Conference Hound Advisory Board

Anil H.P. Pereira CEO at Verious, Inc.

Anil Pereira is an Internet entrepreneur and executive, currently leading his 4th startup, Verious. Anil also serves as a senior advisor to a number of high-growth companies including Conference Hound, FNBox, Penango, JT Wines and FloorPlanOnline. During the course of his 20-year marketing career, he has served as Founder & CEO of SecondSpace (now DataSphere); EVP and General Manager at VeriSign; SVP, New Businesses and International at Classmates.com; Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Ignition Partners; and Vice President at American Express Company. Anil has served as a board member or advisor to over 15 high-profile startups in the high tech arena and has been a keynote speaker at a number of conferences including the GSM World Congress in Cannes and the Digital Trust Symposium in Silicon Valley. He holds an M.B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and a BMgt degree from the University of Lethbridge.

Robert S. Sherman Private Equity Investor at Pilot Group, LLC; Former President at AOL

Bob Sherman has extensive leadership and management skills in overseeing large operations in advertising supported media companies. Currently, he is an investor and partner in Pilot Group LLC, a private equity firm. During his career, he has provided operational leadership to companies like America Online, where he served as President of Interactive Marketing; Time Warner Cable Media Sales, where he served as President; and AOL-Time Warner, where he served as Senior Advisor to the COO. He has also co-founded several companies, including Roberts Radio, WP Radio Company, and Della Femina, Sherman. Earlier in his career, as general manager of WNBC, Bob was widely credited with bringing radio talent—including Howard Stern, Dr. Ruth, and Don Imus — to the New York market. Bob holds a B.A. from Adelphi University. He lives in Chappaqua, NY.

Gregory T. Stern CEO at Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners

Greg Stern is a founding partner and CEO of BSSP, one of the largest independently owned advertising agencies in the United States. He has over 26 years of advertising and marketing experience, both domestically and internationally. In 2003, Greg led BSSP's acquisition of SF Interactive, a leading digital marketing agency, adding to the agency's credentials as a digitally savvy agency. Since its founding in 1993, BSSP has grown from a 3-person start-up with no clients to its current $190 million in capitalized billings, working with clients such as MINI Cooper, Columbia Sportswear, Epson, LucasArts, Priceline, Converse, Sun Microsystems, Diageo, and Coca-Cola. Prior to co-founding BSSP, Greg served as Group Account Director at Goody Silverstein & Partners and worked in Account Management at Ogilvy & Mather. Greg holds a B.A. from Brown University and he lives in Mill Valley, CA.

Gregory Raifman CEO at Dragon Media; former CEO, Mediaplex (led IPO)

Bio to come.

David Smith CEO at Mediasmith

David Smith is an internationally-recognized expert in the areas of new media application, media strategy, media planning and metrics. As a veteran in the area of advertising media management, his experience is drawn from the creation of the first-generation advertising technology to dealing with today’s issues surrounding metrics in the digital marketplace. At the forefront of new metrics applications, David’s advisory board and industry committee involvement has included the 4A’s, ARF, comScore Media Metrix, Quantcast, IAB, I-COM and Online Publishers Association, where he works to establish and refine standards in metrics, business practices and financial issues for interactive advertising.

David is consistently called upon by the press as a resource for publications such as Fortune, Businessweek, Mediaweekand authors thought pieces on an ongoing basis for publishers including iMedia Connection and Fast Company. He is also a regular speaker at various 4A’s, iMedia, ad:tech, IAB, I-COM and OMMA events. With a number of awards to his name, including an Effie, David was also awarded one of the first-ever ad:tech Industry Achievement Awards. This accolade recognized his long-term dedication and consistent outstanding service to the digital marketing industry. David has a BA from the University of Washington. He is an avid guitar player and a gourmet Chinese cook.

Andrea Facini VP, Global User Experience & Content at Monster Inc.

Since 1996, Andrea has worked for the largest digital media organizations including Monter, Italian publisher La Repubblica, CNN, and Scripps Networks Interactive.

From 1999 to 2006, Andrea led the transformation of the journalist-centric TV organization into a multichannel, digitally focused news organization, growing CNN.com audience from 9M to 34M unique visitors per month and making it the #1 online destination for News and Information.

From 2006 to 2010, Andrea oversaw the Product Design & User Experience teams who established the vision for Scripps Networks Digital online properties and integrated a seamless consumer experience. Andrea remodeled FoodNetwork.com, HGTV.com and DIYNetwork.com into unique category-leading consumer experiences, increasing SEO traffic to 67% of total and 156% YOY growth in page views, leading Scripps Networks Digital to the most profitable fourth quarter in the company’s history.

His work has received worldwide recognition and dozens of awards including several Webby Awards, a Peabody Award, a National Press Foundation Award, and Communication Arts.