Team Bios
Ben Straley Co-Founder & CEO
Ben has spent the last 13 years of his career managing and leading marketing teams and business for
venture-backed startups and large, publicly traded companies. As CEO of Meteor Solutions, he manages
the company and secures key partnerships. Currently their clients include Microsoft, Alaska Airlines,
Sony Pictures, Disney and many other high-profile brands. Ben began his online marketing career in 1997
as a producer for Starwave, where he worked on online advertising and marketing promotions on ESPN.com and
ABCNews.com for major brands including Microsoft Internet Explorer, Gatorade, and Pizza Hut. In 1998, Ben
moved from the creative services team to spearhead the development of ESPN.com’s online marketing and
e-commerce systems and lead product management of Go Network’s registration and billing web services
platform. In 2001, Ben joined Santa Clara-based Sanctum Corporation to oversee Product Marketing of
AppScan, the company’s leading suite of Web application security assessment and monitoring tools. In
the spring of 2003, Ben was recruited to lead eCommerce and Internet Business Development for a $1.3B
global kitchen and housewares company. In this role, Ben led a 20-person ecommerce team, oversaw B2B
and B2C ecommerce operations and fulfillment, coordinated the expansion of the company’s online presence and
ecommerce operations in the UK and Australia, and signed partnerships with Amazon and Target. In the summer
of 2005, Ben returned to his native Seattle to lead marketing for Ignition-backed Judy’s Book, a site where
community members around the country shared advice and recommendations about local businesses and activities.
Ben holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, a BA with distinction from Colorado College, is the curriculum developer and lead instructor at the UW Extension’s Advanced Interactive Marketing program, and is Chair-elect of the Board of Trustees at the Seattle Children’s Home, Washington State’s oldest children’s charity.
Taddy Hall Chief Operations Officer
Ridgway “Taddy” Hall specializes in leading organizations through high growth – as well as tumultuous
change -- on the road to success. Taddy began his career in the Venture Capital and Private Equity
Industries, working for Advent International both in the US (3 yrs.) and Latin America (2 yrs.). He
then transitioned from finance to operations, managing four venture backed businesses – three of them
technology/internet related and one with retail, manufacturing, and real estate development business
units.
From 2003 until August, 2008 Taddy served as the Chief Strategy Officer for the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) where his primary responsibility was to help senior executives meet growth objectives by making Marketing more effective and accountable.
Taddy is a recognized authority in the fields of Marketing, Innovation, Branding, and Competitive Strategy. His articles on innovation have appeared in The Harvard Business Review (12/2005 and 1/2009), The Wall Street Journal, Ad Age, and CMO Magazine. Taddy is also co-author of The Online Advertising Playbook, published by J. Wiley in April, 2007.
Over the last decade, Taddy has collaborated with Harvard Business School Professor and innovation authority, Clayton M. Christensen, on the publication of The Innovator’s Solution and Marketing Malpractice (HBR) as well as on the growth of a related consulting practice.
He currently serves on The Global Advisory Board of Endeavor (New York City) and on The Board of Managers of The Meredith Mathews YMCA (Seattle). Taddy holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Yale University and an MBA from Harvard University. At Harvard Taddy worked as an Independent Researcher with Competitive Strategy authority, Professor Michael. E. Porter, to develop and implement strategies for competitive inner city economies.
He lives in Seattle with his wife and 3-year-old daughter.
Pete Parsons Co-Founder & Chief of Products
As Chief of Products for Meteor, Pete oversees the direction of the technology and helps Ben secure
partnerships for the company. Pete's past 10-year experience in the video game industry, which include
being the Studio Manager of Bungie Studios where he oversaw the development of Halo 2 and Halo 3 to
create one of Meteor Solutions main components – the Meteor Tracker and Meteor Ignite. . Before joining
Bungie, Pete was Director of Marketing and Advertising for Microsoft's Xbox first-party games, where he
handpicked the team that oversaw one of the most successful software launches in video game console
history. Before video games, Pete was VP of Marketing and Product Development with Weider Nutrition.
