Strat Americas is a consultancy that helps retained clients with strategy, partnerships, deals, and alliances. We work with retained clients across sectors like digital entertainment, digital music, enterprise software, VR, and Artificial Intelligence.
Seth Schachner is Managing Director of Strat Americas, a Los Angeles-based consultancy that provides strategic guidance and helps clients with media and technology partnerships.
Strat Americas has worked with clients in digital & social music, live streaming, beauty subscriptions, AI and enterprise software. Recent clients include Microsoft, IPSY, live streaming platform Dreamstage, a new label venture with Stevie Wonder, and social music community Smule.
Seth is an experienced business development executive who spent eleven years with Sony Music, where he held senior digital leadership roles in Latin America and for Sony’s Jive Records label in North America. At Sony Music Latin America, Seth created multi-million selling mobile handset partnerships for the artists Shakira and Ricky Martin.
Previously, Schachner held business development roles with Microsoft, Liberty Media, Viacom, and Universal Music. Seth was AOL’s first music business development executive in AOL’s early days.
A two-time graduate of Columbia University, Seth also served as Chairman of Florida’s Film & Entertainment Advisory Council, which helped guide the state of Florida on state film and entertainment growth strategies.
Seth’s articles have appeared in Venture Beat and The Guardian, recent television appearances include NBC, CNN, Fox Business, and CGTN America on the rise of TikTok.
Peter Berkowitz is a music partner and key member of the Strat Americas team. He brings extensive experience, depth and connectivity in both music and entertainment to our team, particularly in the live event, television and digital media fields, in which he has held numerous senior roles. At Strat Americas, Peter and Seth have led digital content and television partnerships with major stars in international markets, including Sir Paul McCartney, Bon Jovi, Billy Joel, Simon and Garfunkel.
As President of Golden Road Entertainment, Peter has negotiated numerous artist deals, including high-profile partnerships with Katy Perry, Jordin Sparks, The Band Perry, and Honor Society. He also has structured content partnerships with Sony Music, Madison Square Garden, and Live Nation. In addition to television experience, Peter has produced over one hundred concerts, served as product manager on several Gold and Platinum CDs and worked with Sony Music’s catalog division, Legacy Recordings, to develop and execute its digital strategy.
Peter is a strategic finance and operation executive with a background in entertainment and media, e-commerce, and technology investments. Peter has worked with us on client assignments in Strategy and Organizational Change, with a major Fortune 500 Consumer Products client.
Peter’s background includes senior roles at Fox, Gramercy Pictures, Acacia Research, and Ernst & Young. Peter is a graduate of the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business.
Lisa is a highly experienced digital, music, and technology executive, with extensive knowledge and skills in music licensing & publishing and international markets. Lisa has helped us with social video licensing and business initiatives. Lisa’s background includes leading global licensing for Samsung Music Hub, the first all-inclusive mobile music service for Samsung smartphones and devices.
Lisa started her career in Sydney, Australia as an Intellectual Property and Trade attorney; clients included Telstra, Australia’s largest telecommunications service and the Australian Formula One Grand Prix Board. She then moved in house as the Head of Business Affairs for Formula One Motor Racing, London and from there to ESPN International, Singapore. Since moving to the US, Lisa has worked in business affairs and development roles for media and technology companies ranging from startups to corporates licensing digital rights for music, video, television and VR. She has broad global and regional media experience strategizing business expansion, negotiating agreements and a deep understanding of Copyright Law. Lisa holds a JD of Law from the University of Adelaide in Australia.
Adam Zelinka brings a deep background in Digital Marketing and Music to Strat Americas. Most recently Senior Vice President, Consumer Sales and Digital Marketing at Universal Music Group, Adam is an industry veteran in entertainment content, digital marketing and social media, eCommerce, business development and product development. Adam started in the studio at GRP Records before becoming a founding team member of N2K/Music Boulevard, one of the US’s first online music retailers. He then moved to Jive Records, creating and managing digital strategy. Adam’s entrepreneurial spirit continues as founder of Fanatical Marketing. Consulting experience includes Sony Music Entertainment, Venrock Capital, Trans World Entertainment, Ford Models, ARTISTdirect, and eMusic.
