Welcome to Thuzio!
Thuzio provides an online platform that connects the public with professional athletes who have achieved the highest levels of excellence in their profession. This includes current and retired players from the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS, as well as Olympic Medalists, WTA, ATP, PGA, LPGA and Champions Tour professionals.
Thuzio Pro’s provide a wide variety of experiences including coaching, social dinners and lunches, game watch and analysis, corporate speaking, client entertaining and events, celebrations including Birthday parties and Bar Mitzvah’s, flag football, golf outings, and charity event hosting and auction items.
Thuzio has launched the sports category and is expanding into other categories including Arts and Entertainment, Lifestyle and Business.
The company is backed by a number of strategic investors with deep experience in each of those categories.
Mission
Thuzio helps the public connect to professional athletes and other talent for unforgettable experiences. We make it easy to book it online by providing clear pricing, handling all the communications, payments and logistics with the talent, and ultimately ensuring a great customer experience.
Thuzio makes it simple for the talent to reach the public via our online platform, choose the types of experiences they would like to provide, and do it when and where it is convenient for them. We enable the talent to maximize the value of their brand by providing online marketing services, handling payment and managing all communications and customer service.
Who We Are
Thuzio’s Team, Board of Advisors and Talent Ambassadors work together to ensure that we create the best possible customer and talent experience.
- Team: Backgrounds in expert networks, professional sports, E-commerce, elite athlete coaching and local market development.
- Board of Advisors: Deep domain expertise in sports broadcasting, professional team management, technology, league operations, and talent agency management.
- Talent Ambassadors: Athletes who have competed at the highest levels of their sports, managed professional teams and become well respected by their peers.
Team
Mark Gerson Co-Chairman/Founder
Mark Gerson is the co-founder and Chairman of Gerson Lehrman Group (GLG). GLG is the largest expert network company in the world, connecting corporations, professional services firms and institutional investors with experts globally and across all types of industries. Mark is also the co-founder and/or Chairman of Axial Market, Brightwire and Matterhorn Data.
Mark is the co-founder and Chairman of United Hatzalah, which is a technologically empowered and distributed volunteer corps of first responders in Israel -- and is responsible for every Israeli being within moments of a trained and equipped medic ready to save a life or alleviate traumatic suffering.
Mark is also the co-founder and Chairman of the African Mission Healthcare Foundation, which builds clinics and funds programs directed by Christian medical missionaries serving in Malawi, Cameroon, Kenya, Tanzania, Liberia, Uganda, South Sudan and other African nations.
A summa cum laude graduate of Williams College with a JD from Yale Law School, Mark is the author of books on political philosophy and education -- and has written articles for publications including The Wall Street Journal, The New Republic, The Weekly Standard and Commentary on subjects ranging from professional basketball to the biblical Jonah. He is married to Rabbi Erica Gerson, and they live in New Jersey with their two children.
Tiki Barber Co-Chairman/Founder
Tiki has a wide variety of professional experiences including being a three time Pro Bowl Running Back during his ten year career with the New York Giants, as well as many other roles as an author, TV analyst, businessman and corporate spokesman. Tiki’s work includes being a correspondent for NBC News and Sports, Sirius Satellite radio host, author of nine children's books, and a director at First Global Xpress, an international shipping company.
Tiki graduated from the University of Virginia McIntire School of Commerce, concentrating in Management Information System (Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society) prior to being drafted by the Giants in 1997.
Jared Augustine CEO
Jared has more than 10 years of operational experience leading technology startups with a focus on local commerce marketplaces. Jared was an early employee at Seamless.com, where as a senior executive he led market expansion efforts helping to grow the company from an early stage local business into an international presence and industry leader. Jared also spent time as vice president with Group Commerce, leading sales and operations responsible for generating deal supply for the publisher client network.
Jared graduated from the University of Delaware with a BA in Business Administration.
Jarrod Jordan VP, Business Development
Jarrod has been involved in the sports business for over 20 years. He has held leadership positions with Chelsea Piers, the Dallas Stars and the New Jersey Devils. Jarrod is also a Gerson Lehrman Group Advisory Council Member and is Global Industry Expert focused on sports business strategy. His business accomplishments have been featured on ESPN, The Tennis Channel, CNN and FOX News.
Jarrod is on the Governing Board of "New Jersey Needs You" and has a Bachelor's of Science from Columbia University in New York City.
Mark MacDonald Manager, Talent Platform
Mark joined Thuzio after wrapping up a professional basketball career in Europe. While pursuing professional basketball he gained experience in the digital world working for GoLocal24 as a member of the founding team and as the Director of Social Media. Prior to Europe and GoLocal24, Mark volunteered for a year with Americorps VISTA for Up2Us, a national coalition of sports based youth development programs.
He graduated from Brown University in 2008 with a degree in Political Science and was elected captain of the varsity basketball team.
Matthew Higgins
As the CEO of newly formed RSE Ventures, Higgins is building the integrated sports and entertainment company with innovation at the core of everything they do. RSE holdings include the Miami Dolphins, FanVision, and Insignia Sports and Entertainment. As the former EVP of the New York Jets, Higgins transformed the team’s business operations into one of the most innovative in sports. Prior to his career in sports, Higgins helped lead the recovery effort at the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan after 9/11. He served as the Chief Operating Officer of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC), the agency charged with rebuilding the site.
Prior to the LMDC, Higgins served as press secretary to former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, managing the City’s global media response to 9/11. In 2011, Higgins was recognized in Sports Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 as one of the most outstanding executives in sports. Four years earlier, Higgins was honored as one of the top 40 executives under 40 in New York by Crain’s New York.
