Who We Are

System1 was founded in Venice, CA in 2013. We are led by a team of passionate and experienced entrepreneurs and industry veterans who have built and managed multiple billion dollar companies. We have assembled an incredible group of data scientists and engineers, made several strategic acquisitions, and expanded our offices around the world. And we are just getting started.

Why the name System1?

Our inspiration comes from groundbreaking prospect theory research by Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman and his partner Amos Tversky. Their findings distinguish between two modes of thought: System 1, which is fast, automatic and frequent – similar to how users engage online – vs. System 2, which is slower, more effortful and infrequent.

Team

Prior to System1, Michael was President/COO of Demand Media (NYSE: DMD), which he joined when Demand acquired his data company, Hotkeys. Michael has served on the Boards of leading digital marketing companies Dynata, Data Axle & Nutrisystem. Along with System1’s Co-Founder Chuck Ursini, Michael is the EY National Entrepreneur of the Year for Media, Entertainment & Communications. Michael is an avid surfer & mediocre karaoke performer, and he and his wife have two awesome children.

Paul joined System1 with the acquisition of his company Qool Media. Previously, Paul was CTO of Geosign, the then largest digital media company in Canada. His career began at age 15 with Alphatech, a software & IT consultancy he sold in 2001. Paul is an avid skier, amateur race car driver, and has two sons with his wife of 24 years.

Tridi’s past roles include EVP, Finance at Whip Media Group, CFO of Ez Texting, Inc. and Vice President, Finance at Demand Media. Tridi holds degrees in economics and math from Claremont McKenna College, and an MBA from Claremont Graduate University's Drucker School of Management. In his spare time, Tridi loves to binge-watch reruns of Frasier and coach his childrens' soccer and baseball teams.

Most recently, Brian was the SVP of Product at Amobee, which he joined via SingTel’s acquisition of Adconion Direct in 2014. Prior to Adconion, he lived in the Bay Area, working at several software companies focused on building digital advertising solutions. In his spare time, Brian enjoys playing tennis and spending time with his wife and two kids.

Previously, Nathan developed statistical model solutions for cross-channel/cross-device attribution and patented methods in TV attribution as Convertro's Chief Data Officer. Prior to that, he built SEM optimizations at Business.com and worked with Fortune 50 companies creating highly customized econometric models at MarketShare. Nathan has a B.S. in C.S. and Engineering from MIT with an emphasis on A.I. He enjoys sailing around the Channel Islands, fly fishing and swimming.

In addition to System1, Beth is founding partner at Summit Advisors. Before that, she served as Group Publisher & CEO of LA Weekly, where under her leadership, the publication won its first Pulitzer Prize. She also held senior management positions at CarsDirect.com and the LA Times. Beth began her career at IBM, spending 10 years in progressively larger strategic roles working with Fortune 500 companies. She holds an M.A. in Psychology from Pepperdine University, and a B.A. in Psychology and minor in Economics from UCLA. Beth recently climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, is an avid skier and scuba diver, and plays Scrabble competitively.

Daniel has been our General Counsel since January 2018. Prior to that, he was the General Counsel at Leaf Group Ltd. (formerly Demand Media, Inc.) and Deputy General Counsel at Las Vegas Sands Corporation. Daniel started his career at Latham & Watkins LLP. Daniel received his J.D. from The UCLA School of Law and his B.A. from U.C. Berkeley. When he is not working, Daniel enjoys skiing, snowboarding, hiking, camping, cooking and traveling with his family (which includes two kids and two Shichons named Arlo & Elvis).

Business & Tech Leadership

Steven leads innovation and new product development at System1. Past roles include Chief Product Officer at Wattzon, SVP of Product & Chief Marketing Officer at Vendare Media (acquired), SVP of Product Management at Idealab portfolio company New.net (acquired), Chief Product and Marketing Officer at Wishpot (acquired) and Group Product Manager at Microsoft. He has led teams of product managers, software engineers, UI/UX, designers, marketing managers and business analysts. Steven enjoys soccer, cooking and spending time with his family.

Matt has over ten years of experience in performance marketing and managing strategic partnerships in the education, finance, and e-commerce spaces. He has a B.A. in International Relations from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. Matt loves traveling, cooking, and crossword puzzles. He is also an admittedly enthusiastic, but mediocre, gambler.

John joined System1 through the acquisition of MapQuest. John spent the four years prior running MapQuest's various products from a Product, Business and Technical perspective under Verizon and AOL. Prior to MapQuest John has owned and operated several successful business ventures, and he currently serves as an advisor to other technology start-ups. John is an avid climber. On the weekends you'll find him aspiring to live up to the picture of climbers portrayed in the movie Free Solo.

