Genius Brings in Former Vice VP as Its First Revenue Chief

Genius is all about that revenue and has hired its first Chief Revenue Officer to sit atop all things related to sales. Ronen Shapiro joins Genius from Vice where he lead sales. In addition to Vice, Mr. Shapiro has tours at Complex Media and Pandora under his belt. Here is the full announcement:

GENIUS HIRES ITS FIRST REVENUE CHIEF, RONEN SHAPIRO

NEW YORK (March 30, 2016) — Genius, the Internet’s largest destination for lyrics and crowdsourced cultural knowledge, today announced that digital media veteran Ronen Shapiro has joined as its first Chief Revenue Officer. In his new role, Shapiro will oversee all revenue and sales operations for the company.

Shapiro joins Genius with over a decade of experience leading revenue growth in the music and entertainment space. He most recently served as VP of Sales at Vice Media, where he oversaw $60 million per year in revenue. He has held senior positions at Pandora and COMPLEX Media, generating revenue through strategic partnerships with Samsung, Microsoft, Estee Lauder, and Diageo, among others.  

“Ronen combines deep experience in digital media with unmatched hunger to build something new,” said Genius founders Tom Lehman and Ilan Zechory. “We can think of no one better-suited to architect the Genius revenue playbook.”

“The opportunity to join Genius is one I could never pass up,” said Ronen Shapiro. “I count myself as part of the growing movement of people who love obsessing over culture online, from Biggie lyrics to Hamilton to the election. I’m honored to work with Genius’s all-star team as we build a business that’s informed by this same level of curiosity and creativity.”

Earlier this year, Genius launched an integration with Spotify called “Behind the Lyrics” that puts answers to fans’ questions about a song—from what its lyrics mean to what went down in the studio the day it was recorded—directly at their fingertips as they listen to the music. The White House recently used Genius to annotate President Obama’s State of the Union addresses and other notable speeches from the administration, and The Washington Post uses Genius weekly to discuss the 2016 election and annotate presidential debates.

The company has recently hired talent from COMPLEX Media, The FADER, MTV News, WaxPoetics, Billboard, and other cultural publications as it expands its platform. Reaching more than 40 million users a month, Genius counts Selena Gomez, Eminem, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ariana Grande, and Blake Shelton among its top contributors.

[post_ad]