Meet Our Team

At CafeMedia and AdThrive, we are dedicated to supporting our publishers and creators. We are passionate about leading innovation in the creator economy to deliver on our mission to create a creator-first future. By providing the best products, technology, analytics, partnerships, and team, we help independent publishers and creators build careers for the long term.

Leadership

Paul Bannister

Chief Strategy Officer

Paul Bannister

Chief Strategy Officer

Paul leads the programmatic sales and video monetization team to create compelling media experiences for brands. As the lead of the six-person team that launched CafeMom, and oversaw the website for four years, Paul has a background that's uniquely positioned to help brands create deeply engaging programs that meet their goals while creating a great experience for our audiences.

Paul started his career by founding Online Gaming Review, one of the first websites dedicated to covering computer games. He grew the site to be one of the top 100 websites (in 1997!), and wrote two books on computer games. He has also worked for USWeb/CKS, Ameritrade, and CMP Media.

Paul graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, with a BSE in Computer Science and Engineering and a concentration in Accounting.

He lives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan with his wife and two boys.

Emily Burt

Chief Customer Officer

Emily Burt

Chief Customer Officer

Emily Burt leads CafeMedia’s Customer Service teams at CafeMedia. In her role, she focuses on growing the company's best-in-class customer service operations and building out new capabilities beyond its core advertising offering to ensure publishers are equipped with the best features and services to grow their small businesses for the long term.

Prior to joining CafeMedia, Burt spent 17 years in various roles at Google, most recently leading YouTube's Creator and Artist Development team for the Americas region. Before joining Google, she was a professional soccer player, playing in the first U.S. women's professional soccer league and the professional league in Russia.

Philip Chiang

SVP, Growth & Operations

Philip Chiang

SVP, Growth & Operations

As the SVP of Growth & Operations, Philip helps new, high-quality publishers find and join the AdThrive family. Previously with Vimeo and SoundCloud, Philip has been working with independent creators for many years and is passionate about helping creators grow their careers and make a living doing what they love. He lives in NYC and can often be seen running through Central Park with his faithful yellow labrador, Luke.

John Clyman

EVP, Product Engineering

John Clyman

EVP, Product Engineering

John Clyman leads a team focused on innovations and product development in SEO and audience development.

He joined CafeMedia from Magnite, where he was Vice President, Product Management and Vice President, Engineering for Marketplace Quality & Security. Prior to Magnite, Clyman was co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of SiteScout, which was acquired by Magnite’s predecessor Rubicon Project. Before co-founding SiteScout, Clyman co-founded independent technology test lab Cascadia Labs, and founded and led Narrative Logic. He began his career in magazine and web publishing and held roles managing the products and commerce business unit at ZDNet, and as a contributing editor at PC Magazine. Clyman holds a patent in advertising security technology.

Kim Crain

SVP, Human Resources

Kim Crain

SVP, Human Resources

Kim leads the Human Resources efforts for CafeMedia, focused on building and engaging a world-class team. Prior to joining CafeMedia, she was a senior consultant with RealHR Solutions providing management-level HR support to businesses and not-for-profits in New York City. She has held senior HR positions at Public Health Solutions and Full Moon Interactive and started her career at ADP. Kim graduated from Arizona State University.

Stephanie Dolgins

Chief Marketing Officer

Stephanie Dolgins

Chief Marketing Officer

As CafeMedia's first CMO, Steph Dolgins is responsible for all aspects of brand strategy, marketing, and communications, including public relations. She and her team oversee the company's growth strategy and ensure CafeMedia continues to deliver value and best-in-class customer service for our premium publishers and create extraordinary experiences for all of our partners.

Steph brings extensive experience, having led iconic digital media brands, and built an award-winning women's and lifestyle content network. She was previously CMO of Tumblr, where she oversaw brand and consumer marketing, communications, media partnerships, and content and community development. Prior roles include SVP & GM of AOL's Women's, Lifestyle, Teens, Kids, and Multicultural Programming, CMO at Outcast Media, Head of Marketing at Jetsetter, VP, Consumer and Sales Marketing at ABC Internet Group and VP, Sales Development and Creative Services at The Walt Disney Internet Group. Throughout her career, Steph has been a champion for content creators and believes that helping creators build successful businesses will lead to a richer, more vibrant, and diverse internet.

Jeff D'Onofrio

Chief Financial Officer

Jeff D'Onofrio

Chief Financial Officer

Jeff D'Onofrio is CafeMedia's Chief Financial Officer. As CFO, he ensures CafeMedia continues to build a scalable and financially strong organization and leads the company's Finance, Data & Analytics, Human Resources, and Corporate Development teams.

As a seasoned digital media executive with deep experience in operations, strategy, and finance, Jeff's career has spanned live streaming, social media, advertising, and commerce. He has charted tremendous growth and unlocked profitability and value as a senior leader at companies including Google, Zagat, Major League Baseball Advanced Media, and Tumblr--where he spent eight years as CFO, COO, and finally as the company's Chief Executive Officer. Jeff received his undergraduate degree from Penn State University and his MBA from Cornell University.

