Chris Kraft
President, CEO and Co-Founder
A lifelong entrepreneur and a media veteran since 1988, Chris Kraft was already an accomplished editorial and advertising photographer before he decided to blend his eye for detail and business instincts to create a boutique video agency in 1995. His creative teams quickly began to fill their offices with honors and awards for corporate video excellence. Yet Chris was also busy developing cutting-edge business video training techniques and building new online distribution networks to carry them to clients and partners. A partial list of those clients include Nortel Networks, IBM, American Airlines, PRIMEDIA, Compuware, LucasLicensing/Hasbro, the city of Addison, NBC, Mary Kay, Adobe and McAfee.
Chris founded Splash Media in 2004, with the vision to help corporations bridge communications with their customers by using technology and creative marketing solutions. Recognizing that the information age and advent of social media would forever change the business model for marketing and media production, in 2010 he helped negotiate the purchase of WebDex, an Internet marketing firm with deep roots in search engine/website technologies. Chris also helped launch spark360, business news-style video productions that help small/medium-sized businesses tell their stories through a unique online distribution model.
Paul Slack
Chief Learning Officer and Co-Founder, Splash Media, LP
President, Splash Media U
Paul Slack joined Splash Media with more than 20 years of direct marketing experience. He got his first taste of web marketing consulting in the 1990s as the internet began to make its presence felt in the business world. Those early days gave him a strong foundation in search engine marketing/search engine optimization (SEM/SEO). Paul built on that as CEO of WebDex Media Group, a Dallas-based firm founded in 2000 that provided strategic planning, SEM, web-based lead generation, online public relations and customer acquisition programs. WebDex developed proprietary solutions to help clients exceed their Internet marketing goals, and it counted Microsoft, Tupperware, Zales, GE Medical Systems and Isuzu Trucks among its satisfied customers. Paul and WebDex also quickly became expert in the use of social media tools to help connect clients to customers – an effort that continues with the acquisition of WebDex by Splash Media in 2010.
Paul’s experience has put him in demand as a speaker on search engine marketing trends and developments, most notably at the leading SEM industry conference, Search Engine Strategies, where he has been a featured speaker for the past five years. Paul also discusses strategic planning with top executives of Dallas-Fort Worth-based companies that are members of the CEO Advisory Board.
Mark Hitchner
Chief Operating Officer
Mark Hitchner’s resume is a perfect example of the blend of technology and entrepreneurship that permeates Splash Media. His experience in Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) includes the development of next-generation subscription and pay-per-view channels for both training employees and building new revenue streams for businesses. Two good examples: xTrain and TSTN, two online networks developed by Splash Media, where Hitchner created partnerships with organizations and companies for use of those networks.
As vice president of strategic planning/development for GlobalTec Solutions, Mark helped build partnerships and initiatives around his vision for an in-house IPTV channel. And as director of Strategic Projects with XOS Digital, the nation’s leading sports digital media company, Mark managed the ingestion and meta-tagging of thousands of hours of sports video on behalf of top-tier colleges and universities.
Pete Kraft
Chief Technology Officer
Fifteen years ago, Pete Kraft was working tech support for Communications Expo, repairing computers, installing software and configuring services for consumers. Now he oversees all the technologies and digital platforms for Splash Media – which means you’ll still find him repairing, installing and configuring when he isn’t charting strategy and negotiating contracts with customers and suppliers.
Pete was a systems administrator at Electronic Data Systems, managing the global Windows Server network for the entire company. He achieved the highest Microsoft certification level at the time and created the intranet website for EDS’ teams at Texas Instruments. At Arrow Electronics, he served as a solutions architect, securing new designs for its original equipment manufacturer (OEM) computing group and providing pre- and post-sales support for clients.
His work at Arrow and Alliance Systems involved sales engineering, a meshing of highly evolved technical skills and the ability to build and maintain customer relationships. With Arrow, it was selling hardware and semiconductors; at Alliance, it was telecommunications systems and networking applications. Both jobs allowed him to develop solutions for companies working in a broad range of industries such as telecommunications, broadcast, medical imaging and geophysical data analysis.