Ethan Abrams is a young business professional who brings a deep background in sports, media, and entertainment to the Strat Americas team. Ethan has expertise in research, strategy, and partnerships and his work with the Los Angeles Angels and Wasserman Media Agency bring new insights and exposure to Strat Americas. Ethan holds a Master degree from Duke’s Fuqua School of Business and a Bachelor degree from Columbia University, where he also pitched throughout his college career.
Michael Beller is an accomplished digital executive and a trusted friend of the Strat Americas team. Mike’s background includes senior Marketing roles at Source Interlink Media (Motor Trend, Automobile, Hot Rod, Surfer, Motorcyclist, Geek), as well as at NBC, AOL, IAC, CitySearch, and BrightRoll. Mike is a colleague of Seth’s from the early days of America Online. He has a BA from the University of Virginia. An award-winning innovator in digital media and technology for over two decades, Beller has forged marketing and branded
entertainment partnerships with Fortune 500 companies including NBC, T-Mobile, Jaguar, McDonalds, and Toyota.
A veteran digital executive with twenty-five years of experience, Bill Campbell is the Founder of Barefoot Media, a consulting firm focused on assisting start ups with funding, digital strategy, business and financial modeling, and negotiations. Barefoot’s clients extend across a wide range of verticals including, digital music, streaming video, media, beauty and fragrance, packaged goods, clean energy, film and TV.Prior to founding Barefoot Media, Bill was Senior Vice President, Global Digital Business, Universal Music Group as well as Senior Vice President, US Digital Business Development at Sony Music Entertainment. His responsibilities included content licensing, channel development, and strategic partnerships for the distribution of the labels’ content, including subscription services, a la carte downloads, mobile apps, streaming audio and video services, live audio products, D2C and cloud-based music services across a variety of content delivery platforms. Bill’s responsibilities also include negotiating and structuring key business terms, creating financial models, growing existing partners’ revenue, evaluating and recommending investment opportunities, and exploring new technologies. Mr. Campbell holds a JD from Seton Hall University School of Law and a BA in History from the University of Richmond.
Rafael Garcia is a senior media executive and consultant with experience in Digital Media Strategy, Marketing, Video Production, Social Media and Branded Content. Rafael has held executive positions at Cisneros Group, where he led digital distribution efforts with global players like Hulu, Netflix, YouTube, and Diario El Universal. Rafael has also worked at AOL and VIX, the largest independent publisher in the Americas, where he led campaigns with brands
including Disney, P&G, L’Oreal, Samsung, General Mills, Toyota and McDonalds.
Rafael graduated as an Electrical Engineer from Universidad Metropolitana in Caracas, Venezuela. He has a Specialized Degree in Digital Media from Full Sail University in Orlando, Florida and graduated with honors from the Executive MBA program from University of Miami.
Jay Rosenzweig is a trusted advisor to Strat Americas. He is the founding partner of Rosenzweig & Company and is an expert in designing and building world class executive teams. Jay consults to public and private companies including large global corporations; emerging growth to mid-sized businesses; professional services firms; and private equity and venture capital firms. Jay
earned three degrees at McGill University and completed Roger Fisher’s Negotiation Program at Harvard Law School. He serves as Director, Canada for the Chief Digital Officer Club & Summit.
Juan has more than 25 years’ experience in the entertainment, consulting, media, venture investment, human capital and eCommerce industries, where he is recognized for his strategic and management consulting expertise and for platforms he has developed for clients in Mexico, the United States and Germany. He currently runs SWS is a hands-on advisory firm specialized
in strategy. Focused on the US Hispanic, Mexico and Latin American markets, SWS works in the Media, Marketing, Technology, eCommerce, Venture Capital, Talent Development and Content Development sectors.
Juan previously led Grupo Televisa´s online and mobile business lines, where he led a team of 240, Televisa’s strategy and business unit and all technical, commercial, marketing, content related, operations and corporate compliance within Grupo Televisa, the leading Hispanic media group in the World.
