Who We Are
Leadership Team
Robert A. Cornog Jr.
Founder & Chairman
With a professional experience that spans both operating responsibilities at some of the world’s most admired companies and the entrepreneurial zeal of start-ups, Mr. Cornog is a unique executive. Through this experience, he has
acquired significant expertise in the arenas associated with the most senior of executives – P/L responsibility, Wall Street and investor interaction, sophisticated transactions and international exposure, among others - and is well-versed in the myriad challenges posed by both the internal and external constituencies of the modern corporate enterprise.
At the start of his career, Rob answered the siren song of Wall Street and commenced a highly successful career in the financial services industry. At Shearman & Sterling, Rob had primary client responsibility for PEFCO (while in NYC) and, later, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (while resident in the Middle east and responsible for the firm’s regional operations). As a result of this atypical experience, he was directly involved with, and forced to become an expert on, a wide variety of corporate matters, including corporate housekeeping, SEC filings, public offerings, loan agreements and governmental agencies.
When Merrill Lynch recruited Rob to become an investment banker, he jumped at the opportunity to further expand his functional experience and add finance, strategy and other tools to his skill sets. As a senior member of the investment bank, he executed and oversaw almost every type of financing and strategic transaction, from IPOs to joint ventures and acquisitions. Additionally, his role as strategic advisor saw him develop an intimate understanding of his clients and their industries, making him an expert in a number of industry verticals. Most importantly, his frequent interaction with external constituencies - investors, analysts and the SEC, for example - group P/L responsibilities and leadership of transaction teams provided a foundation for his upcoming operating roles.
Subsequent to his retirement from Merrill Lynch, Mr. Cornog left the embrace of Wall Street’s most prestigious firms and embarked on a more entrepreneurial path. He founded a small boutique merchant banking firm, Revolution Capital, where he both continued to serve his client base and executed a series of principal transactions. Mr. Cornog was recruited to his next position, Executive Vice President – Strategy and Finance of Sovereign Deed, to commercialize a completely new product category and realize the Founder’s vision. After his departure from Sovereign Deed, he accepted the CFO role at DigitalONE, an alternative media company focused on novel distribution methods. As a “#2” executive at both Sovereign Deed and DigitalONE, his responsibilities encompassed the breadth of both organizations’ activities. With the help of his colleagues, Rob founded Long Tail Media in late 2009.
Rob grew up in Wisconsin, attending local public schools and participating in a variety of extracurricular activities. Having overcome a traumatic eye injury in his youth, Rob went on to receive a number of athletic and academic awards. While at Northwestern University, he continued this pattern of achievement, receiving multiple academic recognitions while playing an active leadership role on-campus. After graduating with a BA in Economics, he continued his formal education, receiving his JD from the Northwestern University School of Law and attending the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business.
Alan Fuller
President
Alan Fuller is a leading media/communications Broadcast Executive with a highly accomplished background in the Broadcast, Entertainment, Sales, Marketing, Promotions and Programming fields. As a broadcast General Manager, international concert producer, and previous head of an independent record label, he has notable achievements in both the corporate and the entrepreneurial environments. He has created original television and radio programming for both local stations and national syndication in both English and Spanish and has produced over 7000 hours of broadcast programming.
After 15 years of senior management with CBS and UniStar/Westwood One with record achievements, Fuller ventured into independent programming. His successful start-ups include the creation, launch and distribution of the nationally syndicated Dr. Laura Schlessinger Show, where he served as President and Executive Producer. Mr. Fuller also created the national syndication of Susan Powter’s Stop the Insanity Show, Cyberbuzz, The Radio Detective Show, The Psychic Friends Network, and The Michael Levin Show. He also created numerous successful local shows. His television and radio expertise encompasses both English and Spanish language programming.
Fuller was the President & General Manager of Great Northern Arts, an independent music label, and was responsible for launching new artists and albums. During his tenure, Mr. Fuller produced live televised concerts in Europe in conjunction with the United Nations: The Hague Appeal For Peace, The Hague, Netherlands, and the Fete d’ Excellence Concert, Geneva, Switzerland. He has produced two national television specials in the United States and created/produced international TV music specials that ran throughout Europe.
Mr. Fuller is the former General Manager and Program Director of several major 50,000-watt Los Angeles radio stations, including KLAA-AM, owned and operated by Major League Baseball’s Los Angeles Angels. Through creative programming he transformed many underperforming broadcast operations into highly profitable entities. Alan Fuller graduated from Principia College earned his postgraduate degree in International Business Management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management.
Peter Quintas
Chief Technology Officer
Peter's experience and expertise has been focused on building high-growth businesses in enterprise software and launching innovative technology solutions. For the past 15 years, Peter has held positions in several technology companies as CTO, Executive Vice President and General Manager such as SilkRoad Equity, SilkRoad technology, InterAct Public Safety Systems, True Systems and divine Interventures. He has been responsible for the technical architecture, development and delivery, as well as, mergers and acquisitions for a $250M technology portfolio. Peter has also co-founded and served in entrepreneurial positions in technology startups in a variety of disciplines such as web TV programming and distribution, school administration software, IP video surveillance solutions, high-volume transactional financial solutions, and Java development tools.
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Joe Keefe
Executive Producer
Starting at the tender age of 5 years, as a cast member on Romper Room (no kidding), Joe has been in the entertainment business his entire life. Spending his teen years on professional stages and in innumerable television commercials, Mr. Keefe was making a living in comedy and theater while his peers were trying to doctor up their driver’s licenses. At age 17, Joe was hired by the venerable Matty Simmons to write comedy “letters” for National Lampoon Magazine. He toiled away writing hilarity until hired by Second City in 1983, becoming the second-youngest actor ever on the SC Mainstage.
