#1 - Trei Brundett on Building Vox Media From Scratch
Better Leaders
COO Roles
"It's actually quite visionary if you think about it today, because these days, all these media organizations are finally starting to understand the importance of COO roles," he says. "We didn't even use the words digital in that way. We were making internet."
About Our Guest:
Trei Brundrett is a co-founder and the former Chief Operating Officer of Vox Media, where he oversaw the highest priority cross-company initiatives and directed the Design, Technology and Product groups. He now provides strategic leadership, media and technology consulting services to investment firms, media companies and non-profit organizations.
At Vox Media, he led the team responsible for developing Chorus, Vox Media's modern media platform designed from the ground up to launch premium digital media brands and deliver content and community. Trei was instrumental in growing Vox Media from a collection of sports blogs to a ground-breaking media organization with a portfolio of leading brands including SB Nation, The Verge, Polygon, Eater, Curbed, Vox, Recode, New York Magazine, Vulture, The Cut, GrubStreet, NowThisNews, Thrillist, The Dodo, and PopSugar. He was named to The AdWeek 50, which wrote, "Under Brundrett’s direction, Vox Media has evolved into one of the most agile Web-based publishers."
Previously, as the co-founder of the boutique digital strategy firm Handwire, Trei led large-scale internet strategy, advertising and development projects for Fortune 500 companies, national non-profits and media clients such as Microsoft XBOX, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Royal Dutch Shell, and Texas Monthly. Trei also led the digital technology and strategy efforts for Senator Mark Warner's 2008 presidential bid.
He serves as the Vice Chair on the board of The Texas Tribune, co-chairs the philanthropy committee of The McDonald Observatory Board of Visitors and is an advisor to OpenNews. He studied History and Astronomy at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He lives in Montclair, NJ with his wife, four children and their dog, Lucy.
About Your Host:
Anita Zielina is the CEO and founder of Better Leaders Lab. She's also an Executive in Residence at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, where she spent the last few years leading all continuing and executive education initiatives. Anita serves as the inaugural Board Chair of News Product Alliance (NPA) and is a member of the board of directors at the Austrian Public Broadcaster ORF.
For the past 15 years, Anita held senior executive positions focused on product, strategy and innovation in various media and education organizations as Chief Product Officer, Managing Editor Digital, Editor-in-Chief and Director Strategic Initiatives. She has worked with around 500 managers, leaders and entrepreneurs as a consultant, coach and educator.
She holds a Master in Law from Vienna University and an Executive MBA from INSEAD. Anita is an alumna of the Stanford Knight Journalism Fellowship and the Oxford Reuters Institute Fellowship.
About Better Leaders Lab
Better Leaders Lab is a Do and Think Tank for good leadership and strategic management in media and beyond and a boutique strategic advisory firm. BLL specializes in organizational change, strategy and scenario planning, leadership development and executive recruiting research. Its goal is to empower managers, leaders and organizations in the broader media, digital & innovation space to build successful, sustainable, modern and healthy businesses.
Learn more:
https://betterleaderslab.com
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