I head up the North American operations of leading SMS and MMS connectivity aggregator MX Telecom and am responsible for all commercial activities supporting the US and Canadian markets. Prior to opening the US office in New York in 2003, I spent two years as Marketing Director for MX Telecom in London, building key relationships in the early days of the SMS market in Europe. Before MX Telecom I was a strategic planning manager at Reuters, the global connectivity, content and transactions company. I hold a Masters degree from the University of Cambridge.
MX Telecom operates in North America, Europe and Australia, serving hundreds of clients for SMS, MMS, Video, Voice and Location connectivity. It has become a major player in the wireless industry, well respected for its role in growing and developing the market over the past six years. I am an active member of the MMA, participating in the Consumer Best Practices Committee and Short Code working group.
Through energetic participation in the MMA and other key industry bodies, I aim to use MX Telecom's reach and experience to influence and support the profitable and sustainable growth of our industry in North America by aligning the needs of content providers, carriers and end users. I believe my experience of over five years in one of the pivotal players in the mobile value chain, combined with my enthusiasm for developing our industry, will be a useful asset to the MMA Board and I ask for your vote.
I am writing to request that you consider me for a position on the Mobile Marketing Association's Board, as well a chairperson's role on both the Strategies and Best Practices, and internal Awards Committees. My breadth of experience and track record of success in the mobile market combined with Air2Web's commitment to furthering innovation and growth in the industry make me a natural choice for the Board and each Committee.
I am a seasoned marketing professional, with 15 years of experience in strategic planning, marketing and advertising, and brand development. I have held leadership positions at Web.com, Epoch Internet, Bell Atlantic Global Networks and Ameritech. Currently I lead Air2Web's corporate and product marketing strategy and initiatives.
Through my efforts Air2Web has grown into a marquee company with global reach and a stellar list of clients including: UPS, The Weather Channel, Spike TV and Traffic.com. The company has a long heritage in the mobile space and an equally long relationship with the Mobile Marketing Association. Over the years, Air2Web has proven its mission of being a flexible partner that seeks to add to the strength of the industry. Air2Web, for instance, was the first company to execute cross-carrier promotions, and the company continually strives to reach milestones that serve the industry. The company's achievements have been further validated by various esteemed awards including Red Herring's Top 100 and Frost & Sullivan's Best Mobile Marking Suite for 2004.
I am also involved with other key industry organizations such as the CTIA and the IAB where I am a charter member of the Mobile Committee, as well as the Hispanic Advertising Committee. My inclusion in these organizations will help to ensure that the MMA retains a share of voice beyond its own members. Air2Web retains a strong list of Fortune 100 clients who are also interested in the company's inclusion in the MMA and I look forward to leveraging these relationships to the MMA's benefit.
The strength of Air2Web's leadership, as exemplified by my contributions, combined with the company's commitment to the innovation in and longevity of the mobile market, make me a candidate I hope you consider strongly. Additionally, the dedication to the MMA does not stop with me- several members of my executive team including CTO, Dale Gonzalez; VP of Global Sales, Scott Foernsler; and Director of Product Marketing, Jill Theobald, will be supporting Air2Web's efforts with the MMA.
Finally, Air2Web has had several other executives maintain Board positions with the MMA. I would greatly appreciate the opportunity to expand even further upon their previous contributions to the organization.
Best,
Alfredo Narez
Brendan Benzing, VP Product Management, InfoSpace (Bellevue, WA)
Brendan Benzing is responsible for defining InfoSpace's product strategy in Mobile Search as well as their industry leading messaging platform, portal and storefront offerings. He has over 15 years of experience in the media industry and over a decade with interactive media products including mobile, internet, and interactive TV.
InfoSpace, a market leader in both online mobile markets, develops portal, storefront, messaging platform and mobile search solutions and holds partnerships with over 40 mobile carriers worldwide, reaching more than 400m subscribers. InfoSpace recently ranked 20th on Wired Magazine's list of most innovative companies in the world.
