Scott Lahman
Founder and CEO
Scott Lahman is the Founder and CEO of textPlus, a leading mobile communications service that connects over 110 million people for free or very cheaply worldwide. He leads the company with textPlus co-founders Zachary Norman and Austin Murray who have started two companies together and worked as a team for over 18 years.
Prior to textPlus, Scott founded JAMDAT Mobile in March 2000, which had a successful IPO in 2004 and
acquired by Electronic Arts for in February 2006 for $680 million. He served as President of JAMDAT, managing all product and technology operations, as well as building a worldwide industry-leading deployment and game studio capable of releasing thousands of versions of its software on a monthly basis. Post acquisition, Scott was Vice President of Mobile for Electronic Arts, working with Apple to launch the first games ever on the click wheel iPod in September 2006 – and also kicking off a relationship between Apple and market share leader Electronic Arts that continues to this day.
Prior to JAMDAT, Scott joined Activision in 1994 as one of the first several dozen
employees of Bobby Kotick and Howard Mark’s restart. At Activision, he held a variety of roles and was elevated to Vice President, Studios and company officer in 1997 where he ran Activision’s largest internal studio. Activision's internal studio released hundreds of products across dozens of platforms during Scott's tenure. He was also on Activision's M&A team responsible for integrating multiple acquisitions
as well as representing the company in outward corporate sales.
Scott began his career in the film and television industry, most notably as a development
executive for Robert De Niro's Tribeca Productions from 1990 to 1994. In 1994, Scott was part of the founding team for Tribeca Interactive – which became the bridge to Activision and a career change to tech.
Scott holds a BA in Political Science
from Columbia University.
Austin Murray
Founder and President
Austin Murray is Founder and President of textPlus, where he leads Sales, Marketing,
and Strategy.
Before textPlus, Austin co-founded JAMDAT Mobile with current textPlus co-founders Scott Lahman
and Zachary Norman. There, he served as Vice President, Sales, and established JAMDAT as the industry leader on US carrier decks, Austin oversaw JAMDAT's international
expansion in Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America. He also helped grow JAMDAT's
distribution footprint to more than 80 operators in 40 countries, accessible to over
800 million subscribers.
Prior to JAMDAT, Austin served as Director, Strategy at
eCompanies, LLC, where he played an integral part in the launch of eCompanies Wireless,
an incubator and partnership with Sprint PCS. Previously, Austin served as Director,
Business Development at iBEAM Broadcasting, a streaming media content distribution
network.
Austin holds a JD from UCLA School of Law and is a Member of the California Bar. He holds an MBA from UCLA's Anderson Graduate
School of Management and graduated cum
laude with a BA in English from the University of Pennsylvania.
Zachary Norman
Founder, President & Chief Creative Officer
Zachary Norman is Founder, President & Chief Creative Officer of textPlus, where he
handles the creation and management of
the company’s platform and product offering.
Prior, Zachary Co-Founded JAMDAT Mobile with Scott Lahman and Austin Murray. As Senior Vice President Worldwide Studios, he built JAMDAT Studios into a global
operation with both internal and external product development teams in several
countries and managed the production slate and all aspects of front-line product
development. He believes that high product quality, platform-native design, and
a high degree of utility are key factors for the success of any electronic
offering. He built JAMDAT Studio's slate, management and systems around this doctrine
and as a result, the company was recognized throughout the industry as the quality and
innovation leader in mobile entertainment. Zachary designed hits like JAMDAT
Bowling, Bejeweled Multiplayer, and JAMDAT Solitaire.
Prior to JAMDAT, Zachary
served as Creative Director and Executive Producer at Activision, Inc., where he
designed and managed several hit video game titles including Mechwarrior 2 and
Interstate '76, titles responsible for over $250M in revenue. Before his career in
the interactive space, Zachary was a screenwriter and is credited with the
conception of the Best Picture Oscar-winning feature film Shakespeare In Love.
Zachary graduated from Boston University's School for the Arts with
a Bachelor of Fine Arts.
Cory Radcliff
Vice President of Research and Development
Cory Radcliff is Vice President of Research and Development of textPlus. Cory has been an innovator in small, agile
startups in Mobile, Media, and Entertainment technologies for the past decade.
