Mark Walsh

CEO, Genius Rocket

Mark Walsh has distinguished himself by being "ahead of the curve" on a number of social and business evolutions throughout his career. Mark continues that trend as CEO and chairman of GeniusRocket, a leading provider of user generated advertising media. At GeniusRocket Mark has built the leading "crowdsourcing" advertising solution, creating marketing content for businesses ranging from Fortune 500 corporations to local retailers. Through Mark's leadership, GeniusRocket has grown a community of over 11,638 creative artists across 110 countries generating video, animation, graphic design, copy, and more. Prior to GeniusRocket, Mark served as Chairman and CEO of VerticalNet from August 1997 to July 2000. Before joining VerticalNet, he was a Senior Vice President and corporate officer at America Online, Inc. He founded and managed AOL Enterprise, the business-to-business division of AOL. Mr. Walsh also served as the President of GEnie, General Electric's online service, and as the director of New Business Development at HBO.

Since 2001 Mark has been active in politics, serving as the first Chief Technology Advisor to the Democratic National Committee during 2001 and 2002, and as the Head of Internet Strategy for John Kerry for President. He was the founding CEO of Air America Radio where remains an investor and director. In 2006, Walsh began serving as co-host of XM Satellite Radio's Left Jab, a weekly political radio show.

At his venture capital company, he has invested in a number of small to medium technology/startup companies and serves on a number of their boards. Investment and/or board highlights include NutriSystems, Blackboard, Half.com, MobilePosse and ARPU. He is also active in a number of non-profits, serving or having served on the boards of the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony and In2Books, and is a senior fellow at The Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland Business School. Mark graduated from Union College (where he serves as a trustee) and received his MBA from the Harvard Business School.