TEAM | Digital Town

Richard A. Pomije - Chairman of the Board and CEO of Digital Town

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Dick Pomije, 53, has more then 25 years of experience in the computer technology, networking and communications industries. In addition to founding DigitalTown, he has been involved in developing a variety of entrepreneurships for many years. Dick is a proud alumni (1974) of Burnsville High School (www.burnsvilleblaze.com), where his father once was assistant superintendent, and is a founding member of the school's Black-and-Gold Foundation.

Brian Seth Hurst - CEO of The Opportunity Management Co.

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www.haverfordfords.com, (Havertown, Pennsylvania) (Class of 1974)


Brian Seth Hurst will develop brand strategy for DigitalTown. He is CEO of The Opportunity Management Company, a strategic-consultancy and cross-media-production firm that is spurring the next generation of entertainment. Hurst coined the term "cross platform" in 1998 as managing director of Convergent Media at Pittard Sullivan, where he launched TV Guide as the pioneering cross-platform brand.


In 2006, Hurst launched the Rapid Cross Media Initiative to help broadcast clients integrate new platforms to extend their programming to audiences and communities. The methodology established clear workflow and communications processes for the strategy, planning, budgeting and production of integrated storytelling across multiple-media platforms. The process maximizes assets by allowing best-in-class technology vendors to be efficiently integrated into the production process.


Hurst participated on the team that developed the original user experience for TiVo; he currently sits on MobiTV's advisory board. He was instrumental in developing the Prime Time Emmy® for Interactive Television and spearheaded the initiative that extended Primetime Emmy® eligibility to original programming distributed via broadband.


Currently, he is Second Vice Chair of the Television Academy Board of Governors and after two terms recently stepped down from the National Board of the PGA, where he also served for two terms as Chairman of the PGA New Media Council ('03-'05). Recipient of a 2006 Interactive TV Today [itvt] Award for Leadership in Interactive Television, he was profiled in the April 2007 issue of Emmy® Magazine as one of the 10 media executives leading the industry's digital drive. Hurst, in November '07, was named to the Hollywood Reporter/PGA Digital 50 for the second year in a row.


Hurst has authored articles on emerging entertainment for various magazines and was contributing author to the book "They Say They Want A Revolution: What Marketers Need to Know As Consumers Take Control" (iUniverse 2003). Hurst is co-author with Olivia Newton-John of Simon and Schuster's bestselling children's book "A Pig Tale", currently being developed as an animated series by Flying Bark Productions.

Mark Turner - Director of Business Development for Media and Entertainment for Microsoft Corp.

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Mark Turner, Felpham Community College (on the South Coast of England), Class of 1991


Mark, who wll advise DigitalTown on strategic relations, is Director of Business Development for Microsoft's Media & Entertainment Group and has more than 11 years' experience in developing innovative business and technology solutions for global media companies. He is based in Los Angeles.


Mark specializes in delivery of media to all types of devices and through traditional and new media paths - from the largest screens (Digital Cinema) down through HD (cable, broadcast and satellite TV), via the Web (streaming, download or corporate IP networks) and to mobiles and portable devices. His current responsibilities include building innovative business models with major studio and music label partners which cover the range of Microsoft's diverse media-facing solutions. Mark also works as an industry expert to internal Microsoft business groups that are developing or refining products for the media industry, such as Xbox, Zune, Windows Media Center, PlayReady DRM and MSN.


In previous roles Mark has assisted major content owners in facing challenges to delivering their media across the Americas, Europe and Asia. He has worked closely to deliver broadcast and cable distribution with clients such as E! Entertainment, Fox Sports, Sony Pictures Television, Cisco Systems, Warner Bros, Disney Group, MLB, Paramount, DirecTV, Reuters, ABC News, CNN, Turner and Hallmark.


Mark, a British national and a frequent speaker at technology and content conferences, holds a BA in Management Studies from the University of Leeds and is a member of the Academy of TV Arts & Sciences (Interactive Media Chapter), Society of Satellite Professionals International and sits on the board of the Interactive TV Alliance.

Scott Holmes - Managing Partner of United Future

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www.umatillabulldogs.com (Florida) Class of 1983


Scott, who will serve as chair of the advisory board and will focus on the DigitalTown online experience, is Managing Partner of United Future, a Los Angeles firm specializing in user-experience design and application development for the Web, mobile and interactive television environments. For the last 15 years Scott has focused on creating brand equity and digital innovation for a plethora of clients: ABC, Microsoft, General Motors, T-Mobile, Avery Dennison, Alpine Electronics, Autodesk, Caesar's Entertainment and many others. United Future is a division of WONGDOODY, a Seattle-based company.


