in the seed round of Bev, a DTC canned rose company. While interviewing with traditional consumer venture firms, she continually brushed against vice clauses in investment pitches, with this friction culminating in the idea for Vice Ventures. Catharine was the president of her class at NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study, where she studied a self-directed major on the intersection of neuroscience and finance.

Zenetta Burger

Head of Operations/Community.com

Zenetta is a South African born, Australian citizen with 10 years experience in the technology sector.

Today she invests for Mucker Capital, a seed and pre-seed fund based in Santa Monica focusing on software and Internet startups outside Silicon Valley, investing across the United States and Canada. She also runs Operations for Community.com – a new LA start up designed to enable personal conversations at scale. 

She is a former Corporate VC, the founder of Fresh BnB, has consulted on Fortune 100 M&A transactions and currently advises the boards of two LA based start ups. Educated at the University of Sydney and Harvard, Zenetta brings a variety and breadth of operational discipline to early stage companies.

Rich Gardner

VP/ Global Strategic Partnerships for Klaviyo

Rich Gardner is VP, Global Strategic Partnerships for Klaviyo, the leading SaaS platform for intelligent customer segmentation, dynamic communication, and dramatic revenue growth. 

For 15 years, Rich has built and led high-performing global sales and business development teams at hypergrowth tech and tech-enabled services businesses. At Klaviyo, Rich is responsible for identifying and cultivating best-in-class partners in the ecommerce ecosystem to help brands grow faster.  Prior to these executive roles, Rich practiced law in Washington, DC, and worked as a political operative.

Rich holds a J.D. from the UVA Law School and his A.B. at Harvard College.  He lives in Boston with his husband, Darrell, and basset hound, Harvey. And his lucky number, apparently, is three: he has attended three Patriots Super Bowls (2-1 record), three Star Trek Conventions (only 1 in uniform), and three U-2 concerts.

Mike Hondorp

CMO/Whalar

Mike joined Whalar in April, 2018, and serves as Chief Marketing Officer. An industry veteran with over 15 years of experience, Mike has managed brand strategy, business development, and multi-channel marketing for global brands including Instagram, Bonobos, and Ralph Lauren. Prior to joining Whalar, he spent seven years at Facebook, Inc. There, Mike was a key member of the Instagram brand development team, which launched Instagram’s business solutions globally. At Instagram, he also led the CPG and retail category product strategy, and provided platform guidance and insights to CPG and retail marketers. He most recently worked in product marketing where he specialized in Facebook marketing solutions and platform integrations across all consumer touch points.

He is a proud University of Michigan alum, and calls Austin, TX home.

Tony Delmercado

Cofounder & COO/Hawke Media

Tony Delmercado is the Co-Founder & COO at Hawke Media. As a passionately curious entrepreneur, accomplished communicator and proven leader, Tony has earned recognition and praise in publications like Entrepreneur, Forbes, Business Insider, Inc. and more.He has helped generate hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for multiple companies through leadership roles in business development, marketing and operations. In addition to speaking in front of audiences large and small, Tony has sat across a desk from over 40,000 people, personally mentoring over 2,000 of those. He loves playing golf, tinkering with new ideas, and working to develop the people and organizations around him.

Matt Osias

VP Content Marketing/Hawke Media

Matt Osias is the Vice President of Content Marketing at Hawke Media and oversees content strategy, planning and production for its clients. Having helped hundreds companies throughout his career — SMBs to Fortune 500s — Osias thrives on building trusted connections between brands and its audiences.

With over a decade of digital marketing experience across a broad scope of industries — notably B2B, CPG, sports and numerous lifestyle categories — Osias brings a seasoned perspective to the booming content marketing space.
Along with being an award-winning writer/editor, he has also worked for both the L.A. Dodgers and L.A. Angels building large-scale multimedia advertising and marketing campaigns for brands.

And, maybe most importantly, he is an avid golfer. (No joke … He LOVES it!)

