JOHN S. BRUEL
Co-Founder & Principal, Avila Partners – www.avilapartners.com

John has spent the majority of his career working in or consulting to the sports, media and entertainment industries. Prior to co-founding Avila Partners, John was Director of the Media Market Group at Wheelhouse Corporation in New York. Using his industry experience and knowledge, he managed Wheelhouse's sales and marketing efforts to New York-based media companies such as Cablevision Systems Corporation and Bertelsmann US.  John also directly consulted to top media and education companies such as Communications Data Services (a division of The Hearst Corporation) and the American Management Association, for whom he provided customer relationship management (CRM) strategy, process and technology guidance.

As a consultant in the Entertainment & Media Strategy group at PricewaterhouseCoopers, John helped develop a market entry strategy for a major U.S. publisher, and was instrumental in devising an e-commerce strategy position paper for the firm.

From 1996 to 1998, John served as managing editor of SportsFan Online, a division of WinStar New Media. In this role, John oversaw the production of sportsfanradio.com, a news and multimedia web site, and managed SportsFan's joint venture with America Online. Working with WinStar's other media properties and partners, John led development of multi-channel marketing and content distribution programs that included online outlets, radio and magazines. John also initiated or oversaw SportsFan’s partnerships with media companies such as Fox Sports and Street & Smith Publishing.  John was instrumental in devising SportsFan’s strategy to increase the value of its content assets by creating new digital distribution channels for them.

Previous to SportsFan, John was the managing editor of Chelo Publishing, the arm of the multimedia and event management company responsible for the creation and distribution of top-selling men's and women's fitness magazines.  He also assisted with the company’s expansion into syndicated television and video distribution.

John has spoken at numerous industry conferences, most often on the subject of creating and executing effective marketing strategies. At the 2003 Sports Summit in New York City he moderated the panel “Finding Facility Funding in a Tight Economy.”  He has had articles published in numerous media outlets, including the January 27^th 2003 SportsBusiness Journal.  In 1998, he hosted a weekly sports media radio program on SportsFan Radio Network, and has been an expert commentator on television programs on CNN and the Fox News Network.

John holds an MBA from Columbia Business School with a concentration in Media Management and Marketing, and graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown University with a bachelor's degree in English Literature.