Profiles

theScore’s executive team consists of:

John Levy

Chairman and CEO

Founder, Chairman and CEO of Score Media, John Levy has been a pioneer in the media and cable industries for over thirty years.

John joined his family’s small cable company in Hamilton shortly after his graduation from the University of Toronto Law School in 1978, and grew Western Co-Axial into one of the ten largest cable distributors in Canada. Before selling the cable business in 1999, Mr. Levy was already looking to the future. In 1994, he acquired Sportscope, an alphanumeric television channel, which broadcast the first ever 24-hour sports news ticker.

Over the past two decades years, John’s vision and hard work transformed Sportscope into Score Media, a leader in interactive and authentic sports entertainment. In 1996, Sportscope became Headline Sports when he petitioned and obtained a sports, news and information license from the CRTC in 1996.

Today, theScore Television Network is seen in more than 6.8 million homes across Canada and Score Media has grown to include theScore.com and ScoreMobile, one of the world’s leading ad-supported sports apps available on all major smartphone platforms.

ScoreMobile has become one of the most popular sports apps on the market, ranking 3rd only behind ESPN and Yahoo! With expansion of the app to include ScoreMobile FC, a soccer-specific app targeting European soccer fans, as well as a Spanish version of the FC app, targeting the Latin American market, the company’s mobile growth has given it the opportunity to reach audiences across the globe.

John’s dedication and intuition have driven Score Media to the forefront of innovation in the sports media industry. His passion is to continue to create exciting new businesses in the evolving digital community.

Benjie Levy

Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer

As Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer, Benjie Levy oversees the development and execution of Score Media’s business strategy. Benjie has been instrumental in shaping Score Media’s digital media strategy, including the creation of Score Media Ventures, Score Media’s digital division, and the launch of ScoreMobile, Score Media’s industry leading mobile platform which has now become an international success story.

From spearheading the acquisition of SportsTap, a rival mobile sports app, to overseeing the company’s foray into international languages through the launch of the Spanish version of ScoreMobile FC, Benjie’s leadership skills and keen business sense are a constant driving force at the company.

A graduate of the University of Toronto with a B.Com specializing in Finance, Benjie began his career as an investment banker in the Communications and Media group at BMO Nesbitt Burns in Toronto, prior to joining Score Media in 2001 as Director, Corporate Development.

Benjie is a passionate sports fan, as anyone within earshot of his office during NFL season can attest. Although no one could figure out why he was so excited when the Giants scored another touchdown when they were already winning by 17 points…

Asha Daniere

Senior Vice President & General Counsel

Prior to joining Score Media, Asha Daniere was General Counsel to Fun Technologies Inc., an Internet start-up focused on online skill games and online fantasy sports offerings. Previous to that, she was Associate Counsel at Siemens Canada Limited where her responsibilities included mergers and acquisitions, complex commercial contracts, software licensing and other intellectual property issues, as well as general corporate and compliance matters.

Ms. Daniere began her legal career as an associate at White & Case in New York City, and then joined The Topps Company Inc. as Associate General Counsel where she handled the development and negotiation of international and domestic deals, including sports licences, entertainment property licences, and promotional and co-marketing agreements. She was called to the bar in both New York State and Ontario. Ms. Daniere is a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada and the Canadian Bar Association. She received her J.D. from Tulane Law School and her B.A. from the University of Toronto.

Aside from her expansive legal experience, Ms. Daniere took a leave of absence from Siemens to launch a career as a TV host of a reality show called “Groomed” featured on the W Network where she whipped male subjects into “romantic” shape. In addition, earlier on in her career she managed to work her way up from being a fax delivery minion to being an associate producer of children’s programming at Nelvana Limited. In a nutshell, she’s not your typical lawyer.

Dale Fallon

Vice President, Digital Products

Dale is responsible for the vision and execution of all digital products. These include industry-leading ScoreMobile and SportsTap apps for: BlackBerry, iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, as well offerings for PC, iPads, and PlayBook tablets. His responsibilities include: product management, software engineering, channel distribution, operations and customer service.

Dale joined Score Media in 2007 after spending five years at CHUM Television (MuchMusic, Citytv, CP24 etc.), ultimately as head of the Interactive Department. There Dale was responsible for the P&L, online content production, digital media sales, web development and technical operations.

