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Shon Tomlin
Shon Tomlin
Senior Vice President of Programming and Marketing - FUEL TV
Shon Tomlin is Senior Vice President of Programming and Marketing for FUEL TV. In his role, he’s responsible for establishing the channel’s programming and marketing strategies as it pursues both domestic and international growth across all media platforms. He also manages the development and production of commissioned original series. Additionally, Tomlin oversees multiple groups including music, scheduling, licensing, research, integrated marketing, and on-air promotions.
Prior to his current role at FUEL TV, Shon was VP of Programming & Development where he developed and supervised series including Built to Shred, The Captain & Casey Show, American Misfits, Thrillbillies, The Moto, The Adventures of Danny & The Dingo, and many others. In 2003, Shon joined FUEL TV during its start-up phase as Executive Producer where he co-developed and executive produced its first original series and co-supervised its production team.
Previously, Shon was founder and President of Groove Inc., an Emmy Award winning production and marketing company that provided consultation and services across television, print, live events, music supervision, and media distribution. Groove Inc. forged strong relationships with media companies such as ESPN, MTV Networks, Warner Bros., FOX Family, and AOL. Established as an authentic connection to youth culture, Groove bridged the gap between mainstream media and core music, sports, and youth properties.
By 1995 Groove had established itself as a first mover in new media by partnering with then internet leader AOL and its pioneering youth web portal, Surflink. Shortly after, Groove partnered with BMX legend and X Games star Mat Hoffman to produce ESPN’s first action sports comedy and lifestyle series, Kids in the Way. The series broke new ground creatively and established a new model in cost-effective production through the cutting edge employment of digital editing, state-of-the-art camera rigs, and digital video. In the late 90s, Groove was also credited with developing and producing the world’s first fully produced live webcasts with major record labels, Capitol and Warner Bros.
After shifting the focus of the company to television development and producing, Tomlin pursued a rumor about Fox Cable Network’s launch of an action sports network, beginning his tenure at FUEL TV.
Shon currently resides in Manhattan Beach, California and is an avid snowboarder, casual surfer, and resident DJ at one of Manhattan Beach’s popular night spots.
Steve Caballero
Steve Caballero
Professional Skateboarder
There are a lot of skaters who don’t think about life after skateboarding because they believe that there isn’t one. With dreams that they still will be skating at 30, at 40, they imagine that they will still define the sport, still define the spirit. Thinking that they’ll never have the nine to five job, that they’ll still be changing, getting bigger and better instead of slower and older. Steve Caballero continues to live those dreams.
Steve Caballero was born in 1964 in San Jose and was an original member of the Bones Brigade, the legendary team that board manufacturer Powell*Peralta envisioned would redefine skateboarding. He was taking his first steps during the conception of the Vietnam War. He is older than the majority of those in the sport, but make no mistake about it, Steve Caballero still comes out to play.
Caballero’s inception with skateboarding began like so many other kids’ did. Seeing the magazines, watching the older kids do it and then taking a board and attempting to recreate the moves himself. But unlike so many other kids, Steve took that idea to another level and made a sport that could not be defined without him.
Steve has been skating for more than a quarter of a century and is still competing in the Masters category. He invented the Caballerial, which inspired the half Cab, two moves demonstrated at skating contests all over the world.
As a pioneer of street skating, Caballero won both street and vert titles at the 1987 World Championships in Munster, Germany. Not only did Steve invent certain air variations for vertical skating, he also set the one-time world record for highest air achieved on a half pipe, which was 11 feet.
Featured in films (El Diablo, Police Academy 4) and a plethora of video games (see Tony Hawk Pro 2 & 3), Steve keeps up with the ever-changing sport and recently added another title to his trophy case as he captured his first Pro-tec Pool Party Masters Championship in 2010.
Wade Martin
Wade Martin
President and CEO, Alli, the Alliance of Action Sports
Wade Martin is the President and CEO of Alli, the Alliance of Action Sports, a global entertainment business that encompasses national and international action sports tours and events, multimedia production and distribution, and a consumer facing lifestyle brand. Alli includes the Dew Tour, Winter Dew Tour, the China Invitational, AMA Motocross Championship, King of Wake Series, and the Gatorade Free Flow Tour as well as Alli Media, which creates original content, produces and presents content with partners, and distributes Alli content through a variety of channels.
