Management Team

Are Traasdahl is founder and CEO of Thumbplay, an award-winning company that he and co-founder Evan Schwartz established in 2004 and have already grown into one of the top mobile entertainment services in the U.S. In recognition of the remarkable growth and accomplishments of the organization, he was named one of 2008's "Top Mobile Executives" by Billboard magazine, and was named "Best Emerging CEO" by the Executive Council of New York in 2007. Are has been on the leading edge of wireless communications throughout his career. In 2002, Are co-founded and led the launch of Telenor Interactive (nasdaq: teln), a U.S. Subsidiary of Telenor Group, the first company to launch cross-carrier premium messaging in the U.S. In 1999, Are helped establish Carrot Communications, a leading wireless company in Scandinavia and one of the first companies to sell wireless content directly to consumers. He has spearheaded wireless entertainment campaigns for such companies as NewsCorp, Disney, ABC, Univision, Telemundo and Fuse and with wireless carriers like Verizon, AT&T Wireless, Cingular and T-Mobile.

Earlier in his career, Are worked as a journalist for one of the largest media concerns in northern Europe and as a strategy consultant for a leading global management consultancy based in the UK.

He is a graduate of the Norwegian Institute of Technology (NTH), Trondheim, Norway.

Scott Marshall, COO/CFO of Thumbplay, has spent the majority of his 20-plus year career helping to build and manage the growth of emerging media companies. Prior to joining Thumbplay in 2006, Scott was the executive vice president and CFO of CSTV Networks, Inc. (College Sports Television), now a division of CBS, the first multimedia network dedicated exclusively to college sports 24-hours-a-day. Scott also served as COO/CFO for Broadway Video, the New York-based production company founded by Saturday Night Live creator and executive producer, Lorne Michaels. Earlier, Scott served as vice president and CFO of Classic Sports Network, now ESPN Classic, a cable TV network distributed to more than 70 million homes.

Scott, a graduate of the University at Buffalo, started his career at Ernst & Young and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Chris Phenner is senior vice president of Business Development at Thumbplay, with more than 12 years experience around software, digital media and online subscription services. Chris is responsible for driving new customer acquisition via integrated partnerships, including exclusive relationships Thumbplay has with AOL, Clear Channel, Comcast, MSN and iLike. Chris is also the business lead for Thumbplay OPEN, a self-service tool that enables the upload and sale of mobile content and opens up a marketplace of more than 230mm U.S. wireless subscribers.

Prior to Thumbplay, Chris was Director of Business Development at Audible, Inc., Business Development Manager at CNET Networks' Download.com and Director of Business Development at Napster (1.0). Chris was also business development manager at RollingStone.com and in marketing with Spyglass, Mosaic's original licensor.

Chris has a B.A. in Political Science from Miami University, and an MBA from a dual-degree program with U.C. Berkeley and Columbia University, and is the original author of the "business development" article on Wikipedia.