Prior to joining United Future, Scott played an important role in developing Zentropy Partners, a McCann Erickson Worldgroup company, into a Top 10 interactive agency (as ranked by Adweek) as well as fostering and developing its broadband, mobile and interactive television divisions.


Scott is a member of the Brand Committee for the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (emmys.tv).

Dan Cooper - Vice President, Business & Legal Affairs for Fox Interactive Media

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www.westminsterwildcats.com (Georgia) Class of 1991


Dan Cooper, who will advise on ethical and legal matters – in particular, intellectual property matters – currently serves as a Vice President of Business and Legal Affairs for Fox Interactive Media, Inc. ("FIM"), in Beverly Hills. At FIM, he has primary responsibility for advising such FIM properties as MySpace, Photobucket and FoxSports.com on issues related to copyright law and other aspects of intellectual property. Prior to joining FIM, Dan served for five years as the General Counsel of Perfect 10, Inc. While at Perfect 10, in addition to provide overall transactional legal support, he was responsible for coordinating and directing a series of landmark copyright litigation matters against, among others, Google.


Before making to joining FIM, Dan practiced in the intellectual property/technology group at the national law firm of Arnold & Porter and, prior to that, practiced entertainment litigation at Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp in Los Angeles, where he was part of the team that represented the record company plaintiffs in the Napster litigation.


Dan holds both a J.D. and an M.A. from Columbia University in New York.

Pat Devereux - CEO of Antenna USA

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Pat Devereux, who is CEO of Antenna USA, LLC, a lifestyle marketing and brand strategy agency, will focus on product development for DigitalTown. He has more than 20 years' experience in strategic brand development and marketing, working with clients such as Apple, Coca-Cola, Jaguar, Volvo, Reuters, BBC, AOL and Hewlett Packard.


Prior to founding Antenna, Pat was Managing Director of Exposure USA, a creative interactive agency with more than 60 clients, including Unilever, Diageo, MTV, Triumph, Sony, Mattel, Timberland and Virgin.


Before Exposure, in the mid 1990s, Pat served as the Global Director, Creative/VP, for Omnicom Group's Redwood unit in London and California. At Redwood he authored global CRM strategies and international interactive customer communication plans for clients which included Volvo Cars and Land Rover.


In parallel with his work at Redwood, Pat also ran his own agency, Brand Ltd., in London, where he did brand strategy work for clients such as Ducati Motorcycles, The UK Department of Education, and Schroders Bank.


He also has extensive knowledge of and experience in Japan and Asia. In 1990, he was a founding partner in the Anglo-Japanese research agency, News Information Network, based in Tokyo, Nagoya and London.


Pat is a research associate and author for the Economist Intelligence Unit and a U.S. commentator for the BBC.

Shawn Gold - CEO of newly formed Social Approach.

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www.eastbrunswickbears.com (State) Class of 1983


Shawn Gold is founding partner of Social Approach, a digital-media advisory group focused on Social Discovery platforms and technologies. He formerly was Chief Marketing Officer, including heading content, for MySpace, where he spearheaded the development and implementation of marketing initiatives and campaigns for MySpace's more than 110 million users worldwide. Shawn also oversaw the growth and expansion of popular MySpace franchises, including music, film, comedy and MySpace Celebrity, as well as creating the social network's "Impact Awards" and "Our Planet" programs to recognize and reward social responsibility.


Gold has more than 15 years of experience in digital marketing and content strategy, including serving as publisher of WeblogsInc, the largest publisher of professional blogs on the Web (now an AOL company). In 2000 he became President and Chief Strategy Officer of Intermix (formerly eUniverse), where his team made it the most popular online entertainment network on the Web and brought it to profitability. He also headed marketing and communications for WHN, an ecommerce company that provided marketing services to the 2002 Olympics, ABC, NBC, Comedy Central, MTV and Fox.


Prior to WHN.com, Shawn served as head of strategic planning at Rare Medium, where he created the inaugural interactive communication strategies for P&G, General Foods, Mattel and Nestle. In 1995, Shawn was GM and Founder of Icon New Media's Advertising Division, publishing Word.com and Charged.com. While there, he created both the first interstitial ads on the Web and an industry-leading advertising system based on time rotation and contextual integration. His first ventured into developing interactive content in 1992 as a partner with TouchTunes Interactive, a telecommunications music-marketing service in the United States, Japan and New Zealand.


Shawn is a founding board member of the Producers Guild of America's New Media Council and author of "The Guide to Laughing at Life" book series that promotes wellness through laughter.

