A product development + marketing strategist with passion for digital innovation
Brief Summary
Mark Roth has more than two decades of diverse and challenging experiences navigating an effective balance between the “Art + Science” of the latest branding, marketing, software technologies and eCommerce. Mark has led teams at Digital Marketing agencies, worn many hats as an entrepreneur and consulting to startups, and has also managed corporate processes for Product Development and Go-to-Market strategies & sales training. He is experienced leading teams on large-scale web development projects for established, heavily trafficked, consumer-facing websites for clients such as Chicago Sun-Times, Universal Studios, and the Colorado Rockies MLB.
In 1995, he became one of the co-founders of CenterstageChicago.com, the original online Chicago city guide. In 2006, he led the acquisition of Centerstage by Sun-Times Media. From 2006 until 2011, he served as a Director on the Interactive team at Sun-Times Media working to create a digital future for over 30 established newspapers. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Communication Studies from Northwestern University.
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"The Story So Far"
Mark Roth is an early Internet Communications Strategist, Digital Media Producer and
Information Architect for User Exerperience (UX) Design. His online adventures beginning to take shape
in high school while
"outdialing"
on BITNET. Mark's pioneering internet experiences began before graduating
from Northwestern
University with a BS in Communication Studies in 1996.
After a powerful summer internship (1995) in Washington, DC under
Larry Irving, Asst Sec. of the NTIA (Dept.
of Commerce), Mark developed his skills and broad understanding of
telecommunications as the web began it's infancy. With a firm
understanding of the policies and social issues surrounding the Telecommunications
Reform Bill of 1996, Mark began to combine his intuitive vision and
studies in communications with consistent action on the web.
It is no small act of fate that as an NTIA intern, Mark was fortunate
enough to connect with a brilliant artist -- also from Northwestern's
class of 1996-- Giles Hendrix.
While they had actually shared one of NU's earliest collaborative online
workgroups and "Virtual Classrooms" during Professor
Joe Walther's Electronic Mediated Communications course, they never
met in person before sharing webdesign-related intern duties at the
NTIA. The two became fast friends and have collaborated and shared
their creative energies many times since.
During his senior year, Mark became one of four founding
partners in Centerstage
Chicago. Centerstage became an early college internet startup
(all four partners met during college at Northwestern) and
a pionering city guide model. Centerstage was one of the earliest,
and few remaining, independent websites (1995) to deliver online information
about local Arts, Entertainment & Culture
in Chicago. Today, their pioneering information model is consider a
commodity concept adopted worldwide by corporate media like Citysearch.com, Yahoo.com and AOL.com.
Yet, the Centerstage "Virtual El" Nightlife Navigator is
the only internet site that seemless merges the city's public
transportation network with a comprehensive database of where to
go and what to do in the city.
Upon graduating college in 1996, Mark worked feverishly with his partners
to establish Centerstage Chicago as a new-media presence in the established "salty-dog" media
scene of the midwest. Ultimately, Centerstage was able to secure local
relationships as well as stable partnership revenues from a national
broadband/cable company -- which eventually became Excite@Home. For
the next few years, Centerstage would operate as the local's guide
to Chicago flavor, demonstrating an authentic devotion to celebrating
the best arts and entertainment in Chicago.
Along the incredible journey that was only his first year after college,
Mark teamed up with a unique tribe of media pioneers and they began
producing event-based WebCasts for local media and telecommunications
giants such as CBS, Chicago
Sun Times & Ameritech.
Under the guidance of established producer Tom LaPorte, Mark
lead the technical production of several historic WebCasts including:
the 1996 Democratic National Convention in Chicago; and the first
live broadcast over the Internet of the Radio Hall of Fame Awards Dinner,
for the Museum of Broadcast Communications.