Anne Acker VP of Advertising Operations
Before joining Reach Machines, Acker was president of Swofford Consulting where she counseled clients such as Phorm Media in the UK and AdReady in online business strategy and advertising sales. Prior to that, Acker served in executive roles of increasing importance at Flipside, Inc., the online game and media division of Vivendi Universal. Acker joined Flipside in 1999 as director of sales for the ground-breaking Virtual Vegas website. In 2001 she was named senior vice president and general manager of Vivendi’s Traffic Marketplace division. Acker joined Vendare Media in 2003 through its acquisition of Traffic Marketplace and was senior vice president of strategic sales for Vendare Media when she left in 2005. Acker has a bachelor’s degree in Diplomacy and World Affairs from Occidental College, Los Angeles.
Tae Kim Business Development
As Business Development Manager, Tae will be driving new customer acquisition, business development,
and overall sales strategy. She brings her diverse marketing and sales background in B2B inside sales,
account management, strategic partnerships and alliances (including NASDAQ), and marketing from
Software-as-a-Service companies including Salesforce.com and Equilar. Tae holds a B.A. in Marketing and
Finance from University of Washington and is convinced Sark will bring the Ws back to Husky football.
Linda Bernardi Board of Directors
Website
In 2008 Linda Bernardi founded StraTerra Partners, a technology strategy consulting firm based out of
Seattle and San Francisco. As CEO and chief strategist, Linda and her partners are involved with large
enterprises, technology providers and system’s integrators in defining the standards and architecture
for the emerging Enterprise Cloud Computing ecosystem and in helping clients adopt cloud computing
architecture.
Prior to StraTerra Partners, Linda held the VP of Strategy position at Capgemini. Immediately prior, in 2001 Linda founded ConnecTerra, Inc. in Cambridge Mass, where as CEO along with a highly talented group of architects and engineers, ConnecTerra became the leading software company, to connect RFID with Enterprise IT. ConnecTerra was successfully acquired by BEA Systems in 2005 and now part of the Oracle’s product line. Linda spent the first 14 years of her career at BBN, in Cambridge Mass, where for the last 3 years, she served as VP of operations for the software division, managing operations in the US, Europe and the Far East.
In 2009 Linda launched her leadership institute, Bernardi Leadership Institute. Linda holds committee chair positions and serves on the boards of the SETI Institute, The International Museum of Women and Emeritus Board Member at the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology, and an advisor to a number of organizations including Astia. Linda is a member of Alliance of Angels, a highly active Seattle based Angel investment consortium.
Jordan Weisman Co-Founder
A creative visionary in the entertainment and
media world for the past twenty-five years, Jordan was the creative motivating force behind the
founding and success of FASA (acquired by MSFT)
where he led the design and creation of successful game lines. Jordan founded VWE, and built the
world’s first virtual reality entertainment venue,
The BattleTech Center. In 1992, members of the
Disney family acquired a majority stake in VWE. In
2000, Jordan and Dawne Weisman founded WizKids (acquired by Topps), creating collectable
miniatures games.
Jordan has served as Creative Director of Microsoft’s Entertainment Division and currently as Creative Director at 42 Entertainment, a company he co-founded.
Jordan has won more than one hundred awards during his career, including election to the Game Designer’s Hall of Fame by the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design, and selection as Pacific Northwest Entrepreneur of the Year for 2003 by Ernst & Young.
- Ben Straley Co-Founder & CEO
- Taddy Hall Chief Operating Officer
- Pete Parsons Co-Founder & Chief of Products
- Anne Acker VP of Advertising Operations
- Tae Kim Business Development
- Linda Bernardi Board of Directors
- Larry Kelly Board of Directors
- Jordan Weisman Co-Founder
Meteor is the first effective earned media
marketing solution for advertisers and agencies. Use Meteor to
measure, manage and monetize your earned media on the web.
