James K. Devericks
Chairman/Chief Executive Officer
James Devericks has been at the forefront of the mobile communications revolution, marrying entertainment offerings to cutting edge technology since founding M3X Media, Inc. As Founder and Chairman/CEO, and equally importantly, its guiding inspiration, Mr. Devericks oversees the integration of every aspect of the Company’s activities to ensure that M3X remains at the forefront of the mobile media universe, delivering an optimal user experience for business and retail consumer customers alike. He has continuously positioned himself within the progressive digital media delivery business with an emphasis on multimedia ingestion and content distribution innovation. Mr. Devericks is the architect and mastermind behind the M3X technologies that allow for the M3X multi-platform content distribution system to deliver an unprecedented user experience. He has further demonstrated an ability to be at the forefront of digital media progression while successfully gathering state of the art compression and ingestion technologies and simultaneous multi-platform distribution solutions which are the catalyst for the next level of platform agnostic delivery of media throughout various hardware platforms and hand held devices. He is the inventor of many applications that enable and enhance the mobile media experience and is the holder of numerous United States patents and patents pending.
James Devericks has been involved in various aspects of the entertainment industry for most of his adult life and, later on, brought his love of electronic gadgetry and web-based technologies to the challenge of progressive digital electronic media delivery. In the process of managing a number of recording artists through his privately owned artist management company and record label, he took his interest in the Internet and coupled that with his various music and entertainment industry relationships to create a vision of integrating the various revenue streams existing in the music industry and previously isolated from each other.
He then moved to acquire a technical staff with whom he developed the first bi-directional web portal technologies for the music and entertainment industry. In 2003, he mapped out a strategy and began to enlist strategic partners to build this infrastructure. At this point, Mr. Devericks helped launch Titan Global Entertainment, an entertainment and technology company to realize his vision. He was installed as Titan’s Chairman and CEO, positions he held until leaving the company several years later to found M3X Media, Inc.
Julian Shapiro
President
Julian Shapiro has assumed his current position with M3X Media, Inc. after serving as Head of Marketing and Sales for the Company since its inception. As President, he continues to execute these earlier responsibilities while working to build out the Company’s infrastructure and manage that infrastructure as it grows and develops. In addition, he oversees the acquisition of entertainment properties and their integration into the mobile technology platforms of M3X. And, he works closely with the technology Divisions to develop and integrate content offerings as part of the GrüvMe web portal developed by the Company.
Mr. Shapiro has been associated with Jim Devericks, the Company’s Founder, Chairman, and CEO for nearly a decade. Initially, he served as Vice President, Marketing, for Titan Global Entertainment, a technology and entertainment company founded by Mr. Devericks. When Mr. Devericks left Titan to found M3X Media, Inc., Mr. Shapiro followed him and has been involved with the Company from the beginning.
Mr. Shapiro has been involved in the entertainment industries for most of his professional life, principally in various management capacities. For more than a decade prior to his association with Jim Devericks, he was the managing co-owner of an artist management/media/consulting firm with day-to-day responsibilities for career development of individual music artists. In addition, he served as an advisor for several media companies. From 1979-1992, Mr. Shapiro was employed by SONY Music, ultimately serving as Vice President, Marketing, SONY Music International. In that capacity, he was responsible for the international marketing and career development of all artists signed to the Columbia, Epic, and Associated labels.
Before that, he served in a number of capacities of increasing responsibility at Sony Music. As Director of Press and Public Relations and then Director of Media Relations, he consolidated the media and media related activities of SONY Music International, and established a unified department at the Company’s worldwide headquarters. In these positions, he also served as chief speech writer for the president of SONY Music International. Then, as Director of Marketing for the Columbia label of SONY Music International, Mr. Shapiro worked directly with some of the biggest stars in contemporary music, including Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Willie Nelson, Earth Wind & Fire, and Julio Iglesias, guiding the international development of their music careers.
Julian Shapiro holds a B.A. in Political Science from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He received an MBA in Marketing from Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey.
