RICH GACCIONE (Chairman)
Diga's Chairman, Rich Gaccione is a founder of Diga Entertainment. Mr. Gaccione has enjoyed a long and successful career as a senior management executive and as an entrepreneur focused on finding and building small businesses.
In addition to his role at Diga, Rich is currently a founder, investor and board member of such companies as Epana, a phone card company targeted at the 40 million US Latino market; Insound, a direct marketing, media company, Dental Concepts, an OTC drug company and Trade Point, a software company that manages all of the trade spending at Safeway , San Francisco, et al.
Until 2001, Gaccione was the President and CEO of Pon North America, the U.S. arm of a $3B private holding company based in the Netherlands. During his four years with Pon, he acquired nine companies with over $200MM in equity, acting as Chairman of the five platform companies created through these acquisitions. Prior to Pon, Gaccione was backed by Sienna Ventures in a roll-up of call-center businesses that resulted in a $100MM business with $20MM of EBITDA which he and Sienna were able to sell after just 18 months.
Before taking on these ventures, Gaccione had a successful career in the corporate world as president of the Consumer Products Division of Bristol Myers Squib, Sterling Winthrop (a division of Kodak), L&F Products (Lysol), and G. Heileman Brewing Co. (A Hicks Muse LBO Company). He also held key senior executive positions at Unilever, Citibank, Colgate Palmolive, and General Foods.
Rich has been an active member of the Executive Board of the NDMA (Non-prescription Drug Association), the Advisory Board for the NACDS (National Association of Chain Drug Stores), the Board of Directors of YPO (Young Presidents Organization), the Principal Advisory Board of the NFBA (National Food Brokers Association), the Advisory Board of Visa USA, Vice Chairman of the Brooklyn College Foundation and Development Committee head of the Lower East Side Tenement Museum Board of Trustees.
RUDY PEREZ (Chief Creative Officer)
Rudy Pérez is one of the greatest American songwriters and producers...a founding partner of Diga Entertainment LLC and the company's Chief Creative Officer.
For over 25 years, he has produced hits for international artists such as Julio Iglesias, Beyoncé, Christina Aguilera, Michael Bolton, Los Temerarios, Luis Miguel, Jose Feliciano, Raul di Blasio, and Marc Anthony amongst others. He is the first Latin record producer to win the Billboard Hot Latin Tracks Producer of the Year for four consecutive years in a row. Rudy has been awarded literally hundreds of gold and platinum records and his works have been nominated for seventeen Grammy Awards... Winning five!
Rudy Perez holds the distinction of having won both the prestigious BILLBOARD Producer of the Year , as well as ASCAP Songwriter of the Year five times! No other Latin Producer has achieved the record of having over nineteen songs in the Top 10 in one year. His songs are featured in major motion pictures, TV Novelas, sitcoms, commercials and video games. 15 years ago, Rudy Perez penned the original Univision Network theme song....that still runs today.
Rudy Perez has also set a precedent by being one of the first Hispanic songwriters, in conjunction with the ASCAP foundation, to open up the ASCAP Foundation Rudy Perez Songwriters Scholarship. This Scholarship has been able to give underprivileged, aspiring Hispanic songwriters the opportunity to attend prestigious music schools such as Julliard, Berklee and the University of Miami. The Foundation is in it's 6th year and going strong.
RICK STEVENS (Chief Executive Officer)
Rick Stevens is an entertainment executive with deep experience in entertainment, marketing, new media, corporate structure and financial
management. Stevens joined Diga in January 2008 to manage Diga's rapid growth and position the company for the future.
Stevens has a long history of success in senior management roles in entertainment and media related turnarounds and companies in their second stage of development, having over the past 15 years, managed and re-structured such companies as Media Holdings Group, LA Digital and EFX Systems.
During the explosive internet boom years, he was CEO of Internet Holdings Group, then the high-tech investment arm of private equity firm, Yucaipa Companies.
Stevens is the former worldwide creative boss of record conglomerate PolyGram's Polydor/MGM division and a founder of both Summa Music Group and Stevens-McGhee Entertainment. Stevens will also continue to serve as Chairman/CEO of Record Plant Incorporated, which he acquired from Chrysalis Records and has headed for the past 18 years.
RENE LAVAN (Senior Vice-President, Business Development)
René Lavan (Senior VP, Business Development)
René Lavan is a pioneer of ground braking Latino Entertainment on Broadway, TV & Films and has recently played a key role in the marketing and development of live Vegas shows and Nightclubs as the Director of PR/Marketing for Viashow, Inc.
As Senior VP, Business Development Lavan focuses on Diga's myriad of projects, entertainment driven phone cards, sports and celebrity clients, licensing and endorsement deals as wells ancillary business opportunities thru product integration for Diga.
Lavan brings a fresh entertainment-driven approach and the experience of running his own consulting and production companies, Rene Lavan Entertainment, LLC and Its Only Art Productions, INC. His experience has covered a broad spectrum of the entertainment business, from the production of live events... to product branding thru celebrity endorsements. His credits also include the directing and producing of TV Shows, Music Videos and Independent Films as well as the marketing and promotions of such projects.
Lavan is well known for his acting career and can be seen on the big screen this year in his role as "Miguel" in the feature film "Guerrilla," starring Benicio del Torro. Lavan"s acting and producing credits also include his 2005 Broadway debut in the critically acclaimed play "Latinologues", a comedy about life in America that marked the first ever Latino written, directed, acted & produced Broadway Show. In 2004 Lavan starred as the young lead in Revolution Studio"s "Christmas With The Kranks," opposite Tim Allen, Jaime Lee Curtis, Dan Aykroyd and Cheech Marin and was cast as "Carlos Suarez" in "Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights." Rene made a name for him self as the lead in the critically acclaimed feature film "Bitter Sugar."
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