Paul Feith
Introduction:
I am a creative, energetic and results-oriented executive with over fifteen years of progressive technology experience. Throughout my career, I have worked in all areas of development and client services and have had many roles, including architect, designer, developer and client service director (Full Life Cycle). I excel at setting direction and providing leadership for e-Strategy, Technology, Strategic Partnerships and Production. The strategic relationships that I have formed over the last 10-years are a permanent part of my resources, and are an invaluable part of my professional and personal life.
I have been responsible for the evolution and implementation of emerging applications and technology within the Online division of two of the most highly Internet site/brands in the world, Playboy Enterprises and MyPoints.com. During my 4 years with Playboy, I built the initial online technology team, formed strategic alliances with key technology partners and was instrumental in instituting the founding technology business strategy and direction. With MyPoints.com, I gained valuable client services experience. Through licensing private label ASP versions of MyPoints to over 40 other online websites, my group was directly responsible for delivery and implementation, accelerating overall member acquisition and retention to 8+ million active members.
I have assisted in the recruitment of key members within the Editorial, Creative, Technology and Production divisions of both Internal and Client Online departments. I possess a unique understanding of application capabilities and technical utilization that enables me to provide critical, yet constructive, review of technology. As a result of my vast network within leading companies in the application technologies arena, specifically in the e-commerce space, I have pioneered many “web firsts”.
I have been interviewed for numerous newsletters, user-groups, online-services and computer-related magazines. I also participated in several speaking engagements such as Netscape’s DEVCON - “What Makes Large Sites Work?,” and was a guest speaker for Inc. Magazine’s Business Technology event. I am an active member of the Webmonster Organization, a consortium of senior members of the top 30 largest content providers on the Web, and the ATVEF (Advanced Television Enhancement Forum).
Background:
I have been involved in technology consulting and management since 1985, with the last seven years specifically related to the Internet. I have extensive resource/client management experience with large and small teams, and I take the lead in setting vision and strategic direction with regard to establishing and growing corporate initiatives. I am also an active member of the “Webmonster Organization”, a consortium of senior members of the 30 largest web sites in the world, including CNN / Time Warner, Disney, AOL, CDNet and Excite, among others.
Objective:
I am seeking an innovative and Web-oriented director position to utilize my demonstrated experience/knowledge in client services, developing and utilizing existing strategic partnerships, presentation skills, and planning, developing, and implementing cutting-edge technology solutions to address aggressive revenue and business goals:
Experience:
Jan 2001 – Present PADA Communications, Inc., Chicago, IL
Client Svs. Director, Internet Div.
· Responsible for technology strategy and development. Manage ongoing external client relationships and initiatives, building revenue goals. Direct all facets of client web-site development including integration of e-commerce applications, operations, and content management.
· Develop strategic partnerships to build new technologies to address client needs.
· Build client-side development staff and train development managers
November/December 2000 GoliathFalls.com, Chicago, IL
VP, Development
· Directed development staff and the implementation/migration of GoliathFalls’ back-end e‑commerce framework.
July 1999 – Sept. 2000 MyPoints.com, Inc., Schaumburg, IL
Director of Production/Client Services
MyPoints rounds out my technology skills with extensive production and client service skills experience. Accomplishments include:
· Developed and managed over 40 Fortune 500 client web sites for Customer Acquisition and Retention.
· Evaluated & Oversaw Production M&A for Cybergold, iTarget, Krueger, and ADG, and was responsible for Production Integration.
· Evaluated and implemented strategic alliances with StarMedia, U.K. Portal, ZDNet and MasterCard.
· Planned and implemented Solutions & Support Unit to interface between Production and T&D.
· Identified Technologies and Solutions for Production Unit and developed strategic partnerships.
1996 – 1999 Playboy Enterprises, Inc., Chicago, IL
· Reported directly to the CTO and President of Playboy Online.
· Forecasted and evaluated emerging Internet technologies and considered expert in the field. Provided consulting to other fortune-500 companies and was interviewed regularly.
· Matrix management spanning multiple projects and business units
· Developed and maintained strategic relationships with industry partners.
Projects include:
· Spearheaded online technology strategy for multiple Playboy.Com Websites (multi-million dollar projects).
· Designed buildout of Playboy Online Staffing and Departmentalization.
