Darren Pollard

Darren’s career started in the technology sector and he held a number of positions at various IT companies including GE Capital IT (now Computer Sciences Corporation) and IBM Global Services.

Darren has a proven track record of starting successful entrepreneurial ventures in the mobile, internet, new media, technology and digital arenas. Darren has a deep network of technology, mobile, television, internet and agency contacts and consider himself to be a very tenacious, strategic and driven management professional. He has an extensive personal database of more than 6000 contacts built up over last 15 years.

Darren is currently the CEO/Founder of Mayfair Gaming Group, a play-for-money mobile gambling startup to be launched in the United Kingdom. Mayfair Mobile has a simple but unique approach to the mobile distribution model that will foster greater discovery for players and provide much needed revenue for public houses across the UK.

Based in New York, Darren was previously part of the founding team that established the new US operations of FunkySexyCool, a mobile social network that had achieved moderate success in Australia and Germany. He oversaw new partnership development and provided strategy and was instrumental in assisting the newly appointed Chief Executive navigate the challenging mobile content landscape as well as appoint two key senior members of the management team.

Darren also helped LiveEvents – a boutique interactive mobile marketing outfit based in Sydney, Australia – create a presence in the North American market during 2005. He secured a number of deals including an interactive mobile TV service for a Mexican broadcaster and a Canadian sports media company.

Before his move to the United States, Darren founded SportzSMS, whose technology was subsequently licensed to a number of sports media organizations globally including ESPN Soccernet in London, UK and Eurosport in Paris, France.

Darren’s most successful venture was when he co-founded Broadscope Training Services which was Australia’s largest training company in 2003 - with more than 110 staff, over 8000 trainees and more than $20 million revenue. Darren was responsible for the drive and growth of the business helping to automate the sales processes for the sales and marketing team of 25, oversaw the branding strategy to help increase the profile of the company which subsequently drove double digit growth for the company via multiple online, radio, television and print media campaigns.

Darren was a professional cyclist during his late teens/early twenties.

Employer:	Mayfair Mobile Gaming (UK) Limited
Position:	CEO/Founder
Time period:	June 2008 - Present
Description:	Innovative mobile gaming startup based in the UK. High profile partners and unique distribution model. Launching 2009. http://www.mayfairmobile.com/

Employer:	Brandverge Ventures Limited
Position:	Consultant
Time period:	June 2007 - Present
Description:	Consulting across a number of early stage ventures across the mobile, military equipment and travel industries. http://www.brandverge.com/

Employer:	Babel Travel GmbH
Position:	Non-Executive Director
Time period:	November 2007 - November 2008
Description:	Since the inception of the business, Darren has brought significant hands-on startup business operations experience to Babel Travel and will continue to serve on the board and provide input as to the key stakeholders. Darren has travelled extensively throughout Australia, the Americas and Europe and appreciates the value that Babel Travel will bring to the niche native European adventure travel market as it makes its presence felt across the market during early 2009. http://www.babeltravel.com/

Employer:	FunkySexyCool, Inc.
Position:	VP Business Development & Strategy
Time period:	July 2006 - June 2007
Description:	FunkySexyCool (FSC) is a global mobile-based social community that emphasizes simplicity and ease of use to make it fast and fun to meet new people, connect with friends, and discover and share new interests. This unique wireless based online community enables members to contact and vote for other people in their space who share similar interests. I was part of the founding team that setup the new US operations and was responsible for carrier and various media partner relationships across the North American market and oversaw new partnership development and provided overall strategy for the business. I was also instrumental in assisting the newly appointed Chief Executive navigate the challenging mobile content landscape as well as appoint two key staff in marketing and technology. http://www.fsccorporate.com/ http://www.funkysexycool.com/

Employer:	LiveEvents Wireless USA LLC
Position:	EVP Business Development - North America/Europe
Time period:	April 2005 - September 2006
Description:	Setup and operate the LiveEvents presence in the USA during 2005. New business development, networking, client demonstrations and brand awareness in North America. LiveEvents Wireless provides mobile interactive marketing and wagering business solutions for the Media, Gaming, Sports and Telco industries. LiveReact is a secure, real-time, high performance account-based interactive media platform that enables organizations to connect their services to a mobile world using their customer’s preferred mobile channel including SMS, MMS, WAP and streaming video. LiveEvents Wireless clients include SKY Channel, MCM Entertainment, Take-40 in Australia; SportOdds, Korean Racing in Asia; At The Races and Eurosport in Europe and ESPN, Yahoo, ScoreTV in North America. LiveEvents is headquartered in Sydney, Australia and has offices in Melbourne, New York and London. http://www.liveeventsgroup.com/

Employer:	SportzSMS.com
Position:	Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Time period:	January 2004 - March 2005
Description:	Wrote business plan, raised seed capital, project managed development build of site, created and built relationships with all data and sports feed providers. Demonstrated technology to a number of high profile sports media organisations globally. SportzSMS.com was the first SMS sports alert service in the world that is network (carrier) independent, does not operate on a "premium" number service and operates across any country or carrier. All you need is a credit card and a mobile device that can receive SMS (text) messages. SportzSMS was developed for the avid sports fan, sports betting or tipping professional or for anyone that needs up to date sports scores and alerts on their favorite team, player, league, club, tournament, match, game, race or event, no matter where they are in the world! SportzSMS.com allows people to choose their own types of sports alerts based on their personal preference and have these alerts sent to their mobile. http://www.sportzsms.com/

