2Dogs.com Adds To Advisory Board
Dr. Benie Mullin and Karen Cassel join 2Dogs.com Advisory Board
Palo Alto, February, 2009
Dr Mullin’s 30 year career has focused on building winning organizations in turnaround and start-up environments – formerly he was President/CEO of the Atlanta Spirit (NBA Hawks, NHL Thrashers and world-class Philips Arena). In this role he oversaw both teams winning more games each season with the Thrashers claiming the NHL S.E. Division Championship in 2007 and the Hawks ending the NBA’s longest playoff drought in 2008. Revenues grew double-digits in each of the 4 years of his tenure and the enormous annual operating losses he inherited were reduced by two-thirds, with Philips Arena being named 3rd best in North-America by Pollstar magazine.
Prior to Atlanta – Mullin served as SVP- Marketing and Team Business for the National Basketball Association where in addition to the responsibility of marketing the NBA, WNBA and NBADL brands he developed a highly-respected in-house team business consulting function that grew gate receipts by over $200M per annum. Before the NBA, Mullin held executive positions in Major League Baseball and the International Hockey League – as the Pittsburgh Pirates SVP-Business in the mid 80’s to early 90’s, he oversaw the turnaround of the struggling club and led them to record-breaking attendance and profits. In 1991 he became one of the first employees of the Colorado Rockies, again in the role of SVP-Business, where he developed and executed the plans that broke the MLB All-Time Attendance Record of 4.5M fans per season. Mullin also oversaw the initial construction of award-winning Coors Field. As President/GM of the IHL’s Denver Grizzlies he built a model expansion franchise drawing over 14,000 fans per game and winning the Turner Cup with a 72-20-6 win-loss record.
Mullin holds a Ph.D. Business, an M.B.A. and an M.S. – Marketing degree from the University of Kansas and a B.A. Business Studies degree from Coventry University.
Karen leads Exponential’s performance marketing businesses. She brings nearly 20 years of business experience having held positions responsible for corporate strategy, consumer product marketing, branding, online marketing and operations. Most recently, Karen was COO of Tagged.com, a rapidly growing Web 2.0 social networking site. Previously, Karen was Senior Director at QuinStreet where she successfully led the company’s post-secondary education vertical. She has also held positions as VP of Marketing for an e-tailer of fine art prints and a software development company recently purchased by Hyperion. Karen started her career as an actuary for John Hancock Financial Services.
Karen received a BS in Mathematics from Tufts University and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.