Before joining textPlus, Cory was Vice President of Technology at GoTV Networks,
a leader in made- for-mobile video content. While at GoTV, Cory was responsible
for new product development and distribution, as well as dramatically increasing
production throughout by introducing automation video production systems and
developing best practices.
Previously, Cory led technology efforts for JAMDAT Mobile. As Senior Director
of Technology for Los Angeles Studios, Cory was responsible for keeping JAMDAT on the bleeding edge of Mobile Technology. He oversaw the technology
development of the first real-time mobile multiplayer games, including Scrabble
Multiplayer and Bejeweled Multiplayer. Additionally, Cory and his team created the
automated build management system that enables the support of thousands of binary
releases for each mobile title.
Cory has a degree in Computer Engineering from University of Southern
California.
Tricia Bertero
Chief Marketing Officer
Tricia Bertero is the Chief Marketing Officer at textPlus, where she leads strategic
partner relationships and oversees all marketing and communications. She brings over 18 years of Entertainment and Consumer Packaged
Goods experience across Marketing, Sales and General Management.
Prior to joining
textPlus, Tricia held leading roles at Activision, Inc., including VP Global Brand
Management, SVP North American Sales and SVP European Publishing. Working
closely with textPlus CEO Scott Lahman, she architected a breakthrough operating model aligning
Studio and Marketing that helped drive Activision to a leading position in the
video game industry. In addition to crafting a wide range of licensed portfolio
deals, Tricia led all marketing for successful game franchises like Spider-Man,
Shrek, and Marvel's X-Men and Fantastic Four games.
Tricia began her marketing
career at ConAgra and Oral-B, where she was responsible for new product
development and launches, including mega brands like Orville Redenbacher and Oral-B.
Tricia holds an MBA from USC's Marshall School of Business and received her
BA in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley.
David Howard
Vice President of Engineering
David Howard is the Vice President of Engineering at textPlus. He brings over 15 years experience and has held a variety of engineering and product management positions ranging from early stage startups to Fortune 1000 companies.
Before joining textPlus, David was Vice President of Technology at Virgin Mobile USA, acquired by Sprint in 2009. He oversaw the development and implementation of all prepaid IT initiatives at Sprint including the Virgin Mobile and Boost Mobile lines of products and services.
Prior to joining Virgin Mobile USA, David was part of the founding team of Helio and served as VP of Engineering and Operations. While at Helio, David led the vision and technology strategy that resulted in many mobile industry firsts including, the first GPS-based Google Maps, YouTube Mobile Application, and MySpace Mobile application. Helio was acquired by Virgin Mobile USA in 2008 and David led the successful integration of the technology assets and IT and Operations organizations.
David has a degree in Computer Science from the University of Texas in Austin. He currently serves as a technology adviser to several early stage start ups.
Chandra Hill
Vice President, Monetization and Publishing
Chandra Hill is Vice President of Monetization and Publishing at textPlus. She is responsible for managing the company’s monetization strategies including growing in-app advertising and e-commerce.
Prior to joining textPlus, Chandra served as head of monetization at MySpace, where she oversaw the strategic guidance of advertising solutions, integrated sales efforts, and implemented global advertising strategy. In addition to advertising, Chandra also developed new revenue streams for the brand and optimized revenue from MySpace Mobile products.
Before joining MySpace, Chandra oversaw the execution of mobile content distribution and partnerships for Fox Interactive Media’s Mobile division, one of the Web¹s leading online networks. She served as a key player in extending the group’s leading Web properties to mobile devices and landed partnerships with MySpace, FOXSports.com, and IGN Entertainment. In addition, MySpace was featured on many of the world¹s leading mobile carriers and handset manufacturers.
A graduate of UCLA, Chandra has been recognized by Advertising Age as a “Woman to Watch” (2009) and by Promo Magazine for her work with electronic games (2004).
Ilan Goldman
General Counsel
Ilan Goldman is the General Counsel for textPlus He oversees the company’s corporate, legal and business affairs.
Ilan is an attorney admitted to practice law in the States of California and New York, and has over 15 years of experience representing both traditional and new media companies during various stages of growth. He has previously worked for high-profile entertainment companies such as Sony Music, JAMDAT Mobile, and Electronic Arts. He began his career as a corporate associate in the New York offices of Skadden, Arps.
Ilan graduated cum laude from NYU School of Law in 1996, and holds a BA in Economics from McGill University.