Mr. Keefe formed a long-lasting friendship and production relationship with Second City’s founder, Bernie Sahlins. During the 80s, Joe wrote, produced and/or directed dozens of award-winning theatrical productions for Second City along with a wide range of television pilots and programs. In 1990, Mr. Keefe founded Second City Communications, the production arm of The Second City Theaters. In this capacity, Joe exec-produced more than 5,000 separate productions under the SCC banner over the next decade, building the company to multimillion dollar annual revenues.
Some of his talent discoveries include Tina Fey, Steve Carrell, Stephen Colbert - several of whom still owe him money – and many more. Joe has produced television pilots and series for small outlets like Showtime, Fox, PBS and Tribune Broadcasting. His latest pilot effort, The Road, had been optioned by Fox and, after paying a good amount of money for development, was then put on a dusty shelf.
In 2001, Joe left Second City for a series of lucrative writing and producing opportunities – a “contract writer” for independent television producers, novelists, non-fiction authors and publishing companies. He is an industry leading “script mechanic” – a rewrite specialist – for many television and feature film contracts.
Advisors
Andy Oleszczuk
Andy Oleszczuk is an experienced executive and investor focused on start-ups and new ventures, primarily in the Chicago area.
Currently, Andy is Chairman of Autism Home Support Services (AHSS), a for-profit provider of in-home therapy services to children with Autism. Andy has quarterbacked the development of the company from an idea in late 2008, to a rapidly growing company serving 50 children in the Chicago market. AHSS is laying the ground-work for regional and national expansion in the coming year. Also, Andy is a consultant to AccuRadio, a rapidly growing provider of personalizable internet radio. AccuRadio is finalizing a major financing, with an eye toward a rapid expansion in the wake of the successful IPO of Pandora.
Andy was formerly President and CEO of the Home Preview Channel, a real estate marketing company that was sold in 2008. Prior to that, Andy spent 20 years in a variety of positions at Tribune Company, including President of Tribune Ventures. As a result, Andy has substantial Board experience with developing businesses.
Bryan Byrne
Bryan Byrne is an entrepreneur, consultant and scholar with professional interests centered on the intersection of new venture development and consumer driven product and service innovation.
Before Bryan left the private sector for a role at a government agency, he was focused on new product development and the organizations that create them for well over ten years. At DigitalONE Network, a pre-operational start-up, he provided consumer and market research, financial modeling and organizational design. His work at Baffin Systems, Inc., a specialty chemical company, involved developing new products, establishing administrative operations, and marketing. During that time, he also assisted other entrepreneurs with their own consumer research and corporate planning.
From 1997 to 2003, Bryan provided consulting services as a consumer research ethnographer in Silicon Valley to a number of leading design and leading technology firms, including GVO, Hauser Design, Hewlett Packard, Hitachi, Johnson Controls, The American Heart Association, and Laerdal Medical Company. Much of his work focused on creating personal computer driven products and educational programs to be used by parents and their middle school and high school aged children.
In 2002, Bryan and a former business partner, Dr. Susan Squires, published “Creating Breakthrough Ideas.” The book centers on the principles and challenges of consumer driven innovation and has become required or recommended reading at leading design, business, and social science programs worldwide. British and Danish reports sponsored by their respective governments recommend it as an introduction to the subject. Bryan’s own contributions focused on the design and management of creative corporate cultures.
Alexandra Zaporozec
Andrea Moran
Gary Parks
Gary Parks has been a successful finance professional for over 25 years by creating value as a business partner to CEOs at both public and private companies. His expertise has been attained through progressive levels of responsibility at both large (Fortune 500) and entrepreneurial companies and encompasses the range of the finance function - from financing and investor relations to accounting and strategic planning.
Prior to joining Pinnacle Biologics, Inc. as its CFO, Gary was the CFO with Immtech from 1993 to 2010 where he took it through the IPO process and subsequent secondary offerings. Past work experience includes VP Finance at Smallbone, Division Controller at International Paper and VP Finance at SerckBaker.
Gary is a mentor with Chicago Innovation Mentors, an organization that uses mentor teams to support local university based, technology innovation by working with faculty entrepreneurs to accelerate the translation of basic research into products and services. Gary is also a board member of the Chicago Chapter of Financial Executives International. He serves as a Director of Dines Machine and Manufacturing (Private) and was Director and Chairman of the Audit Committee of Applied NeuroSolutions (OTC:BB). He served as a Supply Corps Officer in the Navy, and has a MBA from the University of Michigan and a BA from Principia College.
Richard W. Mills
Mr. Mills retired from the U.S. Army after having achieved the rank of Brigadier General during a distinguished 32-year career. Having served as a U.S. Army Special Forces Officer, he has an extensive background in military operations and brings to Long Tail Media Group a comprehensive set of leadership skills and experience, as well as the ability to make difficult decisions with incomplete and conflicting information.
Mr. Mills most recently served as the Commanding General, Special Operations Command, Korea where he was responsible for planning, executing and supporting both major military exercises and the war plans for the defense of the Korean peninsula. Additionally, Mr. Mills has an extensive background in the Pacific, Europe and Africa with experience in both peacetime and wartime engagement to enhance U.S. National Policy. As part of his responsibilities, he has conducted numerous high level conferences with Ministers of Defense, Foreign Military Chiefs of Staff and Ambassadors (among others).
Mr. Mills holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Law Enforcement and Police Science from Sam Houston State University and a Master of Science in National Security and Strategic Studies from U.S. Naval War College.