Our Team - Cure Rare Disease | We bridge the gap between researchers and a cure® through customized medicine, by supporting families and educating the global community.

Rich Horgan

Rich Horgan is the Founder and President of Cure Rare Disease. He has a deep passion for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) and other rare diseases. With a younger brother impacted by the disease, Rich has a strong interest in accelerating promising treatments for the disease. He formed a collaboration with world-class researchers and clinicians to pioneer the rapid development of customized therapies for Duchenne and other rare diseases. Prior to making his foray into biotech, Rich had extensive experience working in new business development at Corning Incorporated where he led the successful launch of a new Willow® Glass product. He also launched a successful car washing business in upstate New York. He holds a BS from Cornell University where he graduated summa cum laude and an MBA from Harvard Business School where he was awarded the Blavatnik Fellowship for Life Science Entrepreneurship.

Dr. Melissa Hunter-Ensor

Dr. Melissa Hunter-Ensor is a board member of Cure Rare Disease. She is also Greenberg Traurig’s Global Patent Prosecution Group. Melissa focuses her practice on the intellectual property and commercial needs of clients in the life science industry, encompassing pharmaceutical, biotechnology, chemical agricultural, diagnostics and medical device companies. Melissa has experience representing clients throughout the business cycle, from start-ups and universities to global pharmaceutical companies, with patent portfolio management and strategic alliances, as well as litigation and pre-litigation strategy. She also assists venture capital firms and other investors in assessing the IP risks of target investments and conducts IP patent and licensing due diligence in connection with life science technology transactions.

Before becoming a lawyer, Melissa earned a Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of Pennsylvania and her thesis research resulted in a first author paper in Cell. She followed this accomplishment with a four-year post-doctoral fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology laboratory of Nobel laureate H. Robert Horvitz where she was a Jane Coffin Childs fellow.

Marshall D. (Mark) Smith

Mark joined Occidental Petroleum as Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer in August 2014 in preparation for the successful IPO and spin of its subsidiary, California Resources in December 2014. He has over 35 years of progressive experience in all aspects of the energy industry. Previously, Mr. Smith served as Senior Vice President and CFO of Ultra Petroleum from July 2005. Prior to Ultra, he most recently served as Vice President, Upstream Business Development for Constellation Energy and previously served as Vice President, Business Development, and as a member of the management committee, for J.M. Huber Energy. During fourteen years of corporate and investment banking with BMO Capital Markets (formerly Bank of Montreal and affiliates), Mark held advisory roles to a diverse range of energy companies including Texaco, Union Pacific Resources, Oryx, Pennzoil, and Anadarko.

Mr. Smith holds a B.S. degree in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Oklahoma, where he was a distinguished scholar, and an MBA with highest honors from Oklahoma City University. He has also completed executive business development programs at Harvard Business School and Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Mr. Smith was named Best CFO of the Year for 2013 for a Medium Public Company by the Houston Business Journal and Best CFO of the Year for 2017 for a Large Public Company by the San Fernando Valley Business Journal.

Mr. Smith continues to be a passionate supporter and involved with muscular dystrophy initiatives for decades. He first came to know of the inspiring strength and courage of those living with the disease as a young boy, as his cousin was impacted. He admired the courage, determination and grace she exhibited as she faced this debilitating disease. Inspired by her and driven by his desire to help kids and adults with neuromuscular diseases live longer and grow stronger, he is passionate about using his skill set to help fund breakthrough research related to rare diseases.

Kwesi Acquay

Kwesi Acquay is an associate at J.P. Morgan in the Technology Investment Banking Group. He is the founder of the J.P. Morgan Digital Initiative: the first initiative dedicated to digital ecosystems and startup engagement across NY & Boston Investment Banking practices.

In addition to Cure Rare Disease, Kwesi serves on the Board of StEP, an education technology startup in Worcester, MA.

Kwesi graduated magna cum laude with a B.S. in Applied Economics and Management from Cornell University in 2014. He is the recipient of the Richard A. Church ’64 Senior Service Award, awarded by the CALS Alumni Association in recognition of leadership and service to Cornell University. He serves on the Advisory Council for Entrepreneurship at Cornell.

Kwesi remains passionate about innovation and how it can make a difference in the community.

