Meet The Team
Michael Kakoyiannis, Co-Founder & Chairman
Over the past 40 years, Mike has held CEO and senior executive-level positions in the broadcasting and digital technology industries, such as Metromedia Broadcasting, Metromedia Technologies, Westwood One Stations Group, as well as various Internet start-ups. He has led multiple successful turnarounds and managed and built divisions of public companies. Mike’s direct experience covers broadcasting (terrestrial and digital), digital media, information management, OOH advertising, direct marketing and advertising. He Co-Founded Big City Radio, building (as CEO) this novel radio broadcast group from the ground-up, leveraging unique technology to originate broadcast coverage in major markets and to increase ratings for significantly reduced investment costs when compared to competitors. He led this to a successful $28M IPO and $174M high yield offering. Mike started his career in sales and marketing at P&G and CBS Radio.
Sherry Mills, Co-Founder & CEO
Sherry's 20-year multimedia career has been centered on inspiring new perspectives. Her close-up photography project ‘A CLOSER NY’ won the support of the Manhattan Borough President for its ability to open our minds to the beauty hiding in plain sight. Both her photography and commission-based assemblage work have been showcased in many group and solo shows in NYC and Germany and led to her being selected to represent Metromedia Technologies’ Outdoor and the Arts Program. When she made her way into the podcasting space as a creator, she quickly discovered firsthand the key issues all creators face with discoverability and monetization, which fueled her desire to build a comprehensive, industry-wide technology solution. She’s passionate about proactively steering and advancing Tree Goat’s innovative Machine Learning models with her exceptional team. Her work has been featured by SCOPE Basel, Communication Arts, and Clear Channel, and her collectors come out of MTV, The Met, HBO, and The New York Times.
Kevin Carlson, CTO
Kevin’s unique combination of technology expertise and business acumen led to executive-level roles in North America and Europe. A global thought-leader, Kevin has in-depth working knowledge of current technologies, such as mobile application development, cloud architecture, machine learning, blockchain, predictive modeling/analytics, as well as privacy, security, and compliance. He has been recognized as one of the 2021 Top 50 Information Security professionals in the world, honored alongside other CiSO and Global Security Officers from organizations like City of Tucson, Equifax, Harley-Davidson, The Hershey Company, Kraft Heinz, Oracle, and the US Secret Service. Kevin is also a published writer, songwriter, blogger, and speaker, and is active in the music industry and a voting member of NARAS.
Patrick Zeimet, ML Engineer
As a data scientist and mathematician specializing in Natural Language Processing and statistical analysis, Patrick has worked with a diverse range of organizations, from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies. With a deep understanding of Machine Learning, NLP, ML OPs & Deployment, Simulation, ETL processes, Relational and Non-Relational Databases, as well Data Analytics, Visualization, and Architecture, Patrick is able to leverage cutting-edge techniques to derive insights and solve complex problems. His expertise helps Treegoat increase its operational efficiency, develop data-driven strategies and capitalize on cutting edge algorithms to develop their products. With a passion for using data to drive meaningful change, Patrick is dedicated to advancing the field of data science and helping organizations harness the power of data to achieve their goals. He has contributed to economics research studying the impact of crime rates on communities and psychology research by simulating workplace conditions to better understand success metrics.
Roby Poteau, PhD - Data Scientist
Roby is a highly skilled data scientist with a PhD in Operations Research, who brings a unique blend of academic expertise and practical experience with data engineering, analytics, Machine Learning, and deployment to his work. Proficient in architecting solutions, data visualization, SQL development, and research, Roby is well-acquainted with DevOps, software methodologies, version control, and programming, enabling him to interface with software teams comfortably. By staying at the forefront of emerging trends and technologies, Roby helps Treegoat leverage the best tools and techniques to achieve their data-driven goals. After work, Roby is a lifelong learner who is passionate about personal development, exploring new audiobooks and podcasts, and staying active through dance. He has co-authored several publications and has presented his work at multiple conferences.
Kevin Mooney, Tech Lead - Mobile & Web Dev
Kevin is a Senior Software Engineer and Team Lead, skilled in leading Treegoat’s team of developers across both mobile and web builds. He leverages nearly a decade of experience using frameworks and components across the JavaScript ecosystem, including React, ReactNative, and NodeJS, as well as various AWS cloud-managed components, and is himself a full stack JavaScript developer. Kevin has a unique ability to transform ideas into innovative products, having worked with startups and large-scale enterprises alike. When he's not in front of the computer, he enjoys whitewater kayaking, hiking, and skiing.
Andy Carlyle, Design Lead
Andy has more than 13 years’ experience as a graphic designer focused on UI/UX, app & web design, as well as branding for start-ups and medium-sized companies. After graduating from the graphic design program at The Creative Circus, Andy was a member of the founding team, and the designer for, the Atlanta-based start-up Scoutmob. Other clients have included the United Nations, Calendly, and Blue Apron.