Martin joined NBC Sports in the fall of 2003 as General Manager of Action Sports. In this role, Martin
spearheaded the creation and development of the Dew Tour, which launched in 2005 as the first season-long professional tour for action sports. By 2007, Martin had been promoted to President and the DewTour was recognized as the most successful series in action sports, boasting the largest media commitment, largest total viewership and on-site attendance, and a blue-chip roster of partners including Mountain Dew, Toyota, Panasonic, Sony PlayStation, Nike, and Verizon Wireless. That same year, the company announced its first major expansion initiatives with the creation of the Winter Dew Tour and China Invitational.
In 2008, that expansion continued with Martin leading the ground-breaking strategic partnership between NBC Sports and MTV Networks. The joint venture provided an unparalleled media and event platform, and led to the formation of Alli, the Alliance of Actions Sports, as the new umbrella brand and company. Under Alli, Martin developed and negotiated partnerships with leading properties in new sport verticals, created a media arm (Alli TV and www.Allisports.com), and opened the Carlsbad, Cali. office to oversee the creative, editorial and consumer products group and e-commerce business, the Alli Shop. In total, Alli manages six properties and over 90 events while producing more than 200 hours annually of original content broadcast across NBC, USA, MTV, MTV2, and FuelTV as well as multiple new media platforms and international networks.
As CEO of Alli, Martin oversees the joint venture and reports to a board of NBC and MTVN executives. Martin oversees all facets of Alli; media (programming, production, distribution) properties (owned and operated and affiliate properties) marketing (brand management, event marketing, communications), all revenue functions (sponsorship sales and service, licensing, business development, e-commerce) and business operations (finance, legal, administration).
Before joining NBC, Martin was Senior Vice President/Executive Director of the Gravity Games and oversaw Octagon Marketing’s Action Sports Division. Martin developed the Gravity Games into one of the most widely recognized action sports properties in the world.
Martin began his career in the sports industry at Advantage International, where he worked in the properties and tennis divisions before leading the creation and management of the emerging sports group. Martin earned a B.S. from Michigan State University, where he was a four-year letter winner and captain on the tennis team, and a M.S. in Sport Management from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.
Martin was named to Sports Business Journal’s Forty Under Forty list in 2005 and Brandweek’s 2006 Marketers of the Next Generation.
Martin lives in Hinsdale, Illinois with his wife Paula and children, Tosh, 8, and Elle, 5.
Issa Sawabini
Issa Sawabini
Partner, Fuse
Issa is widely considered one of the foremost marketing experts in action sports and related youth culture. He oversees all client service areas at Fuse and specializes in the development and execution of clients’ youth targeted marketing strategies. Issa also oversees all Fuse design and digital services working to guide brands in the credible development of action sports focused creative.
In the past decade he has worked to develop successful action sports marketing strategies for over 50 mainstream and endemic brands including Gatorade, Mountain Dew, Amp, SoBe, Harley-Davidson, Yahoo, NBC, Universal Studios, Motorola, Ford Motor Company, Burton Snowboards, Quiksilver, Converse, Discover Card and MasterCraft. This work has been recognized with a variety of individual and agency honors.
In 2009, Issa was named to Sports Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 List, honoring the 40 most influential executives in sports under 40 years old. Fuse honors and awards include being named one of Sports Business Journal’s Top 20 Sports Marketing Agencies, one of Event Marketer’s Top 100 Event Agencies and a nomination for a Sports Emmy. Most recently Fuse was honored with Event Marketer Magazine’s Grand Ex Award recognizing The Best Event Activation of the year.
Due to his youth culture and marketing experience, Issa is frequently sought out by media for youth oriented marketing stories including outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio, Forbes, Sports Business Journal, Brandweek, PR Week and Ad Age. He is a participant in USA Today’s Small Business Panel, a member of the Athlete Recovery Fund Advisory Board and a regular speaker at industry conferences including Action Sports Retailer, SIA, Promo Live and Sports Summit.
Issa’s professional experience is directly related to his personal passion - he is a well-known DJ, regularly appearing at clubs and action sports events. His sports interests include snowboarding, wakeboarding, surfing and mountain biking.
Bobby Hundreds
Bobby Hundreds
Co-Founder and Creative Director - The Hundreds
Bobby Hundreds is the Co-Founder and Creative Director of The Hundreds, a Los Angeles-based lifestyle brand that encompasses an apparel line, footwear range, popular website, print magazine, and retail stores. Just hitting the 7-year mark, The Hundreds’ line is stocked in 400 of the world’s most prestigious, select streetwear and skate shops, including 2 of it’s own flagships in Los Angeles and San Francisco (with a third opening later this summer in New York City). The website is centered around Bobby’s daily blog, generating traffic of over 1 million unique readers a month, and the brand has been featured as a lead story in the New York Times Magazine, Antenna Magazine, and Los Angeles Times.