Michael Weisman
Emmy Award-winning producer Michael Weisman is the Executive in Charge of Production for “Football Night in America.” Weisman is reunited with “Football Night in America” host Bob Costas, who he appointed as host of the “NFL on NBC” in 1984, Costas’ first-ever studio work. Weisman, winner of 22 Emmy Awards, was most recently the Executive Producer of the NBC Universal Television Group, working closely with NBC News and other news and information programming. At the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, Weisman served as the Executive in Charge of Production. Weisman is recognized for his groundbreaking production of sporting events ranging from the World Series to the Super Bowl to the Olympics. He began his career as a NBC page in 1971 before joining NBC Sports in 1972. Weisman was appointed Executive Producer of NBC Sports in 1982, a position he held until 1989.
Weisman attended the University of North Carolina on a baseball scholarship. He graduated from Queens College in New York with a bachelor of arts in radio/television. Weisman now resides in New York City with his wife, Carol.
Thomas J. Laffont
As a Senior Analyst at Coatue Management and Partner at Coatue Management, L.L.C., Thomas Laffont focuses on the technology sector, including internet, enterprise hardware, software and semiconductors. He has been with the firm since 2003, having previously worked for five years as an agent at Creative Artists Agency, an entertainment and sports talent agency based out of Los Angeles.
Mr. Laffont has a B.S. in Computer Science from Yale University. He is actively involved with the Tipping Point Community, an organization fighting poverty in the Bay Area. Mr. Laffont is also an amateur triathlete and has completed the Timberman and New York City Triathlons.
Jordan Bazant
Jordan Bazant is a principal at The Legacy Agency (TLA). TLA is full-service marketing and management company specializing in the representation of high-profile athletes, broadcasters and brands. Jordan was the co-founder and principal at The Agency Sports Management & Marketing, which recently merged with The Legacy Group in December 2011 to form The Legacy Agency. Jordan brings 16 years of sports marketing and management experience and is the exclusive marketing representative for high-profile personalities such as Reggie Bush, Troy Aikman, Colt McCoy, Ryan Tannehill, Marshall Faulk, Daryl Johnston (past and present NFL stars) and is the contract agent for several high profile college basketball and football coaches including UCLA’s Ben Howland, St. Johns' Steve Lavin, Notre Dame’s Mike Brey and Maryland’s Randy Edsall.
Jordan graduated from Vanderbilt University in 1993.
Casey Coffman
Casey Coffman is currently an Advisor at Carpere Group, a New York-based investment and advisory firm that creates and grows consumer-oriented companies through investing activities. Prior to joining Carpere, Casey was with The Madison Square Garden Company as Corporate Senior Vice President, Strategy and Development. Previously, she was the Executive Vice President, Business Development and Operations, MSG Sports, where she oversaw the day-to-day operational needs of the MSG Sports business, including the NBA's New York Knicks, NHL's New York Rangers, and WNBA's New York Liberty. Prior to that she spent 10 years in senior management at Hicks Sports Group, which owned the Texas Rangers, Dallas Stars, and Liverpool Football club.
Casey received her Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and communications, graduating Summa Cum Laude from Stephen F. Austin State University, and received a Juris Doctorate degree with Honors from the University of Texas. She is also a board member of Women’s World Banking and Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, where she recently served as its managing board member. In 2009, she was named a Woman to Watch by the Dallas Business Journal.
Billy Nash
Billy Nash, a Senior Vice President at UBS, has spent the last 18 years advising ultra high net worth individuals and families on their complex financial needs. He and his team focus on comprehensive planning techniques. Billy has built a solid reputation as a problem solver and idea generator for both individual and corporate relationships and has been instrumental in some of the largest real estate transactions on Wall Street.
Billy is currently involved with numerous non-for-profit charities. He started the Big Brother Big Sister Program in Ocean County, NJ over 10 years ago, a stem of the program that has been recognized as one of the top in the US. It has successfully matched over 1,000 children in desperate need of mentors. Billy was recently nominated by NASCAR for the Betty Jane France Humanitarian of the Year Award in addition to being honored by PAX, the center to prevent youth gun violence in 2011. Billy is a sports enthusiast and a contributing editor for Athletes Quarterly magazine. He counts his many relationships with current and retired professional athletes as some of his closest.
Jason Freier
Jason Freier is the Chairman and CEO of Hardball Capital, a sports-related investment company whose assets include affiliated Minor League Baseball franchises. Under Mr. Freier's leadership Hardball has built the Fort Wayne TinCaps into one of the premiere teams in Minor League Baseball and drastically improved the operations and fan experience with both the Savannah Sand Gnats and the Salem Avalanche. Hardball has set all-time attendance records with every team it has owned and operated. Mr. Freier has consulted with other owners and potential owners on matters including franchise valuation and purchase, stadium location and design and team branding and operations. Mr. Freier is an attorney by training.
Prior to founding Hardball, he specialized in complex business matters and sports law (representing owners and potential owners of MLB, NFL, NBA and NHL teams). Following law school, Mr. Freier worked with former United States Solicitor General and Harvard Law Professor Charles Fried and practiced with Williams & Connolly in Washington D.C. and Bondurant, Mixson & Elmore in Atlanta. Mr. Freier's work has been the subject of articles in national publications and has been quoted in legislation before the United States Senate and House of Representatives. Mr. Freier is a member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) and Leadership Atlanta (class of 2007). Mr. Freier serves on the Board of Directors of the South Atlantic League, where he is a member of the League's Executive Committee and the Midwest League. He serves on the Advisory Boards of Palmer & Cay and Multiply Live. Mr. Freier has also served on the Board of Directors of the Carolina League. Mr. Freier is an appointed member of the Stadium Advisory Board of the Fort Wayne Redevelopment Commission. He is also an officer of the Harvard Club of Georgia. Jason is a graduate of Harvard College and the Yale Law School, where he was elected to the Yale Law Journal.