Vice-Chairman

Ted Meisel is vice chairman of the board of Hope Street Group, a position he has held since 2006.  He joined the board in 2005, and has been devoted to its mission ever since.  He is particularly concerned about preventing the erosion of the middle class as the 21st century unfolds, and believes that reforming our socioeconomic systems – education, healthcare, retirement, job training – is critical to achieving the goal.  Moreover, he finds that “most business and professional leaders, no matter their political affiliation, agree on 95% of the problem, 85% of the goals, and 75% of the solutions. If we were able to execute well the 75% we agree on, we would be well on our way to addressing critical challenges for our nation and our children.  I originally got involved in Hope Street Group because it is about driving change in support of the 75%.”

Ted is an experienced digital economy operator, investor and entrepreneur.  He is Senior Advisor to Elevation Partners, where he is an active board member at Forbes Media and Marketshare, working with the management teams on strategic, operational and organizational issues.

Heis the former CEO of Overture Services, the pioneer of search advertising. He led the company to $1 billion in worldwide revenues by 2003, its fifth full year of operations – when Yahoo! acquired Overture for $1.8 billion.  Ted stayed on for several years at Yahoo! to run the Overture division, continuing its rapid growth and expansion.

Prior to Overture, Ted was an executive at CitySearch. CitySearch became the leading internet city guide, ultimately absorbing its main competitor, Microsoft’s Sidewalk. His responsibilities at CitySearch included editorial, product management, product design, professional services, business development, and engineering.

Before he became an internet executive, he spent a number of years with the consulting firms of McKinsey & Company and Strategic Planning Associates (now Mercer Management Consulting) in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and Singapore.

Ted is an active angel investor in and advisor to a number of early stage companies. He is the Chairman of WiserCare (shared decisionmaking for patients with a diagnosed condition), a board member of Tap11 (platform for marketers to leverage social media), and an advisor to FatTail (workflow and yield management platform for publishers).

Ted holds a B.A. from Dartmouth College and a J.D. from Stanford Law School, and lives in Los Angeles.