Bobby grew up in Southern California’s skate, snow, and punk scenes, and attributes much of The Hundreds’ story and success to his background in the subcultures. He actively documented much of his youth involvement through photography, which was showcased at the California Museum of Photography when he was 18. His initial launch into the action sports world was a stint at Transworld Media, where he was part of the original team that put together the now-defunct Stance Magazine. His writing has been published in Giant Robot Magazine and Mass Appeal Magazine.
In 2008, along with partner Ben Hundreds, Bobby was selected as #13 of Inc. Magazine’s Top 30 Entrepreneurs under 30.
Dustin Robertson
Dustin Robertson
Chief Marketing Officer - Backcountry.com, DogFunk.com
Dustin Robertson is the Chief Marketing Officer of Backcountry.com and its ASR specialty shop, DogFunk.com. He is responsible for thebranding, promotion, customer acquisition and customer relationshipmanagement for Backcountry.com’s 10 online specialty stores.
Dustin joined Backcountry.com in 2000 and has directed initiatives insupport of the Backcountry.com stores’ “Center of Gear Knowledge”community strategy, including One Deal at a Time (ODAT), theathlete/team program, and the recent Community development initiative.
DogFunk.com’s Community initiative allows customers to be the expertson gear in an integrated online community through personal gearreviews, interactive peer-to-peer Q&A, customer-submitted images, gearlists and more. The goal is to provide the best research experience tothe customer so they start their shopping with Dogfunk.com.
Under Dustin’s direction, all of Backcountry.com’s retail stores havea vendor marketing team whose sole purpose is to help vendorsmerchandise and promote the products that they sell. Dustin alsomanages a business development team charged with identifying the bestopportunities for corporate growth. Dustin graduated from theUniversity of Utah with a BS in marketing and did intensepost-graduate work at the University of Snowbird at Alta.
Dustin believes in actively promoting small boutique brands that arethe heart and soul of the action sports industry.
Jeff Tremaine
Jeff Tremaine
Director / Producer - Dickhouse Entertainment
The story of director/producer Jeff Tremaine is sort of similar to that of Cinderella, that haggard little wench come celebrated toast of the town, but not really. Born a poor white military brat, Jeff was hustled from state to state until finally settling in the area of Rockville, Maryland. There he defied his parents on a regular basis, got into all sorts of ne’er-do-well activities such as skateboarding, BMX, reggae music, and art, and made the acquaintance of Adam Spiegel, a hyperactive little pipsqueak that puberty had somehow skipped over and left with an extremely high voice for an extremely long time.
After graduating from Washington University, Tremaine met up with his friend Adam, now more popularly known as Spike, who was working as a photographer for the BMX magazine Freestylin’. After a stint at for Freestylin’, Tremaine landed a job as the art/editorial director for Big Brother, a fledgling skateboard rag. His leadership took Big Brother to new and exciting levels of distribution, notoriety, and an all-encompassing sense of stupidity not normally tolerated in any industry (except Hollywood).
It’s no big secret what happened past this point in the life of Jeffrey James Tremaine. In addition to helming the Jackass franchise, Tremaine has served as Executive Producer and Co-Creator of MTV’s hit series’ Nitro Circus, Rob Dyrdek’s Fantasy Factory, Wildboyz, and Rob & Big. He has directed music videos for “Turbonegro,” Andrew WK, and “The Sahara Hot Nights.” He currently oversees his empire in Los Angeles. 2010 marks the 10th anniversary of the original Jackass movie. This October Jackass 3D will come to a theater near you.
Phil Shalala
Philip Shalala
Vice President of Marketing/CMO - Hard Rock Hotel
As a seasoned marketing and advertising executive with a “hands-on” approach, Vice President of Marketing/CMO Phil Shalala has proven successes in all aspects of business development, branding, public relations and advertising. Throughout his diverse career, his unique vision and approach to marketing has allowed him to create and direct an organization’s market strategy, develop an economic business case and execute an aggressive project plan.
