Eric Schwartzman Bio

LIFE STORY:

I am a senior communications professional with broad experience in online communications, corporate communications, public relations, public affairs and marketing for leading brands, start-ups, non-profits and government agencies.

I help organization develop and execute digital communications strategies and have extensive experience integrating emerging information technologies and platforms into organizational communications initiaitves. I am a frequent presenter at professional conferences and teach the top-rated new media and social media communications workshop. I am innovative, resourceful and driven.

In 2000, I resigned from the Interpublic Group [NYSE:IPG] PR firm Rogers & Cowan, where I served as director of promotions managing a staff of nine, and went out on my own to specialize in online communications. Since then, I have developed online communications strategies, training programs, policies and campaigns for Boeing, Brigham Young University, City National Bank, Environmental Defense Fund, Gen Con, Johnson & Johnson, LA Opera, LucasFilm, Mova, MGM Grand Casinos & Resorts, Pussycat Dolls, Rearden, Southern California Edison, NORAD & US Northern Command, US Embassy in Athens and many others.

I've been contracted by the United States Marines Corps, US Department of State, the Government of Singapore, UCLA Extension and others to teach social media and new media communications to their employees as well as provide search engine optimization, blogger relations, podcasting, online writing and online video training to agencies, nonprofits and businesses.

Building on my experience managing pressroom activities at The Grammy Awards, and working in pressrooms at the MTV Music Video Awards, MTV Movie Awards, FOX Teen Awards, the People's Choice Awards and other special events, I built the first online newsrooms for Cirque du Soleil and the Salt Lake Olympics to efficiently distribute press materials and high resolution photographs online.

This led to the development and creation of online newsroom software as a service provider iPressroom, which I founded, and which today hosts online newsrooms for Target, Toyota, UCLA and others on a proprietary content management system designed specially to help nontechnical personnel practice online communications autonomously from IT professionals or webmasters. I sold the company in 2009 and remain a strategic advisor.

I have applied knowledge and skills in the areas of search engine optimization, online community management, content marketing, and have increased page rankings for AARP, Associated Production Music, LA Opera, Trend Micro and others.

In addition to my online communications achievements, I led a 30-person team responsible for all aspects of media relations at Star Wars Celebration IV, which attracted more than 400 reporters and 35,000 attendees to the Los Angeles Convention Center, generating 1,422 articles and 1,763 television segments in five days. I was also the senior media relations executive responsible for the Cirque du Soleil’s appearance at the 74th Annual Academy Awards®, the Salt Lake Olympics Opening and Closing Ceremonies, the launch of the Pussycat Dolls and worked as a media relations specialist on the Britney Spears Onyx Hotel World Tour.

In 2005 I started the weekly, half-hour business podcast "On the Record...Online" about how new media is changing the way organizations communicate and how people consume media and information, which has featured exclusive interviews with Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal, David Pogue of The New York Times, Ken Auletta of the New Yorker and many others.

On the Record.Online has received numerous awards including the Public Relations Society of America Bronze Anvil Award in 2007, the Marketing Sherpa Email Marketing Award in 2007, the MarCom Gold Award in 2007, the PR News Platinum Award in 2007, the Public Relations Society of America Los Angeles Chapter Prism Award 2007 and the Society for New Communications Research Award of Excellence in 2006.

Prior to joining Rogers & Cowan in 1997, I was a corporate officer at Denver-based amusement start-up Laser Storm, where I was part of the executive team that took the company public on the NASDAQ in 1996. As vice president of marketing and product development, I managed a staff of 12 and was responsible for product development, marketing, investor relations during the company’s quiet period, advertising and public relations agency oversight. At Laser Storm, I also negotiated licensing agreements with Marvel Entertainment Group for their X-MEN copyright and MGM for their Stargate copyright, and design and built out-of-home, amusement products based on both.

Before that, I was the creative director and vice president of client services for Los Angeles-based special effects company Wildfire, where I managed a full-time staff of three, and freelance crews up to 25 on major entertainment projects at Disneyland, Universal Studios, Caesar’s Forum Shops, all the major motion picture studios and broadcast networks. At Wildfire, I was accountable for project staffing, profitability and new business development.

I began my career as a writer intern on the CBS sitcom, "Doctor, Doctor" starring Matt Frewer and next as a copywriter at Red Car Production. I was also a contributing editor at UK-based Leisure Management Magazine, where I covered technology and entertainment trends.

After graduating from a leading agricultural high school in Israel in 1984 as class valedictorian, I spent one semester at Tel Aviv University, where I took courses in propaganda studies, followed by an intensive film production program at New York University before continuing on to San Francisco State University's School of Creative Arts, where I was among the 20 out of nearly 1,000 to be accepted to the Cinema Production Program, arguably the nation's leading experimental film production program, which fused conventional cinema studies with semiotics. I graduated from SFSU Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1990.

I live in Topanga Canyon, California, with my wife Celia and my son William. You can connect with me on Friendfeed, Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Delicious or through my podcast or blog.