Carolina Alarco

Carolina Alarco currently serves as a board member for Cure Rare Disease. She has more than 25 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Carolina has recently founded BioStrategy Advisors LLC, a strategic business consulting firm servicing small and medium-sized Biotech companies in the Massachusetts area. Specializing in biotech start-up corporate strategy, early commercial planning for assets in early-stage clinical development and commercial product launch planning for later-stage specialty therapeutics and/or orphan drugs/rare diseases.

Carolina’s passion is to bring innovative therapies for rare diseases to patients in need around the world. She has spent most of her career working in the Rare Genetic Disorders/Orphan Drugs area. Most recently, Carolina was President of Global Marketing and International Markets at Novelion Therapeutics where she lead the marketing function and the International region. Prior to this, she was President of International at Aegerion, where she built the geographical footprint of the company through innovative go-to-market strategies. Carolina was a Vice-President at Genzyme, where spent 15 years in several roles of progressive responsibility. In her tenure at Genzyme, she played a pivotal role in several product launches globally, new market development and geographical expansion.

Carolina also has a strong philanthropic focus on causes such as children in need, women in science and Latino affairs. In addition to her role at Cure Rare Disease, she has recently been appointed by Governor Baker to the Massachusetts STEM Advisory Council. She currently serves as a Founding Member and Past-Chair of the Latino Council at Boston Children’s Hospital Trust. She is co-founder and member of the Steering Committee of Latinos in Bio. She has been past-chair and Board Member of the New-England Latin America Business Council, as well as, other organizations. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Lima (Lima, Peru) and a Graduate Degree in Business and Management from Harvard University (Cambridge, MA, USA).

Stephanie Herzog

Stephanie Herzog currently serves as a board member for Cure Rare Disease. Stephanie is the CEO/Founder/Owner of a boutique Home & Commercial Interior Design Firm in Connecticut with proven specialties ranging from interior furnishings to complete custom space builds.

Stephanie has over 15 years experience in designing, team leading, project execution, and completion in the robust space she serves.

Stephanie’s passion for Cure Rare Disease and the research strategies for curing Genetic Disorders was born from the recent DMD diagnosis of her four year old son, Max. Throughout Stephanie’s journey she was fortunate enough to meet Rich Horgan and be introduced to the amazing ground-breaking research and work his team is doing for Muscular Dystrophy and similar rare genetic diseases.

Stephanie also serves on the Branford Arts and Culture Alliance Board in Branford, CT as well as the Board of Governors for the Pine Orchard Yacht & Country Club, chairing the Entertainment Committee.

Karen Morales

Karen Morales spent over 20 years in nationally recognized agencies solving Fortune 500 marketing and advertising challenges before she founded her own company, Marketing Magnet, in 2017. Marketing Magnet provides in-depth agency services focused on efficiency, fun, and fast results for businesses of all sizes.

Karen was also diagnosed with LGMD2b when she was a junior in college. Two decades later, she is a mom, survivor and advocate for those with health challenges. She is eager to bring hope and change to the disease community after spending so much of her time and personal resources on navigating the unpaved medical road of a rare disease.

Jon Bircher

Jon Bircher serves as a board member for Cure Rare Disease and provides a footprint for us in Europe. Jon has worked in the health and biopharmaceutical industry for more than 20 years and as Chief Commercial Officer and board director at Cello Health is responsible for supporting business growth through sales, marketing, innovation and strategic partnerships. Cello Health is a global strategic advisory firm with deep experience and relevant expertise in science, insights, strategy and commercial.

Jon loves combining his leadership, critical thinking and strategic planning skills to tackle the industry’s most difficult commercial challenge. Over the years he has worked across multiple therapy areas and geographies with a focus on helping companies bring new therapies to the patients that need them. In his board role Jon looks forward to applying these skills and experiences to advancing the cutting-edge work of CRD in developing customized therapeutics at unparalleled speed, starting with DMD.

Sara Cole

Sara Cole currently serves as a board member for Cure Rare Disease. She is currently working at IQVIA as a Life Sciences Strategy Consultant. Prior to that, she completed her MBA in the Health Sector Management Program at Boston University. While there, she spent time working in an operations and finance role within the research and development team at Tesaro. Before coming to Boston, she worked as a Process Technician in research and development for Corning Incorporated. There, she focused on process improvement and new process development for the Chemical Analysis Department. Sara is originally from Corning, NY and attended University at Buffalo, earning a BS in Medicinal Chemistry.

