TONY ZITO

2510 NE 11th Avenue, Portland, OR 97212 // 503.200.4004 // tonyzito@gmail.com

Emmy-winning, hands-on digital media executive and creative visionary with a fifteen-year
track record of product innovation and successful execution in the social media, digital video,
online community, and casual gaming arenas, particularly where they intersect with
traditional (e.g. broadcast, print) media.

AREAS OF PROFICIENCY
Product Management • Digital Video • Product Development • Television Industry Expertise • Online
Community • Strategic Analysis • Team Leadership • Game Design • Project Management • User Experience
Design • Information Architecture • Budget Management • Strategic Partnership Negotiation • Educational
Products • Vendor Management and Relations

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Independent Consultant August 2008 to present
Digital Strategy Consultant

 Defined a strategic gaming plan for Newsweek.com to improve key audience engagement
metrics, and developed an ground-breaking market-based news aggregation service concept.
 Partnered with KMCo. to help Madison Square Garden develop a next-generation digital
marketing slate and consumer engagement platform for the New York Knicks and Rangers.
 Developed product definition and digital strategy for 360° lifestyle/cooking brand
 Co-founded Zito Berkley, LLC, an entrepreneurial venture dedicated to bringing new types of
social experiences to consumers, with one product in production, and two in concept
development.

Nickelodeon, MTV Networks, New York, NY May 2001 to August 2008

Vice President, Digital, The N Network August 2006 to August 2008

 Responsible for P&L and all operations of two websites, the-n.com and quizilla.com, which
together had an audience of nearly 7 million monthly uniques, and annual revenues of
$6mm+.
 Defined product strategy for the teen segment within the Kids & Family group, leading all
product development throughout the lifecycle: conception, launch, and subsequent iterations
based on qualitative and quantitative usage data.
 Presented with the challenge to significantly increase video pre-roll inventory, conceived and
launched Screening Parties, a ground-breaking multi-user social video environment, which
resulted in a 43% bump in the needed impressions and in users connecting around our content
in heretofore unimagined ways.
 Due to ad market pressure to “clean up” the site, and the difficulty in radically changing the
site’s legacy code, oversaw a relaunch of Quizilla with an all-new codebase, a highly
ambitious engineering project.
 Worked with TV programming and the Network Operations Center to create a dynamic on-air
rendering system, and bring highly successful “Vommenting” franchise (see below) to
television with a series of well-received specials.
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Director of Online Production & Product Development, the-n.com October 2005 to July 2006

 In 2006, launched full suite of social networking features on the-n.com -- the first TV
companion site to do so -- and saw an immediate 115% increase in time spent/user and 250%
increase in user registrations.
 Conceived and launched Emmy-winning Video Mixer application, the first online video mash-
up tool, as part of an integrated promotion for Masterfoods’ Skittles brand. Huge win in terms
of both advertiser and audience satisfaction.
 As a way to squeeze the most value out of a limited video library, conceived and created
“Vommenting” (short for Video Commenting) feature in The Click, the-n.com’s broadband
video player. The first ever “social TV” application, Vommenting allowed users to add their
reactions synchronously over the video, so subsequent viewers could enjoy them, thus
increasing replayability significantly. Video streams rose by nearly 30%.
Freelance Producer to Supervising Prod., the-n.com & noggin.com May 2001 to Oct 2005

 Reconceived and relaunched Noggin.com with an innovative narrative-based UI, and

immediately grew time spent by 243% (from ~12 minutes to nearly 30 minutes per
session.)
 Honored with a Webby award for Noggin.com in 2004.
 Conceived and launched the-n.com, companion site for newly launched TV channel for teens,
The N. With a prescient focus on community, and one of the first customizable avatar systems
on the web, it represented an ambitious re-imagination of what a TV site could be.
 Launched virtual economy on the-n.com, bringing addictive meta-game elements to the site,
and significantly raising pages per visitor and time spent.

PeopleNews, London, UK May 2000 to September 2000

PeopleNews was an online society/gossip magazine helmed by former Tatler EIC Jane Proctor.

Head of Production
 Course-corrected a floudering development effort, hired & managed art and production staff,
and successfully lead the site from spec to launch within a four month window.
 Worked hand-in-hand with Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) as they completed their
responsibilities, and facilitated hand-off from AC to in-house technical staff.
 Successfully (and tactfully) pushed editorial staff to question their print-industry
preconceptions about design and publishing and embrace the differences and opportunities of
the new medium.
Bottle Rocket, New York, NY July 1998 to May 2000
Bottle Rocket was an online games developer focused on the sports industry.
Director of Production

 Promoted within six weeks from Technical Producer to Director of Production, leading a 16-
person production and development team.
 Launched ambitious multi-game arcades for Major League Baseball and the National Hockey
League, and games for the NFL, NBA, MLS, and many teams in the English Premier League.
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 Spearheaded “FanSlam!” project, a $1.2mm massively multiplayer trivia game system for EA.
Wrote 40-page functional specification, led production, and was granted patent for key
component of gameplay.

Chupacabra Systems, Inc., Portland, OR March 1997 to March 1998

Co-founder
 Founded a small company which specialized in developing complex, object-oriented Intranet
systems.
 Developed and launched an ambitious Skills Assessment/Human Resources system for
Hewlett-Packard.
Creative Multimedia, Portland, OR October 1995 to March 1997
Webmaster/CGI Programmer
 Webmaster for MusicMatch, an online music magazine and CD retail channel, featuring
searchable database of artist information and RealAudio clips, as well as online transactions.
Avalanche Systems, Inc., New York, NY December 1994 to August 1995
Head of Web Development
 Developed award-winning web sites for such high-profile clients as NBC, Elektra Records,
and Hearst New Media, helping transform Avalanche from fledgling start-up into the highly
regarded studio it became. Avalanche was acquired by Razorfish in 1998.

AWARDS
2008 Global Media Awards, National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and
Consumer Electronics Association
Three Nominations:
 The-N.com’s Screening Parties – Outstanding Platform, Interactive
 Degrassi “What If…” – Outstanding Advertising
 The-N.com – Outstanding Website/Internet Entertainment

2006 Emmy Award, National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences

Winner of Technology and Engineering Emmy Award for Excellence in the Field of
Non-Synchronous Enhancement of Original Television Content for The-N.com’s Video
Mixer application, sponsored by Skittles (Masterfoods).

2005 Promax Gold, Best Consumer Website – Broadcast, the-n.com

Promax Silver, Best Interactive Game, Avatar Prom, the-n.com
Webby Nomination, Best Youth Website, Noggin.com

2004 Webby Award, Noggin.com, Best Broadband Website (People’s Voice)

EDUCATION

Brown University, Dec 1994

B.A., Art/Semiotics