Dale is an active member of the new media community in Canada. He has presented or served on panels for: Marketing Magazine Sports Conference 2010, eMetrics Marketing Summit 2010, nextMEDIA Banff 2009, Heritage Canada New Media Fund, iLunch 2008, iSummit 2006, AIMS Canada, Bell Fund, and the Canadian Film Centre’s Habitat Lab. He has a B.A. in Geography from UBC and is proud to have been a founding webmaster at Sympatico.ca.

Sally Farrell

Vice President, Human Resources

As Vice President, Human Resources, Sally Farrell oversees the day-to-day Human Resources (HR) operations at Score Media. An east-coaster, she made her way to Toronto to complete an Honours B.A. degree at the University of Toronto. Through combining her New Brunswick flare with her diplomatic people skills, she soon realized her calling and embarked on a career in the world of HR.

A dedicated employee of Oxford Properties Group, the company provided her with progressively senior positions during her 11 year tenure with the organization. While there, Sally also worked towards obtaining her Certified Human Resources Professional designation which she received in 2001.

In 2006, Ms. Farrell decided to leave Oxford to pursue a career in sports. The opportunity arrived to join Score Media and lead the HR team and it was clearly a perfect fit. A true sports junkie, she will take in a Dallas Cowboys game over an episode of The Bachelor any day!

Oliver Gayagoy

Vice President, Broadcast and Information Technology

As Vice President Technology, Mr. Gayagoy oversees Score Media’s technical infrastructure and initiatives involving emerging platforms. He’s an advocate of social and innovative technologies that add value for the consumer.

Over the past couple of years Oliver has led complex projects such as the implementation of enterprise robotic libraries for archival and risk mitigation purposes, the utilization of high performance clustering storage with application virtualization, the upgrade of the broadcast automation system and the transition from an analog PBX to a true unified communications workflow.

In addition, to meet the growing demands of Score Media’s digital properties, Oliver has integrated with content delivery networks to stream both live and on-demand content to multi-platform devices, established the migration to cloud based management services and managed the expansion to a sophisticated transcoding farm.

In addition to holding several industry certifications, Oliver has recently completed his Executive MBA from the Queen’s School of Business and now spends his time with his family while participating in coaching for various sports leagues.

Tom Hearne

Chief Financial Officer

Thomas Hearne, Chief Financial Officer, brings more than 20 years of financial management and advisory experience to Score Media.

Prior to joining the company, Mr. Hearne was Chief Financial Officer at Redline Communications Inc. where he successfully led the company to its initial public offering on both The AIM Market and The Toronto Stock Exchange. Mr. Hearne was also Chief Financial Officer for Delano Technology Corporation where he successfully led Delano to its initial public offering and listing on NASDAQ. Previous to that, Mr. Hearne held the role of Chief Financial Officer at Open Text Corporation, a public company trading on NASDAQ and the Toronto Stock Exchange, where he was responsible for financial management, acquisition planning and investor relations. Mr. Hearne has also held the roles of VP of Finance at Algorithmics Inc. and European Controller at Alias Research Inc. He holds an M.B.A. from the Schulich School of Business at York University, a B.A. from Trent University and also earned the professional certification of Chartered Accountant.

A country boy from Peterborough who made his way to the bright lights and big city of Toronto, Mr. Hearne epitomizes a true Score viewer through his love of Mixed Martial Arts and dedication to competing in barrel racing during the summer months.

Brian Merker

Vice President, Finance

Brian Merker, Vice President, Finance of Score Media began his financial career in 2003 at KPMG in the Information, Technology and Media audit practice where he obtained his CA designation. During his tenure at the firm, Mr. Merker also took on several voluntary roles including an active involvement with the HR and Special Events committees, recruiting, and organizing charitable fundraisers.

Brian obtained an Honours degree in Economics from Guelph University and subsequently completed the accounting program offered at Queen’s University. His passion for sports, as evidenced by his accomplishments on the mats of Guelph U with a bronze medal in the National wrestling championships, led him to a position where his financial expertise and sports enthusiasm could be combined. In 2006, he left KPMG to join Score Media and lead the day-to-day finance operations at the company.

An outdoorsman at heart, Mr. Merker began his career as a tree-planter with Outland Reforestation where he established one of the highest tree-per-day averages in the nation’s history.

Don Moen

Senior Vice President, Sales

As Senior Vice President of Sales for Score Media, Don Moen leads the company in executing on strategic sales initiatives and operations.