Dr. Naomi Hoyle

Dr. Naomi Hoyle is excited to be part of Cure Rare Disease. This is a group that has patient advocacy as its top priority. With a 12 year old son affected by DMD, we are ready for a cure, now! Personalized medicine is the way to propel this forward and make an opportunity become a reality for all of our boys. Dr. Hoyle has been studying bacteriophage since 2002, first as an undergraduate at the Evergreen State College, and later with the G. Eliava Institute in Tbilisi, Georgia. She has been working as the International Relations Manager at the Eliava Phage Therapy Center for the past 8 years, facilitating treatment of antibiotic resistant infections for patients from more than 70 countries around the world. She obtained her MD from Tbilisi State Medical University and specialized in Pediatric Emergency Medicine completing residency at the TSMU G. Jvania Children’s Hospital in Tbilisi.

She is a founding member of the Eliava Foundation and is also a Scientific Advisor to the Phagebiotics Foundation. She currently lives with her husband Vakho, and three boys in Washington State.

Renata Hoyle Maybruck

Renata Hoyle Maybruck has worked in high-level fundraising for non-profit organizations for the past 20 years and has raised over $30 million to date in leadership roles. She has a strong background in major gifts and capital/comprehensive campaigns, board management and strategic planning.

Renata has a Master of Science degree from the London School of Economics in Anthropology and Development. She currently serves as the Vice-President of her local Women In Business chapter and a Board Member of a local non-profit serving at-risk youth in her community.

Renata has joined the Cure Rare Disease board to elevate awareness and raise funds for the crucial work CRD is doing in honor of her beloved nephew who has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and for children across the world who will benefit from the technology advancement. She lives in Washington State with her husband, two children and two bunnies.

Liz Duffy

Liz Duffy is the Director of Alumni Relations at Greenwich Country Day School (GCDS), her alma mater. She received her Bachelor’s degree from Hobart and William Smith Colleges and her Master of Public Administration from NYU. As a Director in the GCDS Development office, Liz manages fundraising efforts across more than 4,000 constituents and implements programming and events for the alumni community. Prior to GCDS, Liz worked at Tiger Foundation in New York City. As Program Officer, she conducted comprehensive research for grant renewals and new grant requests for funding areas including education, employment, youth and families, and criminal justice. She serves on the Associate Board of Waterside School, a PK-5th Grade independent school serving children and families regardless of limitations in income or circumstance. Liz lives in Greenwich, CT with her husband and two children, Quinn (6) and Ned (2). Ned was diagnosed with DMD in July 2019, three weeks before his second birthday. Liz, together with Tim, hope to bring development knowledge to Cure Rare Disease.

Staff

Alan H. Beggs, PhD

Scientific Director

Alan H. Beggs PhD. joins Cure Rare Disease as our Scientific Director and is excited about the mission of developing customized therapeutics. Alan is also the Director of the Manton Center for Orphan Disease Research at Boston Children’s Hospital and Sir Edwin & Lady Manton Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. Following undergraduate studies at Cornell University, Dr. Beggs obtained his PhD in Human Genetics at Johns Hopkins, with subsequent postdoctoral fellowship training in medical and molecular genetics at Johns Hopkins and Boston Children’s hospitals. Throughout his career, he has used the toolset of human molecular genetics to study normal biology and disease processes in a variety of diseases with a particular focus on congenital myopathies, muscular dystrophies, and related neuromuscular diseases. In this role, and as founding director of The Manton Center, he has led the discovery of numerous new disease genes and has pioneered the development of gene therapy for one such condition, myotubular myopathy. The Manton Center provides resources and a training environment to support research on understudied “orphan diseases” through support of junior faculty with multiyear career development awards, pilot project grants, and access to the Center’s Gene Discovery Core (GDC), which provides genetic and genomic analysis services, and a rich collaborative environment for interactions between clinicians, researchers and bioinformaticians. Dr. Beggs has been a standing and ad hoc member of numerous National Institutes of Health grant committees and reviewer for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, March of Dimes and other national and international medical research foundations. He is a member of multiple scientific advisory boards, and boards of directors for both nonprofit and commercial entities.