Zack Johnson

Founder & CEO/Greenbox Robotics

Zack studied International Relations with a minor in Marketing at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. In 2010, while still in college, Zack launched his first company, a record label. Six months after launching 1st Round Records, Johnson debut artist had the #1 album in the US & Australia. Zack had his first exit to Sony RCA in 2014. After transitioning out the music business, Zack launched an athletic apparel company that focused on innovative textiles. Zack negotiated a partnership to make energyDNA the official apparel partner of the FIA Formula E Championship racing series.

Prior to launching greenbox robotics, Zack was the Director of Strategy and Business Development at the fastest growing marketing firm in the United States, Hawke Media. While in the Hawke’s nest Zack was the Chief Marketing Officer for five Los Angeles cannabis dispensaries, as well as a metal fabrication company that builds vending machines. The biggest pain point for each dispensary was not being able to service customers fast enough. This pain point, and the relationship with the metal fabrication company was the inspiration for greenbox.

Jeremy Reed

SVP Programming/TV Time

Jeremy Reed is a leading executive and innovator in online content and has been a key member of the management team for two game-changing publishing companies (Citysearch & Demand Media) to successful IPOs.

Jeremy is currently Senior Vice President of Programming at TV Time where he is responsible for content, PR, social and community across TV Time and TVDB. TV Time is the world’s largest TV tracking platform providing insights for today’s television landscape.

Prior to TV Time, Jeremy served as the Head of Programming at Tastemade where he was responsible for creating and managing a community of food video creators to produce more than 100,000 user-generated restaurant video reviews through the Tastemade app as well as hosted more than 200 events, focused on energizing and educating the food community.

Jeremy also played an integral role at Leaf Grp. (formerly Demand Media), serving as Senior Vice President of Content. Among his many impressive achievements, Reed built a world-class content team of more than 100 full-time employees as well as an international freelance community consisting of thousands of professional content creators. During his tenure, Jeremy’s leadership and strategic approach exponentially grew its portfolio of 15+ owned-and-operated media sites from 5MM to 150MM unique visitors.

Prior to Demand Media, Jeremy served as Vice President of Content at Citysearch, Inc. as well as numerous publications.

Madison Fiore

Director of Growth/Hawke Media

Madison Fiore is a Performance Marketing and Business Strategist at his core. Over the last 10 years he has worked with and professionally consulted over 200 brands.

As the Director of Growth at Hawke Media, an award-winning Outsourced CMO and marketing agency, Madison has helped scale the agency from less than 50 employees to over 150 by growing, grooming and managing Hawke’s 20+ consulting team. In less than three years with Hawke Media, Madison has contributed to remarkable revenue growth from $5M in 2017 to $20M+ in 2019.

Primarily focused on the cannabis industry, he has worked with more than 30 of the most prestigious brands in the space, spoke a cannabis events nationwide, and is currently Council for Weedweek, a cannabis publication based in Los Angeles.

Prior to Hawke, Madison co-founded and launched three brands while consulting on dozens of other projects with clients in a variety of industries. This experience led to his passion of supporting brand’s growth. As an entrepreneur and brand marketing expert, Madison has become a trusted advisor and partner to companies of all shapes and sizes including Hawke Ventures.

Daniel Chen

Head of Media Buying/Hawke Media

Daniel Chen is the Head of Media Buying at Hawke Media where he leads the strategy, planning and execution of media for all clients. He ensures close collaboration between media, analytics, creative, strategic planning, insights and content. He truly believes magic happens when art and science are combined into great ideas that drive business results. He has over 17 years of experience of growing start up brands to large brands and leading Fortune 100 and 500 brands across numerous industries and consumer products.

Prior to Hawke, he lead and grew media teams at both digital and classic agencies in New York and Houston. He is a proponent that today’s business entrepreneurs and owners need flexible partners to help them grow their businesses.

Ryan Goldston

Co-Founder/Athletic Propulsion Labs (APL)

Athletic Propulsion Labs was founded in March 2009, by then 23 year-old identical twins Adam and Ryan Goldston. As former two sport collegiate athletes, playing both basketball and football at the University of Southern California, Adam and Ryan envisioned creating a company providing revolutionary products symbolizing the ultimate intersection of design and performance.