A two-time Grey Cup Champion and a member of the Toronto Argonaut wall of fame, Mr. Moen is a consummate professional both on and off the field. Prior to being promoted to Senior Vice President, he held both Vice President of Sales and National Account Executive positions at the company. Mr. Moen is an integral member of The Score team and has been with the company since its inception in 1995. In leading the company to consecutive year-over-year sales growth, he has proven himself as a force with which to be reckoned.

A dedicated father of two, Moen finds himself in a fortunate position to have combined his love of sports with business. A frequent traveler as is evident by his constant “glow,” Mr. Moen is best known for his schoolboy charm and appreciation of flashy rings.

Sam Nasrawi

Vice President, Creative Services

As Vice President of Creative Services at Score Media, Sam Nasrawi oversees the creative operations for the company. A graduate of the Bell Centre for Creative Communication, Sam has done everything from freelance work for Alliance Films, CBC, and CTV, to producing and editing promotions and commercials for some of the industry’s most influential brands, to providing the creative vision for all of Score Media’s multiplatform properties.

In his 14 years with the company, Sam has worked his way up the ladder from Editor to Vice President and along with his creative team has overseen some of the company’s most important projects including the rebranding of Score Media, the launch of theScore’s HD studio, and managing some of the most innovative client integrated campaigns in the industry.

The sports media landscape is constantly changing and evolving and Sam keeps evolving with it. With viewers and sponsors always demanding more, Sam has been able to deliver with brands like Procter & Gamble, Molson, Coca-Cola, and Research in Motion to name a few. Sam’s approach to work and life are one in the same – the first one to arrive and the last one to leave. His passion and energy are second to none and he’s not afraid to colour outside the lines.

Ethan Ross

Vice President, Digital Sales

As Vice President of Digital Sales, Ethan Ross is responsible for the development and execution of Score Media’s U.S. digital media sales strategy.

He is a recognized leader in mobile advertising sales and his extensive sales background includes roles with Millennial Media as Vice President, Mobile Advertising Sales and XOS Sports as Vice President, Digital Sales. Ethan has a strong track record of delivering creative integrated solutions for clients and has been responsible for the development and growth of several high performance digital sales teams.

Ethan also worked as Vice President of Sales & Business Development at Track Entertainment where he helped lifestyle companies within the nightlife & leisure vertical target affluent individuals on select niche online properties. He has also held roles at several other online ventures including Musicvision, a music network and UGO.com, a games portal (recently acquired by Hearst Interactive).

Ethan has a JD from Brooklyn Law School and currently lives in NYC.

Greg Sansone

Vice President, Operations, Broadcasting

A television veteran, Greg Sansone began his career in 1991 at Global TV. As a writer, editor and producer for the Global TV network, Mr. Sansone was able to pursue his love of sports at Sportsline. Following that, he worked at The Fan 590 from 1992-1997 where he produced Prime Time Sports with Bob McCown before moving behind the microphone full-time as a sportscaster/talk show host.

Mr. Sansone was hired at theScore in 1997 as a reporter and became a full-time anchor the following year. As an integral member of the broadcast team, he co-hosted Score Tonight from 1999-2004 as well as To the Point with Greg Sansone from 2004-2007. Furthermore, he co-created, co-produced and co-hosted Score on the NFL with Tim Micallef in 2002 which he continues to host to this day.

Appointed Director of Programming in March 2007, Vice President of Production in December 2007, followed by Vice President, Operations, Broadcasting in July 2011, Mr. Sansone is a key player in Score Media’s daily operations. His lively personality and intense focus on getting the job done right are the cornerstones of his existence at the company. Although he can often be found spending too much time touching up his make-up, his perfected on-air presence is undeniable.

Jonathan Savage

Vice President, Marketing & Social Platforms

Jonathan Savage is Vice President, Marketing & Social Platforms at Score Media. He left mediumLarge, a web strategy design and development agency, and joined Score Media in 2000 as a web developer. Since 2000 via a progression of roles, he’s been responsible for the design, build, optimization and deployment of numerous versions of theScore.com. Under his watch, theScore.com was the first sports portal in Canada to leverage blogging for editorial and reporting purposes.

In his new role, he welcomes the challenge of overseeing brand and consumer MarCom, social strategy and games for all of Score Media’s platforms.