Executive Team
Dean Wiltse
Chairman and CEO
About Dean Wiltse
With deep experience developing innovative solutions for online communities as well as mobile and market data collection, Dean has an affinity for seamlessly bringing together community and commerce. His tenure as CEO and President of Greenfield Online/Ciao marked the establishment of the world’s largest interrelationship of global online consumer communities. And as the founder of Thumbspeak, he established, grew and ultimately sold the first DIY mobile relationship-marketing platform.
Dean has been driving revenue growth and strong investor returns for startups, turnarounds, pre-IPO organizations and public companies for over 25 years. Throughout his career, he has applied his forward-thinking vision, quality leadership skills and sound business acumen to companies at various stages of development and has helped them identify untapped markets, build world-class teams and devise and execute clear strategic plans.
Dean’s contributions have been widely recognized throughout the industry. In 2002, he appeared on the cover of Media Magazine, and in 2005, he was nominated for Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year and Research Magazine’s Marketing Industry CEO of the Year. In addition, he is a sought after speaker, with experience hosting discussions on management, online communities, market research, software as a service (SaaS) and more.
Today, Dean is leading the evolution of FashionPlaytes and its FPgirl brand, as it continues to leverage Generation Z’s desire and demand to be more engaged with the brands they love.
Jeanne Connon
CMO
About Jeanne Connon
Jeanne Connon is a start-up veteran and proven marketing entrepreneur. She has been building groundbreaking, disruptive consumer and business brands for nearly 20 years, drawing on her passion for creating simply amazing customer experiences. She comes to FashionPlaytes on the heels of her role as Chief Marketing Officer at Daily Grommet where she led acquisition, community, content and brand development to help forge an innovative business model merging the power of video, ecommerce and product discovery.
Jeanne launched her career in Internet marketing as the leader of the founding creative/development team at Monster.com. She was also a core member of the team that launched Family Education Network(acquired by Pearson Education), managing all marketing initiatives as well as partnerships with such brands as AT&T, Yahoo, and AOL.
As a girl, Jeanne demonstrated an early flair for fashion, dress-up and drama, and now spends most of her free time attending her 10-year-old fashionista’s ad hoc runway shows and cheering her teens’ goals from the sidelines.
Dave Casion
CTO
About Dave Casion
As a seasoned technology leader, Dave Casion has years of experience developing powerful, cost-effective and scalable infrastructures based on open source technologies. His strong track record of performance extends across multiple disciplines in organizations of every size, including corporate strategy, executive management, product management, engineering and technology.
Before joining FashionPlaytes as the CTO, Dave was the president of Pulse 360 Corporation, a data-driven, performance-based ad technology company where he'd also been the CTO for five years. The company's flagship network connects marketers with a premium audience on hundreds of partner sites, including NBCNews.com, Gannett Digital, USAToday.com, and more. Dave served as CTO of Kanoodle from 2002-2006, and previously held leadership positions at Moniker, IBM, Pinnacle Software and CFOKnows.
While Dave has never been accused of being a fashionista, he is the technology mastermind behind Bella Belle, a shoe brand that offers a fresh approach to creating beautiful, romantic, and one-of-a-kind bridal shoes.
Patrick Heekin
VP of Sponsor Sales
About Patrick Heekin
Patrick is responsible for developing innovative sponsorship opportunities for brands to engage with the FPgirl community. An accomplished sales professional and sales team leader, Patrick has over 25 years' experience in revenue growth and retention for both start ups and publicly traded companies.
In his career, Patrick has built high-octane sales teams in multiple industries including virtually every advertising sector and SaaS. Prior to joining FashionPlaytes, he was Chief Revenue Officer at Survey Analytics and Regional Sales Manager for ReachLocal, an online marketing and advertising firm. Patrick is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati and a father of two teens.