Rachel Duncan

Director of Social Media, Digital Marketing

Rachel Duncan is the director of social media and digital marketing for Cure Rare Disease. In addition to handling all of Cure Rare Disease’s social media, marketing materials, and graphic design, Rachel also works on general development in furthering the organization’s efforts. Rachel graduated magna cum laude from the College of Communication at Boston University. She joined the CRD team in May of 2019 and says she has been consistently inspired by the incredible work it does every day. She’s both honored and proud to be part of something so special to her. Say hi to Rachel by DMing Cure Rare Disease on any of our social media accounts!

Walker Penfield

Massachusetts DECA / Cure Rare Disease Liaison

Walker Penfield is a senior at Nipmuc Regional High School in Upton, Massachusetts. He serves as the Cure Rare Disease-DECA Liaison and through this position, coordinates the activities of both organizations to help advance the fight against rare diseases. Walker first learned of Cure Rare Disease and its mission through a summer internship, where he helped to establish the partnership between Massachusetts DECA and CRD. As an international organization with over 220,000 student members, DECA prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for the business world through leadership conferences and competitions. Walker is a Massachusetts DECA State Officer and has competed on an international level for the past three years. As part of a project to promote financial literacy within the youth of his community, Walker developed and published an app called “Split the Difference,” which teaches students basic financial principles through a fun, visual game. This experience taught him that you can use any of your skills and passions, like programming, to have a positive impact on your community. Walker carries this mindset into his work at Cure Rare Disease and is excited to be a part of this great team.

Founding Ambassadors

Cure Rare Disease is committed to transparency and collaboration to drive effective treatments and cures forward for rare diseases. In 2020, we launched our Founding Ambassador program and hand-picked leaders driving positive change in the world of rare disease.

Our Goal: To work together to advance the mission to pioneer the development of customized therapeutics across the United States and globally. We are pleased to announce our ambassadors. Below, you can learn more about them and their pioneering work. While the group is diverse, we are aligned in our mission to end rare disease. Be on the lookout for events across the United States driven by our ambassadors.

Beth Harvey

Founder, JB’s Keys to DMD

I have two children Caroline (14) and JB (12). JB is living with DMD. Caroline is living with being a 14-year old girl. JB was also diagnosed around Christmas time 11 years ago at 16 months old. We live outside of Boston. JB loves being outside and especially likes skiing and sailing! I founded JB’s Keys to DMD close to JB’s 2nd Birthday In the 10 years we have been running we have raised over $3 million to improve the quality of life and care of people living with DMD.

Sarah and Bryant Krieger

Founders, Fritz and Friends

We are the Krieger Family from Phoenix AZ. My name is Sarah, my husband is Bryant, and we have 4 kiddos; Hans (7), Otto (6), Fritz (4), Ingrid (18mo). I am a former elementary teacher, who now homeschools our kiddos. Bryant works as a Data Analyst at Truckstop.com.

Our family loves traveling and exploring new places, even if that means our own backyard. In our spare time you can find us outdoors! We love hiking, bike riding, playing all sports, swimming, skateboarding, planting and gardening, and ultimately anything we can do together as a family.

In 2016 our son Fritz was diagnosed with Duchenne at just 10 months old. In the midst of wrestling with such news, and taking time to grieve the harsh reality that our life was going to look different from anything we could have ever imagined, our family started to realize that despite a muscle wasting disease; we can be strong, and Fritz can be strong, because STRENGTH IS MORE THAN MUSCLE. That phrase has become our battle cry, and we desire to share that message with the world.

One way we share our perspective of strength is through our small non-profit, Fritz&Friends. Over the past 2 years we have partnered with a variety of people and businesses to help raise funds for Duchenne Research, and we are honored to now do the same with Cure Rare Disease. We also own a Barbershop, called Fritz’s Barbershop that partners with our nonprofit to help give strength to Duchenne!

Before Duchenne entered our life, we had always preached to our kiddos; ‘teamwork makes the dream work.’ Years later, we are still finding truth in that idea. We could not be more excited to be an ambassador for Cure Rare Disease and join a team with our same dream. A dream that does not involve making a name for our self but collaborating with others. A dream that does not settle for the current process, but instead pushes to try new things. We dream of nothing short of a cure, and we are excited to a join a team that desires simply that! Strength is more than muscle, Strength is teamwork, strength is Cure Rare Disease.