Marc Levinson
Chief Financial Officer
Most recently, Marc Levinson has been providing financial and controllership consulting services for various retail, healthcare, entrepreneurial offshore and domestic internet development stage enterprises. In addition to financial, federal and state tax compliance and reporting, he has worked on the preparation of cash flow projections, sensitivity analysis and annual budgeting for a variety of companies. In this capacity, he was responsible for treasury and risk management operations maximizing returns on invested capital and minimizing costs on insurance coverage, payroll and personnel matters, employee benefits management, DOL compliance and reporting.
As Director of Finance at Lexicon Corporation, a NASDAQ listed high-tech company with subsidiaries in defense electronics systems, manufacturing, software acquisition and development, sales and licensing, Mr. Levinson was responsible for all financial reporting, accounting, budgeting, capital budgeting, cash management, employee benefit programs, risk management and 10-Q and 10-K SEC reporting. As Inspector of Elections for the annual shareholder meetings, he prepared the annual proxy statements and reported on the election results. Here he was a key participant in capital raises including public unit offerings consisting of convertible preferred shares, common shares and detachable warrants, and private research and development limited partnerships.
Earlier, Mr. Levinson worked for The Pillsbury Company, a Fortune 100 public company, after gaining his public accounting experience with Deloitte & Touche. In this capacity, he travelled nationally and performed financial and operational audits emphasizing additions to and improvements in internal accounting controls and efficiencies for optimization of operational controls. He next joined DWG Corporation, a publicly held industrial conglomerate with operations in natural resources, steel, manufacturing and distribution. Here, he worked with headquarters and field personnel and was responsible for budgeting, financial operations, consolidation accounting, internal controls, and 10-K and 10-Q SEC reporting. His work with external auditors helped minimize their annual audit and tax fees. He monitored and reported on investments held by seven public companies whose aggregate cost exceeded $500 million and assured compliance with the Investment Company Act of 1940.
Marc Levinson holds B.S. degrees in finance and accounting from Drexel University. He earned his MBA in finance from the University of Miami. He is licensed in the state of Florida as a Certified Public Accountant and Registered Investment Advisor.
Robert K. Lockhart
Chief Technology Officer
Robert Lockhart has more than 20 years of experience in the wireless data telecommunications industry with Motorola in product design, development, and management of one- and two-way paging systems and creation of global standards development in such diverse arenas as Infrared, third generation mobile phone, WAP, Bluetooth, and CALEA (now Homeland Security) communications.
Mr. Lockhart began his career as an analog and digital design and development engineer in positions of increasing responsibilities managing efforts with P/L control for global paging systems activities. The products ranged from stand-alone automatic messaging software, through 100 pager manual encoders, up to million-plus subscriber national and two-way messaging systems.
An internationally recognized expert in telecommunications spectrum usage and planning, and in wireless standards and protocols, he is one of the foremost authorities in his field. Well respected and sought after, his knowledge includes information on Spectrum, Regulatory, and Standards work with respect to WWAN, WLAN/PAN, 3GPP, WAP (now OMA), IrDA, Federated Identity, and Homeland Security technologies and currently holds the chair position of the IrDA’s Architecture Council.
Mr. Lockhart chaired the Bluetooth regulatory working group, linked to the World Customs Organization and many national regulatory agencies. This group’s ongoing charter is to homologate the 2.4 GHz regulatory environment with respect to spectrum, type acceptance/approval, mutual recognition, customs and tariffs, and the like.
A well respected scientist, he is a multiple patent holder of technologies starting with the first wireless data system patent up through Function Coding via Digital Addresses in a Two-Way System, Paging Message Encryption, Data Handler for Handling Data Having Multiple Data Formats, Method and Apparatus for Efficient Roaming Among Communication System.
Robert Lockhart holds a BSEE degree from Purdue University.
James D. Hughes
Vice President, Technology
For more than 20 years, James Hughes has combined a technology background with engineering, finance, business development and overall global business expertise in corporate and entrepreneurial environments. As a key technology professional, he designed and managed product lines generating revenues of over five billion dollars. He has an extensive background in hardware and software for wireless devices and integrated circuits and was successful in implementing new architectures and then monetizing them in new functional business lines.
Mr. Hughes joined Freescale, a leader in semi conductor products, as a company principal. He was an active participant in the successful breakout IPO from Motorola. As a company principal, his finance and international business expertise as well as his technical experience was invaluable throughout the IPO process. Following the IPO, Mr. Hughes worked closely with the engineering teams to drive the implementation of products and programs leading to positive cash flow.