David joined the System1 team in 2017 with the acquisition of Qool Media. As the SVP of Technology for the Publishing team, he has 13 years of experience in the digital media space. While executing upon technological strategies that are both flexible and scalable, he provides methodical leadership in an approachable manner. When he's not stuck behind a computer screen, he loves playing soccer (go Liverpool! YNWA), and spending time with his wife and three children.

Brent is responsible for Publishing operations at System1. He has 25+ years of experience in senior operations and business development roles at start-up and Fortune 500 organizations across the Internet and Technology sectors. Brent is committed to volunteerism; he spent 5 years as a board director at Hospice Wellington, a palliative care organization; and was designated a Rotary International Paul Harris Fellow in recognition of service to the community. He is passionate about outdoor activities with family including cycling, running and skiing.

Previously, Adam was Head of Video and Distribution Partnerships at Yahoo, overseeing 300+ partnerships and distribution to 1,000+ sites and platforms. Prior to that, he was Head of Yahoo Autos and Travel. Prior to Yahoo, he co-founded Spotlight Analytics, and led strategy consulting teams focused on value growth and M&A at Marakon Associates. Adam began his career as a software engineer at Thomson, and graduated from Northwestern University. In his spare time, he enjoys hacking together software projects, and spending time with his wife and young baby.

Kevin joined System1 with the acquisition of Qool Media. Prior to that he was VP Operations at Rebellion Media. He is a Chartered Professional Accountant and a former Senior Tax Manager with PriceWaterhouseCoopers, LLP. As an entrepreneur, Kevin has owned and operated several successful business ventures, and he currently he acts as an advisor to other start-ups in the technology space. Kevin is also a former competitive bodybuilder and competed for Team Canada in the IFBB World Championships. Outside of work, he enjoys supporting his son’s sporting events.

Kerstin joined System1 through the acquisition of Infospace in August 2016. Kerstin has over 11 years of experience managing the search distribution business and relationships with search engine partners. She holds a BA and an MBA from Seattle University. Kerstin loves to downhill ski, swim and travel with her husband and three silly little girls.

Mark joined System1 as an early employee, bringing Fortune 500 partner management experience in the social media space. Past strategic partnerships include GE, PepsiCo, P&G while at Offerpop (now Wyng) and Passenger (now Fuel Cycle). Mark holds a B.A. in Communications from the University of Pennsylvania. He enjoys vintage watches, old Land Rovers, and traveling the world experiencing local cuisines.

Craig heads up System1's Applications division, bringing almost 10 years experience in scaling user acquisition for software products. In his role as VP of Business Development at sterkly, he built and managed a team that drove over 100 million installs of various applications. Prior to joining System1, Craig was responsible for growth and strategy as the CMO of expressmed.com. Craig graduated with Distinction from the University of Victoria, Canada, earning a Bachelor of Commerce in Entrepreneurship. In his spare time, Craig loves to travel with his adventurous wife and two young daughters, and enjoys playing hockey and golf.

Prior to System1, Tulika ran the day to day operations of eHow.com, one of the internet's largest how-to/DIY sites, where she also oversaw business operations across the Business Intelligence, Analytics, Monetization & Optimization teams. Prior to eHow, she was a mortgage banker at Indymac Bank. Tulika holds a B.S. in Mathematics and Economics and an MBA in Finance from the University of California, Los Angeles. In her spare time, Tulika loves to suffer through HIIT workouts so she can indulge in all things chocolate and spend time with her husband and three kids.

Before joining System1, Craig was Director of Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence at Perk Canada and Manager of Demand Generation at Sortable. Craig began his ad tech career at Geosign, the largest digital media company in Canada at that time. Craig graduated from the University of Guelph with specialized honors in Computer Science. In his spare time, Craig enjoys alpine skiing, boating, martial arts, and spending time with his wife and two kids.

Ryan joined System1 in 2019 with the acquisition of Concourse Media, a company he founded in 2011. Prior to Concourse, his career started in the Search Marketing field at Geosign before taking an entrepreneurial path where he launched a series of web applications, including Canada's then largest restaurant review portal, that was later acquired by Yellow Pages. In his spare time he enjoys running, golf and spending quality time with his wife and two daughters.

Stewart joined System1 in 2019 to lead the integration of MapQuest, and currently serves as President for Travel, Consumer Commerce, and Shopping. Previously, Stewart was at SVP at Endeavor where he was Head of Digital for IMG College. Prior to Endeavor, he spent several years at Demand Media, now Leaf Group. While at Demand Stewart grew and ran operations of Demand Media Studios. At the time of his departure he was Executive Vice President of Media, managing businesses for Cracked.com, Livestrong.com, International and Revenue Operations.. Born and raised in Scotland, Stewart holds a BBA degree from the University of San Diego and a J.D. from the University of San Francisco Law School. In his spare time, Stewart likes to ride dirt bikes, tinker in his garage, and is happiest when with his family in the mountains or near an ocean.