Today, Adam and Ryan Goldston are recognized as accomplished inventors with numerous U.S. and foreign patents including U.S. utility patents 8,112,905, 8,347,526, 8,495,825, 8,621,766 and 8,732,983 where they are named inventors for the company’s revolutionary Load ‘N Launch® Technology. With the launch of their inaugural shoe in June 2010, the Concept 1 basketball shoe, they became the creators of the first shoe proven to instantly make you jump higher due to APL’s revolutionary 8-spring Load ‘N Launch Technology in the forefoot. As a result, the Concept 1 became the first shoe banned in the NBA’s 64-year history for performance reasons for “providing an undue competitive advantage.”

Following the success and media attention generated by the APL Concept 1 basketball shoe, the company quickly adopted the “Banned by the NBA” tagline to augment its original “Stop Dreaming. Jump Higher.” A new 6-spring running version of the patented Load ‘N Launch Technology designed to instantly provide a heightened level of running performance with less effort, was launched in June of 2014 along with the company’s new Propelium midsole technology for running. More recently APL successfully entered the active wear market with a variety of highly touted products that seamlessly mix technology and style.

Co-Founders Adam and Ryan have been honored at the White House as part of the Empact 100 which recognizes the Top 100 Entrepreneurs age 35 and under in the U.S. Athletic Propulsion Labs was also recently named as “One of the Five Best New Sportswear Brands in the World” by ISPO, the international sporting goods organization in addition to being named to the 2015 Game Changers List by Men’s Fitness. Most recently, Adam and Ryan were selected to the Forbes 30 Under 30 class of 2016 in the Retail & Ecommerce category. This list recognizes America’s top young entrepreneurs and game changers representing the countries future and present leaders.

Adam Goldston

Co-Founder/Athletic Propulsion Labs (APL)

Athletic Propulsion Labs was founded in March 2009, by then 23 year-old identical twins Adam and Ryan Goldston. As former two sport collegiate athletes, playing both basketball and football at the University of Southern California, Adam and Ryan envisioned creating a company providing revolutionary products symbolizing the ultimate intersection of design and performance.

Today, Adam and Ryan Goldston are recognized as accomplished inventors with numerous U.S. and foreign patents including U.S. utility patents 8,112,905, 8,347,526, 8,495,825, 8,621,766 and 8,732,983 where they are named inventors for the company’s revolutionary Load ‘N Launch® Technology. With the launch of their inaugural shoe in June 2010, the Concept 1 basketball shoe, they became the creators of the first shoe proven to instantly make you jump higher due to APL’s revolutionary 8-spring Load ‘N Launch Technology in the forefoot. As a result, the Concept 1 became the first shoe banned in the NBA’s 64-year history for performance reasons for “providing an undue competitive advantage.”

Following the success and media attention generated by the APL Concept 1 basketball shoe, the company quickly adopted the “Banned by the NBA” tagline to augment its original “Stop Dreaming. Jump Higher.” A new 6-spring running version of the patented Load ‘N Launch Technology designed to instantly provide a heightened level of running performance with less effort, was launched in June of 2014 along with the company’s new Propelium midsole technology for running. More recently APL successfully entered the active wear market with a variety of highly touted products that seamlessly mix technology and style.

Co-Founders Adam and Ryan have been honored at the White House as part of the Empact 100 which recognizes the Top 100 Entrepreneurs age 35 and under in the U.S. Athletic Propulsion Labs was also recently named as “One of the Five Best New Sportswear Brands in the World” by ISPO, the international sporting goods organization in addition to being named to the 2015 Game Changers List by Men’s Fitness. Most recently, Adam and Ryan were selected to the Forbes 30 Under 30 class of 2016 in the Retail & Ecommerce category. This list recognizes America’s top young entrepreneurs and game changers representing the countries future and present leaders.

Tracy Ryan

CEO/CannaKids

Tracy Ryan is the CEO of CannaKids, a California based medical cannabis company, and the founder of the 501c3 SavingSophie.org. After her infant daughter’s brain tumor diagnosis in 2013, Tracy dedicated her life to helping patients who suffer from life altering ailments with a focus on children. Now in full swing with human & animal model trials with one of the world’s leading cancer immunologists, it’s her mission to not only end the suffering of those inflicted by cancer, but also develop a cure her daughter.