· Strategic Planning of Operations, Engineering, Production and Creative Units.
· Research and rollout plan for Interactive TV and broadband convergence
· Formed strategic relationships with ATVEF, DigitialBitcasting and RealNetworks.
· Research and Development of Video Streaming Codecs with outside developers.
· Corporate strategy for three-tiered E-Commerce layering.
· Assisted the publishing division in creating an online presence.
· Developed an overall technology strategy and implementation plan for our network, hosting, connectivity and content development.
· Managed a staff of 20
· Created and maintained technology partnerships and formed strategic alliances
· Oversaw day to day operations, including project planning and monitoring, performance evaluations, recruiting and budgeting/forecasting.
1985 – 1996 Compu-Tech Consulting, Howell, NJ
President
· Managed a technical staff including outside sales force and programming team.
· Management, administration, sales, consulting and support.
1990 – 1992 CompuAdd, Eatontown, NJ
Assistant Manager, Sales
· Regional territorial management , budgeting and merchandising.
1987 - 1990 Software Etc., Ocean, NJ
Manager, Sales
· Store manager and Regional Trainer.
Personal Affiliations:
· GII (Global Information Infrastructure) Annual Awards Judge
· WebMonsters (Top 30 web sites represented by Technology Directors/VP’s)
· ATVEF – Advanced Television Enhancement Forum (Interactive TV Consortium)
· Media Wing – Executive Advisor and Board Member.
Areas of Expertise:
· eCommerce (all venues - Shopping / Subscriptions/ Advertising) / B2B, B2B2C & B2C
· Digital Rights Management / Technology
· Publishing / Workflow Internet Production Technologies
· Streaming Media / Broadband delivery
· Graphic Compression / Media encoding
· Internet Gaming
· Loyalty Marketing Programs / Targeted Marketing (Digital Loyalty Engines)
· Interactive TV / Internet-TV Convergence
· Online Community Building / Return Traffic Growth
Background:
BA in Technology Management, Expected Fall 2003
Brookdale College, Lincroft, NJ
Associate Degree in Commercial Music Composition, May 1988
“Electronic Music” Certificate and Scholarship for CMP degree for demonstrating talent in music and technology integration.
HLB Communications, Chicago, IL
Completed Strategic and Corporate Communications Seminars.
Press, Awards and Publications
DVD Bible Book: Digital Encryption & Media Encoding Sidebar
Netscape’s DevCon Conference w Speaker, “What Makes Large Sites Work.”
Inc. Magazine w Interview, “Business Technology Online.”
Crain’s Chicago Business w Interview, “Practical Encryption Technology.”
New York Times w Interview, “Applying Pay-Per-View Idea to the CD Business.”
Digital Bitcasting w Press Release, Strategic Partnership Announcement.
CMP Net’s TechWeb w Interview, “Pushing on in the Online Copyright War.”
Editor & Publisher Interactive w Interview, “Protecting Copyrighted Web Media: New Digital Security Systems.”
GII U.S. Awards w Judge, Netpreneur Semi-Finals.
Streaming Media East w Speaker, “Optimized Encoding & Production of Streaming Audio and Video.”
The Washington Post w Interview, “Online Onslaught – Technology in Large Sites.”
Photo District News w Interview, “To Catch a Thief: Protecting Media Online.”
Significant Accomplishments
Corporate Strategy for Three-tiered E-Commerce Layering.
My efforts with the Open Market partnership allowed Playboy to be the first online publisher to execute three layers of online e-commerce transactions simultaneously. I also have extensive hands-on experience implementing Interworld e-commerce frameworks.
Planned and Implemented Solutions & Support Unit to Interface between Production and T&D.
Created a project management layer between production and technology that decreased program timelines and dependencies and increased throughput. Production immediately realized a 70% productivity increase, while technology processed requests faster.
Developed and Managed over 40 Fortune 500 Client Web Sites for Customer Acquisition and Retention.
I built over 40 custom loyalty sites for clients of MyPoints.com from conception to implementation to maintenance. This effort is responsible for 45% of MyPoints’ total customer base of 8.2 million active members and 25% of total Revenue. These custom loyalty sites are also responsible for the most active members in the database, as a direct result of our B2B Client Services. I worked very closely with these leading Internet companies, including:
About.com Aria NextCard Amazon Prodigy Ourhouse
ZDNet Xoom Zoomerang HP Excite GTE
TalkCity Food.com Commtouch Yahoo Mall.com Edventions
Identified Technologies and Solutions for Production Unit and Developed Strategic Partnerships.