Terry Marlin

Founder, FightDMD

Sonya and I have been married for 20 yrs. We have 2 sons Jonah, age 16 & Emory, age 13. I own a manufacturing company that I purchased in 2007, one year before my kids were diagnosed with DMD. Sonya is a pediatric nurse and now stays at home to care for our boys. Our boys were diagnosed 1 week before Christmas in 2008 with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. We started FightDMD in 2009 with a goal of closing it down because a CURE was found! We’ve raised over $1 million dollars to fund critical research for boys all over the world with DMD.

Tonya and Steve Dreher

Founders, Hope for Gus Foundation

When Gus was born on May 10, 2005, we knew our family was complete. We had been blessed with three beautiful children and even though Gus was five weeks premature, we knew he would eventually catch up.

He was a smart and snuggly baby, late on all of his milestones, but seeming to thrive anyway. When he entered preschool, he started physical therapy to help him “catch up.”

When he was four and a half, his mom, Tonya made an appointment for him to see a neurologist. To this day, she is not exactly sure why she felt compelled to make this appointment. None of the teachers or physical therapists who worked with Gus suspected anything out of the ordinary. Perhaps she just had a feeling…

That appointment spiraled into three weeks of testing, fearing the worst, and dreading the unknown. By the time his diagnosis of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy was confirmed, we knew it was the worst possible outcome for our son.

After the tears and shock, we started researching. What we found, was that there were numerous potential treatments and maybe cures out there, but they weren’t being funded. DMD is what is often called an Orphan Disease, meaning, “a disease that has not been adopted by the pharmaceutical industry because it provides little financial incentive for the private sector to make and market new medications to treat or prevent it.”
This prompted us to immediately begin the process of starting our own foundation to raise money and fund research. We have been running the Hope for Gus Foundation for 9 years.

We live in Peterborough NH – Gus’ dad, Steve, is an English teacher and his mom runs the foundation and also has her own small business. Gus is now 14 and a half and recently just started using a power wheelchair for school. He is a fairly normal 8th grader and does well in school. He loves to read and draw and play with his dogs. He looks up to his 16 yr old brother, Abe and his 18 yr old sister, Isabel and loves to spend time with them as much as he loves to drive them crazy!

As a family, we are thrilled to be collaborating with Cure Rare Disease and see it as an amazing opportunity to push the science further and make a real difference. We truly believe that we are stronger TOGETHER!

Steve Gunther

Founder, Wishes for Drew

We are the Gunther family; Stephen, Vanessa, Brea (11), and Drew (8) from Pennsylvania. Drew was the caboose to our little family and truly completed us. He has always been a positive, pleasant, funny, and loving little man to family, friends, and strangers alike.

Our family loves spending time together. We love the beach, camping, time around bonfires, road trips, and gardening. If there is something adventurous to do or a place to explore, you will find us; Drew will be the sensible and thoughtful one holding back, and Brea (like her father) will be the one running in head-first. Time spent together experiencing life is the cornerstone of what makes us a family unit.

Drew was diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy on Valentine’s Day of 2019, at the age of seven. Suddenly, our close-knit family who enjoyed spending time together more than anything, had the wind taken out of our sails. The initial research we performed on Duchenne and the words from his physician, “there is no cure, take Drew home and just love him”, and “now it’s about quality of life”, did nothing to calm our fears.

Those first few weeks felt like an eternity as we processed Drew’s diagnosis and the physician’s words. As the weeks passed, our determination grew to fight for Drew and others who were given the same news. We knew we had to do all that we could for Drew and others like him, with hope that someday other families would not have to fight against DMD any longer and a cure would come.

We started a small non-profit called “Wishes for Drew” because of Drew’s affinity for blowing dandelion wishes in the wind. For our family, wishes in the wind are also symbolic of the thousands of wishes Drew and other children with DMD make for their future. Our goal in the fight against DMD is to give back by assisting families with treatments, therapies, and mobility devices not covered by insurance, and by helping to fund promising research. We support the incredible work that Cure Rare Disease is doing, and we feel honored to be Ambassadors!