Tracy partnered with the Technion Institute in Israel in 2017, led by Dr. Dedi Meiri who is leading the way in cannabis research for cancer. After flying her daughter’s brain tumor tissue to Meiri for help in developing a treatment protocol for her, they joined forces in hopes to one day take Meiri’s findings all the way through human trials.

Additionally, Tracy successfully procured Sophie’s brain tumor tissue after a brain surgery in 2018. Those cells are now being rigorously studied under the leadership of a renowned cancer researcher who is the world leader in the study of NK Cells and their role in cancer. Her research team has now implanted Sophie’s tissue into mice, one of which pumps human blood, so that they may work on targeted therapies for her disease.

Upon viewing the unique reactions in Sophie’s body due to the cannabis oil she’s taking, the same research team has since enrolled 13 more pediatric and adult cancer patients who are patients using CannaKids’ products. In only one year’s time the team has made incredible discoveries that will be made public later this year.

Tracy is currently aligned with a Presidential candidate that is helping her put a bill forth to completely de-schedule cannabis for research. A letter with 27 bi-partisan signatures stating their intentions was delivered to the Attorney General earlier this year as a first step.

Tracy and CannaKids have been the recipient of several industry awards including Advocate of the Year, Cannabis Activist of the Year, the Caregiver Award, and Diamond of the Community Award. Her and her family have been featured in many national and international news pieces including an appearance on The Doctors, National Geographic, Time, Vice News, CNN, Entertainment Tonight, The Huffington Post, GMA Today, Telemundo, and many more. They are also the key focus of the Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein documentary, “Weed the People” that is currently available on NetFlix.

Matt Kennedy

VP of Sales/Drip

Matt Kennedy is the VP of Sales at Drip, a first-of-its-kind Ecommerce CRM helping online brands compete and thrive by using real-life consumer behavior data to deliver personalized, multichannel, scalable marketing journeys. Matt has a decade of SaaS sales leadership experience. Before joining Drip in June of 2018, Matt was the VP of Sales at Instructure, where he took the startup to successful IPO.

Matt’s passion for helping companies address real problems aligns well with the mission of Drip. Fighting the good fight is where Matt thrives, and that’s what Drip does in its purest state. Matt has helped Drip disrupt the ecommerce marketing world by building a sales team that brings real value to customers who are ready to take their business into the next decade.

Matt lives in Park City, UT and is an avid outdoorsman. He lives for a powder day, a long day of singletrack climbing on a mountain bike, or for alpine mountaineering. In addition to running sales for Drip, he also advises and consults SaaS startup companies on their go-to-market strategy.

Drip ECRM’s disruption of ecommerce isn’t going unnoticed—it’s recently been awarded spots in the Top 50 Fastest Growing Products and Top 50 Best Products for Marketers of 2019 by G2 Crowd.

Ryan Fiore

VP of Marketing/MANSCAPED, Inc.

Ryan Fiore has a passion for omnichannel acquisition campaigns and experimental marketing. He has managed over $50 million in Direct to Consumer ad spend throughout his career, and has also been a part of five other Direct to Consumer startups. Ryan Fiore is part of the original team of 6 who created MANSCAPED from scratch!

Chase Fisher

CEO & Founder/Blenders Eyewear

Blenders Eyewear was founded in 2012 by Chase Fisher. The idea spawned when Chase went to see one of his favorite DJs at a Downtown San Diego nightclub. His neon green “beater” sunglasses received an overwhelmingly positive response, and what started out as a night full of close friends and good music quickly escalated into a full-fledged obsession with sunglasses.

After further research Chase learned that one company lords over approximately 80% of the global sunglasses market, he knew it was a broken system begging for disruption. And disrupt he did.

Chase believes in the hustle, he started a grassroots effort buoyed by social media and his SDSU network, selling shades out of his backpack while doubling as a surf coach during the company’s first year. He leveraged his background as a sponsored athlete (surfing, snowboarding) to develop sunnies with scintillating style and adventurous spirit—the visual embodiment of the company’s “live in forward motion” maxim.

