President and CEO: Robert N. Fried.
Mr. Fried has served as our President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of our board of directors since our inception. Mr. Fried is a digital media entrepreneur and accomplished film producer. Since 1990, Mr. Fried has served as President of Fried Films, a motion picture production company he founded in 1990. Mr. Fried has produced or served as executive producer for 15 films, including “Man of the Year” and “Collateral.” Mr. Fried’s films have won numerous awards, including an Academy Award for the Live Action Short Film “Session Man,” the ASCAP award for “Collateral,” the Christopher Award for “Rudy,” and Emmy, SAG and Golden Globe awards for “Winchell.” Mr. Fried has founded several digital media companies, such as Spirit EMX, an internet video content company, and Ideation Mobile Media, a mobile advertising company which is unrelated to us other than through Mr. Fried. Mr. Fried has also served as consultant to numerous entities, advising them on studio slate financings, the formation of independent film production companies, computer animation, theatrical production, Internet planning and general strategic planning and business development. He was an investor in and served on the advisory board of WebTV Networks, Inc., which was sold to Microsoft Corporation for $425 million in 1997, and Intermix, Inc., owner of Myspace.com, which Intermix sold to News Corporation for $580 million in 2005. From November 1996 until June 2001, Mr. Fried served as Chairman of WhatsHotNow, Inc., or WHN, an e-commerce service provider to the entertainment and licensed merchandise industries, which he founded in 1996. WHN built and managed e-commerce and direct response commerce operations for major media companies, such as NBC, ABC, Fox, MTV, Comedy Central, Playboy, TV Guide, Sony Pictures, Universal and Paramount. WHN also built and maintained a business-to-business licensed merchandise retail exchange that managed the online product catalogs for over 130 licensee/manufacturers and had over 5,000 retail members. Mr. Fried also served as Chief Executive Officer of WHN from July 1999 until June 2001. From December 1994 until June 1996, Mr. Fried was President and Chief Executive Officer of Savoy Pictures, a unit of Savoy Pictures Entertainment, Inc. Mr. Fried led the turnaround of Savoy’s motion picture and television departments, which included marketing, distribution, business affairs, creative development and physical production. Savoy Pictures Entertainment was sold to Silver King Communications, which is now a part of InterActive Corp, in 1996. From 1983 to 1990, Mr. Fried held several executive positions including Executive Vice President in charge of Production for Columbia Pictures, Director of Film Finance and Special Projects for Columbia Pictures and Director of Business Development at Twentieth Century Fox. Mr. Fried holds an M.S. from Cornell University and an M.B.A. from the Columbia University Graduate School of Business.