Kirsten Parisi

Community Ambassador

Kirsten Parisi has devoted her 20-year career to serving as a social worker in the disabilities community, helping people with physical and mental disabilities cope with the challenges of their daily lives. She didn’t realize how her professional life in the disabilities community would foreshadow her personal life until 2013, when her two young sons were diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and she was identified as a carrier. Since then, she has worked tirelessly to heighten awareness and understanding of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. As a founding ambassador, Kirsten is dedicated to strengthening relationships within the rare disease community to foster collaboration and research strategies for curing genetic disorders. She holds a Bachelors from Northeastern University, and a Masters from Assumption College in Rehabilitation Counseling.

Rose Klassen

Community Ambassador

Spinocerebellar Ataxia type 3 (SCA3) has plagued our family, the Klassens, for generations. SCA3 is inherited in an autosomal dominant manner; meaning that each child of an affected individual has a 50% chance of inheriting the disease. Essentially, a flip of the coin determines who will have to endure this neurodegenerative and ultimately fatal disease, and who gets by unscathed. Many in our family haven’t been fortunate. Greg, father of Jeff, Michelle, and Lindsey, has been coping with the disease for over 15 years now. His abilities (balance, vision and speech) have declined over that time; once a marathon runner, Greg can now only get around by using a walker. Jeff and Michelle recently learned through a genetic test that they too have the disease. They have seen so much taken from their father. It is a terrifying thing, wondering when you will begin to see changes in your own bodies and abilities that are completely outside of your control. We are hopeful that in partnership with CRD, we will defeat SCA3 for our family, and for the many others suffering from this awful disease.

Esports Advisory Board

Esports provide differently-abled individuals an escape from reality and acts as an equalizer to their able-bodied peers. Christian Bishop, Chief Revenue Officer at Method, leads our esports development effort. We have established the Cure Rare Disease Esports Advisory Board, an elite group of individuals who are well-connected and respected in the esports space. The purpose of this board is to increase awareness of our mission and fundraising capacity to develop customized therapeutics. Keep up to date with CRD’s esports efforts by following @CRDGame4Good on Twitter.

Christian Bishop

Chief Revenue Officer, METHOD

As the previous World Showdown of Esports (WSOE) Commissioner, Christian Bishop was an integral part of the multi-genre, multi-game tournament series development since joining the team in Fall 2018.

Today, Bishop is now responsible for the sales and partnership team as Chief Revenue Officer, while managing current and new developer partnerships. He also oversees new, large-scale business opportunities and transactions to accelerate Method’s global growth strategy.

Christian Bishop also served as the Director of Gaming at Thunder Gaming, the largest esports gaming and production center in the West Coast with a total property size of 150,000 square feet. Over the course of his career, Bishop has served as an Enterprise Media Director with Level 3 Communications, AT&T and Time Warner Inc. In addition, he served as a Director of Content for BidChat, a cutting edge two-way live broadcasting platform for social influencers.

In 2017, Bishop also launched “4Cast,” the first of its kind esports and gaming show to deliver unique esports and gaming news and information in an entertaining and engaging format that appeals to all gamers and fans. He is also an Executive Producer for the film “Huntsville” and is most recognized from his recent work on ABC’s “The Bachelorette” and “Bachelor in Paradise.”

Bishop also serves on several boards and participates in community organizations such as the Western Regional Diversity Council, where he works to advance and sustain an inclusive environment for gaming enthusiasts. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business from California State University, Northridge.

Justin Dellario

Head of Esports, Twitch

Justin Dellario is the Head of Twitch Esports, where he oversees competitive gaming operations for the world’s largest video game live streaming platform. Justin works with game developers, tournament organizers, professional teams, and broadcasters to direct the business, strategy, and operation of esports leagues, tournaments, and circuits globally. Prior to Twitch, Justin served as Head of Global Esports for gaming hardware developer, Razer, where he developed the company’s sponsorship and marketing campaigns.

Sundance Giovanni

Co-Founder and CEO, Major League Gaming

Sundance DiGiovanni is a seasoned executive, recognized thought leader in video game culture, and veteran creative director with more than 18 years of experience in the media, technology and video game space.

