ADNODE TEAM
Michael Rodov
Co-Founder and CEO
Michael is a serial technology entrepreneur and digital media executive based in New York City. Prior to founding AdNode, Michael was the founder of Market Realist, an independent investment research website reaching 2.7 million monthly users. Michael led the organization to achieve a $3 million revenue run-rate in digital advertising, with a consistent 90% growth rate in the three-year period ending in 2017. Michael built a successful 85-person organization and raised $14 million in venture capital prior to selling his equity stake to pursue new opportunities related to blockchain and digital marketing.
Prior to Market Realist, Michael was the Head of Business Development at Seeking Alpha, a leading website for investment opinion. At Seeking Alpha, Michael negotiated and launched partnerships with the world’s largest internet companies to grow the firm’s partner traffic. In his younger years, Mike was the founder and CEO of 15-person technology start-up in the financial media subscription industry that he started in a college dorm room in 2007 and exited in 2009. He is also the inventor of a patent application for a business model on revenue sharing for online publishers. Mike has a B.S. from Boston University School of Management, with a concentration in finance.
Daniel Arnold
Co-Founder and CTO
Daniel Arnold is a serial technology entrepreneur with 18 years experience building companies from concept to exit. Daniel joined AdNode as CTO in May 2018, and is responsible for technology direction of product implementation.
Prior to joining AdNode, Daniel founded Real Deal Interactive in 2013 and TenX Healthcare in 2016. RDI began as a social mobile casino company and expanded to lotteries and scratch-cards in Central and South America. RDI was recently acquired by AHG Holdings, and the resulting company is now in the process of launching its IPO for Q3 2019. TenX is an autonomous platform for scheduling and running hospital operations, through real-time tracking of hospital staff, patients and assets. TenX recently received Series B growth funding for sales and marketing.
In total, Daniel has built 4 technology companies which resulted in successful acquisitions. His creations are deployed around the world in the industries of data forensics, point-of-sale, identity management and competitor monitoring.
Marc Helwani
Board Director
Mr. Helwani is the Founder of i80 Group. Prior to that he was the founder of Avenue A Ventures, a fintech focused VC fund. Prior to that he was a Portfolio Manager at York Capital (2008-2014). He was a member of the Firm’s Executive Committee and Chairman of the Firm’s Risk Management and Operating committees. Prior to re-joining York Capital in 2008, he was a co-Portfolio Manager of the Event Driven group at Sandelman Partners. Prior to joining Sandelman Partners in 2007, he was a Senior Analyst at Magnetar Capital, where he was a founding pre-launch member of the investment team. Prior to joining Magnetar Capital in 2005, he was an analyst at York Capital. Prior to joining York Capital in 2003, he was an investment banking analyst at Goldman, Sachs & Co. Mr. Helwani received his Bachelor of Commerce in Finance from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada.
James Haft
Strategy and Blockchain Advisor
James has been at the forefront of the global emerging market Merchant Banking, Investment Banking and Venture Capital industries for over 30 years, focussing on product-market fit, business development and liquidity strategies for early-stage disruptors and investors. He is an advisor to over 100 venture-backed and blockchain based entities and is the founder of PALcapital. He also co-founded CryptoOracle, CryptoMondays, ClimateCoin, NXTPLabs and Condo.com and was an initial seed investor in Zipline.
Roel van den Borne
Marketing and Partnerships Advisor
Roel is a sought-after CEO with sound knowledge of both commercial and general management, and has considerable media experience in the client, vendor and agency sides of business. In 2009, following diverse commercial and general management roles at Randstad, Viacom and CBS Outdoor, he was appointed CEO of Havas Media. Under his six-year tenure, the Dutch media agency has achieved 73% revenue growth and been transformed into a dynamic knowledge organization with strong expertise in digital media. In 2015 he switched to Omnicom, where he was CEO for two years. Since 2018 Roel is engaging his insight, experience, ambition and commitment to support and grow startups in digital media and technology.
Eric van den Heuvel
Marketing Advisor
Eric is the Managing Director at The Gate Media, where he oversees the New York business. For over 15 years, he’s gotten the kind of measurable results that have wowed big-ticket advertisers like American Express, Godiva and Con Edison. He joined The Gate/New York from Margeotes/Fertitta + Partners, where he started one of the first full-service interactive media groups in the advertising business. Among his more visible successes was the launch of About.com, which closely integrated Internet and traditional media channels — a novel program prior to 1998. Eric’s passion for all things media is based on his desire to know “what works”.
David Lockie
Technology Advisor
David Lockie’s interests lie in WordPress, blockchain, and other associated open source and decentralized tech. He’s the founder and director of Pragmatic – the largest WordPress agency in Europe, which he started in 2012. David loves working with the team at Pragmatic in delivering websites that add real value to businesses, and in turn enjoys sharing his expertise on this topic at international conferences such as WooConf and WordCamp. More recently, David set up Dcent – an agency specialising in blockchain development. Through Dcent, he’s looking forward to exploring the exciting possibilities decentralised technologies have to offer.
Greg Paull
Marketing Advisor
Originally from Australia, Greg spent the first 20 years of his career on both the marketer and agency side in the US, Europe and Asia Pacific. In 2002, he co-founded R3; a global independent consultancy to CMOs on improving the efficiency and effectiveness of marketers and their agencies. R3 has since expanded to manage global relationships with Unilever, Samsung, Pfizer, Coca-Cola, Visa and JNJ. Greg recently co-authored “China CMO,” a detailed analysis of marketing in the Middle Kingdom.
Will Rand
Advertising Technology Advisor
Will Rand is a seasoned executive with over 10 Years in digital media. With a career that “spans the Lumascape,” Will has worked in market research (eMarketer), with ad networks (ContextWeb/PulsePoint) with publishers (Paltalk, Camfrog, TinyChat), and ad agencies (MediaCrossing). With Programmatic Intelligence, founded in 2017, he’s advised and consulted with some of the most respected companies in digital media and presented at length on the intersection of blockchain and online marketing. He’s served on the IAB Blockchain working group on behalf of MetaX/AdChain, a blockchain for advertising start-up.
Merri Silverstein
Blockchain Advisor
Merri Silverstein is one of the most sought after investors and analysts in the blockchain and cryptocurrency community. Merri has invested in many blockchain-related businesses and follows not only the products but also the people involved. Prior to 2011, Merri was managing director for several medical businesses where she spearheaded 5-10x profit increases. She has a rich and diverse background holding degrees in chemistry and biology.