Jeff Mills - Director

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Jeff Mills, 47, joined DigitalTown’s board in 2003. For the last 17 years, Jeff has worked for Xerox Corporation in various operations and sales positions. In addition, he also has served as director for one private company and as president, owner and operator of various business ventures. Jeff’s high school alma mater is in Denver, Iowa, (www.denvercyclones.com), class of 1979.

Pierce McNally - Director

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Pierce McNally rejoined the DigitalTown board in 2007 after serving a previous term earlier in the decade; he chairs the board’s committee and represents DigitalTown on the company’s advisory board. Pierce is a senior attorney with Gray Plant Mooty, Minneapolis, and was an officer and director of his family owned business, Midwest Communications, until it was sold to CBS. An experienced investment and merchant banker, he currently serves as director of several NASDAQ-listed and privately held companies throughout the United States and as a director of Rainy River Resources, Inc., a Minneapolis-based private investment company. Long active in the Twin Cities civic and arts communities, he and his wife have lived in the Minneapolis area since 1978. He is a 1971 graduate of Stanford University and a 1978 graduate of the University of Wisconsin Law School.


Pierce spent his high school years at Phillips-Exeter Academy (www.phillipsexeterlions.com), class of 1967, and he still is an active supporting alumni there.

Gary Hall - Director

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Gary Hall, who joined the DigitalTown board in 2007, holds a distinguished career covering ten years’ of achievement as an Internet strategist, entrepreneur, business developer and knowledgeable resource in the social media sector. His intuitive understanding of the social media as well as his vast network in the Web 2.0 sphere have established Gary as one of the industry's foremost Internet professionals.


As President of Pringo, a social network platform technology, for the last two years he oversaw the company's commercialization after years of research and development. Gary was instrumental in positioning Pringo as a leader in enterprise-level software. He now serves as an executive consultant to Pringo.


His deep knowledge of social media has been recognized by frequent media coverage, including Digital Hollywood, Sport Marketing 2.0 and the LA Business Journal, among others, and by regular participation at conferences, including Adotas, Forrester, Richard Scoble, Tom Taulli and MarketingProfs.


Before joining Pringo, Gary was instrumental in growing Reunion.com from its inception into a Top Ten interface and simultaneously creating critical partnerships and a dynamic user base (currently 36 million). He led the company's online marketing efforts and overall strategic development. Gary is still an active owner in Reunion.com.


Gary, who hails from Rowland Heights, California, graduated in 1982 from John A. Rowland High School (www.rowlandraiders.net).

Paul Gramstad - Controller

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www.moundsviewmustangs.com, class of 1979


Paul Gramstad, a Certified Public Account and Controller of DigitalTown, Inc. Previously he served as CFO for Innovative Financial Services, as Controller for Gift Certificate Center and as Accounting Manager for CONUS Communications. He is very active in his children's high school (www.eastviewlightning.com), where he is president of the boys' lacrosse booster club and former treasurer of the football booster club.

John Witham - Chief Financial Officer

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John Witham, a 20-year-plus veteran of effective corporate financial leadership and capital raises, is Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of DigitalTown.


John formerly was EVP and CFO of Wireless Ronin Technology, Minneapolis, where he helped complete its 2006 IPO for $18 million and a 2007 follow-up offering for $27 million. From 2002 to 2004 Witham held similar positions at Metris Companies, the Minneapolis-based consumer credit-card issuer. He successfully led Metris through a restructuring effort by planning and completing a package of loans, sales of receivables and one of the company's ancillary businesses, and other structured financing. Among his other corporate achievements: Witham assisted in the listing of Bracknell Corp., a Canadian company, on NASDAQ and raised public financing for and completed the listing of Arcadia Financial LTD., a Bloomington, Minn., company, on the NYSE.


His career also includes financial leadership positions with PHH Corp., Gelco Corp., Donaldson Company, Inc., and Arthur Young & Company.


John is active in community and professional associations, serving on the advisory counsel for Bethel Seminary and participating in the Minnesota Society of Public Accountants and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

DigitalTown | Advisory Board

Richard Pomije

Brian Seth Hurst

Mark Turner

Scott Holmes

Dan Cooper

Pat Devereux

Shawn Gold

DigitalTown | Officers / Board of Directors

John Witham

Paul Gramstad

Jeff Mills

Pierce McNally

Gary Hall

DigitalTown, Inc. Board of Directors

DigitalTown's board of directors consists of five people who provide oversight to the company's mission and strategy. It also works closely with Interactive New Media Group, the company's board of advisors, to integrate execution with long-term strategy.