Before joining InfoSpace, Brendan spent seven years with America Online most recently serving as an Executive Director, in AOL's Search and Directional Media Group. In that role he developed strategies for pay-for-performance advertising for the company's Yellow Pages, Contextual Targeting and Search businesses. While working at AOL Brendan held positions of increasing responsibility in the search, commerce, and local online businesses units and worked for a period of two years in the AOL subsidiary, Digital City.
Brendan has been an active member of the MMA for over a year and has been a frequent presenter at MMA sponsored events, including the recent DMA conference in San Francisco and CTIA in Los Angeles. He also has been an active member in the IAB and has served on special committees around local advertising and is a frequent industry spokesperson for InfoSpace.
Brendan's extensive and vast understanding of the mobile (as well as web) markets coupled with his leadership and expertise around product and infrastructure make him a natural fit for an MMA board position.
Brian Lent, President & CEO, Medio Systems (Seattle, WA)
Brian's pioneering industry background, academic experience and the success Medio Systems has experienced in 2006 give him a unique perspective on content discovery, the importance of recommendation technology, how consumers want to use content discovery tools and how the mobile search and mobile advertising industry will evolve over the coming years.
Previously, at Stanford University, where Brian did his graduate work in computer science, he was the cofounder of MIDAS (Mining Data at Stanford), and worked with Sergey Brin and Larry Page the founders of Google on the original crawler and search algorithm from 1994 through 1998. Thus, Brian speaks knowledgably about how search has evolved from the days of the Internet to what makes mobile search unique as the fourth generation of major consumer search technologies.
Mobile Search and Advertising Vision
At Medio Systems, Brian developed a mobile search and discovery solution that makes searching for content a simple and seamless process. Brian's vision is represented in the complete, integrated search engine he pioneered at Medio and how it allows carriers to choose off-deck content partners with complete control. Medio's approach recognizes the importance of carriers using rich analytics and reporting, which detail what subscribers are finding and what they aren’t. In a world that has seen growth from tens of thousands of web pages on the Internet in 1993 to more than 20 billion in 2005, that same growth in mobile will demand robust mobile search solutions.
On the mobile advertising front, Brian's pioneering work on campaigns in the search advertising marketplace has revolved around direct response, brand response and local search. Medio's advertising solutions address the difficulties in creating an advertising marketplace of significant liquidity for mobile devices, a market in which different carriers support different phones and have radically different policies regarding ads that are run on their networks. This makes it cumbersome for a large advertiser to execute a campaign that reaches a large cross-carrier audience. An opportunity exists for the creation of one marketplace that captures advertiser demand and serves multiple carriers.
Why Medio Systems?
Medio is uniquely positioned to discuss where the mobile search and mobile advertising industries are today and where they are headed. The quantitative validation of our technology and approach to mobile search can be seen in the extraordinary traction of our mobile search solution in the second half of 2006. Medio's technology has been adopted as the exclusive search solution by wireless carriers representing 35.3% of North American wireless subscribers, and over 40% of the North American market if weighted for data average revenue per user. Verizon Wireless, Amp’d, Telus Wireless and T-Mobile USA all chose Medio to provide best-in-class mobile search and mobile advertising to their subscribers. Most recently, Medio was chosen by a leading European Tier 1 mobile operator with more than 80 million subscribers to implement our mobile search solution across their subsidiaries in multiple countries.
Christian Loredo, Vice President, Networks & Carrier Relations, Mobile Accord (Denver, CO)
My interests in Telecom began in graduate school (’97 ’99) where I worked on a project for the ITU in Geneva, and focused my thesis on Telefonica's cross-border acquisitions and strategy. I have previously worked for a major US wireless Telecom infrastructure and middleware vendor, then joined Nextel on PTT voice products, launching several innovative products prior to moving to wireless data services. Having experienced a major merger with Sprint, I continued to launch innovative products, and had the pleasure of working with many partner companies in the mobile eco-system. My focus was on text messaging, MMS, community applications, and many apps (Text, WAP, J2ME) both on-deck and off-deck. A benefit of my approach to the MMA BOD is that I have experience and understanding across the mobile ecosystem to realize the possibilities and challenges through various viewpoints.
