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Management

Andrew Mason, Founder, CEO

Andrew Mason is the founder of Groupon as well as The Point, the collective action platform from which Groupon was born. Andrew's mostly unremarkable existence began in Pittsburgh, PA; he moved to Chicago in 1999 to attend Northwestern University, where he lives today with his girlfriend and over 20 cats. Andrew graduated with a degree in music, the uselessness of which served as a chief inspiration to not be useless. Out of college, Andrew became a software developer by no ambition of his own, but via a series of acquaintances offering to give him money to do incrementally harder stuff on computers. Excited by the power of technology to change the world, Andrew developed Policy Tree, a policy debate visualization tool, and won a scholarship to attend the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy in 2006. In school for only 3 months, the flighty Andrew dropped out after receiving an unexpected offer to fund the idea that would become The Point. The Point, a ground-breaking approach to online collective action and fundraising, launched in November 2007. One year later, Andrew founded Groupon, leveraging the collective buying technology of The Point to make it easier (and cheaper) to experience all the great stuff in Chicago. At various points in his life, Andrew has also started businesses to deliver bagels as if they were newspapers, and sell muffins with cranberries that he found in his backyard to people living on his street.

Ken Pelletier, CTO

Ken was born and raised in the Boston, MA area, and is a 14-year transplant to Chicago, IL. Ken studied Computer Science at Northeastern University in Boston, MA. and has been working professionally in technology for over 20 years. Ken was Director of Technology at an industry-leading software company, McCracken Computer, Lexington, MA. Following that, he participated in the development of a key public technology offering at The Open Software Foundation (OSF), an industry-wide software technology consortium in Cambridge, MA. As founder and principal of NiKA Software, an independent software consultancy, his clients included technology-forward companies in the US, UK, Ireland and France. Ken’s interest in emerging software technology led him to a position as a NEXTSTEP consultant with NeXT Computer, Inc. Most recently, as Senior Software Architect, Ken helped launch an online travel distribution platform at G2 Switchworks, Chicago, IL. Aside from software technology, Ken has a keen interest in visual design, cognitive science, linguistics, and has been a performing and recording musician.

Suneel Gupta, VP, Product Development

Suneel is an entrepreneurial product guy, currently serving as head of product development for Groupon.

Prior to Groupon, Gupta held a variety of roles. As director of product for Mozilla Labs, he developed and launched [Personas] (http://www.getpersonas.com), which received over 15M downloads in its first year. He also led development projects at Tata Consultancy Services in Mumbai, India, as well as Accenture and Sony Pictures Entertainment. Gupta also served as a blogger for MTV.

In 2009, Suneel partnered with his brother Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, to launch the Kahani Movement, a production company which takes an open-source approach to film.

Suneel has a JD from Northwestern University’s School of Law and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management. He graduated with distinction from the University of Michigan with a degree in Information Systems.

Sean Smyth, VP of Business Development

Sean Smyth is Vice President of Business Development for Groupon.com, a deal of the day website that has saved consumers more than $100 million in local services and products. Before Groupon, Smyth was Director of Marketing and Development for Metromix.com where he played a leading role expanding the local entertainment guide beyond Chicago, now found in 64 cites. Previously, Smyth served in marketing and programming roles for AOL Music Now, RadioWave.com (a Motorola subsidiary), Sonicnet.com (an MTV subsidiary), and several radio stations throughout the Midwest. Smyth earned an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in 2005.

Jason Child, CFO

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Margo Georgiadis, COO

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Board of Directors

Peter Barris

Peter joined New Enterprise Associates (NEA) in 1992 and has served as Managing General Partner since 1999. Since joining NEA, Peter has led investments in over 20 information technology companies that have completed public offerings or successful mergers. These include such industry pioneering companies as Amisys, CareerBuilder, InnerWorkings, Neutral Tandem, UUNET, and Vonage. Prior to joining NEA, Peter was President and Chief Operating Officer of Legent Corporation (LGNT) and Senior Vice President of the Systems Software Division of UCCEL Corporation (UCE). Both companies were ultimately acquired at valuations that were record breaking for their time. Earlier, Peter spent almost a decade at General Electric Company in a variety of management positions, including Vice President and General Manager at GE Information Services. Outside interests include serving on the Northwestern University Board of Trustees, the Dartmouth Tuck School Board of Overseers. Peter previously served on the Executive Committee of the Board of the National Venture Capital Association and was also a founding member of Venture Philanthropy Partners, a philanthropic organization in the Washington D.C. area. He has a BS degree in Electrical Engineering from Northwestern and an MBA from Dartmouth.

Jason Fried

Jason Fried is the co-founder and President of 37signals, a privately-held Chicago-based company committed to building the best web-based tools possible with the least number of features necessary. 37signals' products include Basecamp, Highrise, Backpack, Campfire, Ta-da List, and Writeboard. 37signals also developed and open-sourced the Ruby on Rails programming framework. 37signals' products do less than the competition - intentionally. Over 3,000,000 people around the
world use 37signals products to get work done the simple way. 37signals' blog, Signal vs. Noise, is read by over 100,000 people a day. Their self-published book, "Getting Real", sold over 40,000 copies in PDF format and thousands more in paperback. The next book, "Rework", published by Crown, will be out on March 9, 2010. Jason believes there's real value and beauty in the basics. Elegance, respect for people's desire to simply get stuff done, and honest ease of use are the hallmarks of 37signals products.

Brad Keywell

Eric Lefkofsky is currently the President of Blue Media, LLC, a Chicago-based private equity and consulting firm focused on applied technology. Mr. Lefkofsky is the founder of InnerWorkings, Inc. (INWK: NASDAQ), a global provider of print solutions. He is also the founder and a Director of several other firms, including Echo Global Logistics, a technology-driven transportation outsourcing firm; MediaBank, Inc., a leading provider of integrated media procurement technology; and ThePoint, Inc., an online activism website. Eric Lefkofsky was previously the Chief Operating Officer of HA-LO Industries, Inc. Prior to HA-LO, Mr. Lefkofsky was the President and founder of Starbelly.com. Eric Lefkofsky is on the Board of Directors of Children's Memorial Hospital, Steppenwolf Theatre and The Art Institute of Chicago. He is also a member of the Chicago 2016 Olympic Committee. Eric Lefkofsky is the author of Accelerated Disruption and is a guest professor at Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate School of Business. Eric Lefkofsky graduated from the University of Michigan and received his Juris Doctor at University of Michigan Law School.