Carrie Pastolove, CMO
Carrie is a digital marketing, branding, revenue growth and business development executive whose strategic guidance has launched many companies and startups. She has over 20 years’ experience spanning tech, disruptive media, as well as world-class wellness, beauty, fashion and other lifestyle brands, having held key positions with Rachael Ray, Shape Magazine, Lucky, Details, Marie Claire, and Maxim. Carrie is passionate about purpose driven brands in tech and media, and has leveraged her personal interests, training, certification and knowledge of mindfulness and conscious living throughout her career. She is now dedicated to supporting executives and their teams through disruption and change using the tools she’s developed through her own experiences. She is founding member of Chief, a women’s executive networking club, and serves on the board of Women in Influencer Marketing (WIIM).
Josh Goldstein, CFO
Josh has served as a financial executive for emerging growth companies in a variety of sectors including SaaS, digital advertising, e-commerce and online education. He has helped with fundraising, capital structure, budgeting, and financial strategy. Maturity levels range from pre-seed to Series A and beyond. Earlier in his career, he was a buy side equity analyst at Invesco, covering the internet and technology sectors. As a volunteer, he is an advisor at Georgia State University for the student-run endowment investment class and he serves as lecturer for a portfolio management class. While on long drives taking his son to soccer games, Josh is a regular podcast listener and he is always looking for better ways to find exciting content.
Lead Advisors
Pat Shah, Audible
Pat drives Audible's content acquisition strategy, leading the company's content deal operations and talent relations teams. A seasoned industry entertainment executive with over a decade of experience building digital content products and partnerships, Shah joined Audible in September 2020 from Twitch, the world's leading live streaming platform for gamers, where he was Head of Music Strategy & Licensing. Prior to that, Shah led Spotify’s original content strategy from the licensing and business side, which yielded major initiatives like Spotify’s expansion into podcasts. He also served as VP of Digital Business Development at Universal Music Group, where he worked on complex licensing transactions with Spotify, YouTube, and Samsung, among others.
Steven Einstein, Senior Advisor, Finalis Securities, LLC & Quantum Advisors, LLC
Steven has brought corporate finance and development experience to the M&A departments of PaineWebber Incorporated, Morgan Grenfell & Co. and the leveraged buyout firm of Kluge Subotnick Perkowski and Co. He then served for more than 12 years as a senior partner in the Chairman’s Office of PriceWaterhouseCoopers, acting as Global Head of Corporate Development and Inorganic Growth Strategy for the firm. Steven is an attorney as well as a Certified Public Accountant and member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
Andrew Denis
Andy is CTO and Founder of Seeflection.com, MediaLab.AI, and ResearchCenter.AI, is Chief Scientist of Seer Intel AI, and is a professional software developer and embedded systems architect for the last 38 years. He designed, developed, and integrated an AI-automated audio/media recording and AI training lab with support for immersive projected audio, dynamic (listener-directed) acoustics tuned facilities. Now, his teams are developing responsible artificial intelligence across Deep Learning/Machine Learning, Computer Vision, NLP, and Quantum-AI. Andy has consulted for XEROX, Apple Computer, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), has participated in over 200 continuing education seminars, accreditation, and training certifications, and is a member of the Stratos 165 IQ Society. Most recently, Andy serves as the visionary behind an Accelerator Program to support the fast growth of 100 medical / health focused AI companies in what is soon to become Arizona’s own “Silicon Valley”.
Walter Marcinowski, Walmar International
Walter has four decades of Marketing Director leadership and brand development experience with luxury brands. Walter developed brands for Estée Lauder, oversaw the go-to-market on brands for Louis Vuitton, created and launched Voss Water of Norway, developed dozens of wine brands for the House of Ruffino prior to its sale to Constellation Brands, launched bespoke fragrance brands with celebrities, and has led event promotions including America’s Cup sailing races and Champagne Cup horse races. He has media experience as a producer on Broadway for Tony Award Winning Dirty Rotten Scoundrels as well as Chef's Theatre and Chita as well as Emmy Award Winning EVITA.
Stu Subotnick, Metromedia
An American businessman, media magnate, and partner of billionaire John W. Kluge, Stu served as Chairman, President, and CEO of Metromedia Company, where he was instrumental in pivoting the company from its pure media play into a communications company with the acquisition of paging companies that led to the first awards of Cellular Spectrum Licenses to a non-Bell operating company in 6 of the top 10 markets in the United States in 1983. Stu engineered Metromedia’s going private in 1984, resulting in the issuance of the first large high yield “junk” bonds in the United States. Additionally, Stu diversified the company by entering Long Distance Communications, Fiber Optics, and International Communications in Russia, Eastern Europe, Cuba, and China. With others, he founded Major League Soccer in 1995, owning the Metro Stars and Serving as the League’s first Chairman Of The Board for 6 years. Stu continues to serve on the Board Of Directors of Carnival Corporation, The Shubert Organization, Spot On Communications, The New York Racing Association, and Brooklyn Law School.