Employer:	Broadscope Training Services
Position:	Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Time period:	January 2001 - December 2003
Description:	Joint-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Broadscope Training Services, Australia's largest Registered Training Organisation (RTO) during 2003. The business started from humble beginnings with only 1 employee and over an amazing growth period of 18 months grew to more than 100 full time staff, more than 8500 workplace based computer training students, more than 2500 clients and a projected turnover of more than AUD$15 million per annum. I was responsible for writing the original business plan, seeking seed capital and successfully secured AUD$1M investment for growth. I was responsible for the drive and growth of the business and managed and automated the sales processes for the sales team of 25 sales professionals via the Sales Manager. Formulated the sales and branding strategy which increased the profile of the company within the Australian state of Victoria which drove amazing growth for the company via online, radio, television and print media campaigns.

Employer:	HarvestRoad Limited
Position:	Sales Consultant/Sales Support Engineer
Time period:	August 2000 - August 2001
Description:	Initial client presentation, documentation and client requirements and needs analysis through to deliverables and project sign-off. Liasion between the client and the Chief Information Architect to fullfill the required project documentation and then working closely with the Professional Services team to develop and finally implement the solution for the client. Established in 1996 and publicly listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX:HRD) in September 1999, HarvestRoad is a software developer with its worldwide Headquarters in Perth, Western Australia and branch offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Mexico City. HarvestRoad's global partnerships are located in Latin America, Asia, Europe, UK and the USA. http://www.harvestroad.com/

Employer:	Various Contracts
Position:	Project Manager/Systems Engineer/Team Leader at Various Contracts - Systems Engineering, Project Management and Team Leader
Time period:	May 1998 - October 2000
Description:	A number of contracting positions (Systems Engineering, Project Management and Team Leader roles) with large system integration companies including Computer Sciences Corporation, IBM Global Services and Watson Wyatt Worldwide. Roles included: • E-Commerce Web Producer at WallStreet Group of Companies • eSolutions Specialist at Watson Wyatt Worldwide http://www.watsonwyatt.com • Team Leader (Telstra Desktop Transition Project, Contract) at IBM Global Services (Australia) http://www.ibm.com/services/au http://www.telstra.com • (Contract) Desktop Specialist / Victoria Police at IBM Global Services (Australia) http://www.ibm.com/services/au http://www.police.vic.gov.au • (Contract) Systems Engineer / Powercor Limited at GE Capital - IT Solutions (now Computer Sciences Corporation) http://www.csc.com http://www.powercor.com.au

Employer:	Melbourne Internet Business Directory
Position:	Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Time period:	June 1997 - June 1998
Description:	Melbourne Internet Business Directory was a true "Internet Startup" - before it’s time - A web-based searchable, indexed and scalable small to medium business directory, targeted towards the non-technical SME proprietor. The business, focusing on the delivery of simple websites to clients that had little knowledge of the Internet and it’s application in the business world. We were directly in competition with the "Citysearch" website, catering for customers who required a simple website that advertised their businesses with a straight-forward “brochure” approach.

Employer:	Netbridge Systems Integration (now Volante Solutions)
Position:	(Contract) Systems Engineer
Time period:	April 1997 - April 1998
Description:	The role included on-site visits to clients to diagnose and rectify a multitude of PC and LAN based problems. Technologies include Windows 3.x, Windows 95 and Windows NT (ver 3.5 & 4.0) and almost any PC based (Intel) application. I use my varied skillset to assess and successfully troubleshoot the typical range of problems associated with most LAN based and distributed PC networks. I was involved in the rollout of an Australia wide standard operating environment (SOE) for BORAL Australia. This project was commissioned by Netbridge Australia wide – I was involved with the Victorian section, working as part of the rollout team. Web:- http://www.volante.com.au/

Employer:	Prompt Technology Solutions
Position:	Pre-Sales & Account Management
Time period:	November 1995 - December 1996
Description:	I was involved in establishing, managing and building customer relationships at small/medium business through to corporate level, liasing with, and analysing client needs relating to software and hardware solutions, GroupWare and collaboration, implementation, and industry specific applications. Other related tasks included feasibility studies, analysis, design and implementation of hardware and software solutions. I.T. integration covering all aspects from consumables, through PC/LAN implementation to Mid/Mainframe legacy systems.

Employer:	Independent
Position:	Professional Cyclist
Time period:	January 1986 - December 1992
Description:	I was a paid professional cyclist in Australia during my late teens/early twenties.

Hobbies:

cycling, snow skiing, mountain biking, formula 1 racing, roller blading, mountain hiking, traveling, culture, pop-art, cafe culture, books, bios, new and cutting edge technology, technology, flying, good (hip) hotels, quality cars, Italy, Vespas, fine wine, good food, quality beer, gadgets, internet, mobile technology