Pump Audio: Corporate Bios

Steve Ellis, CEO

Steve Ellis is the Founder and CEO of the Company. He is a musician. Born in England, Mr. Ellis moved to the United States in 1988. He graduated from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania in 1992. He spent the better part of the next decade as the lowest-earning graduate in the history of that business school. Steve went on to sign two recording contracts. Both ended painfully, thankfully.

Dwight Cheu, COO

Dwight Cheu is Pump's Chief Operating Officer. He received a double major in Computers/Anthropology at Northwestern University and an MBA at the Kellogg School of Management. Dwight's claim to fame is that all five companies that comprise his 20+ year career had successful positive equity events during his tenure there: Oracle (1986), Sybase (1991), MapInfo (1999), Vicarious Visions (acquired by Activision, Inc. in 2005), Amici LLC (acquired by Xerox in 2006). He also likes to sing to his kids at bedtime.

Bob Opatrny, General Counsel

Robert B. Opatrny is General Counsel of Pump Audio. A cum laude graduate of Yale University and holder of a juris doctor degree from New York University School of Law, he is also an attorney in private practice in New York City who has repeatedly looked after the interests of artists who rarely have their interests looked after at all. Steve Ellis was one of these artists. Bob is also on the Board of Directors and serves as Secretary of the Jazz Foundation of America, a non-profit organization dedicated to assisting senior jazz musicians with medical and other life emergencies.

Ari Pomerantz, Director of Business Development

Ari Pomerantz oversees Business Development for Pump Audio. In previous roles, Ari developed marketing solutions for companies as wide-ranging as Pepsi, P&G and Microsoft. Ari is also a twelve year media veteran, having produced countless hours of inane television and home video programming for the likes of MTV, NBC, Paramount and Sony. The folk songs he writes in his spare time will not be winning any awards.

Todd Ewell, VP of Sales

Todd Ewell oversees all Sales and Marketing at Pump. Prior to Pump Audio, Todd was the Midwest Regional Manager of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship sales for Ticketmaster. Todd got a lot of free tickets to Chicago Cubs, Chicago Bulls and Chicago Bears games. He does not get free tickets anymore.

Steve Askew, CIO

Steve Askew oversees all Audio Management at Pump. He has been instrumental in virtually every aspect of headquarters activities Pump Audio's software systems, databases, music catalog, customer service and IT. Prior to joining the Company, Steve was the owner and chief engineer of Microgroove Recording Studio in Atlanta, Georgia. He has production and mixing credits on several internationally released albums and has produced hundreds of independent recording in every style imaginableÑincluding some mediocre ones by Steve Ellis.

Rob Tourtelot, VP, Web Content & Strategy

Rob Tourtelot oversees Web Content and Strategy for Pump. He started in the online space by building the Simpletons' one-page website, and has gone on to do award-winning work for some of the world's biggest artists and brands. Since the Company's founding, Rob has created all of the web elements and branding for Pump, including the design of our much-loved logo. Prior to that he spent years on the road as the "slightly too busy" guitar player who helped bury the amateurish singing of Steve Ellis during their live performances together.

Joe Schneider, Director, A&R and Catalog

Joe Schneider oversees the entire Pump music catalog. Joe is the guy you need to be nice to if you want get in the Pump catalog. He is, however, entirely incorruptible. He and his team listen to a lot of music. Prior to Pump, Joe worked in several recording studios. Hailng from South Dakota, Joe is the only member of the Pump team who's been on a cattle drive.