Dan Pelson | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1966 (age 58–59) Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Colgate University (B.A.) NYU Stern School of Business (M.B.A.) |
| Occupation(s) | Media and entertainment executive |
| Known for | Co-founding Word Magazine , Concrete Media, Bolt.com, uPlayMe; COO of AREA15 |
Dan Pelson (born 1966) is an American media and experiential-entertainment executive best known for co-founding a string of early internet ventures, including Word Magazine , Concrete Media, Bolt.com and the social-music network uPlayMe, and for later leading the immersive-retail complex AREA15 in Las Vegas as its chief operating officer. [1] [2] [3]
Pelson was born in 1966 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. [4] He earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science and economics from Colgate University and a Master of Business Administration in international marketing from New York University Stern School of Business. [5]
Pelson began his career in 1988 at Sun Microsystems, holding marketing, sales and product-development roles focused on media-industry clients. [5] [6] In June 1995, Pelson joined writer Carey Earle and designer Tom Livaccari to launch Word Magazine , one of the web's first ad-supported multimedia webzines. [1] [7] Seeing commercial potential in the nascent Internet, he and partners spun the editorial startup into Concrete Media in 1996. [1]
Under Concrete's umbrella, Pelson and illustrator Jane Mount launched Bolt.com in September 1996, an early social-network community for teens that by 1999 hosted three million registered users and 50,000 user-run clubs. [8] [9] Pelson served as chairman and chief executive of both Concrete Media and Bolt during the first dot-com boom. [10]
In 2006, Pelson re-entered the music sector, co-founding uPlayMe, a desktop application that matched listeners in real time; Wired dubbed it an effort to make "music social again" without costly label licences. [11] In the same year, Warner Music Group appointed him senior vice-president for global consumer marketing, where he built direct-to-fan businesses across the label group; he left in mid-2008 to return as uPlayMe's chief executive. [12] He is also a co-founder of SunPress Vinyl, a record pressing plant. [13]
From 2009 to 2016, Pelson worked for Sony Music Entertainment and Sony Corporation of America. At Sony Music, he oversaw the Direct to Consumer global operations [14] and was the CEO of MyPlay, Sony's music video platform from 2008 to 2013. [15] He also served as an executive producer of The X Factor Digital Experience . [16]
In March 2019, Pelson became chief operating officer of AREA15, a 200,000 sq ft immersive retail and entertainment district west of the Las Vegas Strip. [2] [17] Pelson oversaw operations, leasing and events as AREA15 welcomed nearly four million visitors in its first three years. [2] He resigned in November 2024 amid a restructuring that sought a Las Vegas-based COO; the company cited Pelson's preference to remain in New York with his family. [18] [19]
Since 2020, Pelson has been a director and, from 2023, nominating-committee chair, of Urban Art (formerly Urban Arts Partnership), a New York nonprofit delivering technology-and-arts programmes in under-resourced public schools. [20] [21] He has also served on the board of Teach For America. [5]
Pelson is based in New York City. He is married to Jenny Kwong and has three children. [22]
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