Developed partnership with CSafe for copyright protection technology. After just four months of implementation, we realized a direct savings of over 33%. People could no longer “steal” media and were forced to resubscribe or repay for Pay-per-view events.
By partnering with Vignette, our production and workflow efficiency quadrupled. Savings were realized in the first six months and we saved over two million dollars in unnecessary resource costs in the first year.
Evaluated & Oversaw M&A Deals for Production Units.
I was responsible for evaluating companies and technologies, and developing Acquisition plans for the combined production units within MyPoints.com. Companies included Cybergold, iTarget, Krueger and ADG. These acquisitions quadrupled our production output and contributed to a reduction in net loss of 18%.
Evaluated and Implemented Joint Ventures with StarMedia, U.K. Portal and MasterCard.
By forming strategic alliances with the above companies, I was able to support our corporate initiative into international markets while retaining a large percentage of revenue equity at a low-risk loss plan. In other words, we were protected from loss. Star Media and MasterCard were among our most successful programs with the U.K. launching in September. These three Joint Ventures accounted for 90% of our international transactions.
Spearheaded Online Technology Strategy for Multiple Playboy.Com Websites (multi-million dollar projects).
As acting CTO, I directed and managed all technology strategies for four mega-sites, Playboy.com, Cyber.playboy.com, Criticschoice.com, and Collectorschoice.com; totaling over 4 terrabytes of content. Using OpenMarket Commerce layers, I unified product, customer, subscription and fulfillment databases into a centralized system. Four business units were replaced by a single centralized department for all commerce, online and offline. Playboy realized a savings of over 1.8 million a year, paying for itself before the first year.
Designed Buildout of Playboy Online Staffing and Departmentalization.
I was responsible for a 2.5 million dollar staff budget and a six million dollar technology budget.
I also built Playboy Online from 4 people to over 80 without incurring any net loss. Playboy was the only online publishing company in the world to operate online in the black for two years. After two years, we invested millions of dollars into our online effort, where I assisted in building out our resources to over 150 people. By combining areas of production and marketing while segmenting areas of technology, I was able to get marketing and technology to speak the same language while using Production as the translators. This improved our ability to create tangible products from abstract ideas very quickly, and enabled us to keep up with the momentum of the Internet.
Strategic Planning of Operations, Engineering, Production and Creative Units.
By creating an overlap of responsibilities and accountability between these departments, we began thinking of products and commerce opportunities as a team with diverse skills focused on an initiative, rather than departmentalizing it in a workflow step. Creating and implementing a full-lifecycle initiative was extremely efficient, resulting in savings of resources. This methodology kept Playboy from incurring a net loss for over two years.
Research and Rollout Plan for Interactive TV and Broadband Convergence.
Formed Strategic Relationships with ATVEF, DigitialBitcasting and RealNetworks.
Broadband streaming media and copyright protection technology were major initiatives and personal passions of mine. Prior to leaving Playboy, I established a network of partners, alliances and service providers that were in tune with Playboy’s goals and strategies and worked to make Playboy a success in the streaming media arena. Playboy is one of the few successful companies in the world where we have not disappointed our audience with congested connections or poorly encoded video. The standards were high, and we have consistently received superior scores for our efforts. My affiliation with ATVEF allowed Playboy to be among the early adopters of Interactive TV. We utilized our production departments for the interactive content and joined forces with our Studios in L.A. to put it all together. In the arena of early adopters, I was very successful in giving Playboy a head start.
Research and Development of Video Streaming Codecs with Outside Developers.
Prior to broadband encoding technologies from RealNetworks, I forged a solution with Digital Bitcasting’s technology and co-produced a new technology marrying DBC’s MPEG technology to RealNetworks’ Application Layer. This resulted in proprietary broadband encoding that can be decoded by any RealNetworks Player. The result was that I was among the first to encode at 300kbsp and higher with the largest potential audience of established RealPlayer users. It was these kinds of in-depth partnerships that gave us the edge for high visibility and early test market data.