In late 1997, Mark arrived in Boulder, Colorado, and began volunteering
his time with the Boulder
Community Network, one of the oldest freenets in America. At BCN,
Mark was able to adapt a curriculum designed to teach non-profit
professionals to learn enough about the web in 3 hours to
maintain their own websites. In addition to teaching classes
and developing the online "Education
Center" resources, Mark also helped organize the first annual
fundraising event around the 5th Birthday Celebration of BCN.
During the fall, Mark was hired by CCG://online, a local interactive
marketing agency that was quickly growing into one of the region's
dominant webdesign companies. Accepting the title of Technical Producer
brought some very high level client/agency experiences under his belt.
Mark's experiences
at CCG://online included producing the technical aspects of the Colorado
Rockies (the baseball team) first website in partnership with
Microsoft; the website relaunch of Universal
Studios Florida using Informix Universal Server; the launching
of the Universal Escape rebranding projects; acting as technical liason
with iXL as
they acquired and "rolled-up" the office into Denver's largest
webdesign shop; and managing the technical department during an interim
period without a Director.
Upon leaving iXL's Denver office in 1998, Mark began independently
consulting for clients in Telecommunications, Finance, Outdoor Adventure
and Travel. It is during this time, that Mark discovered the benefits
of bartering for gear while enjoying the Colorado lifestyle he had
always dreamed about.
In 2000, Mark arrived in San Francisco searching for people interested
in developing communications technology to serve positive social change.
Along the way, he collaborated with Howard
Rheingold, shared creative juices with Ian
Rhett, attended the first Planetworkers
conference and even worked for a few startups that have come and
gone. To date, the Celebrating
Solutions! Project and Channelg.tv represent
the best ideas from this journey and creative process.
In the fall of 2000, Mark began working for CompuMentor as
the Business Development Manager where he envisioned a donation based
ad banner campaign that delivered millions of new users to the site
and raised traffic 3000% in the first month to www.techsoup.org.
At the beginning of 2002, Mark returned to Chicago to invest his energies
into building Centerstage into his vision of a positive and community
oriented media company.
By summer of 2003, Mark was happily living in Chicago again and focused
on repositioning Centerstage Chicago in the local media marketplace.
After negotiating a content syndication partnership with the new Red
Streak Newspaper, an edition of the Chicago Sun-Times aimed at the
youth market, Centerstage's business picked up.
In 2004, Mark was
asked to join other successful entrepreneurs to speak at the Boomerang
Conference on the survival of Centerstage compared to other dot.com
startups. Check the video for
our story.
During 2004, Mark began working with the founders
of the Chicago Music Commission and
was then asked to become a member of the Board of Directors.
In the summer of 2006, Centerstage Media was acquired by Sun-times Media, the parent company of Chicago Sun-Times newspaper.
As a Director on the Interactive Media team for the next five years, Mark enoyed an incredible set of challenges and learning experiences at Sun-Times Media. The newspaper business was in revenue free-fall and finding a sustainable balance in the new realities of digital media was still very mysterious.
In 2011, Mark left the newspaper business, but never stopped thinking about strategies for media publishing and local advertising.
Diving deep into eCommerce, fashion and retail working as General Manager for LorisShoes.com.
Continued in eCommerce and Marketing by consulting for Henry and Belle premium denim to assist on a branding refresh and website redesign.
Became advisor to the incredibly talented startup team of the Impact Engine Accelerator.
First child was born in February 2012.
Joined Sync360 to work with the dynamic Christine Kurban and her Marketing and Branding team. Learned incredible amounts about the healthcare landscape right before the ACA went into effect.
Began working on launching an Impact Hub for Chicago.
Second child was born September 2013.
The Impact Hub project was successfully launched in partnership with the team from MicroOffice as Coalition:Impact in December 2014.
Joined See3 Communications, the "digital agency for do-gooders" on a full-time basis as the Director of Web Services. Worked with some amazing clients and delivered many projects. Became Vice President of Digital Services and focused on the launch of new products for the nonprofit market.
Fall 2015, left See3 and began working with Green Diamond on Business Intelligence and Sustainability products for large scale enterprises.
... More updates TBD...