Representing Motorola for more than 12 years, Mr. Hughes has held numerous senior management positions and led global technology teams ensuring successful project completion. He has had multiple management responsibilities including profit and loss, capital budgeting, scheduling, negotiation, and integrating hardware and software teams. Further, he has improved employee motivation and represented the company to customers. Prior to joining Motorola, Mr. Hughes was a key participant in numerous technology-based entrepreneurial ventures. Reporting directly to the CEO, Mr. Hughes combined his technology background with his business development and marketing skills to work with selected global customers.
James Hughes holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from Pennsylvania State University. He received an MBA in both finance and international business from the University of Miami, graduating with honors.
Steve Chien
Senior Technology Consultant
Steve Chien serves as the executive-level consultant to the Company. He brings more than 15 years of experience in the software industry, identifying innovative technologies to support the research and development and to guide the development life-cycle methodologies.
Mr. Chien was previously Manager of the Research and Development team of the eCommerce platform of GSI Commerce, Inc. which powers eCommerce sites such as Ralph Lauren, Adidas, and those for the NFL and Major League Baseball. There, he provided the technical insights and guidance on product development, performance training, and project management.
Before that, he was Chief Technology Officer and Vice President of Engineering and Service Operations at Moka LLC, a technology company which develops SMS realtime translation solutions in both the US and China. Steve traveled regularly between the US and China and managed the application and system development, QA, and service operations between the countries.
Prior to joining Moka LLC, Steve served as the Chief Architect of WisageTech, an innovative technology company which developed enterprise-level project and portfolio management applications for companies around the world, including Lockheed Martin, China Mobile, Bank of Montreal, and Amway. He led the research and development team and focused on designing and developing the distributed application architecture, single sign-on security, performance optimization, and cross database solutions. Before that, he was the Senior Development Manager for the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the second biggest securities and futures exchange in Asia. Steve took the leading role of directing the technologies and managed the development process of the middleware division of the Clearing unit.
Prior to working there, Steve was the Director of Platform Technology of InterWorld Corp., a leading eCommerce platform company which provided solutions to enterprises including Disney, Marks & Spencer, American Eagle, Ann Taylor, Brooks Brother, OKI Data, IKON Office Solutions, and Global Sources. He led the platform team on architecting and developing highly-parallel application server, load balancer, security, and messaging framework across different operating system and database platforms.
Steve Chien holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science from New York University and a Bachelor’s degree in Power Mechanical Engineering from Tsinghua University in Taiwan.
Eric Boyd
President, Destroy Entertainment / Executive Vice President, M3X Media, Inc.
Eric Boyd is a visionary in branding and business development with a successful background in sales and marketing in the fields of youth oriented entertainment. In 2005, Mr. Boyd married his entrepreneurial spirit with years of experience working with new media and mobile monetization models to create Destroy Entertainment with joint-venture partners Warner Music Group, a leading aggregator and marketer of sports and entertainment offerings geared towards 12 to 25 year olds. During its years of operation, Destroy has enjoyed success marketing and selling entertainment oriented products conventionally through established retail channels while exploiting new media opportunities as well. Success stories in these arenas have included the launch of Destroy Television on the Internet and profitable smart phone applications as well. Most recently, Mr. Boyd merged Destroy Entertainment with M3X Media, Inc. and joined the Company as an executive with responsibilities overseeing the expansion and development of Destroy into additional entertainment mediums, and exploring business development opportunities for M3X.
Prior to founding Destroy Entertainment, Mr. Boyd was employed by VAS Entertainment, a leading action sports company, serving as Vice President, New Products and head of International Sales and Business Development. From there, he was asked by VAS to create Rise Above Entertainment, a wholly owned subsidiary and youth entertainment label, and serve as president of the startup. During his tenure running Rise Above, Mr. Boyd built the label into a multi-million dollar enterprise gaining industry-wide recognition and earning Gold and Platinum awards for its video releases.
In 2009, Eric Boyd engaged the Wharton School of Business to develop the book, “Cash From Chaos.” He attended California Polytechnic Institute.
Ainsworth J. Spence Jr.
