SABEResPODER (SEP), a provider of comprehensive and culturally relevant educational media solutions for Spanish-dominant Latinos in the United States, is pleased to announce the addition of Boris Droutman, David Chun, Sergio Mankita, Raquel Villarreal, and Damien Burke to its growing team.
“We are excited to have Boris, David, Sergio, Damien and Raquel join our team and know that their deep understanding of the US Hispanic market, ability to craft strategic partnerships, software ingenuity and platform design and unified content creation will enhance our efforts as we continue to grow our ad supported consular network,” said Amir Hemmat, CEO and President of SEP.
Mr. Hemmat added: “These key hires position us well for 2015 as we continue to expand our strategic partners, enhance our proprietary technology platforms and better serve our growing constituency with relevant and practical educational and empowering solutions.”
Boris Droutman joins as Chief Technology Officer. He will provide key leadership to SEP’s Technology team, and support the ongoing growth and development of our technology. Mr. Droutman has spent last 16 years working at various e-commerce startups. He was one of the founding engineers at Netflix, Director of Engineering at LowerMyBills, CTO at ShoeDazzle, among several others. In addition to fulfilling his responsibilities within technology, Boris has played a key role at the executive round table, helping companies refine their business models, web product development roadmaps and marketing strategies.
David Chun joins as Chief Product Officer. As we expand our reach into the community and introduce new technologies, Chun will focus on enhancing our platform and generating new products to positively impact the community. In addition to his latest role as Chief Product Officer at Adly, Mr. Chun has held senior roles at Sony, PriceGrabber and Napster to name a few. He is also the Founder & Chairman of Metro Charter School, and successfully built and sold his own staffing business. Mr. Chun is originally from Washington D.C., but has been in Los Angeles for 17 years. He resides in downtown Los Angeles with his wife and two sons.
Damien Burke joins as VP of Engineering. He will lead and oversee the in-house tech team and provide insight and leadership on the design and development of new platforms. Mr. Burke has been working in web software since 1996, having founded multiple, profitable web-based start-ups based on software that he wrote. He was trained in agile development processes by engineers from Pivotal Labs and earned his Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from MIT. Burke is a former field producer for the World Series of Poker Circuit Events, has acted and done voiceover and produced theater shows. Born in South Carolina, he was raised all across the country.
Sergio Mankita joins as VP of Market Research & Business Development. In this role, he will lead and manage all market research efforts and conduct business development and strategic partnerships. Previously, Mr. Mankita was a Marketing Manager with Univision Enterprises, the in-house incubator of Univision Communications, where he was an integral team member in launching multiple products in financial services, healthcare, automotive and telecommunications. A 15+ year veteran of media and the US Hispanic market, he earned his degree in Communication Studies from UCLA and his MBA from Thunderbird, the Graduate School of International Management.
Raquel Villarreal joins as Director of Content. In this capacity, she will oversee the growth of untapped digital opportunities; maintain the accuracy, voice and style of all content production across print, onscreen, mobile and online while being an advocate for the immigrant voice. Haling from Monterrey, Mexico, she joins SEP with more than 7 years of editorial experience in bilingual and bicultural environments, including at Demand Media International, eHow en Español, and LIVESTRONG.COM en Español. Ms. Villarreal earned her bachelor’s degree in Multimedia Journalism from The University of Texas at Austin.