ePrize team members come from an impressive array of backgrounds and organizations. Our Executive Team is representative of the depth and experience of the entire organization.
Josh Linkner
Founder and Chairman
As a pioneer in interactive marketing and promotions, Josh has been involved in the development of thousands of digital marketing strategies over the last 15 years. As the founder and Chairman of ePrize, as well as former CEO for 11 years, Josh has led the firm from inception to being ranked the #1 fastest growing and #3 overall promotion agency by PROMO Magazine.
He led the company’s expansion into new industries including travel, automotive, financial services, consumer packaged goods, retail, and entertainment. Josh has also contributed to the ePrize geographic expansion, opening offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Dallas. In addition, Josh has led the firm through two rounds of financing and two recapitalizations, securing more than $43 million of investment.
As an early Internet marketing visionary, Josh founded and built one of the first web marketing agencies, GlobalLink New Media, in 1995. The firm grew to be recognized as a “Top 100 Interactive Agency” by Advertising Age Magazine in both 1997 and 1998. In early 1999 Josh successfully negotiated and managed all aspects of the sale of GlobalLink to a publicly- traded firm.
He served as Senior Vice President for Rare Medium Group, a 1,100 person web-consulting and venture capital firm. Previously, he was the founder and CEO of two other successful technology companies.
Josh is a frequent source-for-comment among business, technology and marketing media. He has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, AdAge, Inc. Magazine, Entrepreneur, and AdWeek, and is a regular keynote speaker at industry events and conferences. Josh has won several business, technology, and design awards including the 2004 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, The Inc. 500, Crain’s Detroit 40 under 40, Fast Company’s Reader’s Choice Fast 50, the Detroit Executive of the Year, and the 2006 Automation Alley’s CEO of the Year.
Josh earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Advertising from the University of Florida. Also, as an accomplished and well-respected Jazz musician, Josh applies that same passion and excitement toward his business which results in an innovative, disciplined and creative working environment at ePrize.
In addition to his work at ePrize, Josh is on a mission to make the world a more creative planet. To learn more about his role as a change agent for business creativity and to follow Josh’s Blog, visit www.CreativityGeneration.com
Matt Wise
Chief Executive Officer
Matt Wise joined ePrize on March 1 as CEO. Matt formerly was President and CEO of Q Interactive. Under his leadership, Q Interactive became one of the largest performance driven ad networks on the web servicing 1500 brands per year including 50 of the top 100 US advertisers. A pioneer and expert in the field of online marketing, Wise has used his entrepreneurial talents in both start‐ups and established businesses. He most recently served as Senior Vice President of Account Services for Draft, the largest direct marketing and promotions agency in the United States.
Wise has also held senior management positions with LuckySurf, an entertainment and direct marketing company, Delphion, a spinout of IBM focused on global patent software, and Classified Ventures, an e‐commerce company that runs Apartments.com, Cars.com, Homescape and cobranded solutions for 140 newspapers.
Wise received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Iowa in Iowa City, and his Master of Business Administration degree in International Marketing and Finance from DePaul University in Chicago. He sits on the boards of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the Behavioral Targeting Standards Consortium and an advisory board for College of Political Science at the University of Iowa. Wise has also been recognized for the past three years by Crain’s Chicago in their list of Who’s Who technology leaders of Chicago.
Craig Sprinkle
Chief Financial Officer
Craig Sprinkle joined ePrize in July 2007 and brings over 15 years of financial leadership experience spanning across a number of industries including business and financial services, retail, and manufacturing. At ePrize, Craig oversees all finance, accounting, treasury, and purchasing operations.
Prior to ePrize, Craig spent six years as the Vice President of Financial Planning and Analysis for Entertainment Publications, Inc., a leading provider of consumer savings and merchant discounts, best known for its flagship product, the Entertainment® book. In this role, Craig oversaw the development of all the strategic and operating plans, budgeting and forecasting processes, financial reporting and other performance analysis. During this time, Craig rebuilt the entire Finance team and led the implementation of new financial planning and reporting systems, dramatically improving the accuracy of plans and forecasts as well as increasing management awareness. He was also instrumental in the evaluation of many new product and service offerings, and led key portions of the due diligence resulting in the sale of the company to IAC in 2003.