Shalala joined the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in 2003. Known as the hottest place in Las Vegas for the 21-40 age group, currently the most influential and trend-setting demographic, the Hard Rock was feeling tremendous pressure at the time from the rapid and ever-growing expansion of Las Vegas and the influx of properties looking to tap into this hot market. Shalala was charged with the sensational task of bringing back the “Marquee” perception of the Hard Rock as the #1 destination spot in Las Vegas for this targeted & hard-to-reach demographic.
In addition to brand management and partnering, Shalala has managed to make the Hard Rock Hotel a media icon. He has developed and executed top events, both on and off premise, such as Maxim Hot 100, MTV’s Video Music Awards, World Music Awards, NASCAR and Superbowl. He has also leveraged key media outlets such as US Weekly, E!, Extra, VH1 and MTV as Hard Rock insiders, all in efforts to keep the property in the targeted demographic eye line.
As a results-oriented marketing and advertising executive, Shalala has created award-winning advertising campaigns for all property assets, streamlined all casino marketing department initiatives and managed the largest discretionary budget within the organization. His contributions and attention to all aspects of business control allowed for the largest EBITA increases in company history.
Prior to joining the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Shalala was Partner at a San Diego-based full-service marketing, advertising and athlete representation firm for the action sports industry. He developed advertising and marketing strategies for Coca-Cola, Nestle, AT&T, T-Mobile, Disney and ESPN. He also held previous marketing positions and carried increasing levels of responsibilities at Tracey Locke where he spearheaded the marketing strategy and brand positioning for Mountain Dew.
Shalala earned a B.S. in Marketing and Communication from Iowa State University.
Bryce Phillips
Bryce Phillips
Founder - Evo
Born in Seattle, Bryce grew up in the small town of Roseburg, Oregon. Since being introduced to skiing by his Uncle Jack, he has been trying to figure out how to buy lift and plane tickets ever since. He earned a degree in Finance juggling school while living in Whistler BC, skiing professionally and chasing winters around the world. In 2001 Bryce started evolución Innovations, Inc. (www.evo.com), an action sports lifestyle retail business and in 2005 opened a flagship store in Seattle, Washington. Originally launching the site with one employee from his living room, evo is now as many as 100 employees and has grown 60%+/year since inception. Bryce’s vision is to continue building a truly unique brand weaving together commerce, cause, culture and community with a great group of people.
Bryce continues to ski professionally for K2 Skis travel as much as possible and is happily married to his wife Elise, living in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle.
Doug Palladini
Doug Palladini
Vice President of Marketing, Vans
Doug Palladini was born in 1966 in Bloomington, Illinois and moved to Los Angeles at age six. He was much more “car” than “corn” and stayed in LA through high school.
Doug Palladini went to San Diego State University where he actually graduated with a BA in Journalism among a small minority of SDSU students able to complete their studies in four years. Then he moved the beach, surfed, and did nothing for six months.
Doug Palladini does not have an MBA. He does read the Harvard Business Review because it makes him feel important on airplanes but he only understands about half of it. He has written for children’s magazines such as Disney Adventures, pop culture titles such as Beach Culture, and a dozen or so other publications.
Doug Palladini started his career as the founding editor of Snowboarder Magazine in 1989. He went on to be publisher of Surfer Magazine, re-founded Skateboarder Magazine, and was eventually Group Publisher of other action-based magazines such as Powder and Bike. A series of corporate takeovers eventually sent him running for the exits after almost 12 years with the magazines.
Doug Palladini helped as Chief Operating Officer to found Swell.com, a leading surfing website and one of the Dot Bomb’s few survivors. It was a two-year project worth about 10 years in life points.
Doug Palladini served as Director of Cynic Youth + Alternative Marketing, an agency- within-an-agency he founded in 2001. He worked with all kinds of brands on youth marketing efforts, from Op to Avery Dennison, from Artisan Entertainment to KFC. He also created and wrote the Cynic Action Sports Report, a bi-weekly action sports industry treatise known for its brutal honesty and scathing commentary. A few leaders in that industry actually still speak to Doug.
Doug Palladini is currently the Vice President of Marketing for Vans, the world’s #1 action sports footwear brand. He doesn’t really skate anymore as much as turn the board from side to side on gently sloping back roads, but he does still surf and snowboard.
Doug Palladini lives in Orange County, California, home to The O.C., Arrested Development, and the greatest concentration of plastic surgeons on the planet, with his wife Hallie, son Max and daughter Devon. Orange County also happens to be the youth culture capital of the US.