William Eisner

EVP, Product

William Eisner

EVP, Product

With more than 20 years of experience in product leadership, Will leads CafeMedia’s product teams and is responsible for driving the company’s overall product vision that serves its more than 3,500 high-quality independent publishers.

Prior to joining CafeMedia, he led product teams at TripAdvisor, serving the needs of tens of thousands of hoteliers around the world. Before that, he led the creation of WordStream’s online advertising platform for small and medium sized businesses. Other notable roles include leading Acquia’s Drupal cloud hosting platform, and building products at Palm and Rational Software. He completed his undergraduate studies at Columbia University in New York. and happily carries on a family tradition in advertising, following after his great-uncle who wrote a well-known ad jingle for Muriel Cigars in the 1950s.

Tara Jepson

SVP, Brand

Tara Jepson

SVP, Brand

Tara Jepson is a global marketing executive whose specialty is building brands that define and shift categories through creative thinking and holistic brand storytelling. As SVP of Brand at CafeMedia, Tara is responsible for making sure the industry understands the value of our company and our network of independent publishers. With a focus on connecting our vision and mission throughout everything she does, Tara collaborates with internal and external partners to help determine how CafeMedia shows up in the world.

Tara’s passion for translating emerging cultural, societal and technological trends into actionable insights has steered her career in establishing and growing some of the world’s most iconic brands, including Amazon, Chanel, MAC Cosmetics, Michael Kors, Audi, Microsoft, IPSY, Zelle and Nike.

Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, she now lives in Los Angeles with her husband, putting her closer to her ultimate goal of one day returning to the beautiful Pacific Northwest.

Tara graduated magna cum laude with a BA in English Literature from Skidmore College.

Courtney Kahn

SVP, Publisher Experience

Courtney Kahn

SVP, Publisher Experience

Courtney focuses on creating an unparalleled experience for publishers who work with AdThrive. She serves the teams focused on communication, onboarding, events, and community, always aiming to go above and beyond for our publishers.

Before joining the AdThrive family, Courtney taught high school English and ran her own photography business in the heart of Florida. She graduated from Florida State University with a B.A. in English Literature and lives on the Florida coast with her husband and daughter.

Jonathan King

EVP, Revenue Operations

Jonathan King

EVP, Revenue Operations

Jonathan oversees the teams responsible for maximizing revenue - for each publisher and the overall organization. He also defines business processes alongside consumer and sales functions.

Prior to joining CafeMedia in 2008, Jon was a corporate strategy and business process consultant for Fortune 100 firms. Jonathan graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, with a BAS in Systems Science & Engineering and BA in Economics, and from Columbia University, with an MBA with concentrations in Marketing and Finance. Jonathan lives in New Jersey with his wife, two daughters, and family dog.

Michael Lee

EVP, Head of Engineering

Michael Lee

EVP, Head of Engineering

Michael leads CafeMedia’s engineering, developer operations, and IT teams and drives the long-term technical vision behind the company’s creator-first mission.

He joined CafeMedia from Capital Group where he was the Vice President, Engineering, and led an organization that rewrote the internal investment research platform from the ground up, migrating it from on-premises data centers to Amazon Web Services. Michael brings more than 20 years of engineering experience and nearly ten years in ad technology to CafeMedia, having previously held leadership positions at Yahoo, Microsoft, and Indeed.

Joline McGoldrick

EVP, Data & Analytics

Joline McGoldrick

EVP, Data & Analytics

Joline McGoldrick leads CafeMedia’s Data & Analytics team. Joline and her team focus on driving better understanding and decision-making through better tools and data.

Joline brings over 15 years of research and digital advertising experience to the role. Prior to joining CafeMedia, Joline held the position of SVP, Data Insights & Research at VidMob a venture-backed creative tech startup. Prior to her time at VidMob Joline was SVP of Research at Kantar Millward Brown Digital where she led Kantar Millward Brown’s Digital Center of Excellence and was a frequent writer and speaker on digital advertising.

Before starting her career in research and digital advertising, Joline volunteered at an orphanage in Santa Curz, Boliva. Joline is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Carnegie Mellon University and currently lives outside of Washington D.C. with her husband and two daughters.

Jordan Moore

EVP, Publisher Experience

Jordan Moore

EVP, Publisher Experience

Jordan focuses on building relationships with the highest quality publishers in the industry by keeping a publisher-first mentality throughout every interaction. As one of the original AdThrive employees, he has been with AdThrive since 2013.

Before AdThrive, Jordan graduated from Oklahoma State and started his career working for the non-profit, Compassion International. After 11 years in Colorado, Jordan now lives in Oklahoma City with his wife and 3 daughters. He enjoys mountain biking, driving his Jeep, and everything Star Wars or Marvel related.

