Gameplay Partners
JOhn lack, Chairman and Co-Founder
John A. Lack, Chairman and Co-founder of Gameplay Partners, is also Chief Partner of Firemedia Partners, an international media consulting practice. In his 35 year career in the media and entertainment industries, Lack is best known for creating MTV, the broadcast vehicle now an integral part of global culture. As the Wall St. Journal said, “His innovation was a catalyst to other industries such as music video production and television advertising, changing the way music is marketed and television is produced.” As Chief Operating Officer of Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment Co. from 1979-1984. Lack also developed The Movie Channel, cable television’s first 24-hour pay network and Nickelodeon, the award winning children’s channel.
Most recently Lack was a founding partner and CEO of Firebrand, the first multi-platform network dedicated to commercial culture, whose major investors included Microsoft, GE Capital and NBC/Universal.
Lack was previously President and CEO of i3 Mobile (NASDAQ IIIM), the developer and marketer of PRONTO, a premium phone service that seamlessly integrated flat-menu voice recognition, audio content (CNN, ESPN) with live “mobile assistants.” PRONTO was selected by BusinessWeek as “one of the Best Wireless Services” in 2002.
Lack was also Managing Director of STREAM, Telecom Italia’s digital content and pay television company from 1998-2000. In his two years in Rome as a Board Member and Chief Operating Officer, he built STREAM from 50,000 subscribers over 400,000 subscribers, and then helped orchestrate the sale of a majority stake to News Corp., who merged it with Telepiu to form Sky Italia.
From 1992-1995, Lack was Executive Vice-President of Marketing and Programming at ESPN, where he was responsible for all programming, affiliate and advertising sales, research, marketing and the development and the launch of ESPN2, the contemporary sports network targeted to young adults.
Prior to joining ESPN, Lack served as President and CEO of ACTV, a developer and marketer of proprietary interactive television technology. He was also Chairman of Nelson Vending Technology, the parent company of the “Amazing Video Machine.”, the developer and operator of 350 video dispensing terminals in Toronto, Canada and a principal and CEO of ELF Communications, a group broadcaster with six radio stations in the southeastern United States.
Lack also worked at CBS for nine years, where he held various sales and marketing positions, including Vice-President and General Manager of CBS Radio Spot Sales and then Vice-President and General Manager of WCBS News 880. Under his aegis, the radio station reached the highest ratings in its history, and won a Peabody Award for journalism excellence
Lack is a graduate of Boston University’s School of Communication. He holds a Master’s Degree in broadcast journalism from the Medill School at Northwestern University, and he completed the course work for Ph.D in Communication at the Annenberg School at the University of Pennsylvania. He has taught a Master’s class in Media Perspective at The New School University in New York, where he was also a Director of the Media Management Program.
Lack is Chairman of the Guardian’s Council at the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center in East Hampton, N.Y. and Chairman of the ASGOG Foundation. He also served on the Acquisition Committee of the International Center for Photography (ICP) and is past Chairman of the Circle Repertory Company, the New York Service for the Handicapped, and the founding Chairman of the V Foundation for Cancer Research