Evan Cooper

 

e-mail: agtcoop@well.com

608 Lyons Avenue

h: (434) 296-9030 c: (434) 409-7324

Charlottesville, VA 22902

 

Experience

 

UltraStar / Musictoday / Live Nation

August ‘05 to Present

VP/GM, UltraStar

Charlottesville, VA

·         Manage and direct daily operations of the fan club and artist web site line of business with annual gross revenues of more than $15MM.

·         Oversee the client management, marketing, video production and project management teams of 23 employees in VA, NY and TN who run 45+ official fan communities and sites for clients such as John Mayer, The Rolling Stones, Kenny Chesney, The Police, Elvis Presley, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Madonna, Jonas Brothers, Elvis Costello and AC/DC.

·         Work with management, labels, agents, tour staff and some artists directly on their overarching web strategy and online revenue plan.

·         Develop overall strategy, budgets and key drivers for fan club products and related revenue streams including advertising, sponsorships, affiliate programs, VIP ticketing and ancillary video sales. Provide sales and business development support to acquire new clients and implement strategic partnerships with companies such as iTunes, American Express, MTV, VH1 and Wal-Mart.

·         Part of executive team that implemented integration plan to combine UltraStar and Musictoday fan club businesses into a single business unit under Live Nation Artists.

·         In 2007 launched over 20 new web sites and clubs and have launched 20 more in the first half of 2008.

 

Boxerjam Media / Media General, Inc.

Charlottesville, VA

VP, Operations / Director, Product Development Studio

September ’99 to August ‘05

VP, Operations

·         Managed company’s day-to-day operations, set overall strategy with senior management, and supervised Technology, Content, and Marketing departments.

·         Managed IT, Content and Creative departments responsible for conceptualization, development, deployment, maintenance and support of commerce applications, community features, subscription products, multi-player online games, game shows and puzzles at www.boxerjam.com, a mass-market entertainment site with more than 2.5 million unique monthly visitors. Site content was also distributed through AOL/Electronic Arts, Real Networks and MSN Games.

·         Jointly responsible for $1.5MM annual operating budget, and performance and growth of multiple revenue lines.

·         Helped improve new subscriber acquisition and renewals using email newsletters and promotions, online marketing campaigns, viral applications, and distribution partnerships. In first 2 years of product life cycle, maintained a subscription renewal rate of 92% and added new subscriptions at a rate of 16%. Grew free registered user base by 90%.

Director, Product Development Studio

·         Served as primary liaison between company’s business units and development resources, prioritizing and managing all operational and development efforts of 14 person operations department that included C++, Java, Flash and web developers, network engineers, graphic artists and system administrators.

·         In first year with company, department under my direction successfully launched 13 web applications, 3 wireless apps, 4 interactive television demos and Japanese versions of 5 products.

·         Addition of new site features and products contributed to increasing monthly usage from 1.2 to 2.5 million uniques, and membership from 400,000 to 1.8 million.

·         Played critical role in developing strategic relationships with AOL, Electronic Arts, and Sony’s Game Show Network.

 

Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive

September ‘97 to Sept. ‘99

Production Manager

Arlington, VA

·         Managed the development, deployment and operations of washingtonpost.com’s e-commerce and classifieds products, which represented over 40% of company’s operating revenues.

·         Created and implemented product plans, managed timelines and worked hand-in-hand with product managers to set revenue goals and market strategies.

·         Evaluated, selected and oversaw strategic vendor relationships.

·         Managed external and internal engineering, operational, design and customer service resources for commercial products and services.

·         Staffed and managed internal commercial operations and production group.

 

 

Discovery Channel Multimedia

December ‘94 to May ‘97

Producer

Bethesda, MD

·         Produced and marketed consumer software game and entertainment titles including CatchWord, Savage, Wings, Discovery Channel Multimedia Sampler, and Savage and Connections web sites.

·         Managed vendor production teams and internal engineering, design and quality assurance resources to deliver software titles to market on time and under budget.

·         Co-created and produced CatchWord, an original online word game available through AOL and other channels, and led Discovery’s first foray into online gaming resulting in a new distribution channel and revenue stream.

·         Developed and staffed localization department, and managed foreign language customization of several titles.

 

Media Consultant

May ‘93 to December ‘94

 

San Francisco, CA

·         Freelance project manager, producer, video editor, writer and director of interactive media and video projects for clients including Adobe Systems, Random House, Saturn Corporation, Oracle Corporation and the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce.

 

Sumeria, Inc.

August ‘92 to November ‘93

Producer

San Francisco, CA

·         Produced  audio, video and graphical content for educational consumer CD-ROM titles, including the OceanLife Series, Space, Macworld Interactive and QuickTime: The CD.

·         Developed concepts for new titles, designed user interfaces, wrote and edited textual content and tested titles for quality assurance.

 

Macworld Magazine

February ‘90 to August ‘92

Assistant Editor

San Francisco, CA

·         Wrote New Products section, game and software reviews and news items, developed story ideas and leads, assigned and edited "how to" column for leading monthly Macintosh magazine.

·         Spoke at trade shows, conducted seminars and represented magazine at industry events.

 

Education

 

1982-1989 University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia. Study in Economics; Significant course load in English Literature, Photography, and Film.

 

1979-1982 Woodberry Forest School, Woodberry Forest, Virginia.

 

Organizations

 

Secretary, Sigma Phi Society Alumni Corporation; Computer Game Developers Association; International Interactive Communications Society; Film Arts Foundation.

 

Other Interests

 

Founding member of a local bluegrass band; Appalachian musical and cultural heritage; American roots, blues, rock, bluegrass, alternative rock, alt country music and many other genres; Avid fly and sport fisherman and outdoorsman—especially when my sons are involved; Barbecue and outdoor cooking, slow food and vegetable gardening. Worked in restaurants for over 10 years while in school.