Founder and Chairman
Chief Executive Officer
Chief Marketing Officer/Chief Operating Officer
Chief Technology Officer/EVP of Engineering
Chief Financial Officer
Vice President, Agency Partnerships
Vice President, Brand Partnerships
Head of Entertainment Partnerships
Hamet Watt
Founder and Chairman
An authority on advertising innovation, Hamet is frequently asked to educate media companies on the changing entertainment landscape and the need for new approaches to revenue generation. He is also regularly a part of the public discussion on new advertising media, and has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes.com, Fortune Magazine, USA Today, Business 2.0, Advertising Age, Television Week, Hollywood Reporter and Variety, among others.
Prior to founding NextMedium, Hamet was a general partner and vice president of business development at an international private equity investment firm managing capital in excess of $120 million. Focusing on all of the firm’s technology and telecom-related investments, Hamet was also responsible for developing new investment partnerships.
David Bluhm
Chief Executive Officer
With more than 20 years’ experience founding and heading successful technology and new-media startups, David Bluhm has helped generate over $36 billion in combined equity value for the companies he’s helmed. Most recently, David was the CEO of GoTV Networks, the first made-for-mobile television network and studio group, which generates entertainment content for the mobile experience. Prior to GoTV, David was CEO at WUF Networks, which allowed mobile users to access and stream rich media to their mobile phones. WUF helped pioneer mobile music and was acquired by Yahoo! to power their Yahoo! Music Mobile service.
David’s extensive technology leadership track record also includes co-founding MFORMA; founding 2WAY; serving as CEO of NearMe; developing the business plan and securing initial funding for Realtor.com; and serving in executive positions at Motorola, Mosaix International, Davox Corporation, Realtor.com, BondHub.com and Mammoth Micro Productions.
John Ellis
Chief Marketing Officer/Chief Operating Officer
As Chief Marketing Officer & Chief Operating Officer for NextMedium, John is responsible for the executive strategy and management of NextMedium’s marketing initiatives, client services and general company operations. John joined NextMedium in December of 2007.
John has 16 years of experience building and marketing high-growth businesses, including executive roles at some of the leading online marketplaces. His background spans roles in marketing, strategy, business development, product management and operations.
Prior to NextMedium, John was vice president of product management for ValueClick, where he was responsible for the global media platform, the second largest display media marketplace in the world. He joined ValueClick through its acquisition of Fastclick, where he served as vice president of marketing and product management. Before joining Fastclick, John was senior director of market strategy and business development at Yahoo, where he led their Overture division’s market entry into local search. Prior to Yahoo, John helped incubate and build EarthLink’s broadband division as vice president of strategic brand marketing and director of broadband products, where he was responsible for subscriber growth and product strategy. Before joining EarthLink, John held several corporate and regional management positions in operations and product management at Kinko’s.
Sridhar Obilisetty
Chief Technology Officer/EVP of Engineering
A veteran Silicon Valley executive and technology innovator, Sridhar pioneered numerous break-through solutions in the areas of SaaS, XML based Edge Computing, Integrated Web, Desktop and Telephony Platforms, Distributed Systems, Clinical Documentation & Revenue Cycle Management, Personalized E-Commerce, Multimedia Authoring, Email Connectivity Protocols and Compiler Development. He has successful track record in capitalizing on large market opportunities and building companies that have created immense customer & shareholder value.
Prior to NextMedium, Sridhar was the CEO of an enterprise software, SaaS infrastructure company where he played a pivotal role in identifying the market opportunity, assembled a strong team of employees & strategic partners, developed an XML based medical record & clinical documentation solution and commercialized it with more than 250 hospitals, 60,000 physicians and 4,000 HIM staff members in less than 5 years. He received numerous awards for developing the world’s largest SaaS application in Healthcare. Sridhar also played a pivotal role in developing the core technology platform for BroadVision and taking the company from a handful of employees and no customers to a large enterprise with more than 1200 customers and $15 Billion in market capitalization. Prior to BroadVision, Sridhar ran the multimedia authoring solutions group @ Sybase Gain Technology. He was the Lead Architect for Microsoft Exchange Internet Mail Connector. Sridhar started his career at Go Corporation creating the industry’s first pen-based operating system.
