THE TEAM
JASON SEIKEN
CEO
Jason's teams have transformed iconic brands, ranging from The Washington Post to PBS.
The Guardian says Jason "reinvented PBS's fortunes ... transforming it from a conventional broadcaster."
Jason also was the founding editor of washingtonpost.com, a senior executive at AOL during its heyday, and the first American to run a British newsroom, as editor-in-chief of the Daily Telegraph.
​
Jason specializes in leading premier brands to identify and execute on innovative growth strategies, as described in his Harvard Business Review web piece ​How I Got My Team to Fail More and his TEDx talk Making PBS Cool Again.
GARY KNELL
Partner
Gary has led three of America’s most beloved media brands, as President and CEO of National Geographic, NPR, and Sesame Workshop, the parent company of Sesame Street.
As Chairman of National Geographic Partners (majority owned by The Walt Disney Company), Gary oversaw all of the company’s vast global storytelling assets, including television, print, and digital.
Prior to National Geographic, Knell served as President and CEO of NPR from 2011 to 2013 where he played a key role in the digital transformation of public radio and was an executive for 22 years at Sesame Workshop, and led the beloved global children’s media organization for 12 years.
He is a Senior Advisor at BCG in Media and Social Impact and sought-after board member and counselor to several nonprofit and for-profit organizations, including the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, Common Sense Media, and the Society for Science. He also served on the boards of directors of Save the Children, AARP Services, and global executive search firm Heidrick and Struggles.
JON BRENDSEL
CTO
Jon is an engineer/MBA who has built and led world-class product organizations at companies ranging from startups to AOL and PBS.
Jon's PBS product development organization built multiple award-winning platforms and products, including an iPad app CNET called “a true gift from TV heaven” and a video platform hailed by Variety as “arguably the most innovative and well designed on the market.”
Jon specializes in the creation of high-functioning and Agile product organizations that build brand-defining products. The products his team built helped PBS accomplish its goal of engaging a younger demographic, with AP declaring "PBS may be cooler than you think."
​
Jon also led the Mail Products group for AOL, which served more than 80 million users of AOL mail. Most recently he was CIO of London’s Daily Telegraph, where he led the digital transformation of the Technology organization, including the introduction of OKRs.
PAUL OPREA
Director of Engineering
Paul has built and led engineering teams for more than 15 years. In his former roles as Technical Lead, Engineering Manager and Client Partner in 3Pillar Global, he led initiatives and programs that enabled successes at Sky, PBS, Telegraph Media Group, and other companies.
​
Paul is a keen advocate of teamwork culture, agility and pragmatic programming.
ANDREEA COSTIN
Technical Manager
Andreea brings a wealth of engineering management experience spanning more than 15 years at companies ranging from startups (Faculte, Mobispine) to large services companies such as Softvision. Passionate about technology and agile practices, Andreea excels at building and leading high-performing engineering teams for clients large and small.
MATT MCMANUS
Senior Product Consultant
Matt has shipped products for some of the world’s biggest brands, including Twitter, PBS, Capital One, Thomson Reuters, PBS KIDS, and S&P Capital IQ. For Matt, the customer comes first. He prides himself in his ability to deeply understand customer needs, project where technology is headed in the next 3-5 years, and then deliver winning product strategies that result in positive business outcomes.
CINDY HALIM
Senior Product Consultant
Cindy brings both product management and UX expertise and has worked with organizations of all sizes and stages from startups to enterprises, and in various industries such as EdTech, FinTech, Media, Music, and many more.
Cindy takes the Design Thinking approach to building products. She has helped many organizations shape their product and design practices. She puts emphasis on validation at every level to avoid building the wrong product or solving the wrong problems. Her ultimate goal is to build products with awesome user experiences that solve user problems and help the business grow.
Cindy prides herself in her ability to break down complex problems. A creative problem solver, she loves turning complexity into simplicity, and fuzziness into clarity. She is an expert in visualization. She believes that if you cannot visualize it, you cannot build it.
BRYAN JEFFERSON
Marketing Manager
Bryan is a dynamic marketing professional who most recently was a Marketing Specialist at the National Association of Broadcasters. At NAB, he leveraged social media marketing, web content creation, and marketing analytics to support the organization's transformation of its physical tradeshows into a virtual platform, NABShow Express.
Bryan is a graduate of Georgetown University, where he double majored in Marketing and Business Administration while playing football for the Hoyas. Bryan enjoys exercise, cooking and podcasting. He is the host and producer of the YouTube series, “The Common Ground show.”
JUYOUNG SEO
Director of Operations
Juyoung is responsible for all back-office departments. A native of Seoul, she has lived and worked in South Korea, Bueno Aires, London, and Washington, DC. She received her post-graduate degree in art history from London’s renowned Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London, and Sotheby’s Institute of Art. She also is a regular contributor to Forbes, focusing on articles about family travel.
NATHAN TOBEY
Senior Consultant, Podcasting & Content Development
Nate is a duPont award-winning executive producer and digital innovator with particular expertise in podcast development and digital content strategy. He led the podcast and national cultural programming division at American Public Media, launched the hit Downton Abbey/Masterpiece podcast for WGBH, built the award-winning social media strategy for FRONTLINE, and led the digital transformation of Penn State Public Broadcasting.
ANDREA SPIEGEL
Senior Consultant
Andrea spent the first part of her career in television and the past 20 years in digital media, including senior executive positions at AOL across editorial, social products and mobile.
​
As SVP Products and Video at Forbes, Andrea helped transform the magazine into an entrepreneurial and profitable digital company, with Harvard University's Nieman Labs calling Forbes "a poster child for how to digitize a legacy company." She also served as Chief Product Officer of True/Slant, a news startup acquired by Forbes in 2010.
COLETTE RHONEY
Senior Consultant
Colette is a programming strategist, audience development expert and journalist with over 20 years of experience in digital. She has led the growth of pioneering products including AOL.com and AOL Video and has worked on social media strategy for the U.S. Department of State across Europe.
Beyond her work in digital, she produced NBC’s Meet the Press with Tim Russert, was a research assistant to legendary Washington Post columnist David S. Broder, and worked with award-winning PBS NewsHour journalist Gwen Ifill on her best-selling book about politics and race.
