TechMediaNetwork

Leadership



Jerry Ropelato, Chief Executive Officer
Jerry Ropelato founded TechMediaNetwork (originally TopTenREVIEWS, Inc.) in 2003 and serves as Chief Executive Officer. Jerry's extensive 28 years in technology and management, combined with his entrepreneurial experience, has helped him start two successful businesses and bring to market dozens of software products - totaling more than 30 million software installations. Mr. Ropelato has gained a reputation for his contributions to Internet marketing and ability to lead websites to top traffic rankings.
Prior to TechMediaNetwork Mr. Ropelato served as Chief Operating Officer of ContentWatch, and Chief Technology Officer of iAccess. In 1993, he founded Vitrex, Inc., an IT outsourcing company. Vitrex grew to 200 employees and received an Inc. Magazine #57 growth rating in 1998. Jerry has held positions with notable Iomega Corporation as manager of their software development team and various consulting positions that span a 12-year period in his early career.
Mr. Ropelato is an accomplished public speaker, recognized Internet Safety expert and author of two technology/marketing books "iSeries Visual Age for Java" and the soon to be released, "Internet Catapults". He is an active member of many corporate and university boards of directors. Mr. Ropelato received his Bachelor of Science degree in accounting and data processing from Weber State University.
Stan Bassett, President
Stan Bassett is President of TechMediaNetwork. With his strategic marketing and sales experience in the retail channel, Stan drives TechMediaNetwork' review strategy.
Before TechMediaNetwork, Stan was Executive Vice President of MarketStar, an Omnicom company, where he was responsible for the strategic management and business development of retail clients such as Sony, LG, Canon, Motorola, Office Depot and Whirlpool. He developed innovative field marketing campaigns to deliver predictable, measurable results, including account satisfaction, retention, profitability and loyalty.
Stan received a Bachelor of Science degree from Brigham Young University in financial planning. He has completed Omnicom's Senior Management Program and is a two-time Omnicom Catalyst Award Winner in Marketing and Sales Integration.
Randall (Randy) I Bambrough, Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
Randy is the CFO responsible for all financial oversight for the company. Prior to TechMediaNetwork, Randy served as CFO of NextG Networks, a leading provider of innovative wireless infrastructure solutions to carriers and played a vital role in the acquisition of the company by a private equity/venture capital syndicate. Prior to that Randy served as CFO at InterVideo, Inc., a DVD software provider. He guided InterVideo through their initial public offering. InterVideo was later acquired by Corel Corporation. Prior to InterVideo, Randy served as Vice-President of Finance at Optibase Ltd., a provider of digital media transmission devices. Prior to Optibase, Randy served as CFO of ViewGraphics, (which was later acquired by Optibase), CFO and cofounder of Decide.com, a consumer web site for wireless and other telecommunications products and services, and CFO of Castelle, a networking peripherals company that he assisted in taking public. In addition, Randy held various financial management positions at Daisy Systems Inc. and Iomega Corporation. He has also served as President of the Silicon Valley Chapter of Financial Executives International (FEI) with its 676 chapter members, a professional organization for senior corporate financial executives. He has been a Lecturer in Finance at the Leavy School of Business at Santa Clara University.
Randy earned a B.S. in business management from Brigham Young University, another B.S. in accounting from Weber State University, an M.B.A. from Utah State University, and a Doctor of Management from Case Western Reserve University and a Post-Doctoral Bridge from the University of Florida in Finance and Accounting.
Mark Westlake, Chief Revenue Officer
Mark Westlake is the Chief Revenue Officer responsible for all revenue for the company. Prior to TechMediaNetwork, Mark has served as a member of the executive management team for a number of well know web properties: Executive Vice President of Sales and Content of HowStuffWorks, a division of Discovery Communications and as the Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing of About.com, a top 10 Web site owned by The New York Times Company. In each of these positions, Mark helped build very successful web businesses and assisted in the sale of each company - Howstuffworks to Discovery for $250 million and About to The New York Times for $410 million.
