Brad Nye        Founder/Executive Director

Brad Nye is the founder and executive director of aMuse™. Whether coaching children's sports, producing children's theatre or spearheading an influential trade-based organization, Nye consistently has promoted positive social change by nurturing individuals to achieve their highest potential.

Over the past 6 years, Nye co-founded and served as executive director of VIC, the influential professional association serving the technology industry. At its height, VIC boasted nearly 10,000 members who worked in areas ranging from software development to venture capital, with thousands of members regularly attending multiple monthly events. Nye successfully cultivated a premiere list of corporate sponsors that helped VIC achieve revenue of over $2 million in 2000.

Prior to VIC, Nye spent fifteen years in and around the children's entertainment industry in various marketing, promotion, licensing and merchandising, and event/television production positions. He held management positions for such prestigious companies as Landmark Entertainment Group, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal Pictures to name a few. He then went on to further entrepreneurial activities such as producing television special celebrating the 90th anniversary Harley-Davidson for SHOWTIME Networks, optioning numerous television projects and producing several early corporate web sites before founding VIC.

Nye is a graduate of UC Berkeley with a degree in Dramatic Arts and was born in Dallas, TX. He is currently a Board of Directors member of Zeum, an interactive creativity museum for families in San Francisco.

Deanna Brown        Director of Development

Deanna Brown has joined aMuse as the Development Director bringing her strategic business expertise in new businesses in media, entertainment and technology. Brown was most recently, founder/CEO of Powerful Media Inc. where she and her partners, Kurt Andersen and Michael Hirschorn, built an array of business-to-business products for the media and entertainment marketplace. Brown raised over $35 million in capital in a shifting marketplace and successfully launched a digital product (inside.com), a bi-weekly magazine (inside) and a series of conferences. The business was sold to Brill Media Holdings and Primedia in 2001.

Prior to her involvement with Powerful Media, Brown was president of Brill Media Holdings. She oversaw the launch of Brill's Content and consulted on a major Internet e-commerce initiative (contentville.com). In 1995, she founded CondeNet, Inc., a division of Advanced Publications (the owner of Conde Nast), and was then asked to launch Conde Nast's 17th consumer title, Conde Nast Sports for Women.

Brown began her career in 1985 founding an advertising/communications agency in Los Angeles while still an undergraduate at the University of Southern California. She assisted the principals in selling the firm to Grey Advertising in 1987.

Brown, a specialist in sales, marketing and product development, has held positions at The Hearst Corporation, KIII, Conde Nast Publications, Inc. and Time/Warner Inc.

Marie Sayles        Director of Programs

Marie K. Sayles brings over fifteen years of technology education experience to her work opening up creative opportunities for children, parents, and educators. In 1997, she joined the start-up development team for Zeum, an art, technology and creativity center for families in San Francisco. As Zeum's Director of Education, she designed and directed the educational programs including: collaborative school projects; professional development for teachers; youth camps and workshops, and the school field trips, which served over 10,000 students and teachers annually from the greater Bay Area. Her background includes educational software design and evaluation, technical support and training for schools, businesses and non-profits, and classroom instruction. Before joining Zeum, Ms. Sayles was an educational consultant for the New York Board of Education. While in New York City, she also earned a Master's of Science in Educational Technology, from Bank Street College of Education.

Allison Ellis        Director of Publishing

Allison Ellis, a pioneer in the children's Internet industry, brings nearly 10 years experience in the online, new media, and publishing fields. Ellis was most recently vice president and general manager for Fox Family Worldwide's Internet sites, including FoxKids.com and foxfamilychannel.com.

Prior to joining Fox Family Worldwide, Ellis was the founding editor and managing director of the FreeZone Network. Launched in 1995, FreeZone.com was the first online service dedicated exclusively to kids and pioneered the concept of true kid-driven content. Under Ellis' leadership, FreeZone.com introduced the first fully monitored online chat, a virtual junior reporter program, and a nationally syndicated newspaper page for kids.

In addition, Ellis has an extensive editorial background that includes writing and editing experience from multimedia and publishing companies such as Microsoft, Starwave, and the Seattle Weekly.

A graduate of Smith College, Ellis received her Bachelor's degree in American Studies. She has worked with children for 14 years as a volunteer camp counselor and unit leader for the American Cancer Society's Camp Goodtimes in Seattle, and has served as a board member for Children's Oncology Camps of America.