Prior to his time with Entertainment Publications, Craig held various financial leadership positions with F.X. Coughlin Company, Analytical Surveys, Inc. and USA Group, Inc., now owned by Sallie Mae/SLM Corporation.
Craig earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from Ball State University, with a concentration in Corporate Financial Management.
Gabe Karp
Executive Vice President/General Counsel
Gabe oversees all corporate legal matters and leads the Legal Services Team which is responsible for ensuring legal compliance for all aspects of ePrize promotions. Since joining ePrize in 2004, he has overseen over 6,000 interactive promotional campaigns in 44 countries with no legal challenges.
Additionally, Gabe leads the Fulfillment and Human Resource Teams. In 2009 alone, ePrize offered 1,336,656 prizes worth $37.6 million. ePrize has 250 team members worldwide and has been recognized as one of the 101 Best Companies to Work for in Southeast Michigan two years in a row. In 2008, ePrize was also awarded the JVS Business Leadership Award in recognition of its exemplary employment practices.
Gabe previously spent ten years practicing law as a partner and shareholder in the law firm of Hurwitz, Karp, Wallach & Gantz, P.C. His practice included complex commercial litigation, consumer class action litigation, and general personal and corporate representation.
Gabe is a member of the Promotional Marketing Association. He is a respected authority, frequent speaker and writer on legal issues surrounding interactive promotions, including social networking and viral marketing campaigns, mobile marketing, user generated content and emerging technologies. He assisted in revising Puerto Rico’s sweepstakes regulations adopted in 2009 which opened up the Commonwealth to national promotions, has consulted the Federal Trade Commission regarding CAN-SPAM regulations as well as legislators and regulators from several states on drafting and enforcing legislation in those jurisdictions applicable to the interactive promotion industry. Gabe holds a Bachelor of Arts in history from the University of Michigan and a Juris Doctor from Wayne State University Law School.
Gary Shuman
Managing Director, East
Gary joined ePrize in 2000 as the Chief Financial Officer and transitioned to the Vice President of Business Development role from 2003-2006, securing business from key Fortune 500 clients such as Gillette, Staples, Black & Decker and Marriott. From 2006-2007, Gary served as Senior Vice President of Fulfillment Services, leading the drawing administration, prize fulfillment and customer service teams. Gary transitioned to back to Client Development in 2008 where he spearheaded prospecting and business development efforts in the East. Gary is now the Managing Director for ePrize’s Eastern business operations.
Before joining ePrize, Shuman spent 12 years at Ford Motor Company and Visteon Corporation in various finance and strategic planning positions. Gary started his career at General Motors working in plant finance in Pontiac and learning advanced manufacturing techniques at the GM/Toyota NUMMI facility in California.
Shuman holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from The Johns Hopkins University and a master’s of business administration degree from the University of Michigan.
Neil Rosenzweig
Managing Director, South
Neil Rosenzweig brings over 10 years of marketing and promotions experience to the ePrize team. As the first employee to join ePrize in 1999, Neil has been a member of multiple teams at ePrize including leading the business development efforts of the East Coast Region before moving back to the Headquarters in Michigan.
Over the past 8 years, Neil has played a vital part in the development of breakthrough campaigns for several key accounts including The Coca-Company, ConAgra Foods, and Harrah’s Entertainment. Prior to joining ePrize, Neil was a marketing manager for the Detroit Red Wings responsible for in-arena promotions.
Neil earned a Bachelor of Arts in Sports Marketing and Communications from the University of Michigan.
Kaiser Yang
Managing Director, West
Kaiser Yang brings over 16 years of sales, marketing and business development experience from a wide range of industries including packaged goods, hospitality, retail, technology and entertainment.
Prior to joining ePrize, Kaiser worked for Equity Marketing developing national promotions and co-marketing programs for clients such as Dr Pepper/7 Up, Embassy Suites, Exxon Mobile and CVS Pharmacy. His promotional expertise included premiums, interactive/digital mediums, sponsor activation and event marketing. While with Dole Packaged Foods, Kaiser managed the launch of Dole’s juice line into the Japanese market, as well as developing distribution strategies for the Asia-Pacific region. Kaiser has also worked in business development for Otis Elevator, selling maintenance and modernization programs, as well as Nortel Networks, developing new multimedia applications and content delivery tools.
He holds an MBA from the University of Michigan and joined ePrize in 2003.