Having left Sprint-Nextel to pursue new challenges and use mobile for social change, I joined a start-up to help spur mobile philanthropy, advocacy, and the education of non-profits on harnessing the power of the mobile phone! Since I joined, we have landed many of the top-tier non-profits, such as United Way, ASPCA, Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital, and many more eager to get involved in mobile. I also advise the Mobile Giving Foundation, on creating and proposing mobile giving standards, creating a win-win-win framework to spur smart, sustainable growth, and on mobile education.
I have previously held a seat on the MMA BoD representing Nextel, then jointly representing Sprint-Nextel. This was a period of high-growth for the MMA in terms of memberships, and effectiveness of the working groups (having served on the MMA CBP working group and helped write the CBP Guidelines). I co-founded Common Short Code working group, and helped write the CSC Primer. I have personally restructured the CSC working group for effectiveness, with the creation of sub-committees for 2007. I have also championed both an Aggregator CSC time-to-market matrix (93% Aggregator response rate) and a CSC Survey for the mobile ecosystem, designed to help understand and communicate what's working, and to identify where further improvements can be made. Additionally, I have attended every MMA event in the past three years and consider the membership and current BOD, family (literally!)
As part of the MMA BOD, I would help increase awareness of mobile best practices with the major players of the non-profit community, continue to innovate mobile solutions, and help enable strong communication between the heads of the working groups. An area within the MMA that could use improvement is working group collaboration. As a head of working group, and having strong relationships with other working group leads, I would be in a great position to achieve this goal.
Between my strong understanding of Board responsibilities, unwavering enthusiasm and dedication to furthering progress in the mobile space, and excellent relationships with members of current MMA, I strongly believe that I am a solid candidate for the MMA 2007 BOD.
Thank You!
Christine Loredo, Marketing Director, AOL LLC (Dulles, VA)
There are several contributing factors of why Christine Loredo, Director of Marketing forAOL Mobile should continue to represent AOL LLC on the MMA board of directors. I bring over 12 years experience in the mobile industry with the last 4 years at AOL Mobile focused on driving trial and adoption of mobile applications. This experience has not only given me the ability to test and reapply innovative ways to use mobile media to build buzz and awareness but also to distribute apps to consumers. Furthermore, AOL has changed its strategy from a paid service focus to advertising and mobile will become a large part of that strategy globally. It is crucial that we have media giants like AOL on the board.AOL brings a unique perspective to the MMA that hinges on its experience in online advertising as well as its brand equity and ability to migrate its participative audience to the mobile handset. This is a huge benefit to the mobile media industry as we need companies that are capable of driving this new media and raising the category to yield a larger pie for all stakeholders to enjoy.
AOL has been a member of the MMA for the last 2 years. Over the year with the MMA I spoke in 2 MMA endorsed conferences, and already have some planned for 2007. I also have been co chairing the mobile search working group for the MMA and led the Mobile search insights survey research that came out of that working group.
Dear MMA Members,
I am submitting my application for consideration regarding the 2007 MMA Board of Directors.
Below is my current bio and additional information on why I believe that my experience and knowledge would allow me to contribute and bring a unique perspective to many of the issues and topics facing our industry moving forward.
As a wireless industry veteran, Chris has spent the last 3+ years building the mobile business at Univision. He is responsible for strategy, carrier relations, business development, product development, content, licensing, mobile marketing, interactive programs and all on and off deck programs within Univision. Additionally, he has orchestrated deals with all major labels and many top artists, tier 1, tier 2 and MVNO carriers as well as many of the top OEM's and third party aggregators in the United States. Univision is the fifth largest media company in the US of consists of two over the air broadcast networks, a cable channel, over 60 local stations, a radio group, three record labels and an Online division. Prior to founding the mobile group within Univision, Chris served as Vice-President and GM of a privately held wireless company that delivered the first H-MVNO model for brands such as WWE, Men's Health, X-Games and Butch Harmon. Chris began his mobile career at Qualcomm (QIS), as Sr. Manager of Business Development and was responsible for evangelizing 3G networks by establishing a strategic and consultative relationship with the major media companies and brands such as Disney, Yahoo!, Reuters, FOX, NASCAR, NCS and many more. Chris was on the leading edge of mobile content as he worked closely with the first core group of Brew carriers, content providers and application developers to help drive the ecosystem for mobile content and services. Additionally, Chris spent many years in advertising sales with traditional and new media companies, such as PRIMEDIA, CBS Storerunner and Univision.
