Pond5 Taps Talent from Viacom and eBay for CTO and CRO Roles

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Pond5, the world's leading content marketplace for high-quality royalty-free video and other media, today announced the appointment of two key executive roles: Sam Napolitano as Chief Technology Officer and Jeffrey Wilks as Chief Revenue Officer. Both Napolitano and Wilks join the Pond5 team in the company's New York City office. As CTO, Napolitano is responsible for driving the company's technology forward, including the advancement of its AI Visual Search program and tech integrations with industry-leading software developers. As CRO, Wilks oversees global sales and marketing for Pond5.

Pond5 Chief Technology Officer, Sam Napolitano

A senior technology leader and software enthusiast with more than 15 years of experience leading globally distributed engineering teams in building high-scale, world-class platforms, Napolitano will marry content, product, technology, and data to reach and expand Pond5's dedicated user base. In his most recent position as the SVP of Engineering at Viacom, Napolitano oversaw the 100+ person Media & Technology Services Global Engineering Team. He was responsible for platform engineering and operational support for the reinvention of technology services aimed at current, new, and emerging audiences for brands including MTV and Comedy Central.

Sam Napolitano, Pond5 Chief Technology Officer

Sam is a passionate technologist and leader who brings to Pond5 both a strategic mindset and a willingness to roll up his sleeves, said Pond5 CEO Jason Teichman. Just like the thousands of filmmakers who contribute to and use Pond5 every day, Sam is an artist himself, with an art-school background focusing on commercial art and web design and development. His experience in applying technology to the creative field will enable us to continue our mission of helping filmmakers fulfill their creative vision.

Prior to his role at Viacom, Napolitano was the VP of Engineering at The Huffington Post, where he spent six years leading distributed engineering teams, helping to scale their technology platform to 15 international editions and more than 200 million visitors per month. He also spent time at AOL and LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell. Growing up, Sam spent hundreds of hours digging through documentation that helped him to write games and small apps on his TI-82 graphing calculator. He learned at a young age how to make machines do what you wanted them to do by changing a few lines of code, a passion that turned into a lifelong career.

Pond5 Chief Revenue Officer, Jeffrey Wilks

With his appointment as CRO, Wilks is responsible for accelerating the growth of Pond5, overseeing both sales and marketing globally. Prior to joining Pond5, Wilks was the General Manager for Experian Marketing Services across the Americas, leading customer success, customer service, sales and marketing for both the CheetahMail and Marketing Suite Cross Channel platforms.

Jeffrey Wilks, Pond5 Chief Revenue Officer

Jeffrey comes to us with over three decades of experience selling creative and marketing solutions to the world's most recognizable brands and creative organizations, said Teichman. He brings significant agency experience running sales and account management from companies like BBDO and Ogilvy & Mather, and more recently, ran the marketing solutions business at both eBay and Experian. Jeffrey's deep understanding of the creative mindset, his sales acumen, and experience leading distributed inside sales and field sales organizations make him a tremendous asset to the company.

Prior to Experian, Wilks was President of the Advertising Group at InVentiv Health, leading a diverse group of global bio-pharmaceutical health-care agencies. At eBay, he was responsible for the client services team of the eBay Enterprise business unit. Additional experience includes many years in the advertising business.

Wilks is a graduate of St. Lawrence University. He is currently a Board Member and past Board Vice President of USA Climbing, the governing body of competitive climbing in the US. He has held board member positions with the Single Parent Resource Center, a New York-based charity, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), and the Online Publishers Association (OPA).

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About Pond5

Pond5 is transforming the role of video in the creative process by connecting producers, creative directors, and editors to more than 60,000 filmmakers and creators in over 150 countries. The company is dedicated to improving creative production through its innovative artist technology, easy-to-use platform, and ever-growing library of more than ten million royalty-free video clips, plus millions of music tracks, sound effects, photos and other high-quality media. Pond5 is a venture-backed company funded by Accel Partners and Stripes Group with offices located in New York, Dublin, and Prague. For more information, please visit https://www.pond5.com.

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