Jeff Ma

Last updated
Jeffrey Ma
Born1973
Alma mater Phillips Exeter Academy
Occupation(s)CEO and Founder of tenXer
Notable workThe House Advantage: Playing the Odds to Win Big In Business

Jeff Ma or Jeffrey Ma (born 1973) is a former member of the MIT Blackjack Team in the mid-1990s. [1] He graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy. He attended MIT where he graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1994. He was the basis for the main character of the book Bringing Down the House (where he was renamed Kevin Lewis) and the film 21 (where he was renamed Ben Campbell). Ma also co-founded PROTRADE (a sports stock market website that has since been shut down) [2] and does consulting work for professional sports teams including the Portland Trail Blazers and San Francisco 49ers. [3] He cofounded Citizen Sports, a sport-information website and iPhone application based in San Francisco, which was acquired by Yahoo! in May 2010. [4]

His first book, The House Advantage: Playing the Odds to Win Big In Business, was published in July 2010 by Palgrave Macmillan. Ma is a regular speaker at corporate events and conferences where he talks about how to use data and analytics to make better business decisions. [5] He made a cameo in the film 21 as a blackjack dealer named Jeffrey at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino. [6] [7] Jim Sturgess's character, Ben Campbell, refers to Jeffrey as "my brother from another mother." He is the CEO and Founder of tenXer, a San Francisco-based startup, with the vision to "make work better and your work better". tenXer was sold to Twitter now X, in April 2015. [8]

Ma joined ESPN in November 2014 as their Predictive Analytics Expert. Per this arrangement, he does weekly TV appearances on SportsCenter and contributes as a writer on ESPN.com. In 2017, he started the Bet the Process [9] podcast, a "sports gambling and analytics podcast," and began appearing on The Tony Kornheiser Show podcast, picking college and NFL football games. In November 2018, Ma was appointed Senior Vice President of Product and Analytics at Duetto. [10]

In May 2020, Ma became Vice President for Microsoft for Startups, a unit focused on recruiting startups to use Microsoft technologies. [11] [12]

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References

  1. ↑ "Jeff Ma, Former MIT Blackjack Whiz, Riffs on Fantasy Sports, Statgeeks, Yahoo". Wired News . September 2010. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
  2. ↑ Justin Berton (2008-03-27). "Hollywood deals Jeff Ma a good hand with '21'". San Francisco Chronicle . Retrieved 2008-03-29.
  3. ↑ Zack O'Malley Greenburg (2006-10-16). "Picking Winners". Forbes . Retrieved 2008-03-29.
  4. ↑ Jason Kincaid (2010-03-17). "Yahoo Acquires Citizen Sports". TechCrunch . Retrieved 2010-03-17.
  5. ↑ Keppler Speakers. "Jeff Ma Corporate Speaker" . Retrieved 2012-10-31.
  6. ↑ "21 (2008)". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2008-04-30.
  7. ↑ Bowles, Scott (March 25, 2008). "New film '21' counts on the real deal for inspiration". USA Today . Retrieved 25 June 2012.
  8. ↑ "Twitter Buys TenXer For Under $50M To Improve Its Tools For Engineers". 2 April 2015.
  9. ↑ "Bet The Process (@BetTheProcess) | Twitter". twitter.com. Retrieved 2017-12-15.
  10. ↑ Net, Hospitality. "Jeff Ma has been appointed Senior Vice President of Product and Analytics at Duetto". Hospitality Net. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
  11. ↑ "Jeff Ma Takes Helm of Microsoft for Startups Global Team" . Retrieved 2020-09-21.
  12. ↑ Tilley, Aaron (14 September 2020). "Microsoft Seeks Startup Partnerships in Battle With Amazon Over Cloud". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2020-09-21.
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