Stacey joined System1 in 2019 and brings more than 15 years of experience spanning operations, strategy, business and corporate development. Previously, Stacey was Senior Director Corporate Development & Partnerships at Yahoo where she managed business operations. Prior to Yahoo, she held positions at Fox Interactive Media. Stacey has a B.A. in Sociology from the University of Pittsburgh and an M.A. in Social Research Methodology from UCLA. She enjoys collecting vintage poster art, exploring LA’s food scene and spending time with her husband and rescue dog.

Marko joined System1 in 2019 and brings more than 15 years of performance marketing experience. Prior to joining System1, Marko founded and was CEO of Socialholic Network, an online media company that at its peak was seeing over 30+ million users a month. At Socialholic, Marko drove the company vision and oversaw the entire user acquisition and editorial teams. Prior to Socialholic, Marko founded Digital Beacon which was a performance marketing monetization provider for browser plugins. In his spare time, Marko enjoys playing golf, traveling and spending time with his wife and two boys.

Morgan joined System1 in 2014. He had been living in North Wales after attending the Universities of York and Bangor, where he studied physics and electrical engineering. He moved to Los Angeles to co-found ConfluenceLA, a startup focused on building better recommendation systems before joining System1. Morgan is known to have many hobbies, from woodworking to boat building to off-roading and mechanical keyboard-building.

Michael is a seasoned engineering leader with years of experience building applications and tools. He started his career as an intern at Go2Net when metasearch had just spun out of the University of Washington as a research project. He has been working on web search in one form or another for the better part of 20 years. He is passionate about building enthusiastic teams, creating a culture of collaboration, and delighting customers. In his spare time, you'll find him programming Arduinos to optimize the yields of his vegetable gardens.

Brandon joined System1 in 2020 with over 10 years experience in the performance marketing and fintech, insuretech and lifestyle categories. In his most previous role, he was the VP of Business Development in the Fintech category at Natural Intelligence, a leader in comparison marketing based in Israel. When he’s not working, you can usually find him supporting his favorite sports teams (St. Louis Cardinals and Indiana Hoosiers), watching movies or traveling the world with his wife and son.

Christian manages the System1 Front-End team across multiple functional business units to deliver native and web advertising products aimed at scalable revenue growth. Previously, as Director of Front-End Engineering for the NFL, he delivered nfl.com, TV and mobile apps, and many business critical interactive components. As Lead Developer for Red Interactive he built sites for UFC, Ubisoft, BBC, Disney, Toyota, Bud Light, Hulu and others. Christian is a Virginia Tech alum (go Hokies) and loves family adventures with his wife and daughter.

Previously, Jennie served as Vice President of Product Management at Amobee, a digital marketing technology company. With over nineteen years of software and product development experience, Jennie was responsible for building technology that enables advertisers to connect to people through social media platforms. She also worked at Microsoft in product management for Outlook and at NYSE leading API development to connect financial firms to options trading platforms. She has been awarded patents in the areas of email and social communications. Jennie received a Bachelor's degree with honors in Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley.

Previously, Chris was VP of Engineering at Adly Inc. He also worked at Google and YouTube where he focused on distributed systems and helped file a patent on connecting AdSense ads into YouTube. He’s an active ham radio operator and amateur RF circuit designer. In his spare time he likes to hike, backpack, skateboard, and spend time with his wife and two kids. He received a B.S. in Computer Engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Previous positions include VP Engineering at TWO NIL / Blackwood Seven and VP Engineering at Skrill / PaySafe Group. Vin is an ad-tech and payments veteran and has held leadership roles at AT&T Interactive and Overture / Yahoo. He is an active leader in the SoCal tech scene and prides himself on building world class teams that deliver simple, yet scalable solutions to complex problems. Vin holds a B.S. and M.S. from The George Washington University. In his spare time, he enjoys playing D&D and spending time with his wife and son.

Co-Founders

Prior to System1, Chuck was EVP, Platforms at Leaf Group (formerly Demand Media) where he oversaw several business units including BI, Analytics, Monetization & Optimization, and Demand Studios. While there, he worked with Michael Blend to help take the company public (NYSE: DMD) and grow it to a $1B+ market cap. Before that, Chuck was at Amazon, and started his career at Morgan Stanley and UBS. Along with Michael, Chuck is the EY National Entrepreneur of the Year for Media, Entertainment & Communications. Chuck loves college football (Go Trojans!), enjoys the beach and Led Zeppelin.