I trust that my entire career in mobile and advertising, coupled with the fact that today we are seeing an amazing convergence of those two industries, would allow for me to be a creative, experienced and active member of the 2007 MMA Board.
Thank you for your consideration.
Chris
Christopher Brunner
Univision Communications
Vice President, Mobile Content & Services
Craig Shapiro, Sr. Director, Business Development, Helio, LLC. (Los Angeles, CA)
HELIO has graphically rich, advanced 3G devices running on Sprint's high-speed EVDO network; super distribution with 3000 distributors nationwide and flagship apple-like stores opening in major metropolitan cities weekly as well a highly coveted 18-34 year old demographic which makes for a perfect storm for testing and learning how young connected consumers interact with mobile marketing.
Our objective in joining the MMA is simple: We aim to stimulate the growth of mobile marketing in the US. We feel that our fresh and innovative approach to providing mobile services to consumers will help drive other operators to invest more aggressively.
We are eager to contribute more resources to the association.
Specifically, as Senior Director of Business Development at HELIO, I spearhead numerous key initiatives such as content strategy and acquisition as well as mobile marketing. In addition to developing strategic partnerships with leading brands and entertainment properties to create a distinct experience for HELIO members, I am responsible for developing broader integration with HELIO's partners including mobile advertising and sponsorships.
Prior to joining HELIO, I served as vice president of sales and marketing at Proteus, a leading developer and publisher of mobile content. At Proteus, I brokered partnerships between wireless operators and major media brands when mobile advertising was still in its infancy.
In 2001, I brought together FOX Sports, Motorola, and Domino's Pizza to launch the Virtual Coach application for the NFC Championship and Super Bowl XXXVI on FOX. Viewers could participate during the telecast by answering questions from their Motorola handsets and could order pizza from Domino's via embedded links. This was a major milestone in the industry and paved the way for future interactive television and mobile marketing initiatives.
Based on the success of the Super Bowl campaign, I was also able to secure Proteus as the mobile marketing partner for the 2004 Summer Olympics. AT&T Wireless, NBC, and McDonald's partnered to launch what at the time was the largest mobile marketing campaign in history. Proteus served polls, trivia, and a Guess The Gold game that was sponsored and promoted on over 250 million consumer package goods. A Jupiter Research study published shortly after highlighted this campaign saying that the partnership increased audiences’ advertiser and brand recall [and] increased users’ perception that the advertising was relevant to the programming.
Since then, I brokered over a dozen more mobile marketing initiatives before coming to HELIO, working with brands such as Johnson & Johnson, Volvo, Air New Zealand, and The Discovery Channel. Now at HELIO, one of my primary focuses is to launch a unique, innovative, and non-disruptive mobile advertising experience for our members.
To that end, I have been an active member of the mobile marketing community for the past six years. Ultimately, I seek to join the MMA Board of Directors in order to not only help shape the direction of mobile advertising in the industry but also to evangelize the power of mobile marketing to consumers, brands, and agencies alike.
Cyriac Roeding, VP Wireless, CBS Corp. (Los Angeles, CA)
Cyriac Roeding was named Vice President, CBS Interactive, in May 2005. He reports directly to Quincy Smith, President, CBS Interactive.
In his position, Roeding is responsible for building the new CBS Corporation's wireless business across entertainment, sports and news for CBS, CBS Paramount Television and The CW Television Network.
Since joining CBS, Roeding has launched the first mobile video breaking news alerts in the United States with ET To Go, CBS News To Go and CBS SportsLine To Go; secured deals with Verizon's V-Cast, Cingular and Amp’d Mobile in which select CBS video content can be downloaded onto cell phones; and partnered with Capitol Records for an integration of a ring tone download from Coldplay's hit single Talk into the script of CSI: NY in an industry first.
