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 Chief Executive Officer
As a pioneer in interactive marketing and promotions, Josh has been involved in the development of thousands of digital marketing strategies over the last 13 years. As the founder and CEO of ePrize, he has led the firm from inception to being ranked the #1 fastest growing and #3 overall promotion agency by PROMO Magazine. ePrize has produced over 5,000 industry-leading interactive promotions across 36 countries, for clients including Coca-Cola, American Express, The Gap, Procter & Gamble, Warner Bros, Dell, adidas, Citibank and General Motors.
Despite challenging economic times, Josh achieved annualized revenue growth of more than 100% since 1999. 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, 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.
Hot off the press is Josh’s new book, Leaning Forward — a must-read for today’s marketing professional, business owner, or aspiring entrepreneur. Josh takes a penetrating look at the future of interactive marketing, highlighting real world examples of what the best marketers are doing today and where the trends are heading. Learn how to stay ahead of the curve and compete in this dramatically changing landscape. Find Leaning Forward on Amazon.com
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.
Ivan Frank
Chief Marketing Officer
Ivan Frank brings over 10 years of advertising, marketing and consulting experience to the ePrize team. Most recently, Ivan was the head of Business Development for ePrize’s west coast office. Ivan opened ePrize’s west coast office in 2002 where he developed breakthrough campaigns for several key accounts such as The Gap, Inc., Visa USA, and New Line Cinemas. Prior to ePrize, Ivan was a member of the senior sales and marketing team at Silicon Graphics working on product management for emerging technologies.
Ivan graduated from the MBA program at the Anderson School at UCLA. Ivan also earned his Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Michigan, where he was Captain of the Lacrosse team.
Jordan Broad
Executive Vice President, Delivery
With a background in client service, engineering and project management, Jordan Broad brings a production and client-centered focus to ePrize. Jordan oversees the ePrize Delivery organization, a team of 160 professionals who design, build, and execute on everything ePrize delivers to its clients. The Delivery team is composed of software developers, creative gurus and production specialists.
Prior to joining ePrize, Jordan served as Product Strategy Planner for the development and launch of the Pentium IV processor and the Strata-Flash line of products at Intel Corporation in Santa Clara, California. While at Intel, Jordan worked to ensure customers received products on time, under budget, and within strict quality specifications.
At the General Motors North American Manufacturing Ergonomics laboratory, Jordan focused on ease of assembly as it relates to quality control, worker health and safety, and product development/plant communication. He authored and deployed the NIOSH Lifting Guide software program throughout GM’s North American assembly, powertrain and metal fabrication plants, so that every worker could readily access information, knowledge and tools previously available only to engineers.
Jordan holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering degree from the University of Michigan, concentrating in Industrial and Operations Engineering, and focusing on human interaction with complex computer and engineering tasks.
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, he has overseen over 4,000 interactive promotional campaigns in 36 countries with no legal challenges.
Additionally, Gabe leads the Fulfillment and Human Resource Teams. In 2007 alone, ePrize offered 1,906,000 prizes worth $35.9 million. ePrize has 325 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. This year, 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 on legal issues surrounding interactive promotions, including viral marketing campaigns, wireless device and other emerging technologies. He has met personally with senior staff at the Federal Trade Commission regarding CAN-SPAM regulations and authored ePrize’s Public Comment to the FTC on the legislation. Gabe holds a Bachelor of Arts in history from the University of Michigan and a Juris Doctor from Wayne State University Law School.
Jackie Trepanier
Senior Vice President, Talent
Jackie Trepanier joined ePrize in 2001 as a Senior Project Manager leading complex promotions including the Palm Pays Back Program and later managed the Fulfillment Services department for two years. Prior to ePrize, Jackie was a Project Manager for GlobalLink New Media/Rare Medium where she was responsible for defining scope with client and internal teams as well as project delivery. Jackie began her career with the Handleman Company in the Management Associate Training Program. While at Handleman, Jackie also worked as the Promotion Manager for the Kmart Customer Team where she developed and implemented promotions for over 1,800 Kmart stores.
Jackie earned her Masters of Business Administration from Wayne State University. Additionally she attended the University of Michigan earning her Bachelor of Arts in Economics.
Gary Shuman
Senior Vice President, Business Development
As Senior Vice President of Business Development, Gary leads the sales efforts for the New York and Northeast sales regions. 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 as also led the sales efforts for Caffeine Business Development for ePrize. 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
Senior Vice President, Business Development
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
Senior Vice President, Western Region
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.
Bob Marsh
Senior Vice President, Midwest Region
Bob Marsh leads the growth of the client service teams in ePrize’s Detroit and Chicago offices. Bob joined ePrize in 2000, and most recently served as VP of Business Development where he secured and grew top clients including General Mills, Ford, Target, and Northwest Airlines. Bob started his career at Xerox Corporation, and has been focused on interactive marketing since 1997. His client-centric philosophy of being “a marketer first and a salesperson second” has helped clients implement campaigns that generate measurable business results, while driving profitable growth for ePrize.
Bob is a graduate of John Carroll University where he received his Bachelor of Arts in Communications. Bob serves on the Board of Directors for the Eastern Michigan University Integrated Marketing Communications Masters of Science program.