While at Splash Media, Pete has consulted on the development of a custom digital video delivery system that will be used to help our clients tell their stories via the Internet.
Don H. Pace
General Counsel
Don Pace spent 28 years as a partner with the 700 lawyer international law firm of Baker Hostetler and has a strong background in business and legal matters. After leaving the practice of law, Don joined Odyssey Partners, a New York-based leverage buyout firm, where he was involved in many acquisitions. Don left that firm to start his own leverage buyout and was a successful builder of companies. As an attorney with Baker Hostetler, his clients included the NFL and extensive negotiations with owners of NFL teams. His other clients included E.W. Scripps, S. I. Newhouse, The New York Times and other media clients. Don’s leveraged buyout was of a small insurance company in Tucson, Ariz. Using a $27 million leveraged buyout financing, Don built it from $18 million in net premiums written to $200 million in net premiums written in five years and took the company public after only three years.
Mr. Pace earned his Juris Doctor degree from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and his Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting and Economics from Florida State University in Tallahassee, Fla.
Renay San Miguel
Chief Content Officer
Whether it’s journalism or marketing, it all involves storytelling. That was Renay San Miguel’s job for 30 years as a reporter and anchor for local and national broadcast outlets, and it’s still what he does for a living as Splash Media’s chief content officer and host/managing editor for Splash’s spark360 news-style profiles of small/medium-sized businesses.
Renay began his career at his hometown newspaper before making the switch to broadcast news. He has worked as an anchor/reporter in San Angelo, Austin, San Francisco, Dallas and Seattle. His work at WFAA-TV in Dallas resulted in Emmy and Casey Awards for projects on welfare reform and media violence. He then moved on to CNBC as a technology reporter during the dot-com boom, and briefly worked for CBS Marketwatch, where he also contributed tech stories for “The Early Show” and web-only interviews for Marketwatch.com.
From 2001-2007. Renay was an anchor/reporter for CNN/CNN Headline News in Atlanta. He staffed the military desk during the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, reported on technology and anchored newscasts. He also hosted “The Digital Life” podcasts for CNN.com and won a Cybersecurity Journalism Award from Carnegie Mellon University for tech columns on the Headline News website. San Miguel has also reported on social media and Web 2.0 technologies for TechNewsWorld, the E-Commerce Times and MacNewsWorld.
R. Brad Murano
Chief Creative Officer
Before he brought his considerable talents to Splash Media as an editor, director and director of photography, Brad Murano was spending time with the likes of Pat Benatar, Kenny Chesney and Clint Black. As co-founder of Film Xero with future Splash Media director Steven T. Miller, Brad produced and directed more than 100 music videos for major media labels. The ability to work with advanced video effects technologies set the stage for Brad to become an Emmy Award-winning animation and motion graphics designer. The virtual “sets” created for Splash Media’s clients in its $5.5 million studio and production facility are born from his imagination and technical abilities.
More than 20 years of Brad’s media production experience have included stints on “Walker, Texas Ranger” and projects for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Nutrisystem, Disney’s Buena Vista Datacasting and EMI Catalog Marketing.
Splash Media client Adobe benefited from Brad’s expertise and vision when he served as broadcast creative director for the company’s new Adobe TV web portal
In addition to Emmy Awards, Brad has also won dozens of Telly Awards, several Worldwide Film Festival honors and the Kodak-sponsored Platinum Award for Cinematography.
Joseph Woods, CFA
Vice President of Finance and Strategy
Joseph Woods brings with him a wide range of financial experience and capital markets knowledge that he has accumulated since beginning his career in 2001. Joseph has practiced as a finance professional in a variety of capacities, including analyzing public securities, structuring private debt investments and providing financial consulting to both middle market and startup companies. He has held positions at large institutions, private investments firms, a regional bank and a consulting firm.