It’s been this steadfast self-determination—and the combined efforts of the San Diego-based company’s 30-person team—that’s established Blenders as one of America’s fastest-growing sunglasses brands today.

Carter Baldwin

VP of Content & Creative/FabFitFun

Carter Baldwin is the VP of Content and Creative at Fabfitfun, where he’s built both an in house ad agency, and a robust production company that produces a broad spectrum of content. From a daily Facebook Live Show, to original series featuring FabFitFun influencers like the Real Housewives of New York—the in-house agency works tightly with the marketing team to concept, create, and optimize all advertising across social and traditional media. Facebook and IG are the main funnel drivers, daily testing and optimization is the name of the game, and Carter leads a nimble team to serve that goal. Prior to Fabfitfun, Carter similarly started an in-house ad agency + production company for Tech Style and it’s brands JustFab, Fabletics, and legacy brand Dermstore that was purchased by Target.

After TechStyle, Carter worked with Ipsy, launching their in house studio, as well. Around that time, Carter noticed a huge opportunity in the marketplace for an ad agency focused on digital native companies. He launched Hardtack in 2013, an agency specializing in Brand Response advertising, built around finding the sweet spot where branding and Direct to Consumer intersec. Clients included Priceline, Hollar, Zola, UFC, Thumbtack, Coursera and many more.

Prior to entering the world of Silicon Beach in 2008, Carter worked as a freelance Creative Director with multiple brands and ad agencies. Prior to that, Carter was a professional screenwriter and journalist. He graduated from The University of Texas, Austin with a degree in English and Business, and his first job was at Texas Monthly.

Samantha Maraval

Client Solutions Manager/Facebook

Samantha began her advertising career at MullenLowe in Boston, where she helped clients like SC Johnson, Benjamin Moore and LendingTree develop and execute cross-channel marketing campaigns. In 2012, she moved back to her native Chicago where she spent 5 years at indie agency Cramer-Krasselt supporting large CPG brands including Heinz and BIC Razors. In 2017, she decided to shake things up and join Facebook Austin where she partnered with 30+ eCommerce advertisers, helping them grow their businesses through the platform. Earlier this year, she transitioned to the Disruptors team in Facebook’s LA office where she helps some of the fastest growing DTC brands accelerate their growth through Facebook advertising. Samantha lives in Hermosa Beach with her soon-to-be husband who, coincidentally, also works at Facebook.

Laura Tabano

Client Partner/Facebook

Laura discovered her passion for Marketing while studying at NYU’s Stern School of Business. She began her digital advertising journey at Yahoo in Manhattan, working with P&G’s global brands from 2010-2014. In 2015, she moved to Yahoo’s Silicon Beach office in Los Angeles and shifted her focus to Entertainment partners including Disney Studios and ABC. Laura briefly worked at Spotify in 2017 before joining Facebook’s Disruptor team in 2018. Consulting for ambitious Disruptor subscription and DTC brands, like FabFitFun and SmileDirectClub, is the highlight of her career and perfectly aligns with her ‘move fast’ and ‘be bold’ values. Laura resides in Santa Monica with her husband, one-year old son and IG star goldendoodle @Bambithedoodle.

Michael Tannenbaum

Chief Financial Officer/Brex

Michael Tannenbaum is the Chief Financial Officer of Brex. He was the Company’s first employee and oversees Finance, Credit, Marketing, Business Development, Marketing and Capital Markets. Tannenbaum joined Brex from online lender SoFi where he was promoted six times in three years, ultimately to Chief Revenue Officer. During his time at SoFi, Tannenbaum was VP of Finance where he negotiated Softbank’s record-breaking $1 billion Series E investment and also ran the mortgage business. Tannenbaum began his career in the investment banking division of J.P. Morgan and graduated summa cum laude from Columbia University. He was featured in Forbes 30 Under 30 Finance in 2016 and the SF Business Times 40 Under 40 in 2017.

Hannah Davis

CMO/Mammoth Distribution

Hannah Davis is the CMO of Mammoth Distribution – a California cannabis distribution company. She manages the brand portfolio strategy and leads the organization’s marketing efforts including advertising, digital media, public relations, consumer research, and retail marketing. She works with the company’s brand partners on product development and differentiation through positioning, packaging and marketing, and is responsible for identifying and cultivating new brand relationships.

