Executive council
- Flexis has organized a group of highly regarded senior industry executives with a broad range of experiences to serve as our Executive Council
- The current membership includes prominent current and former executives with experience in the telecommunications, publishing, subscription and advertiser-driven technology, entertainment, consumer/branded products and retail/real estate sectors as well as a globally recognized macro-economist
- Members may help advise Flexis, from time-to-time, on a diverse set of topics by assessing or recommending senior managers, reacting to potential company targets and providing insight on industry trends, macroeconomic or political events and developments
In addition, the Executive Council may be a source of proprietary investment ideas and deal sourcing - It is expected that future participants will reinforce and broaden the Executive Council’s strategic contributions, but in all cases remain thematically in Flexis’ industries of focus
Matthew C. Blank
Mr. Blank is a cable television executive and is currently Chairman and CEO of Showtime Networks. Since joining Showtime in 1988 after 12 years at HBO, Mr. Blank has led Showtime's transformation into one of cable television's most successful premium channels and has grown the Showtime banner from three networks to include an additional 27 digital channels. Showtime was one of the first to adopt high-definition and subscription based video-on-demand technologies. Mr. Blank currently is a board member of the National Cable Television Association (Executive Committee), The Cable Center, and the Creative Coalition and a Trustee of the Harlem Children’s Zone and the Museum of the Moving Image.
Mark Chandler
Mr. Chandler is Senior Vice President, Legal Services, and General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer for Cisco and oversees Cisco's global legal activities and policies, as well as ethics, compliance and regulatory affairs, employee relations, investigations, and brand protection. Previously, he was Cisco’s Managing Attorneyfor the Europe, Middle East, and Africa region, based in Paris. Chandler joined Cisco in 1996, when Cisco acquired StrataCom, Inc., where he had been General Counsel. Mr. Chandler is a member of the Dean's Advisory Council for Stanford Law School, the Board of Directors of the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley,and the Board of Trustees for Belmont Hill School in Belmont, Mass. In 2010, The National Law Journal named him one of the 40 Most Influential Lawyers of the Decade, and in 2013, American Lawyer numbered him among the Top 50 Big Law Innovators of the Last 50 Years.
Eric Hippeau
Mr. Hippeau is a technology and media executive and is currently a Managing Director at Lerer Hippeau Ventures, a venture capital fund. Mr. Hippeau was CEO of The Huffington Post, where he was also an investor. He was a Managing Partner of Softbank Capital, a technology venture capital firm, until 2009. Prior to that, Mr. Hippeau was Chairman and CEO of Ziff-Davis, an integrated media and marketing company serving the technology industry. Mr. Hippeau was instrumental in Softbank's initial investment in Yahoo! in 1995 and served on Yahoo!'s board of directors until 2011. Mr. Hippeau currently serves on the board of directors of Starwood Hotels and Resorts, BuzzFeed and various other private companies.
David E. Simon
Mr. Simon is Chairman and CEO of Simon Property Group, the largest real estate company in the world and an S&P 100 company. SPG owns or has an interest in 228 retail properties in the North America, Europe, and Asia comprising 189 million square feet and has a 29% interest in Klepierre, a publicly-traded French REIT with a portfolio of approximately 270 shopping centers in 13 European countries. Mr. Simon joined SPG in 1993 as President. Mr. Simon is currently a board member of the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts.
John W. Stanton
Mr. Stanton is a leading wireless industry entrepreneur and senior executive. Mr. Stanton is a co-founder of Trilogy Equity Partners, which invests in wireless-related companies, and Trilogy International Partners, which operates wireless systems internationally. Mr. Stanton was Vice Chairman and COO of McCaw Cellular which was sold in 1994 and renamed AT&T Wireless. Mr. Stanton was founder, Chairman and CEO of VoiceStream Wireless which was sold in 2001 to Deutsche Telekom and renamed T-Mobile. Mr. Stanton was founder, Chairman and CEO of Western Wireless which was sold to Alltel in 2005. Mr. Stanton currently serves on the board of directors of Columbia Sportswear, General Communications, and Microsoft and is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Whitman College.
Randall J. Weisenburger
Mr. Weisenburger is currently Managing Member of Mile 26 Capital LLC. Previously, he served as the CFO and Executive Vice President of Omnicom Group, a Fortune-250 global advertising, marketing and communications company, for nearly 16 years. Omnicom manages a portfolio of global market leaders comprised of three global advertising agency networks, BBDO, DDB and TBWA, numerous national advertising agencies, a global network of more than 175 marketing services companies, and Omnicom Media Group, that includes two of the world's premier providers of media planning and buying services. He is currently a member of the Board of Overseers for the Wharton School of Business and a board member of Carnival Corporation, Carnival PLC and Valero Energy Corporation.
Gideon Yu
Mr. Yu is a Senior Advisor and founding member of Formation 8, a technology investment firm. Mr. Yu was President and remains co-owner of the San Francisco 49ers football team, making him the first ethnic minority President in NFL history. Prior to his career in sports entertainment, Mr. Yu was a technology executive and investor, most notably the CFO of both Facebook and YouTube, the first two Internet companies to achieve one billion active users. Previously, Mr. Yu was a General Partner at Khosla Ventures, where he led the firm’s founding investment in Jack Dorsey's Square and was the company’s first outside board member. Mr. Yu has also held senior positions at Sequoia Capital and Yahoo!, where as Treasurer and SVP of Finance, he executed over 30 acquisitions / investments, including Alibaba, Overture, and Flickr. Mr. Yu currently serves on the board of directors of several private companies and not-for-profit boards including the UCSF Foundation, Stanford School of Engineering Advisory Council and Tipping Point Community.