Sridhar holds MSc Tech (Masters degree) in Computer Science from BITS Pilani, India. He is the inventor on several technology patents in the fields of SaaS, Distributed Computing, Electronic Commerce, Personalization, Centrally Managed Asynchronous Computing and XML based Edge Computing.
Ivan Ivankovich
Chief Financial Officer
Ivan brings over 20 years of financial and operational expertise to NextMedium. Most recently, Ivan was managing director of VisionPoint Capital, a boutique investment bank advising clients in the middle market. Ivan also served as chief financial officer of YellowPages.com, an online directory of national and local merchants. At YellowPages.com, Ivan managed and directed the company’s financial and operational initiatives, and he led and negotiated the merger of the company into a group led by two large telcos (SBC and Bell South). Prior to YellowPages.com, Ivan served as vice president, portfolio operations with Platinum Equity, a global acquisition firm where he managed and operated certain of its portfolio companies. He has also served as a senior financial executive for two venture-backed companies, HealthAllies and Trivida Corporation, which was acquired by Befree Inc. (now part of ValueClick: VCLK).
Ivan started his career with Ernst & Young in their audit practice in Los Angeles. He is a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the California Society of CPAs.
Bob Gehringer
Vice President, Agency Partnerships
Bob brings broad and deep sales and advertising experience – and a proven track record – to NextMedium. He has held successful positions at such leading ad agencies as Young&Rubicam and D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles, as well as two Fortune 500 companies, Time Inc. and Blockbuster Inc. Bob was recognized as a 2005 "Top Performer" by Time Inc.'s CEO. Bob also brings to NextMedium a thorough knowledge of new-media advertising marketplaces, having spent several years at DoubleClick. Throughout his career, Bob has been responsible for large-scale media and production budgets of some of the world's leading brands, including Ford Motor Company, General Motors and Blockbuster Video.
Aarona Jordan
Vice President, Brand Partnerships
A veteran of the New York advertising community, Aarona Jordan has worked as a top national television sales executive for MTV, ESPN, CNN and BET. Having begun her career in media planning and buying at Young&Rubicam, Aarona has serviced a variety of accounts from Colgate-Palmolive and Proctor & Gamble to Paramount Pictures and MasterFoods, with a deep commitment to creativity and effective media solutions.
Jeff Grossman
Head of Entertainment Partnerships
With over 12 years’ experience across feature film, television, advertising and interactive media, Jeff has played a pivotal role in the development and execution of branded content and entertainment marketing partnerships. Most recently, Jeff was Director of Branded Entertainment and Media Innovation for CBS Corporation. He bridged programming, marketing and sales to create a dedicated brand integration practice for CBS and UPN. Jeff led the integration of advertisers into reality and scripted television and extended integrated partnerships to online, mobile, CSTV and PC gaming. Jeff worked directly with studios and productions including Survivor, Amazing Race, America's Next Top Model, CSI franchise, King of Queens, Girlfriends, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Entertainment Tonight and The Early Show.
Prior to CBS, Jeff founded ProMotion Pictures, a cooperative learning initiative designed to push the boundaries of art and commerce in conjunction with New York University. Jeff secured six-figure funding from multiple initiative sponsors including Volvo, Unilever, Diageo, Verizon and Heineken to develop and produce branded film, video and multimedia. He also forged strategic alliances with Independent Film Channel, Open Student Television, Conde Nast, and William Morris Agency. Jeff also served directly under Harvey Weinstein at Miramax Films. He managed strategic marketing partnerships with McDonald's, Isuzu, PepsiCo and various global ad agencies.