Theresa Fortier
VP of Merchandise
About Theresa Fortier
A merchandise product development professional with over 20 years of experience in apparel and accessory design and manufacturing, Theresa has successfully integrated design and manufacturing with software systems for the apparel industry. Prior to joining FashionPlaytes, she held a wide range of management positions with Liz Claiborne, Inc. including Director of Design, Director of Manufacturing, and Team Leader of product development and production. During her tenure, Theresa helped implement apparel and accessory initiatives as well as software programs across the company’s Hong Kong, Shanghai, and South China offices. She has also held management positions with Crest Foam, Bennett & Company, LeBlanc Company, and other fashion companies.
Theresa has been involved in apparel since a young age and knew she wanted to be a Fashion Designer since she was 7 years old. In her spare time, she still designs and makes clothing for herself and her family at her in home design studio. She’s always been fascinated with how technology can improve the creative process and is excited to bring her practical design experience to social gaming.
Board of Directors
Rudina Seseri
Fairhaven Capital
About Rudina Seseri
Rudina is a partner at Fairhaven Capital, a venture capital fund that invests in high potential companies. In addition to serving on the board of FashionPlaytes.com, she has also invested in and served on the board of Crowdtwist.
Before joining Fairhaven Capital, she was a Senior Manager in the Corporate Development Group at Microsoft Corporation. In this position, Rudina was responsible for sourcing, structuring, and negotiating Microsoft’s acquisitions and strategic investments including acquisitions such as iView Multimedia, Deep Metrix and Lionhead Studios. Prior to Microsoft, she worked as an investment banker in the Technology Group at Credit Suisse.
Rudina graduated magna cum laude from Wellesley College with a B.A. in Economics and International Relations, and received her MBA from the Harvard Business School. She has been elected to the Phi Beta Kappa and Omicron Delta Epsilon honor societies. Rudina is co-chair of the New England Venture Association (NEVN), the largest young venture capital organization on the East Coast. She is a 2011 Boston Business Journal 40-under-40 honoree for her professional accomplishments and community involvement.
Scott Johnson
New Atlantic Ventures
About Scott Johnson
Scott is a seasoned high tech entrepreneur and venture investor whose past investments have included publicly traded companies like EnerNOC (Nasdaq ENOC) and Massive (acquired by Microsoft). In addition to serving as a member of FashionPlaytes.com’s board, he also holds a seat on the board of directors of Pontiflex, Image Space Media, Solve Media, and Truveris.
Before co-founding NAV and its predecessor, DFJ New England, Scott was the East Coast partner of the Cambridge Technology Capital Fund, cited by Venture Economics as one of the top performing post-IPO funds of 1999, where he oversaw investments in E.piphany, Silknet, Digital Think, and WebLogic. Before that, he co-founded InterSense, Inc., a 3D visualization technology company. Scott began his career as a software engineer and early employee of Cambridge Technology Partners, a global systems integration and consulting company.
Dean Wiltse
Chairman and CEO
About Dean Wiltse
With deep experience developing innovative solutions for online communities as well as mobile and market data collection, Dean has an affinity for seamlessly bringing together community and commerce. His tenure as CEO and President of Greenfield Online/Ciao marked the establishment of the world’s largest interrelationship of global online consumer communities. And as the founder of Thumbspeak, he established, grew and ultimately sold the first DIY mobile relationship-marketing platform.
Dean has been driving revenue growth and strong investor returns for startups, turnarounds, pre-IPO organizations and public companies for over 25 years. Throughout his career, he has applied his forward-thinking vision, quality leadership skills and sound business acumen to companies at various stages of development and has helped them identify untapped markets, build world-class teams and devise and execute clear strategic plans.
Dean’s contributions have been widely recognized throughout the industry. In 2002, he appeared on the cover of Media Magazine, and in 2005, he was nominated for Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year and Research Magazine’s Marketing Industry CEO of the Year. In addition, he is a sought after speaker, with experience hosting discussions on management, online communities, market research, software as a service (SaaS) and more.
Today, Dean is leading the evolution of FashionPlaytes and its FPgirl brand, as it continues to leverage Generation Z’s desire and demand to be more engaged with the brands they love.