Sundance currently serves as CEO of Major League Gaming (MLG), now the world’s largest competitive video game league and provider of cross platform online videogame competition. Sundance co-founded MLG in 2002 with longtime friend Mike Sepso to combine his lifelong passion for gaming with his deeply competitive nature. As CEO, Sundance focuses on the long-term, global growth of competitive video gaming and the various distribution channels that are helping to bring this burgeoning sport to an ever-growing community worldwide.

MLG reaches millions of consumers each month at www.majorleaguegaming.com and holds more than 750,000 matches online at www.gamebattles.com. MLG also operates the annual Pro Circuit of video game competitions – in person events where the world’s best gamers compete. All Pro Circuit play is broadcast via LIVE streaming online to hundreds of thousands of fans from more than 170 countries. MLG enables a large and growing community and a roster of top sponsors to connect with and celebrate the tens of millions of consumers worldwide who have a passion for playing video games as a competitive social activity.

Sundance has become one of the world’s leading experts on gaming culture making regular appearances as an on-air video game lifestyle commentator on an array of networks. He previously served as ESPN’s first and only gaming correspondent for ESPN 2’s Cold Pizza.

Prior to co-founding MLG, Sundance was the Worldwide Creative Director of Gotham Broadband, a New York based digital consultancy. Gotham Broadband’s primary business was developing broadband strategies, consumer services and business models for some of the largest traditional media and cable and telco companies in the world.

As a creative director, he has worked with a wide range of brands including AOL Time Warner, DirecTV, Sony, Pfizer, Nortel Networks, and Sprint.

Sundance attended NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts for Film. He currently lives in New York.

John Benyamine

Co-Founder and CEO, Greenlit Content

I’m the CEO and Co-founder of Greenlit Content, a full-service content shop currently working with game publishers and companies to create compelling editorial and video content, as well as cutting edge custom websites from scratch.

Every day, I’m proud of working with some of the most creative people out there to create authentic content that reaches millions of readers per month. Although we’ve just gotten started, we hope to make a nice name for ourselves and the companies we help through exclusive content around gaming, eSports and other interesting topics.

I work primarily with design, development and programming/editorial to create super cool (as the kids say) experiences for the 18-34 audience. Knowledgeable in product planning and management, scrum planning, editorial planning, business negotiations, knowledge of development and design processes, working with ad sales teams in creating and pitching proposals, and more. Certified scrum master and trained on agile methodology. Happy to hop on the phone, text, email, etc. whenever there’s a question that may arise from a client or someone who just wants to chat.

Plays games really well. For real. This is not a joke.

Harris Peskin

Partner, ESG Law

Throughout his career Harris has continuously sought to elevate legal academia, improve industry standard, and create a more sustainable economic foundation for esports teams and ancillary businesses. Harris is an attorney at ESG Law, the world’s first esports specific law firm, where he represents roughly 70% of all tier 1 North American and European esports teams, as well as their non-endemic professional sports partners. At the esports league level, Harris has played a crucial role in redefining team governance and revenue sharing rights, having played a leading role in LCS, LEC, OWL and CDL league-team negotiations since 2016. Harris has drafted and negotiated several of the most notable team sponsorship deals with endemic and non-endemic partners such as PUMA, BMW, AT&T, Logitech, and Dr. Pepper, among others. In 2017 Harris revolutionized LCS team-legal strategies when he became the first attorney to file an EB-1A (US Green Card) application on behalf of an esports player and in turn helped that player acquire US residency so as to avoid being counted as a foreign import against Riot’s team foreign import cap.

Since the start of 2018 Harris has led the esports academic community serving as Executive Director and Chairman of the Publications, Public Policy, and Membership Committees of the Esports Bar Association. Today the EBA has: over 200 attorney and student members, organized three esports legal conferences, distributed the first ever esports legal academic journal, and advised state legislatures on policies that will affect the esports business landscape. The EBA is primed to become a leading esports policy and academic organization in the United States. Harris is an adjunct professor at the University of New Hampshire School of Law where he lectures on esports gambling legal issues.

In 2016 Harris brokered the acquisition of H2K Gaming on behalf of US based investors. At the time, the acquisition was one of the largest in European esports history. After brokering the acquisition, Harris served as Chief of Operations and Associate General Counsel for H2K Gaming where he helped to assemble the famed H2K squad that finished third in the world at the 2016 League of Legends World Championships.