Team
With a combined expertise in local media, advertising and technology our team shares a clear vision for the future of audience engagement.
Parker Polidor, CEO
Parker is the Co-Founder of Cell Journalist, which provides a real-time, hyper local content platform to 150+ local TV stations and newspapers. Prior to Cell Journalist Parker, an inveterate entrepreneur, started and later sold Mountain Valet, the first parking management company in Vermont serving ski resorts. Mountain Valet grew from three employees and one account to seven locations with over 40 employees across three states. Parker has traveled to 37 countries and participated in humanitarian trips to Asia and Central Africa. He graduated from David Lipscomb University in Nashville with a degree in economics/finance and a minor in computer information systems.
Colin Polidor, COO
Colin is the Co-Founder/COO of Cell Journalist. Colin works closely with the software engineers to develop new and innovative products and services. Colin is also an integral part of the customer service experience, and manages the operational side of the business. In 2002, after graduating college, Colin co-founded Mountain Valet, the first parking management company in Vermont. Mountain Valet grew to provide parking management services across the Northeast with over 40 employees. Colin holds an MBA with an emphasis in entrepreneurship from The Massey Graduate School of Business at Belmont University and a B.S. in information systems with a minor in management from David Lipscomb University. Colin resides in Nashville, TN with his wife and daughter.
David Neal, Director of Development
As Director of Development for Cell Journalist, David is responsible for ensuring our platform delivers the very best value and experience to our customers. He brings more than 16 years of experience leading successful projects across a variety of industries, including social networking, healthcare, and e-Learning. Prior to joining Cell Journalist, David was a senior software engineer for Telligent, the premier platform for social community software, where he helped shape user experience and platform architecture. David is passionate about software craftsmanship and mentoring, is active in the developer community as a speaker and author, and currently serves in a leadership role for the Nashville .NET User Group.
Ray Capp, Advisor
Ray has over 22 years of executive leadership experience in the distribution, publishing and entertainment industries. Ray served as COO at Ingram Entertainment from its founding to over $1 billion in sales, and as EVP at Thomas Nelson Publishers, one of the top 10 publishers in the English language. With considerable experience with mergers and acquisitions, product development, and marketing, Ray is highly regarded as an insightful strategist and a no-frills operator. Ray is also a successful author and inventor.
Mike Hassell, Advisor
Mike has held executive management and marketing positions in new ventures for the past 18 years. Mike served as CEO for several Vanderbilt start-up companies, and held the positions of VP Marketing for MedPearl and president of Slingerland Drum Company. After receiving a degree in electrical engineering from Georgia Tech and beginning his career in marketing at Procter & Gamble’s brand management, Mike received a Harvard MBA and then launched his entrepreneurial career.
Mark Montgomery, Advisor
Mark has been working in the web space since the early 90′s, launching his first B2C ecommerce play in early 1996. In 1999, he co-founded echo, a company focused on building communities around entertainment brands. He was the co-creator of the patented platform echotools™, a direct to consumer delivery and data management system which ultimately grew to serve millions of users and distribute hundreds of millions of pages, data feeds, and e-commerce transactions. In 2007, the company was acquired by Barry Diller’s IAC/Ticketmaster for eight figures.
Rick Blair, Advisor
With more than 30 years of publishing, business development and electronic media startup experience, Rick Blair is an established and respected leader among the global content, advertising and digital industries. Most recently, Rick served as the CEO of Clarity Digital Group, overseeing Examiner.com and NowPublic.com. During his tenure at Examiner.com, he led the site to become one of the largest news and information sources in the country, averaging more than 20 million monthly unique visitors. With strong roots in local, Rick was also a key player in the reemergence of AOL’s content strategy and the creative force behind AOL’s Digital City, holding a number of positions including VP of Sales, VP of Operations and Business Development, and VP of New Enterprises. A former CPA, Rick is a graduate of The Ohio State University where he is actively involved with several of the Fisher School of Management’s programs for entrepreneurs.
