Board of Directors

Keyvan Peymani joined our company as a director in 2016. Mr. Peymani is a veteran senior executive and leader working at the intersection of technology, media, and venture capital. Since April 2021 Mr. Peymani has been the Chief Marketing Officer of Cirque du Soleil. From March 2017 to January 2019, Mr. Peymani served as the Head of Startup Marketing for Amazon Web Services where he was responsible for the global marketing strategy. Since January 2016, he has been serving as a Venture Partner and Senior Advisor to Touchdown Ventures, a venture capital firm pairing with several leading corporations to establish and manage their platforms. From June 2012 to February 2016, Mr. Peymani served as the Managing Director, Digital Strategy Division at ICM Partners, one of the world’s largest talent and literary agencies, and was the firm’s chief digital executive, reporting to the Executive Board. Mr. Peymani has a BA in Religious Studies and a BA in Neurobiology with concentrations in Neuroscience from Northwestern University. He holds an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.

Matthew Pierce was the Founder of Versus LLC and joined our company as Chief Executive Officer and a director in 2016. Mr. Pierce has over 20 years of experience working in entertainment and technology. Prior to founding Versus Systems, Mr. Pierce founded in June 2014 and was until June 2016 the chief executive officer of OLabs, LLC, a technology incubator that founded Versus. From April 2011 to June 2014, Mr. Pierce was Vice President of Strategy at Originate Inc., a business incubator where he worked with early-stage technology companies. Since 2014, Mr. Pierce has been a Lecturer at the University of California, Los Angeles, or UCLA, Anderson School of Management and in the Economics department at UCLA, where he teaches entrepreneurship. Mr. Pierce is a graduate of Stanford University and earned his MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.

Mr. Barrera is a senior corporate executive with extensive experience in finance, international investments, acquisitions and global partnerships. Mr. Barrera serves as Chief Commercial Officer of Icaro Media Group responsible for strategic partnerships and global strategy. Mr. Barrera served as President of SKYY Digital Media, CEO of Global Select Wealth Management, and for over twenty years Mr. Barrera worked at Prudential Financial where he served both as Director of Institutional Wealth Management at Prudential International Investments and Director of Institutional Investments at Dryden Wealth Management. Mr. Barrera holds degrees in Economics and Business Administration from Coe College.

Mr. Catzel is an accomplished business and technology executive with an extensive history of strategic alliances in media content, licensing, marketing and technology. Mr. Catzel’s executive positions include Microsoft, Intel Capital, Lucasfilm, ESPN, Barnes & Noble and North Communications. He is currently focused on the burgeoning 5G mobile network area and its impact on digital sports, Esports and Smart Cities.

Michelle Gahagan joined our company as a director in 2016. Since May 2006, Ms. Gahagan has been serving as the Managing Director of Intrepid Financial, a privately-held merchant bank based in Vancouver, British Columbia and London, England. In August 2014, Ms. Gahagan founded and has since been serving as a director of France Bike Rentals, a large bike rental business with over 500 rental bikes and over 2,500 annual reservations. Since January 2018, Ms. Gahagan has been serving as the Board Chair of Canadian Palladium Resources, an exploration company specializing in palladium and cobalt projects. From February 2016 to June 2018, she also served as a director at US Cobalt Inc., a Canadian-based company focused on the exploration of cobalt assets in the Idaho cobalt belt. Ms. Gahagan graduated from Queens University Law School and practiced corporate law for 20 years. Ms. Gahagan has extensive experience advising companies with respect to international tax-driven structures, mergers and acquisitions.

Mr. Goldner is a senior corporate executive, having managed and operated fortune 500 companies in LATAM and North America. Mr. Goldner serves as Chief Operating Officer of Icaro Media Group responsible for global partnerships, consumer trends and operational best practices. Mr. Goldner served as Chief Executive Officer of Intralot do Brazil and Chief Executive Officer for Trust Impressores, a subsidiary of Oberthur Group. Mr. Goldner has also served as head of business development and Managing director of Estrategia Investimentos SA / Citibank in asset management. Mr. Goldner holds a degree in Economics from Universidade Gama Filho RJ–Brazil.

Shannon Pruitt joined our company as a director in September 2022. Ms. Pruitt has served as the Global Chief Content Officer of Stagwell Media Network since September 2021, where she is responsible for global content-related agency and client partnerships, products and solutions. As part of the Stagwell acquisition of  MDC Media Partners, where she was President of Content, Managing Director, from August 2020 to December 2021, Pruitt was promoted into her global role within the Stagwell Media Network. From July 2019 to August 2020, she was the Managing Partner, EVP: Walt Disney Television Networks Portfolio. Ms. Pruitt has extensive consumer engagement and marketing experience from her prior roles as Chief Marketing Officer of The Honest Company (2018-2019), Co-founder and President of Dentsu’s The Story Lab (2014-2017), and Chief Content Officer at Carat (2017-2018). She has also previously built and led integrated marketing and sales teams at global production powerhouses Fremantle Media, Mark Burnett Productions, Warner Bros, 19 Entertainment, and Octagon, where she was responsible for the strategy and activation of MasterCard’s FIFA World Cup, Major League Baseball and the NFL sponsorships.