Constantine (Gus) Koutras
Funding & Operations Advisor
Gus worked as a semiconductor engineer for IBM, Vitesse Semiconductor, and Texas Instruments and was responsible for bringing new products to production, including those used for satellites, semiconductor testers, supercomputers, mainframe computers, computer workstations, computer networking and mobile phones; many of these products were key in establishing the internet and mobile computing. As a management consultant for IBM Global Services, he advised high tech and consumer electronics companies in supply chain strategy, operations and related IT systems. He went on to consult Panasonic, Sharp, Siemens, Xerox, Canon, Kodak, Ricoh, 3M, Bristol Myers Squibb, Cooper Tires, Ford, and Delta Faucets. Joining Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions as an Executive Director of IT, he led a 3-year innovative project to replace all systems with new cloud computing systems to support 42 countries in multiple languages, tax jurisdictions and currencies. He was a founder of a successful cloud SaaS provider of logistics management called MercuryGate International, later acquired. Gus serves on the Brooklyn Scouting Board of Directors, is a basketball coach for a girls’ team in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese League, and is a club advisor for Dominican Academy’s Engineering and Coding club. He holds two degrees from Cornell University and an MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business.
Advisory Group
Alex Kakoyiannis, Mothersauce
Mothersauce is a specialized agency focused on engineering strategies to engage culinary culture. The company maintains an integrated model that provides a unique infrastructure to execute work across multiple disciplines including advertising, creative and content, talent management and early stage ventures for clients including brands, media and talent. Clients include Yahoo, NBC Universal, Lexus, Vitamix, KitchenAid, and Food & Wine.
Alexa Christon, Host of ADLANDIA
Alexa has led some of the world’s largest brands through business transitions, including Pepsi, Yahoo! and Time Warner Cable. She served as Head of Media Innovation at GE and CMO for Pearson Education. An early innovator in the audio space, Alexa created the critically acclaimed GE Podcast Theater platform and is the co-host of ADLANDIA, a biweekly podcast on creativity, media and marketing on the iHeart Podcast Network. Alexa served as an innovation advisor to ALSAC/St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and The Guggenheim Museum, and board member of New York Women in Communication.
Matthew Groner, Product / Tech Advisor
For more than 25 years, Matthew has been leading product development teams for global behemoths and start-ups alike. During his time at Viacom, TransUnion, AdTheorent, DoubleVerify, Mediaocean and more, he has focused on successfully driving growth and revenue while building teams that work with skill, enthusiasm, and zeal for the product. He has a passion for deriving value from data and applying machine learning to solve problems. Matthew joined AdTheorent in the early days to build its product team from scratch. While there, he took the ML based Demand Side Platform from its infancy, to one of the best performing and highest margin generating DSPs in the AdTech ecosystem, leading AdTheorent to go public with a $1B valuation.
Ryan Rose, JoneKiri
Ryan’s experience in media began at audio technology and ad company, Triton Digital, followed by years at Horizon Media, the largest privately held media services agency in the world. With roles ranging from client-facing brand strategy and planning to digital media buying and activation, Ryan was assigned to multiple clients across a variety of verticals, including Capital One, Buffalo Wild Wings, and NetJets. Observing the growing podcast content trend and emerging landscape made available for brand advertisers, Ryan launched a podcast division for UK-based radio giant Global Media under the digital audio division, Digital Ad Exchange (DAX). The division focused on building a podcast network by identifying talent, producing content with long term IP value and derivative potential, and strategically partnering with brands to develop mutual revenue streams. Projects included assisting in the launch of actor Kevin Connolly’s ACTIONPARK MEDIA podcast network and producing content original The Undercovers with actor Ed O’Neill. Ryan formed JoneKiri, a 360 marketing firm, in 2021 to empower talent, brands, and audiences to grow together, sustainably, and positively.
Lorna Montalvo, The Wolf Effect
Lorna has spent over 20 years working with Fortune 100 C-suite executives across companies including GE, Viacom, Starwood Hotels and United Airlines, as well as serving as Chief of Staff to the vice chair of GE, whose efforts were to accelerate new growth and innovation. She is now the Founder of The Wolf Effect, a New York City-based boutique consultancy specializing in providing on-demand Chief of Staff services and executive positioning to clients ranging from tech startups, to rising business executives and Fortune 500 leaders.