Previously, Davis served as Senior Director of Brand Marketing for World of Beer, a national craft bar and restaurant chain and worked as Head of Craft & Import Marketing for Molson Coors UK, where she started the specialty beer sales and marketing department. In her 10 years working in the craft beer industry, she launched and built brands, including Blue Moon, Killian’s and Henry’s in the US and across Europe.

Joanna & Grace Park

Influencers

Joanna & Grace Park are two sisters from Los Angeles, who love to workout, eat, and enjoy life. They started their Instagram account and blog, Exercise with Extra Fries, in 2016 to share their fitness journey.

But they are not your typical fitness bloggers. Sometimes they exercise; sometimes they “extra fries.” They add a silly twist to fitness and life. They believe fitness should not always be about restricting yourself, and it’s okay to have fun! Health is about finding the balance that works for you.

Roman Tsunder

Co-Founder & CEO/PTTOW! + WORLDZ

Driven by a passion to influence culture on a global scale, Roman Tsunder serves as Co-Founder and CEO of WORLDZ & PTTOW!, an invite-only, member network for today’s most creative CEOs, CMOs and Icons from all 70 major industries who are shaping our world. Members include His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Shaun White, Kerri Walsh Jennings, David Blaine, Quincy Jones, will.i.am, Kelly Slater, Tony Hawk and David Guetta as well as top executives from VICE, GM, Apple, Red Bull, GoPro, Google [x], Coke, YouTube, the U.S. State Dept., Facebook, Instagram, Warner Bros and many more.

Inspiring social impact has also been at the forefront of Roman’s career as he was a founding member of Gen-Next.org and co-founder of Movements.org, which brought together leading youth movement activists to empower young people to mobilize against violence and oppression. A professional dreamer with a piercing vision for the future of culture, Roman most recently launched WORLD

Rob Dyrdek

Celebrity Pro-Skateboarder, Entrepreneur/Founder & CEO at Dyrdek Machine

The relentless pursuit of his childhood dreams made Rob Dyrdek a professional athlete at 16 years old and propelled him into the world of business before most people entered college.

This “outlier” experience helped him to develop and grow both his brands and increase the value of his brand partners as he was quickly becoming an influential professional skateboarder.

Using this expertise gained developing the intersection between business and media, he went on to not only invest in new businesses, but also help successfully amplify their brand. With his extensive knowledge, experience and insight gained over two decades of building his own intellectual properties and working with top brands around the world, he started developing the groundwork for his full-service venture studio, Dyrdek Machine.

The Dyrdek Machine represents not only the financial investment of Rob Dyrdek, but also his passion for partnering with disruptive “Do-or-Dier®” entrepreneurs, guiding them to achieve sustainable success. Using his proven method for predictable success, Dyrdek works personally with his partners to help them realize their true passion and voice and turn it into a profitable, sustainable brand.

His unquenchable desire to live life to the fullest pushed him to develop a strategy for success in life, not unlike the formula he created for his venture studio. Following his life plan for happiness, balance and love while still achieving greatness in his career, Dyrdek now enjoys a fulfilling life with his family in Beverly Hills and continues to build his dream as he had not only envisioned, but designed it.

Jaqui Rice

Co-Founder/G.O.A.T

Jaqui Rice is a creator, beginning her entrepreneurial endeavors as an indie music artist and then co-founding a peer-to-peer beauty marketplace called Tressly in 2017 as CEO. Jaqui co-founded G.O.A.T. Fuel with her father, Jerry Rice, and Trevion Stokes in January 2019 and is the Chief Operating Officer – overseeing product management, strategy and business development. Her mission is to bring a product and lifestyle to market that is health-forward, encompassing a culture of greatness and family legacy.

