Principal
New Publication
Find out what's wrong with the world's leading media companies
In their new book, Curse of the Moguls, coauthors Ava Seave, Jonathan Knee and Bruce Greenwald explain what is going on behind the sometimes good, but mostly ugly, financial performance of much of the media industry: film, music, database publishing, TV, video games, telecom, newspapers among others. And then they give advice for how managers can structure their businesses more rationally in the future. Read more.
Ava Seave
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Ava has a broad range of experience across a diverse group of media organizations. Her particular strengths lie in all types of marketing, strategic planning, new product development, as well as post-merger integration.
While with Quantum Media Associates, Ava has provided senior-level management consulting services to many media companies. For example:
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For several consumer magazine, special interest publications and newsletters: on retainer to offer new product ideas and general circulation advice. - For a large trade magazine company: conducted an extensive distribution audit, analysis, and best practices evaluation
- For a major special interest magazine: worked with the staff team in conducting an extensive analysis and business plan to launch a new source of subscriptions and membership products
- For an important international art institution: on retainer to work with finance, research, visitor services and education staffs on wide-ranging projects
- For an intellectual journal and professional association: helped to refine web site purpose and functionality to increase revenue and attract particular segments of target audiences
- For a daily newspaper and Web site: wrote the business plan, hired staff and integration firm, researched line extensions and launched the publication
- For a web-based service that offers post-sale support and product ownership services: wrote the business plan, hired tech and marketing staff, identified funding sources and strategic partners, supervised demo build and trade show introduction
Before joining Quantum Media, Ava worked as a general manager at Scholastic Inc., where she directed the Trumpet Club and Scholastic Specials business units. These book clubs sell licensed and original paperback novels, picture books, software, educational toys and novelty items to children and parents through direct mail promotions to classroom teachers, Pre-K to Grade 6.
For many years, Ava was at The Village Voice; as general manager, she was responsible for all non-advertising revenue and administrative management including circulation (both single copy and subscription), shipping and distribution, list sales, print and on-line syndication and consumer advertising and public relations. She also worked at TVSM, the country's largest cable listings magazine, as general manager of TV Time (now Total TV) and at Dell Publishing as director of sales and as director of market research.
Ava is an Adjunct Associate Professor at Columbia Business School, teaching "Media Strategy: Analysis, Innovation and Implementation.” She is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Columbia Journalism School, teaching "Making the Business of Journalism Work." She is co-author (with Jonathan Knee and Bruce Greenwald) of the widely reviewed book published by Penguin's Portfolio line in October 2009, "The Curse of the Mogul: What's Wrong with the World's Leading Media Companies." At NYU she has taught Marketing and "Managing E-Technology" at the School of Professional and Continuing Education.
Ava is on the Board of Directors of two New York media companies: Davler Media and Magnify.net. She is also a Trustee of two non-profits: The Amercian Poetry Review and DeLaSalle Academy, an independent middle school for extremely bright, but financially challenged middle schoolers. She served as a Trustee for the the Archaeology Institute of America for six years, and is currently serving as that organization's head of the Archaeology Magazine committee.
Ava graduated from Brown University with an A.B. (Phi Beta Kappa) and Harvard Business School with an M.B.A.
