Executive Team

Chief Executive Officer

A veteran marketing and digital media specialist, Ken has been actively involved in the development of mobile as a media platform since 2002. As Chief Executive Officer of Zumobi, Ken leads an experienced team in the development and growth of Zumobi's mobile media business. Prior to Zumobi, Ken was Vice President of Advertising and Media at AT&T Wireless, where he developed a number of innovative marketing programs to stimulate consumer adoption of mobile content and applications.

One of his most successful programs was the American Idol media sponsorship, where he was the driving force behind an integrated marketing campaign widely recognized as the seminal event that popularized text messaging in the United States. Earlier, Ken was Founder and Vice President of Marketing at Fizzylab, an early entrant in the contextual search and advertising space. By developing marketing programs and partnerships with leading digital media companies, Ken helped grow Fizzylab from a garage start-up to a company with more than 50 media clients in just 15 months.

Ken began his career in the advertising business and held senior management roles at national advertising agencies including McCann-Erickson and Rubin Postaer and Associates. During this time, he led the development of advertising and branding campaigns for leading consumer companies including The Walt Disney Company, Hitachi, Washington Mutual Bank, WebTV and Domino's Pizza, among others.

Ken graduated from the University of Washington with a B.A. in marketing. He is on the steering committee of InMobile.org and a member of the WINMEC Media and Entertainment Advisory Board at UCLA.

Co-Founder, Vice President, Product Design

John SanGiovanni has more than 13 years of experience as a wireless strategist and mobile user interface designer. As the co-founder and Vice President of Product Design, John coordinates the product design strategy and manages Zumobi’s in-house creative studio. Prior to Zumobi, John was Program Manager and Technical Evangelist for Microsoft Research, where he managed external academic research funding in the areas of mobile technologies and user interfaces. During his career, John has authored or co-authored more than 12 patents in the areas of mobile advertising, hardware interfaces, and interaction techniques for next-generation mobile devices.

Before joining Microsoft, John worked on the Advanced Technology Learning Solutions team at PPI/Knowledge Universe and worked in Studio Entertainment for Walt Disney Company. John has a Bachelor of Science in Advertising with a concentration on Computing from the University of Florida.

Co-Founder, Chief Scientist

In his role as Chief Scientist, Ben is leading the charge to build Zumobi for every phone you have…or will have! Ben brings a decade's experience building innovative mobile user interfaces to Zumobi. Ben, who holds three degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and New York University, is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at the University of Maryland, College Park. He also is past Director at the University's Human Computer Interaction Lab at the Institute for Advanced Computer Studies. Ben's research and patents concentrate in the areas of mobile computing, human-computer interaction, computer vision, robotics, information visualization, digital libraries and electronic voting. Ben has published more than 100 articles in conferences, journals and magazines and recently authored a book entitled, “The Craft of Information Visualization.” His most exciting current university project is the International Children's Digital Library (www.childrenslibrary.org).

Vice President, Engineering

In his role as Vice President of Engineering, Pat is responsible for the overall product development function at Zumobi, specifically product management efforts, project management, software development, quality assurance, and technical operations. Pat plays a key role in selecting and implementing revenue oriented technologies such as mobile advertising, sponsorships, and analytics.

With more than 15 years of software development experience, Pat has been a key player in pioneering the fields of mobile application development, internet platform tools, and digital rights management.

In his previous role of VP of Engineering at Modiv Media, Pat led the efforts to build a first-to-market contactless mobile payment and marketing platform. During the explosive growth of the internet in the late 1990s, Pat held executive level technology leadership positions at Walt Disney Internet (espn.com, abcnews.com, disney.com, infoseek.com) and Real Networks. At AT&T Wireless/McCaw Cellular, Pat developed and implemented Network Management System components for the AT&T National Wireless Network Digital PCS rollout.

He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business, Management Information Systems from the University of Idaho.

Vice President, Sales and Sponsorships

Patricia Clark has directed sales efforts in the realms of digital, traditional and emerging media. She was Eastern Director at GeoCities (acquired by Yahoo for $3.6 billion), Eastern Director at AltaVista (acquired by Overture for $106 million), VP National Sales at About.com (acquired by The New York Times for $410 million), and recently VP Sales at 4INFO. She has also worked at major media companies including Hearst Magazines, WWE, and Fox Interactive Media on both traditional and interactive media projects.

Patricia was a featured speaker at such conferences as AppNation, Imedia Brand Summit, Talking to Teens Online, PluggedIn NYC, ThinkMobile, DMA Mobile Day, Marketing to Women on the Web, MXM Media and more. In 2010 Mobile Marketer magazine named her a “Woman to Watch”. Her writing has appeared in Mobile Marketer, iMedia Connection, Folio, ClickZ and elsewhere.

Patricia has a BA from The University of Notre Dame.

Vice President, Finance

In her role as Vice President of Finance, Lara is responsible for analysis of the business and maximizing the value of Zumobi. As a business advisor to the CEO and executive team, she brings more than 15 years of experience in finance and operations to the company. Her expertise centers around helping venture backed companies execute their strategy through to a successful exit for the investors.

Prior to Zumobi, Lara was Assistant Controller at Qpass, heading up revenue recognition, which helped lead to a very successful sale of the company. During her seven years at Avocent, Lara successfully managed the entire integration process for a $100 million acquisition. Additionally, Lara enabled full outsourcing of manufacturing to Asia and Eastern Europe, saving more than $10 Million annually, developed influential relationships with the major computer manufacturers, and contributed to the company’s successful IPO and secondary offerings on the NASDAQ. Earlier in her career, Lara was Senior Associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers working with venture backed companies resulting in several successful exits including IPOs.

Lara is a CPA, and holds a BA, Cum Laude from Colorado State University and MBA from the University of Washington, Executive Program. She participates in several committees and industry associations including the Mobile Marketing Association and Financial Executives Institute.

Director of Publishing Partnerships

As a founding member and critical force in the development of the Google AdSense network, Jonas Abney is a veteran in the digital media & publishing industries. He later transitioned to publishing as Director of Business Development and Digital Strategy for Nielsen Business Media, where he oversaw strategic partnerships and licensing for Billboard and The Hollywood Reporter.

Prior to joining Zumobi in June 2011, Jonas ran the business development group for Hachette-Filipacchi Media’s Digital Group, overseeing strategic partnerships, e-commerce initiatives and content licensing for all of Hachette’s properties, including market-leading properties Elle and Car And Driver. He has a BA from Columbia University and an MBA from the Zicklin School of Business (Honors) at Baruch College of the City University of New York.

Vice President, Marketing

As the Vice President of Marketing for Zumobi, Marla brings more than 16 years of experience in marketing leadership for both start-ups and Fortune 500 companies, including Microsoft and Ernst & Young. Marla is a digital media pioneer who brings a unique blend of technology and marketing experience enabling her to offer cutting-edge solutions to media and consumer audiences. Prior to Zumobi, she lead marketing for AudienceScience, the largest and most trusted audience aggregator in the world, where she helped revolutionize how brands find and engage their targeted audiences through Internet advertising.

Marla has designed e-commerce solutions for Fortune 500 companies and developed leading brands, including a company that appeared in the Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing companies for three consecutive years. An avid speaker and technologist, she frequently speaks on digital advertising trends and writes about new media technology. Marla founded the Behavioral Targeting Standards Consortium (BTStandards.org) and is an active member of the American Marketing Association and the Internet Advertising Bureau. She also serves on the Mobile Marketing Association’s Mobile App Committee.