Management Team

Ariel Napchi is a veteran entrepreneur with vast experience in media and communication supporting technologies. Before joining HIRO-Media, Ariel founded and was the CEO of the successful mobile LBS community start-up, Valis, and was a member of the founding team of a UK based start-up in the field of DTP. In fact, the previous three companies for which Ariel has worked have yielded liquidity events for investors in the form of two mergers and
one IPO.
Ariel was recently elected one of the ten most promising start-up entrepreneurs in Israel. The US publication,
Variety named Ariel, who holds a BA in philosophy and humanities from Tel-Aviv University, as the ‘Innovator to watch’ in 2008.

Alan Oken is a seasoned investor and entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience in hi-tech and venture capital. Alan’s vast experience and knowledge of worldwide business strategy brings and invaluable contribution to HIRO. Before joining our team, Alan was a founder and partner in MCV, a boutique venture capital fund, and he now serves as a director in Backlife Limited and Get Price Limited. He is also a member of the Board of Chartered Accountants of South Africa.

Hed’s experience in R&D is in the most challenging and demanding fields of software development, including the financial sector, telecoms and gaming. It is Hed’s vast proven experience in developing high performance, high-reliability, robust and scalable systems that ensures the quality of our systems. Hed has a B. Sc in Computer Science and Mathematics (Suma Cum Laude) and was chosen as one of the five leading VP R&D by TheMarker magazine in 2009.

Oded’s rich and extensive background in traditional and new media, includes experience in television - he served as and CCO of Noga communication, Israel's biggest cable company, radio - he founded and managed Israel's most popular music radio station and Internet - he created Israel's most successful virtual community of the 90s. Oded also founded Valis, the successful mobile community start-up and has published several articles in the field of IA. Oded was elected ‘Best UX expert’ in Israel by TheMarker magazine in 2009.

Based on HIRO’s growing success in the US, Tom joined our Management Team and leads the development of our US Ad Services Operation. He is the founder and former CEO of BlackArrow Corporation, an ad-management technology company for viewer-controlled video, and brings more than 25 years of industry experience to HIRO. He has also worked for Move Networks as Chief Strategy Officer and EVP of Ad Services, where he led the development of strategic initiatives focused on client revenue opportunities, including working with such clients as ABC.com, Fox.com, ESPN, Televisa and other TV networks. His past roles include VP of Business Development and West Coast General Manager for America Online, EVP of Business Development for Broadvision, President of IDG Interactive Services, and West Coast VP and GM for MTV/Nickelodeon. Tom’s charter is the development of a full service HIRO USA ad services company supporting emerging clients in the broadcast, cable, studio, and video ad network markets.

Chris’ years of experience in online marketing and a profound knowledge of the Australian market are invaluable to our team. Chris is the co-founder and CEO of GetPrice, the Australian comparison-shopping engine and prior to founding GetPrice, he acted as a consultant to various European companies on corporate development, business development and strategy. Chris also spent five years at Lycos Europe, as the Head of Pangora UK.

Peter’s experience as an online advertising executive and his understanding of business ecosystems across digital media platforms is essential to our team. Before joining HIRO-Media, Peter served as VP of advertising at Move Networks and director of business development at Admission (acquired by the Cobalt group), MetaTV (acquired by Comcast) and Altavista.