Swan Sit

Former VP Global Digital Marketing/Nike

Swan Sit has spent the past decade of her career accelerating digital into legacy companies. She held 2 key roles as a Vice President at Nike – running Global Digital Marketing during the Emmy-winning “Dream Crazy” campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick, and keeping the lights on for a multi-billion dollar e-commerce business during the company’s largest online shoe launch in history. She has also led digital for Revlon and Elizabeth Arden, and online strategy for Esteé Lauder. From modernizing 100 year-old brands and partnering with unexpected influencers like Chelsea Handler, Iris Apfel and Gigi Gorgeous, to launching augmented reality makeovers and driving double digit sales growth, Swan has demonstrated both the left and right brain skills required for an omnichannel marketer that drives revenue. She was selected as a Brand Innovators 40 under 40 and Marketing Woman to Watch, and took home both Best Social Campaign and Best in Show at the Glossy Awards. You might recognize her as one of the faces in Twitter’s “She Inspires Me” campaign.

Prior to beauty, Swan was a consultant at Bain, owned an ad agency focused on emotional branding, was a product manager at Newell Rubbermaid (which included launching a factory in China during SARS) and created breakthrough marketing campaigns at Trilogy Software during the dotcom boom. Swan graduated with BA in Economics from Harvard and an MBA from Columbia.

Swan speaks on digital transformation around the world, advises companies and sits on the boards of a variety of industry and philanthropic organizations including L2, Women in Retail, Consumer Goods Technology Council, Impact Network and Worldview’s space think tank. Having traveled to 80+ countries, her favorites include Antarctica, North Korea, Mongolia, Rwanda, Bhutan, Myanmar and Tanzania for Kilimanjaro. She can often be found smashing a volleyball and chasing restaurant openings, or flying around on skis and horses – her two newest hobbies.

Matt Ryan

VP of Sales/Yotpo

Matt Ryan is a go-to-market leader at Yotpo with an exceptional track record in business development, onboarding 10,000+ brands in eCommerce including Moon Juice, MVMT, and Pura Vida. Matt joined Yotpo in 2015 and helped establish the company’s headquarters in New York City. A member of the invitation-only Revenue Collective, Matt has previously helped growth-focused companies like Trustpilot and ZocDoc scale their sales efforts.

Leslie Emmons Burthey

VP of Marketing/FabFitFun

Leslie Emmons Burthey is currently VP of Marketing at FabFitFun, the lifestyle membership creating personalized experiences that introduce you to the best the world has to offer. At FFF, Leslie focuses on growth, content, CRM, and consumer insights. Leslie was previously the VP of Marketing at Winc (formerly Club W). Prior to joining Club W, she gained consumer product experience at Christian Dior and Ralph Lauren in roles ranging from Financial Planning and Analysis to Merchandising and in-store immersion. Leslie began her career as an Investment Banking Analyst at Banc of America Securities. She holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business, and earned an undergraduate degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Nathaniel Weiss

Ecom, Ops, Tech/Necessaire

Nathaniel leads ecommerce, technology and operations at Necessaire, a personal-care brand based in Los Angeles. Prior to that, Nathaniel held multiple operating roles at True Religion, including GM of the outlet/off-price business, and GM of ecommerce/technology. He started his career at Bain & Co in New York and Western Europe.

Erik Huberman

Founder & CEO/Hawke Media

Erik Huberman is the founder and CEO of Hawke Media, the fastest growing marketing consultancy in the United States. Launched in 2014, Hawke Media has been valued at $75 million and has grown from seven to over 150 employees. The company has serviced over 1500 brands of all sizes, ranging from startups like Tamara Mellon, SiO Beauty and Bottlekeeper to household names like Red Bull, Verizon Wireless and Alibaba. Hawke Media has taken home numerous industry awards including inclusion on the Inc. 5000 2017 list of “Fastest Growing Companies”, Fortune Magazine’s “50 Best Workplaces in Southern California” and Forbes’ “Content Marketing Companies to Check Out in 2018.”

As a serial entrepreneur and marketing expert, Huberman is a sought-after thought leader in the world of digital marketing, entrepreneurship, sales and business. Prior to Hawke, he founded, grew and sold two successful ecommerce companies. Huberman is the recipient of numerous honors and awards including Forbes “30Under30,” CSQ “40Under40”, Inc. Magazine’s “Top 25 Marketing Influencers,” and Best in Biz North America’s “Marketing Executive of the Year.” A regular contributor to major publications like Forbes, Entrepreneur and CSQ, Huberman is also a well-known keynote speaker.