Victoria Miller        Creative Director

Victoria Miller is a designer and creative director with over 15 years of expertise ranging from corporate branding and package design to web strategy and interactive advertising; a wide breadth of experience in the expanded realm of integrated marketing communications. At Grey Worldwide in San Francisco, she led the creative department responsible for international online and offline direct marketing for client Oracle. Recently she has been helping create online advertising for Microsoft, with McCann Erickson Worldwide’s Relationship Marketing division. Prior to a recent return to San Francisco, her birthplace, she worked in Los Angeles at TeamOne, Saatchi & Saatchi’s agency servicing Lexus, where she designed the 2001 Lexus full-line brochure, and later created insideLexus.com, the netzine for owners, and a number of online ad campaigns.

Victoria graduated Cum Laude in Design from UCLA, and began her career at Bright & Associates (formerly owned by Chiat/Day), one of the largest, most creative design and marketing firms at the time. Next were several years at Richard Runyon Design creating successful package designs, promotional collateral, annual reports, and corporate identity systems (including applications to an airline’s Boeing 727 fleet). The catalyst for her recent focus on interactive media was a large CD-ROM project for Wells Fargo Bank under the creative direction of new media pioneer Robert Abel. Work with marchFIRST and Saatchi & Saatchi/LA followed, and at Walt Disney Imagineering she spearheaded a project for Geraldine Laybourne involving an extensive research and convergence strategy for programmed media designed to appeal to women, predating the subsequent launch of Oxygen Media.

Victoria Miller’s work has earned, among others, a Clio award, is included in the Smithsonian Institute’s Permanent Collection of Design, and has been published in many industry publications and annuals. She was on the board of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles’ Contemporaries, is a member of the AIGA, has guest lectured at UCLA, and has taught design at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising.

Margot Tanner Segal        Direct Marketing Consultant

Margot Tanner Segal is a freelance marketing consultant specializing in direct response advertising. As a 20-year veteran of the business, she has aligned herself with a variety of advertising agencies and media firms in order to lend direct experience to their client bases. Her client list includes: Friends of Recreation & Parks, Highway One (California State Automobile Association), Grey Worldwide (Oracle), M Gould & Co. (Business Objects), HMS Creative (InterviewNow.com, E-Perception Technologies) and Nice Advertising (Keen.com, Sunsweet Prunes, Lindsay Olives).

Margot began her career in direct healthcare advertising at Cardiac Medical Systems in Chicago. The following years included direct response and general advertising positions with Grey Direct, Glendale, California; Ronald James Direct, Los Angeles, California; Rapp Collins Communications, Chicago, Illinois; Keroff and Rosenberg Advertising, Inc., Chicago, Illinois; and McCann Healthcare also in Chicago.

These positions lead to her founding Direct Resources in Santa Monica, California and to her eventually assuming the position of Director, Response Advertising at DDB Needham, a client of the previously mentioned business. In these positions, Margot worked with such top rated clients as Ameriquest Mortgage, CIGNA Healthcare, Motorola, Spiegel Catalog, Phillips Colleges, Chase Manhattan Bank, Mattel, JMB Realty, Marriott Hotels, Abbot Labs, Mustang Software and K-Tel Records.

Segal holds a B.S in Retailing from Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York and is a member of the San Francisco Advertising Club, the Direct Marketing Association and Bay Area Integrated Marketers. Away from work, Margot is the mother of a twin boy and girl.

Alan Segal        Creative Communications Consultant

For over 20 years, Alan has been applying a rare mix of creative energy, problem-solving skills, and thought leadership to effective multimedia communications for companies large and small.

Alan became the first creative group head for interactive media at Saatchi & Saatchi Los Angeles in 1995. There, he designed, co-wrote, and creative-directed Toyota's U.S. Web site, from its inception through 1999. Under Alan, Saatchi's interactive creative team grew from one to sixteen, collecting some awards for out-of-the-box thinking along the way (from Communication Arts, Graphis, and Advertising Age, among others).

More recently, Alan was Senior Creative Director at USWeb/CKS, then Director of New Media Strategies at Pedersen Media Group (both San Francisco). He supervised projects from large-scale Web sites to integrated media promotions for Time Warner, Kinko's, JCPenney, and others. In 2000, he produced a worldwide Webcast of Sun's JavaOne conference (the largest developers conference in the world), as well as Qwest Communications' 2000 annual report (both online and in print).

A father of twin toddlers, Alan has renewed his commitment to sharing the creative process with others.

Iowa        Website Developer

IOWA, sometimes known as "iowalab", is a media services company that builds better brands and intelligent marketing services. We are award-winning designers and programmers, with expertise in web application development, graphic art, motion design, and business management. We've based our business on finding great clients, building lasting relationships, and delivering relevant business services.   www.iowalab.com