GeniusRocket Team
Mark Walsh
CEO and Co-Founder
Mark Walsh has distinguished himself by being "ahead of the curve" on a number of social and business evolutions throughout his career. Mark continues that trend as CEO and chairman of GeniusRocket, a leading provider of user generated advertising media. At GeniusRocket Mark has built the leading "crowdsourcing" advertising solution, creating marketing content for businesses ranging from Fortune 500 corporations to local retailers. Through Mark's leadership, GeniusRocket has grown a community of over almost 14,000 creative artists across 110 countries generating video, animation, graphic design, copy, and more.
Prior to GeniusRocket, Mark served as Chairman and CEO of VerticalNet from August 1997 to July 2000. Before joining VerticalNet, he was a Senior Vice President and corporate officer at America Online, Inc. He founded and managed AOL Enterprise, the business-to-business division of AOL. Mr. Walsh also served as the President of GEnie, General Electric's online service, and as the director of New Business Development at Home Box Office in New York.. He first got into the “online services” business in 1986, serving as General Manager or CEO of several internet and technology start ups.
Since 2001 Mark has been active in politics, serving as the first Chief Technology Advisor to the Democratic National Committee during 2001 and 2002, and as the Head of Internet Strategy for John Kerry for President. He was the founding CEO of Air America Radio in 2003-4 where remained an investor and director until 2009. In 2006, Walsh began serving as co-host of XM Satellite Radio's “Left Jab”, a weekly political radio show.
Since 2000, Mr. Walsh has managed a small angel-investment fund, Ruxton Ventures. At this venture capital company, he has invested in a number of small to medium technology/startup companies and serves on a number of their boards. Investment and/or board highlights include Day Software, NutriSystems, Blackboard, Half.com, Transactis, MobilePosse, SpectrumK12 Solutions and ARPU. He is also active in a number of non-profits, serving or having served on the boards of the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony and In2Books, and is a senior fellow at The Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland Business School.
Mark graduated from Union College (where he serves as a trustee) and received his MBA from the Harvard Business School.
GR Team (In Alphabetical Order)
James Barker
Curation Director
Jim manages the engagement and communications platform for GeniusRocket’s creative professionals, as well as directing corporate creative services. He is a veteran digital communications technologist, with over 25 years of experience in the advertising and software development industries. Before joining GeniusRocket, Jim was Co-founder and President of Transcendigital, a digital marketing services agency, where he directed successful campaigns for clients ranging from Fortune 100 companies to small businesses. Earlier, he served in leadership roles at digital services and traditional advertising agencies, including Outrider North America, where he was VP of Online Customer Development Services. Jim began his career serving with the U.S. Navy in communications technologies and micro-engineering and repair with NASA.
Maresa Becerra
Vice President of Operations
Maresa Becerra is Director of Operations at GeniusRocket, managing and coordinating all internal company processes, along with participating in daily facilitation of client and creator efforts. Prior to joining GeniusRocket Maresa held Project Management roles within several Washington, DC based international consulting firms, and acted as a Client Manager for multiple Italian organizations. Maresa has BA in Psychology and Business Administration from George Mason University and a Masters in Marketing from IED Milano.
Peter H. LaMotte
President
Peter LaMotte is President of GeniusRocket overseeing all functions of the company's two brands, GeniusRocket.com and GeniusRocket Select. He came to GeniusRocket from Corporate Executive Board where he was a Marketing Consultant and Executive Educator for the Marketing Leadership Council and Customer Contact Council. He has worked in the sales and marketing divisions of IBM, Apple, and Intrepid Aviation. At IBM Peter was one of the original NetGen account executives, IBM's first industry vertical focused on internet based companies. He holds BA in International Business from Rhodes College, and Masters in Business Administration from Vanderbilt University.
Adam Lehman
Company Advisor and Board Member
Adam Lehman is the chief operating officer of Lotame Solutions, a leading internet advertising and social networking platform. He directs all general business operations including business administration and strategic partnerships.
Lehman joins Lotame with deep market and operational experience, having led a wide variety of new business development initiatives for America Online (AOL) and several successful start ups in the social web arena. As a Senior Vice President with AOL, he negotiated strategic partnerships with leading Internet, media, technology and consumer marketing companies, closed billions worth of investment, M&A and joint venture transactions, and managed operations for AOL's central business and corporate development unit. He also had a hand in the original development and implementation of first-generation digital advertising and e-commerce business models.
Since then, he has served as an entrepreneur and active investor in the social media and marketing space, with companies including Wondir, Carmun.com, NaturalPath Media, Goozex and, most recently, as co-founder, President and COO of GeniusRocket, an online service enabling brands to crowdsource viral marketing videos and other creative marketing content.
He is an honors graduate of Dartmouth College and has a law degree from Harvard Law School
Tim Meleca
Director of Sales
Tim Meleca is the Director of Sales and Customer Support at GeniusRocket. He came to GeniusRocket from American Community Newspapers where he was a Advertising Consultant and Account Manager. He also spent time as the Mid-Atlantic Sales rep for Techne a manufacture of laboratory research equipment. Tim holds a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Mary Washington where he also played lacrosse for 4 years.
GM O’Connell
Company Advisor and Board Member
Gm O’Connell is Senior Partner at Tango Modem an international interactive marketing firm with offices in the United States, Mexico, and Argentina.
From 1987 to 2005, GM O’Connell, was Partner, CEO, Chairman, of Modem Media, a publically traded interactive marketing firm that service Fortune 500 companies. After Modem Media was sold to Publicis, GM joined the advisory board of Brand Studio. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Compass Health Care.
He graduated from Middlebury College.
Hugh Panero
Company Advisor and Board Member
Hugh Panero is a venture partner with the venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates (NEA). His efforts are focused on consumer technology.
Prior to NEA, Panero was the co-founder and CEO of DC-based XM Satellite Radio from 1998 August 2007, shortly before the company merged with Sirius Satellite Radio.(NASD: SIRI)
At its height, XM had more than 9.3 million subscribers.
Panero started his career as a journalist, and prior to XM served as the president and CEO of Request Television, a pay-per-view network owned by TCI's Liberty Media and Twentieth Century Fox.
James A. Punteney
Vice President of Technology
James Punteney is Vice President of Technology at GeniusRocket, responsible for developing and overseeing execution of strategy for all technology initiatives. James joined GeniusRocket after serving as Director of Technology at digital marketing firm Transcendigital where he gained extensive experience in planning, developing, and implementing technical solutions to marketing challenges. He holds a BA in Management Information Systems from Washington State University.
Curt Viebranz
Company Advisor and Board Member
Curtis G. Viebranz is a marketing consultant and venture investor. He was the Chief Executive Officer of TACODA, Inc, where he joined as President & Chief Operating Officer in April 2004. In July of 2006, Mr. Viebranz was named Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Viebranz was one of TACODA's original investors and served on its board of directors since the company was founded in 2001. He engineered the successful sale of the company to AOL/Time Warner in early 2008.
Viebranz spent 17 years at Time Warner and its predecessor company, Time Inc. During that time, Mr. Viebranz held numerous senior management positions with operating responsibility for major businesses both in the U.S. and abroad. He has also served as President of HBO International, the international arm of Time Warner's Home Box Office unit. Previously, he was the first president of Time Inc. Multimedia, the new media division of Time Inc., Time Warner's book and magazine publishing subsidiary. He also served as President of Time Inc. Europe and President of HBO Video, the home video distribution unit of Home Box Office. Viebranz is a member of The Council on Foreign Relations. Mr. Viebranz holds an M.B.A. from Harvard University and a B.A. from Middlebury College.
