Management Team and Advisors
J. Mitchell Johnson, Founder and CEO
In a media co-venture with ABC News, Johnson developed and produced a groundbreaking news magazine series which aired throughout the former Soviet Union. He founded Abamedia, LP, which represented the Russian government’s State Film and Photo Archives at Krasnogorsk, one of the premiere audio-visual archives in the world.
Johnson received a Masters degree in Cinema from the University of Southern California (USC). His interest in education and interactive media stems from working at USC’s Annenberg School of Communications, as an award-winning documentary filmmaker, and as a pioneer in the special interest video genre. He founded TravelWorld Video, LP, which financed, produced, and marketed Fodor’s Travel Video.
Johnson chaired the Media Panel for the Texas Committee for the Arts and President of the Texas Independent Producers Association, and the Education and Technology Panel of the 2nd Annual US-Russia Exchange Symposium, sponsored by the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. He serves on the board of Fort Worth Sister Cities International.
Charles Morpheus, Chief Designer, Architecture & Usability
Experienced as a free-lance designer and digital artist for Icumedia, Morpheus provided sound, images, animation and programming for interactive CD-ROM, video and the Web. Clients included Arco, GTE, Fujitsu, and others.
Dave Evans, COO/CMO, Management & Marketing
Evans co-founded Digital Voodoo, which provides services for social networks, viral marketing, and consumer-generated media. As a strategy director for integrated communications, he worked with Omnicom’s GSD&M ad agency. He serves on the Advisory Board with ad:tech.
Mark Gaither, CTO, Technology
Gaither is a Texas A&M University graduate and computer scientist. Building his first web site led him to a career in the software industry. The author of four books about web programming, he served as a senior staffer for the startup software companies Rocksteady Networks, Inc., Tribal Voice and CMGI Solutions, Inc. Gaither served as consultant to IBM on its Digital Media Gateway.
Dennis Bishop, Program Manager, Film and General Project Management
Bishop served as producer on more than 50 motion pictures. During his tenure as Vice President of HBO Pictures, the 27 movies produced won 51 major awards. He also managed several companies in different industries. Bishop chairs committees at the Directors Guild of America and the Producers Guild of America. He was appointed to the Runaway Advisory Committee of the California Film Commission to draft state incentive legislation to promote the film industry.
Patricia Gaffney, Ed.D., Program Manager, Education
Gaffney is an educational consultant. She studied at Rutgers and the University of Houston. A lifelong educator, she served in three states as a teacher and principal for K-12 schools, and as a specialist for federal and state programs. Her research interests include accountability, mentoring, and using technologies as tools to support curriculum.
Svetlana Solntseva, Business Development and Marketing, Russia
Solntseva graduated from Volgagrad State University in the area of Sports Training, and Rostov State University’s special program in advertising. She is a financial consultant who studied under a grant for training in journalism and marketing in the United States.
Snapse is a truly global platform. Beyond the US and core international technology development programs, we are aggressively building a global business. Our Management team includes a team specifically dedicated to this aspect of the overall vision for Snapse.
Roland Lang, Product Development, Localization
Lang received his education at the Universities of Nuremberg and Erlangen. A former teacher who specializes in digital media, he started in the field as product manager/producer at Kirch New Media, where he was responsible for developing the Internet portal. As account manager at Discovery Communications Europe, he worked for New Media UK/EMEA, where he was responsible for business development and relationship management for Internet, iTV, Mobile, VoD, e-commerce and ad-sales in eleven European countries.
Oskar Prinz v. Preussen, Ph.D., Investor Relations Business Develop. & Strategy
Von Preussen was educated at the Universities of Berlin and Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. He established radio stations in Eastern Germany for the Holtzbrinck Publishing Group after the Berlin Wall fell in 1992. He was General Manager of Burda New Media, Founding Director of the TV channel “Kinderkanal,” and General Manager for Discovery Communications Inc. in the German-speaking territories from 1997 to 2001. Von Pressen is the founding shareholder of the Media Consulting group (www.mcg-org.com), an international network of partners investing in the TIME markets.
Alexander Schwarz, Ph.D., Strategy, Business Development, Content Aggregation
Schwarz was educated at the Universities of Munich, St. Andrews and the State Film School VGIK in Moscow. He served as Executive Producer at the commercial broadcaster Kabel 1 TV in Germany. He helped launch the German-language Discovery Channel. Schwarz headed several departments of the Discovery Channel GmbH, then a joint venture with the KirchGroup. As Director of Marketing, Communication and Creative Services at Discovery Networks Europe, he headed a team 40 responsible for documentary channels serving Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Schwarz now runs his own company “Tolle Idee!” consulting and developing integrated film, online, print and exhibition projects.
In addition to its core management team, Snapse looks to and counts on its investors and advisors for strategic direction.
John George, Manager, Hedberg Investments – Fort Worth, Texas
Mr. George is the manager of Hedberg Investments and its affiliated companies, which invest in oil and gas, real estate and private sector business opportunities. A graduate of the University of Texas School of Business, he guides and invests in start-up companies in the energy and technology sectors.
Willy Graves, Former Regional President, Progressive Insurance – Austin, TX
Graves is a former Regional President, Progressive Insurance. He coordinates corporate management and growth strategy for Snapse. He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago.
John Menchaca
Menchaca is a shareholder of Winstead, PC where he practices in the areas of securities law and mergers and acquisitions.
A. Foster Nelson, Investor and financial consultant – Fort Worth, Texas
Nelson received his BBA from Texas A&M University and license as a Certified Public Accountant. He held various financial management positions with Transport Life Insurance Company and Resource Deployment, Inc. Now he is a private investor and financial consultant.
Lyndon Olson, Senior Advisor to the CEO, Citigroup – New York, New York
Before serving as Senior Advisor to the CEO, Citigroup, Olson served as United States Ambassador to Sweden. Prior to this assignment, he was affiliated with Citigroup as President and CEO of Travelers Insurance Holdings and Associate Madison Companies.
Affilliated Participants
Snapse project participants that providing technical assistance include the University of Texas at Austin (UT) College of Education’s Learning Technology Center and the Lyndon B. Johnson Library.
The UT College of Education’s Learning Technology Center is one of the world’s leaders in the new study of the pedagogical principles of digital education. It is housed within The College of Education at The University of Texas at Austin, a world leader in the innovative and effective integration of technology into teaching and learning. The Learning Technology Center, providers of technology resources and support for faculty, students, and staff of the college, is a model for centers of its kind worldwide and has been visited by teams from around the world.
The LBJ Presidential Library, located on the UT campus, is a significant, well-equipped repository of electronic text, films, photos, and sounds. Under the wing of the U. S. National Archives System, the Lyndon B. Johnson Library brings Snapse a relationship with ten presidential libraries, all of which are committed to increasing access to their holdings and improving their educational outreach. |