Vice President
Ainsworth Spence has served as the Project Manager and Lead Designer for the past six years overseeing design, promotion, delivery and quality of programs, products and services for the Company. He is responsible for leading team members on various web and product design projects and developing and maintaining activities for M3X Media’s corporate identity and internet advertising presence. Mr. Spence develops programs, products and services to ensure consistent branding and a strong marketplace presence.
Mr. Spence is an inventor and graphics design specialist with technical knowledge and expertise and strong conceptual skills, allowing him to give shape to abstract concepts. Bridging the gap between development and corporate goals, he works directly with both marketing and sales departments to produce branding and language for reproduction in print and electronic distribution. In addition, he works directly in the production of technology products and the preparation of corporate documents.
Prior to joining M3X, Mr. Spence served as a Technical Consultant for six years with a concentration in broad areas of design conceptualization and implementation.
A founding member the Omicron Gamma Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. and actively involved in all aspects of Florida Atlantic University student government, Mr. Spence held numerous offices including President.
Jay F. Salts III
Vice President, Cable and Mobile Content Operations
Since Jay Salts joined the Company, he has been responsible for the programming responsibilities, development and daily maintenance of the content distribution platform for streaming “live” television content to multiple devices and carriers. He is also responsible for the Company’s mobile content and cable television operations. Mr. Salts has been a Beta Tester and programmer for Apple for the past ten years and his programming expertise makes him a highly sought after programmer and software developer. Mr. Salts has also developed and beta tested certain key audio application enhancements for Digidesign, Motu, and Apple’s Logic Studio.
Previously, Mr. Salts owned and operated the Mirror Image Entertainment Company, in which he had direct daily responsibilities for video production and editing music videos, infomercials, documentaries and commercials. During this time, Mr. Salts produced Jessica Simpson’s SpeedFit Workout Video and worked with Usher. He also produced What’s New Today for TLC and worked with The Travel Channel and The Discovery Channel. He has worked with many companies such as Disney, General Motors, BMW, Kenworth and Yamaha, and artists such as Nile Rodgers and De La Soul. In addition, Mr. Salts has created and produced several commercial training videos for Kenworth Trucking Company over the past ten years.
Producing music for more than fifteen years, Mr. Salts has made a significant impact on the dance scene, receiving favorable magazine reviews in Billboard and Keyboard magazines among others. His music can be heard on dance floors around the world and is regularly featured on Video Games produced for PlayStation 2, Xbox and Nintendo. He has enjoyed working relationships with companies including VisioSonic, Rock Star Games and Activision. His work has been seen on MTV’s Real World and has been featured in many dance music compilations with some of the hottest producers and Platinum recording artists including Nile Rodgers, Jim Jonsin, Christopher Lawrence, D.J. Icee, Keoki and Baby Ann among others.
Jay Salts holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Audio Engineering and Audio Electronics from Belmont College.
Nick Maria
National Sales Director
Nick Maria has built a progressive career path with a number of music labels, advancing to senior executive positions with responsibilities overseeing sales and marketing activities. His efforts have been instrumental in generating more than $3-billion in sales over a 19-year span.
A successful marketing and sales executive with a proven history of accomplishment in the recorded music industry, Mr. Maria has planned and launched campaigns targeted at national retail chains and major distributors. He has conceived and implemented a broad spectrum of contests, in-store events and relationships with senior executives of leading record retailers and conducted extensive market research and promotional campaigns, including radio, TV and print advertising. He further developed long-term analysis and developed pricing strategies. He also worked with radio stations to produce publicity programs.
Mr. Maria’s professional experience has encompassed strategic planning, marketing, administration, training and supervision, with full profit and loss responsibility. He has directed project teams and internal staffs, instructed staff members on effective methods of servicing commercial clients and retail consumers, and led all aspects of day-to-day operations, including purchasing, inventory, vendor negotiations, financial controls, and creation of policies and procedures.
Mr. Maria has worked with a long list of superstar entertainers including Frank Sinatra, The Doors, Fleetwood Mac, Aretha Franklin, Cream, and the Bee Gees. In addition, he established a reputation as a pointman for the launch and marketing of such artists as Yes, Genesis, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Crosby Stills and Nash, Bette Midler, and The Three Tenors.
Nick Maria holds a B.S. degree in the Industrial Arts Program at Newark State College in New Jersey.