Rachel Parkin

EVP, Creator Solutions

Rachel Parkin

EVP, Creator Solutions

Tina Pautz

SVP, CafeMedia Ad Management

Tina Pautz

SVP, CafeMedia Ad Management

Tina Pautz leads CafeMedia Ad Management, the teams dedicated to CafeMedia’s Enterprise publishers, bringing over a dozen years of adtech/martech leadership experience to the role.

She previously served as GM of Convertro - Verizon Media’s former marketing measurement, analytics and activation platform - providing multi-touch, media mix and unified attribution strategy and solutions to a portfolio of global brands. Prior to Convertro Tina oversaw client services and operations for Ad.com Dynamic Retargeter and was a key participant in its predecessor Buysight’s sale to AOL. She started her career in finance, working in asset management and real estate investment prior to joining Buysight as its 7th employee.

Tina graduated with a BA in Communication from the University of Southern California (Fight On!) and lives in Manhattan.

Sheri Repicci

SVP, Corporate Communications

Sheri Repicci

SVP, Corporate Communications

Sheri Repicci is Senior Vice President, Communications at CafeMedia, where she leads the company's external communications strategy, public and media relations, editorial, and publisher engagement and education teams.

Previously, Sheri led global communications at SoundCloud, where she managed high-profile communications during a period of significant transformation for the audio streaming platform. As the company's lead storyteller, she was responsible for shaping the company's corporate, consumer, and internal communications strategy. Prior to SoundCloud, Sheri held communications roles at Viacom, RCA Music Group, and Warner Music Group. Working for companies that power creators has been a throughline throughout her career, and she's incredibly passionate about businesses and platforms that enable them to thrive and grow on their own terms.

Steven Samuels

EVP, Finance & Administration

Steven Samuels

EVP, Finance & Administration

Steve oversees the company's finance and administrative efforts, including accounting, human resources, financial planning, investor relations, and legal. Prior to joining CafeMedia, he worked at Deutsche Bank. Steve graduated from McGill University in Canada, with an MBA with an emphasis in Finance and a BSc in Microbiology and Immunology. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and two daughters.

Michael Sanchez

Chief Executive Officer

Michael Sanchez

Chief Executive Officer

Michael is co-founder and CEO of CafeMedia. CafeMedia is the world’s largest ad management service, providing the technology and services that help the highest quality creators grow their businesses and maximize success. CafeMedia empowers more than 3,500 premium publishers and creators, with a collective reach of over 199MM monthly unique visitors (#7 largest Comscore property), to make a living doing what they love – producing great content.

Prior to CafeMedia, Michael was the co-founder and President of Do Something. Do Something helps millions of young people each year take action to improve their communities. Michael also cofounded and served as the Chief Executive Officer of the profitable ’94 Cup Daily, the nation’s only daily newspaper dedicated to the 1994 World Cup soccer tournament, held in the United States.

Michael played soccer in college for the nation’s top-ranked University of Virginia team and then professionally in Zimbabwe, where he also taught high school math. As a child, Michael traveled around the country and the world as a top-ranked junior chess player. He received extensive media coverage as a chess prodigy, conducting dozens of chess exhibitions and earning a draw with the #3 ranked player in the world. He graduated from Columbia Law School with honors. He resides in New Jersey with his wife and three kids.

Andrew Shue

Co-Founder

Andrew Shue

Co-Founder

Andrew, along with CEO Michael Sanchez, is a co-founder of CafeMedia. CafeMedia is the world’s largest ad management service, powering the revenue engine for more than 3,000 independent premium publishers and creators, with a collective reach of over 170MM monthly unique visitors (#11 largest Comscore property).

In addition to his career in digital media, Andrew has worked as an actor, a movie producer, pro soccer player and community activist.

He played a leading role in the hit TV show Melrose Place, produced the feature film “Gracie,” played pro soccer for the LA Galaxy for two seasons and co-founded two national organizations, “Do Something” (launched in 1994 with Sanchez) and “The People” (started in 2018). Both groups seek to catalyze social change and reform through service, community building and activism.

Andrew is married to ABC News anchor Amy Robach - he and Amy have five kids between them.

Evan Simeone

Chief Product Officer

Evan Simeone

Chief Product Officer

Evan Simeone brings more than 20 years of experience in enterprise software product management and engineering, including more than ten years focused on ad technology. Most recently, he served as the global head of Product for PubMatic, where he was responsible for driving innovation and development across the company’s line of ad technology and revenue management products.

Before that, Evan served as chief product officer for Organic Motion, a computer vision and markerless motion capture company. Prior to his time at Organic Motion, Evan was the chief product officer at Solbright and the vice president of engineering at Operative, both industry leaders in workflow and sales execution automation for leading publishers.

Evan began his career as a Java and mobile developer for companies including Rational Software and Palm. He holds two patents for wireless and mobile communication technologies. Evan graduated from New York University.