Ricky Van Veen

Ricky Van Veen co-founded CollegeHumor.com from his dorm room in the fall of 1999. CollegeHumor quickly developed a loyal following, and by the time he graduated in 2003 the site was reaching over three million unique users per month. Along with his partners at CollegeHumor, Mr. Van Veen proceeded to launch additional sites such as BustedTees.com and Vimeo.com as a way to further capitalize on the existing user base which had been built with CollegeHumor.

Connected Ventures, the new media network and development company that now houses CollegeHumor and BustedTees, is an operating business of IAC which purchased a controlling stake in August 2006. In July 2009, IAC launched Notional, a multi-platform production company, which is headed up by Van Veen. Notional's initial focus will be high-concept, buzz-worthy, unscripted programming for all formats, including TV.

Matt Wasserlauf

Credited as the visionary who enticed television advertisers to invest their marketing dollars online, Matt Wasserlauf, 40, spent 19 years in media and broadband advertising before single-handedly pioneering an entirely new industry: online video advertising. In April 2004, Matt established BBE (of which he is CEO), the premier online video network that safely connects advertising buyers and sellers in the world’s most powerful ad platform. Under Matt’s leadership, BBE has emerged as one of the few full-service broadband companies that assists clients through sales of online advertising, syndicated programming, original online content and VINDICO™, BBE’s own video advertising technology platform.

Matt’s online achievements are the culmination of his early career in “traditional” television advertising. Wasserlauf spent four years as Vice President of Sales at The Feed Room, now a division of Kit Digital. Next, as Director of Sales for CBS.com, Matt delivered more than $10 million annually in revenue. Matt’s vision of the future of the online video advertising space came to him in the late 1990s, while he was working for Warner Bros., at the height of its success. At the network, he realized that video content, once digitized, allows viewers to click, send, share and save video.

 Matt earned an MBA degree from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and a B.S. in Marketing from Indiana University. Married, a father of three and an avid sports fan, he spends his free time (such as it is) enjoying his family and following his favorite New York sports teams.



Michael Wayne

As co-founder and CEO of DECA, Michael Wayne is responsible for leading the premier digital media and entertainment company. Since 1997, Michael has focused his work on the converging media of television and the Internet. During this time, he has worked with major brand advertisers and online partners to establish new formats for online programming and new cross-media business models. As Vice President, Strategic Alliances for Sony Pictures Digital and Sony Pictures Television, Michael was responsible for managing a team dedicated to developing new digital entertainment franchises in conjunction with strategic partners.

Prior to joining Sony in 2002, Michael served as Vice President, Business Development for Launch Media. He was part of the core team that grew the online music media company from start-up through IPO and ultimately its acquisition by Yahoo! Prior to working for Launch Media, Michael was Manager, Marketing Development for the ABC Television Network. A multifaceted media executive, in 1995 he founded Velvet Magazine, the first English-language, city magazine in Eastern Europe. The magazine was published in Prague, Czech Republic and covered cultural, social, and style topics for the newly democratic country.

Presently, Wayne serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the International Academy of Web Television.

Michael Wayne received his Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from The University of the South, Sewanee, TN.



Pete Wentz (Fall Out Boy)

Though initially renowned singularly for his musical talents, Pete Wentz has evolved and taken new form, joining a pantheon of successful business moguls. Wentz, 29, is the bassist and lyricist of the Grammy nominated band Fall Out Boy, which over the past few years has released two multi-platinum albums that spawned the chart topping hits "Sugar, We're Going Down," "Dance, Dance," "Thnks Fr Th Mmrs," and "This Ain't A Scene, Its An Arms Race," among others.  Their third effort “Folie A Deux” is out now and has already produced two singles “I Don’t Care” and “America’s Suitehearts.”

 Over the past few years, Pete has leveraged his initial music stardom into a complete portfolio of music recording and management, apparel, publishing, and bar and nightlife projects. As an innovator in digital media, Pete has been on leading edge of utilizing new technologies for his entire career.  From having one of the first-ever artist blogs in the early days of Fall Out Boy all the way to garnering one of the largest social media footprints in 2010,  Pete has been using the digital media space to build and nurture communities around his projects for almost a decade now.   Additionally, the artists on Decaydance Records have taken Wentz's lead which has resulted in one of the largest and most powerful online communities in music.