Colleen Birdnow Brown
Colleen Brown is the former CEO of Seattle, WA based Fisher Communications, Inc (FSCI). Fisher was a multimedia and technology company with operations throughout the western United States. She has been recognized by National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) as Director of the Year for the Pacific Northwest. In addition, she was selected by the NACD as a Top 100 Corporate Director for the United States. In 2020, she was identified as “Most Influential Director” by Women’s Inc Magazine. She is also an NACD Leadership Fellow and holds a Cyber Oversight Certificate.
Her background in finance and technology, as well as her experience as a CEO and a board leader is valuable to Spark Networks.
Joseph E. Whitters
Joseph is currently a partner at Frazier Healthcare Partners, a private equity firm, which he joined in 2005. Mr. Whitters represents Frazier on the boards of Orthotic Holdings, Inc, and Parata Systems. Furthermore, Joseph is a member of the Board of Directors of Accuray Incorporated and Cutera, Inc. He has previously served on the board of directors of other publicly traded public companies, including PRGX Global, Inc., InfuSystem Holdings, Inc., Analogic Corporation, Air Methods Corporation, Mentor Corp, and Omnicell, Inc. Joseph was a member of the Audit Committee of all of these respective organizations and in many cases, he chaired the Audit Committee. He also served on the board at various privately held companies, including Rural/Metro Corp., Northfield Medical and Revionics LLC. Mr. Whitters held various finance positions of increasing responsibility at First Health Group Corporation (“FHCC”), a public managed care organization where he served as Chief Financial Officer for many years. Prior to FHCC, Joseph held various financial positions with United Healthcare and Overland Express. He is a certified public accountant (inactive) and began his career in public accounting with Peat Marwick. Joseph holds a B.A. in Accounting from Luther College. He has been selected as a nominee to our Board of Directors because he has experience in accounting, finance, risk management, governance, plus has public company operating experience as a CFO, together with experience as a chair and member of numerous audit committees of public and private companies.
Ulrike Handel
Ulrike Handel is a board member and business leader with extensive experience in media and digital companies.
She most recently served as President News Media Europe and Marketing Media of Axel Springer SE. Prior to that role, she was the Chief Executive Officer of Dentsu International (Germany and DACH); before that, Dr. Handel served as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of ad pepper media International N.V.
Dr. Handel has received several awards for her work - including the “Helga-Stödter-Award für Mixed Leadership” in 2019, the Emotion Award "Women in Leadership" and "Ad Age: Women to Watch Europe " in 2018. In 2015, she received the "Manager of the Year” Award from the female leadership organization “Generation CEO”. She is a member of transatlantic organization Atlantik Brücke, Hamburg Chamber of Commerce (Member of the Innovation Committee), European Center for Digital Competitiveness (at ESCP Berlin), Club of European Female Entrepreneurs, 2hearts community (supporting great talents with immigration background in Europe's tech industry), Leaders for Climate Action and Generation CEO (Exclusive Club for female CEOs and Supervisory Board Members).
Dr. Handel studied media management and economics in Hanover and Madison, Wisconsin. In addition, she holds a PhD in media studies from the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Pamela Corrie
Pamela Corrie serves on the Board of Directors of BlockFi Wallet LLC, Amsurg HoldCo, LLC and Amsurg, LLC, Prescient Company Inc., iFit and AIG Financial Products. Ms. Corrie previously served as the Managing Director of Carl Marks Advisors, as a member of the Board of Directors of Boxed Inc.,15 subsidiaries of Bed, Bath and Beyond, AM Castle, Altera Infrastructure, Highland Capital Funds, which are registered investment companies, as the Vice President of Strategic Planning of BVS Acquisition Co. LLC, and as member of the Board of Directors and a member of the Restructuring Committee for each of Katerra, Inc. and Le Tote / Lord & Taylor. She has experience across a variety of industries, including retail and industrial companies and a strong record of collaborating closely with senior management, C-suite and Boards to define corporate strategic vision to address changing market dynamics, product development, technology platform and operational improvements to increase competitiveness, while driving cost efficiencies and rationalization of the work force. Ms Corrie holds a B.S. degree from Stanford University and J.D. degree from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
Laura Marcero
Adam Schwartz
Adam was the Co-Founder and CEO TeePublic.com which he scaled to 130mn in revenue and was later acquired by Redbubble.com. Adam was formally the COO of BustedTees.com which incubated TeePublic and was acquired by SunFrog in 2018. Adam Co-Founded and incubated TheLoyalist.com, a retail and e-commerce brand-building platform that incubates and acquires consumer brands. He currently serves on the board of F.Schumacher & Co, a 134 year old heritage interior design brand and serves as the Chairperson of the Board for HKR Media, the premier partner for US based growth companies looking to access global remote talent. Adam is also on the advisory board of Bombas.com and Attentive.com. He was named to Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2016. He holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Telecommunications Operations Management and Business from the University of Florida.