The Cursor Marketing Advisory Board

The Board of Advisors for Cursor Marketing is comprised of leading professionals in the Internet, advertising, marketing, technology, financial and publishing industries.

Please select the checkbox to expand on the details of all advisors.

• Manny Fernandez

  Manny Fernandez has been with SI Ventures since its inception in 1998. Prior to his present position he was Chairman, President and CEO of Gartner beginning in January 1991. Currently, Manny serves as Chairman Emeritus of Gartner. While at Gartner, the world's leading information technology research and consulting company, the company grew revenue from $45 million to nearly $1 billion. more

  Prior to Gartner he held President and CEO positions at Dataquest, Inc., an information services company, Gavilan Computer Corporation, a laptop computer manufacturer, and Zilog Incorporated, a semiconductor manufacturing company.

  Manny has been in the leading edge of technology development from the first programmable memory device, to the most successful microprocessor, to the first fully battery operated laptop computer. He has been the recipient of two "Entrepreneur of the Year" awards. Manny is presently serving on the board of directors of Brunswick Corporation, The Black & Decker Corporation, Flowers Foods and serves as the Chairman of the Sysco Corporation. In addition he is a former member of the University of Florida Board Of Trustees, and served on the University of Florida Foundation Board and the University of Florida Research Foundation Board. From 2003-2005, Manny served on President George W. Bush's President's Information Technology Advisory Committee. He holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from University of Florida, and completed post-graduate work in solid-state engineering at University of Florida and in business administration at the Florida Institute of Technology.

• Stephen Messer

  Stephen Messer is an Internet visionary, named to the 2007 Silicon Alley 100 as one of the most influential people in New York digital business. As the Founder and former Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of LinkShare, he led the company's efforts to create a unique pay-for-performance network to help businesses minimize customer acquisition costs while maximizing online revenue. more

  Under Stephen's guidance, LinkShare received countless recognitions, including the Deloitte and Touche fastest-growing technology leader award. Rakuten, the Japanese ecommerce portal, acquired the company for $425 million in 2005. Prior to LinkShare, he served as Associate Director of the Columbia University Institute of Tele-Information (CITI). At CITI, Stephen produced and directed studies on cyber-communications & telecommunications. He continues to serve as an Affiliated Research Fellow at the Institute. He holds a Juris Doctorate from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Lafayette University in Pennsylvania. He is admitted to practice law in New York and is a member of the Federal Communications Bar Association.

• Phillip Thune

  Phillip Thune serves as an active Cursor Marketing advisor to his former colleagues. He was most recently CEO of HireMeNow.com—the first completely online temporary staffing service. Prior to HireMeNow.com, he was President & Chief Operating Officer of MIVA, Inc. (NASDAQ: MIVA), and served on its board of directors. During Phillip's tenure (2000-2006), MIVA increased annual revenue from under $1 million to approximately $200 million, increased annual EBITDA from a negative figure to over $37 million and completed five acquisitions ranging in value from $500,000 to $184 million.more
  

  Before joining MIVA/FindWhat.com, Phillip served as Co-founder, Chief Financial Officer and Director for Broadcasting Partners Holdings, L.P., the 24th largest radio group in the United States at the time of its sale to Citadel Communications for $190 million. Prior to that, Phillip worked in Alex. Brown & Sons' investment banking group, advising over 50 media and communications services companies on IPOs, raising additional public and private equity and debt, and completing strategic mergers and acquisitions. Between 1994 and 1995, Phillip was Vice President of Corporate Development and Strategic Planning for Broadcasting Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ: BPIX), a publicly traded radio broadcasting company that was sold in 1995 for approximately $260 million.

• Matthew L. Feshbach

  Matthew Feshbach is the Founder, Managing Member and Chief Investment Officer of MLF Investments, LLC (MLFI), an employee-owned hedge fund sponsor. The firm primarily provides its services to pooled investment vehicles, as well as institutions and high net worth individuals. more
  

  Matthew is a storied investment professional with over 25 years of experience and a vast network of corporate & investment community relationships, with a record of successfully increasing shareholder value. He co-founded the first "short-only" hedge fund firm, Feshbach Brothers, in 1982. The firm grew to $1 billion under management by 1990 and was in the top 1% of all money managers in terms of performance from 1985-1990.

• Jeffrey Schwartz

  Jeffrey Schwartz is the Chairman and CEO of Lateral Media, a leader in web publishing and performance marketing (OBB: LTLM). Prior to Lateral Media, he served as President and Chief Executive Officer (and later Vice Chairman) of Autobytel—where he created a leading online automotive marketing services company with a market capitalization exceeding $500 million with operations in the U.S., Europe and Asia. more

  Prior to Autobytel, Jeffrey served in key roles at Autoweb.com including President/CEO, Director and Vice President of Strategic Development. His impressive career includes The Walt Disney Company, where he was responsible for corporate alliance business development. In 2006, he founded and was Chairman of AutoCentro—an automotive retail network focused on the Hispanic market, and most recently, from June 2007 to present, was founder and managing partner of Vertical Passion Media, LLC—a creator of web publishing and advertising properties. Jeffrey received his Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts and Ph.D. degrees in Political Science from the University of Southern California. He serves as a director of U.S. Auto Parts Network, Inc., a leading automotive ecommerce company, and New Motion, Inc., a leading online marking services company.

