Board
Larry Levy, co-founder, CEO
A serial entrepreneur, Larry’s experience before Appinions includes being the co-founder and CEO of Semagix Group, which was sold to Warburg Pincus in 2006. Larry was also the founder and CEO of Protégé Holdings, recognized as an “Upside 100” company, as well as the founder of Citria and Delrina Europe. He holds a BCom and BAcc from the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, and is a chartered accountant CA(SA).
Dennis Bennie
Dennis is a pioneer, entrepreneur and innovator in the Canadian technology industry. Over the past 25 years, Dennis’ entrepreneurial management has powered several successful companies. In 1997, he founded the XDL Venture Capital Fund, focusing on information technology opportunities. One of its most noteworthy investments was Delano Technology Corp. XDL Intervest, a $150 million fund was started in 1999 and is now fully invested. Bennie currently manages an experienced team investing in private equity opportunities as the XDL Capital Group.
From 1988 to 1996, Dennis was Chairman and CEO of Delrina Corp., which forged the new software categories of electronic forms and PC fax communications. In November 1995, Delrina was sold to Symantec Corp. for $560 million.
Larry Kramer
Larry Kramer is an adjunct professor of media management at the Newhouse School at Syracuse University. He is also a media consultant and serves on the Boards of Discovery Communications, American Media Inc, Freedom Communications and Harvard Business School Publishing, BlackArrow, Inc., among others. His book “C-Scape: Conquer the Factors Changing Business Today, was published in November,
2010 (HarperCollins).
Larry was a senior advisor at Polaris Venture Partners in 2008 and 2009.
He was the first president of CBS Digital Media, where he created a new division encompassing all new media operations for the network, including online, interactive and wireless initiatives. He created March Madness on Demand, put CBS TV shows on the Web and created CBS content distribution partnerships with Google, Amazon, Apple iTunes, Yahoo! and Verizon.
He was previously Chairman, CEO and founder of MarketWatch Inc., which he created in 1995 and launched as an LLC with Data Broadcasting Corp. and CBS in 1997. He took it public in 1999, making three acquisitions to build the business along the way before selling the company to Dow Jones in 2005 for $528 million.
Prior to that he spent more than 20 years as a journalist, rising to Asst. Managing Editor of the The Washington Post, and Executive Editor of the San Francisco Examiner. He won several awards for reporting, including the National Press Club Award, The Associated Press Award for news writing and The Gerald Loeb award for business reporting. His staffs won two Pulitzer Prizes.
He earned a bachelor’s degree from the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and an M.B.A. from Harvard University.
Advisory Board
David Armano
As Executive Vice President, Global Innovation & Integration for Edelman Digital, David’s mandate is to uncover and activate strategic and innovative social business solutions for Edelman’s clients as well as the firm. David also acts as Editor In Chief for Edelmandigital.com and has been working in the digital space since 1997. In his career, David has worked with global brands such as RIM, eBay, and adidas to name a few.
David is considered to be a highly influential voice on the subject of social media for business and has nearly 70,000 combined subscribers to his blog (Logic+Emotion) and Twitter stream. Logic+Emotion has consistently ranked in the top 25 marketing blogs according to the Ad Age Power 150. Prior to Edelman, David was a part of the founding team of social business consultancy Dachis Group and helped launch the business from stealth mode into the marketplace.
Prior to Dachis Group, David worked in the digital agency space for over 10 years with organizations such as P&G, HP, WW Grainger, Allstate, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Fifth Third Bank. His work on Grainger helped the company earn the reputation of best commerce site according to BtoB magazine and his leadership on HP resulted in a Webaward. David was also a key member of the joint Omnicom “swat team” consisting of TBWA, Critical Mass, and 180 working collaboratively to pitch and win global digital responsibilities for adidas.
He also writes regular industry perspectives for the Harvard Business Review, and is best known for his distinct brand of visual thinking, found both on the Web and presentations all over the world. David serves on several boards advising start-ups, is an active judge in industry awards such as the Jay Chiat 4A’s and co-founded the “Allhat” event series billed by SXSW as being populated by “the most respected voices in digital.” David graduated cum laude from the prestigious Pratt Institute with a dual major of visual communications and computer graphics.
Torrence Boone
As Managing Director of Agency Business Development, Mr. Boone is responsible for driving Google’s relationships with marketing and advertising agencies across the Americas.
Prior to Google, Mr. Boone was global CEO of Enfatico, a full-service, integrated agency start-up built by WPP to serve the global marketing needs of Dell, its founding client. Prior to Enfatico, he was president of Digitas Boston, where he led the agency’s flagship region and was a leader in the retail, healthcare and CPG practice areas. Previously, he was VP/GM of Avenue A (now Razorfish), where he was in charge of strategy, account management, media, and creative services for the New York operation.
Before his tenure in advertising, he was a senior manager at Bain & Company, where he advised a broad range of clients on corporate and business unit strategy, mergers and acquisitions, new product development, and interactive strategy.
Mr. Boone holds a B.A. in Economics, with honors, from Stanford University, and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. He serves on the board of the Joyce Theater in New York.