Roeding also introduced the first mobile sweepstakes on a scripted drama (CSI: NY); implemented cross-carrier live premium text message voting on the Emmy Primetime Award Show and on BIG BROTHER, which for the first time gave the power to the audience to alter the plot of the show; as well as integrated mobile sweepstakes into SURVIVOR, AMERICA's NEXT TOP MODEL, and several of CBS's daytime drama series.
Between 1999 and 2004, Roeding co-founded 12snap, Europe's market leader for mobile marketing and mobile entertainment. Investors included Nokia, Vodafone and Apax Partners, among others. Clients include The Coca-Cola Company, adidas, McDonald's, L’Oreal, Columbia Tristar and MTV Europe. Prior to that, he developed growth strategies at McKinsey & Company for global media, software and high-tech players in Europe and in the Silicon Valley.
Roeding is co-author of the McKinsey/Harvard management book Secrets on Software Success, published by Harvard Business School Press in Boston, and translated to Mandarin, Korean, Italian and German. At Roland Berger Strategy Consultants he led projects in Japan, Germany and the U.S. in the retail sector. Roeding's background also includes an assortment of various jobs ranging from reporter to radio disk jockey.
He received a Masters degree in Engineering & Business Administration from Germany's Technical School of Karlsruhe, an MBA in Corporate Strategy and Entrepreneurship from the University of Georgia, and studied Japanese management at Sophia University in Tokyo.
In 2001, Roeding was elected European Chairman of the global Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), and Board Member on the global board in 2006.
In 2003 and 2004 he received the first Lion Awards for mobile concepts at the world's most prestigious creative competition in Cannes, France. In 2006 he was elected to join the Industry Leadership Council of the CTIA, the leading wireless association in the United States.
David LaPlante, CEO, Twelve Horses (Reno, NV)
David LaPlante is CEO of Twelve Horses, a full-service relationship marketing and messaging company specializing in designing interactive communication solutions.
David brings more than 15 years of marketing, sales, customer relationship management (CRM) and direct marketing applications development experience to Twelve Horses and its global base of customers, including Deloitte, Reynolds & Reynolds, Fifth Third Bank, Red Herring, JPMorgan Chase and other global enterprises.
Previous to Twelve Horses, David was a partner in Aztech Cyberspace, a Nevada-based Internet professional services company founded in 1995. David guided Aztech to become one of Twelve Horses' most successful channel partners, ultimately leading to a merger with the Dublin, Ireland-based Twelve Horses in 2002.
David was named "Marketer of the Year" by Northern Nevada's American Marketing Association in 2004, and most recently the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada (EDAWN) recognized Twelve Horses as its "2005 Business of the Year."
Consistent with his passion, David was recently appointed as chairman of the State of Nevada's Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology, co-chairs a working committee on the common short code process for the Mobile Marketing Association, and serves on the board of the Reno-Tahoe Entrepreneur's Organization.
David has effectively combined the benefits of web design and development with multi-channel marketing. The combination of these products and services has positioned Twelve Horses as a global leader in business communications.
In the early stages of mobile marketing, David anticipated the evolution that was soon to occur. He embraced it and quickly moved to incorporate this channel into Twelve Horses’ core suite of products and services. Since that time, clients have come to rely on Twelve Horses’ technology to distribute mobile messages.
In 2004, David published a very informative and forward-thinking whitepaper titled, The Role of SMS in Multichannel Business Communications, which to this day serves as a resource and a guide for many writers, technologists, and marketers.
David maintains a very active speaking schedule in regards to mobile marketing. Some of his recent speaking engagements are:
Ø Ad:Tech
Ø Mobile Marketing Roadshow
Ø Consumer Electronics Show
Ø INBA
Ø World Entrepreuneur's Forum
Ø Digital Entertainment and Media Exposition
Ø CTIA: The Wireless Association
Ø OMMA West
Ø Lake Tahoe Travel & Tourism Conference
Ø The Mobile Marketing Forum
Ø Governors Conference on Tourism
Through his travels and speaking engagements, David continuously elevates the discussion, awareness and improvement of mobile marketing. As an applications provider, his company continues to evolve the mobile marketing channel. David is an experienced mobile marketer, and he has been a member of the Mobile Marketing Association since its inception.
David would prove to be a great asset to the Mobile Marketing Association as a member of the Board of Directors.