• John Linden

  John Linden is the Chief Technology Officer for OpenX, an open source ad serving and monetization platform. OpenX Ad Server empowers its community of more than 150,000 websites across the Internet with the ability to take control of their ads and maximize their revenue and relevance. more

  OpenX Ad Server products are translated into 25 languages, used in more than 100 countries around the world and serve more than 300 billion ads each month. Prior to OpenX, he was CTO of Kowabunga—after his company (Litmus Media) was acquired for its click fraud protected advertising distribution technologies. John was also CTO for Adknowledge and Virtumundo, Inc. He founded and was the CEO of Planet Alumni, Inc. (acquired by Reunion.com in 2001) after starting his career at Microsoft in 1997. John attended the University of Kansas.

• David Cohn

  David Cohn co-founded Civic Entertainment Group (CEG) in 1999 and serves as co-CEO. David began his career as the New York City Parks Department's first sponsorship salesperson. He was then promoted to Director of the Parks Marketing & Special Events Division, and was responsible for Parks' early entertainment and consumer brand partnerships, including alliances with major brand marketers such as 20th Century Fox, HBO, Toys R' Us, Nestle, LEGO and Kraft. more

  David is primarily responsible for new business, sponsorship sales and creating marketing partnerships for CEG's roster of clients. Since its launch in 1999, CEG boasts average annual revenue growth of 30%. David has especially strong ties with local city officials and key principals throughout NYC's business community and since beginning his marketing career has sold more than $20MM in sponsorships. David is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.

• Colin Gillis

  Colin Gillis has a decade of sell-side experience as an equity analyst predicting the performance of publicly listed companies. As Managing Director of Internet Equity Research at Brigantine Advisors in New York, he currently focuses on covering and discovering companies that are creating and shaping a new class of globalized media and transaction intelligence that deliver a step-function performance improvement over existing solutions. more

  With the unprecedented quantity of data behaviors currently available-and increasingly captured-on the Internet, a new level of relevance for media consumption, advertising exposure, marketing messaging and transaction-driven revenue streams is being created.

  Colin specialized in technology stocks as Director of Research at TheStreet.com. His previous experience includes roles at Adams Harkness as an analyst, Director and Vice President covering Business and Internet Technology Solutions, and at RBC Capital Market as part of the #1 ranked services research team covering emerging digital and traditional headcount driven business. Colin received his MBA from New York University's Stern School of Business and an electrical engineering degree with honors from Brown University. He has 9 years of experience coding and building technology platforms including the first fax-over-IP system. With work experience that includes private startups & public multi-nationals, Colin has a strong grasp of the details required for small companies to grow revenue and large companies to grow earnings. He has also been academically published on the topic of computer parallel processing.

• Jerrold S. Parker, Esq.

  Jerrold S. Parker, Esq. is the Managing Partner of Parker Waichman Alonso LLP, a national law firm practicing primarily in the areas of personal injury, mass torts, toxic torts, pharmaceuticals and medical devices and consumer fraud. more
  

  While Jerry maintains a national reputation in his field earning an AV rating (highest afforded) by the international law directory Martindale Hubbell, he is also extremely busy on the technology front. Jerry enjoys a national reputation in the legal arena as a forerunner in the use of technology in the legal industry.

  Jerry designed and created his law firm's first innovative website and internet strategy in 1995, one of the first personal injury law firms in the country to enter the world of web-based marketing. Jerry's flagship firm website www.yourlawyer.com (one of among 200 others) has been at the cutting edge of technology since its inception. It has been the recipient of numerous awards including Law Office Computing, Best Law Office Website award and several Internet Attorney Marketing Awards. Jerry has lectured at national symposiums on numerous occasions on website marketing for attorneys. His pursuit for innovation, empowerment and client support in the legal industry has spurred many additional business initiatives including InjuryTalk.com, SmartAdvocate and Innovative Legal Marketing.

• Stuart Ruderfer

  Stuart Ruderfer is co-founder and CEO of Civic Entertainment Group (CEG), a public-spirited events & promotions agency founded in 1999. He serves as chief creative officer, responsible for overall client development & management. more

  He has overseen the company's growth from its inception as a two-man operation to one of the most award winning agencies in the country, including "Agency of the Year" by PROMO Magazine. Prior to CEG, Stuart created the Marketing & Events Division for the City of New York under Mayor Rudolph ("Rudy") Giuliani. Recent client work include the CNN Grills during the 2008 Democratic and Republican National Conventions, HBO Entourage Air, A&E: The Recovery Project and NFLN: Keep Gym In School.

  Stuart has served as Honorary FDNY Fire Chief since 2001 when he helped create BROTHERHOOD, a commemorative book that raised more than $2 million for firefighters' families after September 11th. Stuart was also an Executive Producer for the BROTHERHOOD documentary film which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. Stuart graduated magna cum laude from The George Washington University in 1992, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He earned his J.D. from The George Washington University Law School in 1998.