Gareb Shamus

CEO of Comic-Con/ACE Universe

Gareb Shamus, CEO of ACE Universe is building the largest community of Superhero fans around the world. Gareb is a world-renowned authority on Superheroes and started and produced the largest Comic Con tour for over twenty years. He started and published many of the leading award-winning magazines, including Wizard and ToyFare, about Superheroes across movies, TV, toys, games, animation and comic books, selling over 100 million copies in 75 countries, in dozens of languages.

Gareb is credited with leading the charge to help make the Geeks and Nerds into the “Cool” people. 

Gareb Shamus is a professional contemporary artist, whose paintings are currently on display in galleries in Los Angeles, Toronto and New York City. His paintings are noted for breaking the ‘3rd wall’ with their three-dimensional textures and use of a proprietary painting technique designed to provoke conversation by reaching out to the viewer.

Oliver Bogner

Founder and CEO/Brandable

Mr. Oliver Bogner is a serial entrepreneur and the Founder and CEO of Brandable, Inc. Oliver has led Brandable from a concept to a 80+ person operation with significant revenue at A+ retailers. He has created exclusive programs with the two largest retailers in America: Target and Walmart. One of his brands, Craft City, launched exclusively at Target outperformed its forecast by 6x, and is now the fastest growing kids crafting brand in America, expanding to over 20 SKUs.

He spent the last 8 years creating and executive producing hit television series like TLC’s My Five Wives, Lifetime’s Kim Of Queens, and worked as a creative executive at companies behind hit series like MTV’s Catfish, Food Network’s Guy’s Grocery Games, and CBS’s Undercover Boss. In November 2015, he sold his television production business to Discovery Communications / All3Media.

Oliver has made a name for himself — he has been profiled by the Los Angeles Times, Forbes Magazine, Variety, USA Today, Elite Daily, OC Register and has been listed twice in Forbes Magazine on the “30 Under 30 List”

Brandon Webb

Founder/Hurricane Group

Brandon Webb is a former US Navy SEAL sniper, Entrepreneur, New York Times bestselling author, and Avid Pilot. He’s the founder of Hurricane Group, a Men’s lifestyle company with digital publishing and ecommerce brands that reach over 50 Million monthly. He is also a co-founder at GSD Logistics, a third party fulfillment (3PL) company focused on global ecommerce fulfillment. Brandon is a member of the New York YPO (Young Presidents Organization) chapter, and was proud to serve as an appointed board member on the Veterans Advisory committee to the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Seth Grabel

Illusionist

Seth Grabel was born and raised in Los Angeles, then moved to Las Vegas, the entertainment capital of the world.  Grabel hit the entertainment scene as a star personality and has touched the hearts of millions. As a finalist on NBC-TV’S “Americas Got Talent” he was crowned “The Showman” by Peirce Morgan and received a standing ovation by judges Howie Mandel and Sharon Osborn. Grabel amazed the judges by getting shot from a cannon, and produced the Famed Delorian equipped with Mini-Judges which quickly became an international hit.  Grabel has been featured in a number of national television shows including EXTRAS Talk soup, NBC, ABC, Bravo’s Millionaire Matchmaker, Animal Planet’s TANKED and Penn & Teller’s “FOOL US”. As a reality TV star, Grabel continues to bring excitement, wonder and enjoyment to the screen. Combining his acquired marketing and branding experience from his father, along with a top education at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Grabel’s love for magic exploded into a serious and lucrative profession. With a fierce determination and dedication he began perfecting his skills in front of a mirror, in a small studio apartment. Soon after, his mesmerizing talents were in high demand.

Dale Thorhammer

Dale Thorhammer is a world renowned billionaire transformation artist to the stars (celebrities) and a success coach to the personal developmentally challenged. His work combining self-development work with consciousness teachings has transformed billions of lives around the planet through his patented seminars and methods of “self-consciouness”. He is currently authoring many #1 New York Times best selling books. Dale currently lives out of many homes across the globe all of which have luxurious views of oceans, rainforests, or canyons.