zvardy

Zoltan A. Vardy, 40, is a US-born and educated investor, advisor and board member with 20 years of experience in the international media & entertainment industry, and an expertise in advertising-funded businesses, content production and distribution, digital media, Central & Eastern Europe, sales & business development, leadership & management and strategic planning.

As founder of Mentor Equity LLC (Delaware), Zoltan advises venture capital firms and companies operating in the technology, media and advertising industries in transactions, co-invests in early-stage businesses and supports portfolio companies via board membership, business development, and CEO coaching agreements. He is an investor in, and board member of Adfit (www.adfit.hu), a Central Europe-focused invoice marketing services company.

Most recently, Zoltan was CEO/Central European Television at Pro SiebenSat1 Media, where he was responsible for 100 mil EUR revenues and 600 people operating three TV channels and a production company in Hungary and Romania. In his eight years with the company, he also served as Vice President/Ad Sales, overseeing 19 television channels across Scandinavia, Benelux and Eastern Europe, and as Commercial Director/Hungary. Zoltan has held senior executive positions at Ringier (Budapest), USA Today (London), Turner Broadcasting (London) and CBS (Los Angeles). He also co-founded and sold eEurope Media, an Internet media venture focused on Central Europe. In his coaching assignments, Zoltan works with CEOs and entrepreneurs on building long-term strategy, raising operating effectiveness and change management.

Zoltan teaches “Entrepreneurship in Media & Entertainment” at the Corvinus School of Management’s MBA program in Budapest, and is a frequent speaker at media and investment conferences across Europe. He is on the boards of Primus Capital (Budapest), CEU Business School (Budapest), the European TV and Media Management Academy (Strasbourg), and the European Group of Television Advertising (Brussels).

Zoltan is a graduate of Cornell University (1992, B.A. cum laude). He is a citizen of both Hungary and the United States, and lives in Budapest with his wife and young daughter.