Prior to joining Splash Media, Joseph provided financial consulting services to middle market and startup firms operating in a range of industries such as IT networking, aquaponics, retail electric and digital outdoor media. Before consulting, Joseph served as a vice president for a private investment firm with total assets in excess of $2.0 billion invested in key areas such as software development, public securities, oil and gas, real estate management and development, vineyard/winery, and structured finance lending. Joseph has also held positions at NRF Capital, INVESCO Real Estate, and Wachovia Securities. Joseph is a CFA charterholder.
Jeff Johnson
Vice President of Fulfillment
Jeff Johnson comes to Splash Media with more than a dozen years of business operations and executive management experience. His 20+ year career has spanned every level and aspect of corporate infrastructure from managing and cultivating small start-up companies to working within established large corporations. It is these experiences and opportunities that have provided a vast and valuable knowledge all areas of business operations including service/support, sales, growth, and development, as well as management and leadership. Jeff’s work experience includes many years of customer service and underwriting in the insurance industry, as well as sales as a licensed P&C LRA and Group 1 insurance agent, as well as Operations Manager for PC Group Holdings, and VP of Operations and COO of Globaltec Solutions, and Agency Matrix LLC.
Jim Sparks
Vice President of Accounting
Jim Sparks has been with Splash Media since its inception in 2004, and for 16 years has been associated with the companies that eventually morphed into Splash. Prior to this venture, he had been involved in a variety of fields in both the public and private sectors. These endeavors include the fields of hospitality, municipal utilities finance, mortgage financing, construction contract compliance, automobile insurance, stock trading software tools, e-learning, and hospital administration.
At Splash, Jim’s primary responsibility is to handle funds, oversee payroll and related taxes and filings, expenditure certification and directing internal accounting processes and procedures. Jim is known as the company “gate keeper,” meaning he tries to see that nothing gets in or nothing gets out without his careful scrutiny.
Josh Team
Vice President of Technology
From building learning algorithms on top of open source platforms to leading website development projects for Marines.com, Lending.com, Moverati.com (automated video sharing site using RFID), Rasmussen.edu and Floodsmart.com, Josh Team has nearly a decade of digital marketing and advertising expertise under his belt. Earning his stripes at top agencies such as JWT and RAPP, he has landed as Vice President of Technology at Splash.
Josh has a passion for open source technology and is a local open source community leader. His extensive interactive expertise includes software development, database, mobile, RFID, social learning, collective intelligence, and emerging media in general. He leverages best practices across verticals that culminate at the intersection of creative ideation and technical excellence for Splash Media.
Some of Josh’s blue chip clients include United States Marine Corps, AMC Theatres, Brown Shoe (Famous Footwear), Fossil, Best Buy, HP, Michaels, Bahamas.com, HSBC, and Exxon. Josh has had numerous industry and university speaking engagements spanning several emerging areas of digital development in Texas and surrounding states.
John Larsen
National Social Media Instructor
All the significant milestones that John Larsen hit in his previous careers – software innovation, entrepreneur, successful financial broker and trader – have proven to be the best preparation for his new role as a Splash Media national social media instructor. John works the podiums at our Social Media for CEOs Boot Camps; armed with the latest survey information and statistics, he provides a 90-minute crash course for audiences of executives on how web marketing, social media and video content can help their companies boost their brands.
It’s a way for John to combine his backgrounds in public speaking, technology and knowledge of business strategies. John started as a licensed securities broker and member of the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) and has seen action on trading floors and trading desks around the world. As a trader, he has managed a wide range of investment products and has been on the leading edge of charting and electronic trading platforms that helped democratize Wall Street for a new generation of investors.
John took his two decades of market experience and parlayed that into the entrepreneurial realm with the launch of Larsen Capital Partners, LLC. He was president of GlobalTec Solutions’ “Wizetrade for Options” (Options Made Easy) software division and served as its chief software architect, chief strategist and lead trainer. In that role, he regularly spoke to large audiences of investor groups and also started sharing his market knowledge in broadcast; he was featured on the USA Radio Networks’ financial talk radio station, Wizetalk Radio, and appeared on Traders Television Network (TTV) and Wizetrade Television Network (WTV).