Prior to About.com, he served as the Chief Revenue Officer of Streetmail.com and held other sales management positions at Juno ... (United Online) and Cox Interactive Sales, a division of Cox Enterprises. At Cox Interactive, Mr. Westlake helped launch AutoTrader.com, CIMedia, Gamesville (part of the Lycos Network), ETOnline, The Sportingnews.com and Tribune Interactive. In addition to his online experience, Mr. Westlake held sales positions within traditional media companies such as Hearst, Family Media and Times Mirror, as well as agency experience at Geer DuBois and Margeotes Fertitta & Weiss.
Mark is actively engaged in the online industry. He is a member of the advisory board for the Seller Summits run by Upstream Group and a founding member, former board of director and finance committee member for 212, an interactive advertising association serving the metro New York interactive ad community. Additionally, Mr. Westlake sits on the advisory board for the USA Triathlon Association.
Robert Roy Britt, Chief Content Officer
Rob has been producing internet content since the mid-1990s. He was a writer, editor and Director of Site Operations at SPACE.com starting in 1999. He served as Managing Editor of LiveScience since its launch in 2004. He now oversees news operations for the TechMediaNetwork's growing suite of technology, science and business news sites. Prior to joining the company, Rob was an editor at The Star-Ledger in New Jersey. He has a journalism degree from Humboldt State University in California.
Gerald Nichols, Chief Information Officer
Gerald brings 25 years of IT and business management experience to Tech Media Network's IT and IS departments. He also leads the expanding Partner Program for the company. Prior leadership positions include the direction of software development at ADP, Iomega, Ceridian and Health Benefits America. He was also VP Consulting at Vitrex Inc., where he directed over 150 IT consultants. Gerald has designed, developed and implemented numerous CRM, ERP, MRP, HR, finance, accounting and eCommerce software systems.
Gerald is also a well-regarded teacher and serves as the Chairman of the Employer Advisory Team at the Ogden-Weber Applied Technology College (OWATC), where he advises on curriculum development, and mentors aspiring technology students. He's also an engaging and charismatic keynote speaker, able to make complex subjects engaging and accessible, geared to educate and inspire any audience.
DeLonie Call, Chief People Officer
DeLonie Call joined TechMediaNetwork as Vice President of Human Resources with 20 years experience in management and executive-level human resources positions.
She has extensive HR leadership experience in technology companies including Vice President of Human Resources for ClearOne Communications, where she received recognition for her contribution to attracting and retaining talent.
She also held positions of Director of Human Resources at Iomega Corp. and Vitrex, as Vice President Human Resources. She served as a member of the Dean's Advisory Council for the Goddard School of Business at Weber State University.
Ms. Call graduated from Weber State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in business management and economics.
Edward D. Brown, Publisher
Edward D. Brown, publisher and president of Bedford Communications, has over 30 years of experience in the publishing industry. He began his career at book publisher Simon & Schuster, and has experience in publishing hardcover and paperback books as well as guides and magazines. Mr. Brown has published and packaged hardcover main selections for specialty book clubs including Field & Stream, Popular Science, Better Homes and Gardens and Columbia House.
For the last 25 years he has been a pioneer in the publication of several well-respected titles. His current titles cover a wide range of tech topics concerning mobile computing, communications, and entertainment.Mr. Brown is a graduate of Carnegie-Mellon University.
Mark Spoonauer, Editor In Chief - Technology
Responsible for the overall editorial vision for LAPTOP Magazine & Laptopmag.com, Mark Spoonauer is widely regarded as an expert in mobile and wireless technology. He has been Editor in Chief of LAPTOP since 2003 and has been technology journalist for more than a decade. Mark has spoken at several key mobile tech industry events, including CES and CTIA Wireless, and makes regular media appearances. Prior to joining LAPTOP, Mark was the reviews editor of Mobile Computing & Communications. His work has also appeared in Inc., Wired, and Popular Science, amongst other publications. Mark graduated from Villanova University with a B.A. in English.
Michael Eltzroth, Vice President Business Development
Michael Eltzroth is the Vice President of Business Development and co-founder of TechMediaNetwork. Michael's extensive sales and management experience, over 25 years, began in 1981 and includes consulting positions with top manufacturers General Motors, Honda and Acura.
