MANAGEMENT TEAM

Jim Spencer, president and founder, has helped lead several successful Internet start-up and established online companies. Jim was VP of Content and Answers at Ask Jeeves (Ask.com) where he was responsible for all search queries and helped lead the company to a top 15 website and through a successful initial public offering. Prior to Ask Jeeves, Jim was the GM of News and Information Programming at AOL (News, Sports, Health, Research and International) leading the content, business and partnership operations for one of AOL’s major business units. He also served as director of strategic partnerships at NBC for MSNBC.com, leading the direction of the MSNBC.com website and the coordination of the newsrooms of NBC News in New York and MSNBC’s newsroom on Microsoft’s campus in Redmond, WA. Jim began his online career as GM of New Media at Multimedia, Inc. Prior to graduate school, Jim represented and distributed motion pictures including Academy Award-winning movies, foreign films and U.S. independent cinema. Jim earned his M.A. in journalism at the University of Missouri-Columbia and his B.F.A. from New York University’s Film School graduating from both schools with honors.

Jim Flink, vice president of news operations, joined the company after serving as news anchor and reporter for KMBC-TV (Hearst) in Kansas City for 15 years.  His work has been featured on "Larry King Live," "The Oprah Winfrey Show," CNN, BBC, NBC-Mutual Radio and the Korean Broadcasting System. While at KMBC-TV, Jim received a regional Emmy Award for spot news coverage, and he anchored the newscast that won both the national Edward R. Murrow Award and the top national honor from Sigma Delta Chi.  In addition to his 20 years of domestic news coverage, Jim has also worked overseas, for the Korean Broadcasting System, with the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), with journalists in developing countries, and teaching peers and students in the Philippines.  More recently, he served as an adjunct professor at UMKC, Park and Avila Universities.  Jim received his B.A. in Political Science from Westminster College, and his M.A. in journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Max Carratura, vice president of finance and business operations, brings to the Company over 13 years of experience in finance, business development, management and fundraising, including more than six years of investment banking experience at Banc of America Securities, LLC, where he helped raised nearly $1.5 billion of capital for companies in diverse industries. In addition to his financial strategy and accounting expertise, Max provides strong legal review, human resources, sales-team building and customer relationship management experience. Max’s latest work history has been primarily as CFO for early stage companies.  Max received a B.S. in finance from Rutgers School of Business/Rutgers College.

Alexandra Wharton, vice president of marketing and community, has helped develop Internet marketing practices for the past 13 years. Her career began at The Well, the world’s earliest online community; she later joined the first interactive public relations practice at Cybernautics. At USWeb/CKS and MarchFirst, Alexandra delivered online audience development solutions for Apple, Levi’s, and American Airlines. She created thought leadership projects with Capgemini and Accenture for marketing executives at Fortune 500 companies at Montgomery Research. Most recently, Alexandra covered interactive marketing as senior reporter for Revenue magazine. She graduated from Tulane University with a B.A. in English.

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS

Lee Morehouse

Christina Hartman

COMMUNITY MANAGERS

Rosa Sow