With the explosive growth of the IT Industry, Michael joined Vitrex Corporation in 1995 as a Senior Account Manager where he consistently earned top sales recognition, leading to his promotion in 1998 as Director of Outsourcing and Strategic Partnerships. He was a key contributor to Vitrex, Inc. earning the prestigious Inc. 500 Award in 1998.
Michael has extensive experience working with Fortune 500 companies in the areas of sales, technology, and strategic partnerships. Possessing a combination of technical knowledge and marketing savvy, Michael creates strategic global relationships with his clients that produce results.
Mr. Eltzroth received his Bachelor of Science degree in communications and business management from Purdue University.
Jared Page, Vice President Creative Development
Jared Page brings 11 years of design, management and writing experience to TechMediaNetwork, which aids him in managing, developing and maintaining the company's network of sites.
Prior to his current position, Jared excelled at developing effective internal and external communications for ContentWatch and Xactware, Inc. His projects have included everything from developing creative for website and software user interfaces to writing and editing highly technical software manuals, marketing brochures, web content, email campaigns and multi-media presentations.
Notable career achievements include his design contributions to the highly successful non-profit organizations Operation Kids, Larry King Cardiac Foundation, Steve Young Foundation for Kids and choice Humanitarian.
Mr. Page graduated from Brigham Young University with a Bachelor of Arts degree.
Alex McArthur, Vice President Internet Marketing
Alex is the VP of Internet Marketing and is focused on driving quality traffic to company owned properties. Prior to TechMediaNetwork, Alex worked in executive management positions at recognized agencies serving many Fortune 500s, as well as thousands of small businesses, and led in-house efforts for an INC 500. Previous positions include VP of Search at OrangeSoda, a leader in local search and small business online marketing solutions and VP of Research & Development at SEO.com, a well recognized search marketing agency. He began his career with a computer ecommerce player and brings 14 years of digital marketing experience.
Alex enjoys being part of the online marketing community. He often attends marketing conferences, local events such as SLCSEM, and had previously spoken at Search Marketing Expo (SMX), Internet Merchants Association (IMA) and numerous chamber of commerce events across the country.
Gary Strauss, Vice President Sales
Gary brings more than 20 years of diverse media sales and marketing experience to the company.
Prior to joining TechMediaNetwork, Gary held a variety of advertising sales management positions in digital media. Gary started his digital sales career at DoubleClick as a senior account manager. He then served as director of East coast sales at Go2Net, which later merged with Infospace. During Gary's tenure at Go2Net, the company went public and was at one point the ninth largest site on the Internet. Gary later served at DivX Networks in a similar role and was instrumental in helping the company grow and was at DivX when it went public. Gary was vice president of sales for Imaginova and was an integral part of the launch of LiveScience.com. He was most recently national digital sales manager at SportingNews.com.
Mr. Strauss' early career also had sales positions in the magazine industry at Women's Day, Walt Disney's Family Fun magazine and corporate sales at Times Mirror magazines.
Matt Weiner, Vice President - Integrated Media
Matt Weiner is responsible for all revenue streams ranging from display to licensing and business development partnerships. He is also tasked with the coordination of the editorial and marketing teams to ensure strategic brand growth.
Before joining LAPTOP Matt worked for Penton Media as Group Publisher where he was responsible for the Corporate Real Estate and Finance Group. He oversaw five brands with products ranging from digital and print, to webinars and events. Other roles at Penton Media included Publisher of the Business Finance Technology Group and Sales Manager of Business Finance Magazine. Weiner began working at Penton Media in 2002.
Previous to Penton Media, Weiner was Director, Advertising sales of Yahoo! Music / Launch.com where his responsibilities included digital ad sales, custom advertising packages, and concert series sponsorships. Weiner also worked at CMP Media in the Financial Technology Network, prior to joining Yahoo/Launch.com.
Weiner graduated from Syracuse University with a Bachelor of Science, where he was also a member of the 1995 Men's National Championship lacrosse team.