Management

Kirk Owen, co-founder and CEO, has led Merscom since its inception in 1993. He is responsible for defining the overall strategic direction of the company as well as overseeing all production management.  Under his leadership, Merscom has created an outstanding track record for consistently creating top-5 downloadable mass market games. While at Merscom he has been responsible for producing, licensing, distributing and marketing computer and video games in over 50 countries. He has also licensed, produced and published computer and video games based on such leading properties as Star Trek, Pink Panther and Peter Gabriel. Prior to Merscom, Kirk was a manager in the consulting practice of Ernst & Young and an infantry officer and platoon leader in the U.S. Army.

Lloyd Melnick, co-founder and Chief Customer Officer, is responsible for managing relationships with domestic and international channel partners including retailers, online portals and in-game advertising partners. Lloyd Melnick has been involved with publishing and licensing computer and video games for over 16 years. As a co-founder of Merscom, Lloyd has marketed, produced and published over 150 games for the casual, core and social gamer market. Lloyd has led the developer selection process for more than 35 casual and social media game projects in the last two years.  Lloyd was also responsible for building Merscom’s relationships with Paramount, CBS, Starz Media, National Geographic, CAA, Showtime Networks, uClick and Granada Ventures. Lloyd played a key role in the development and launch of multiple #1 hits, including Blood Ties, Righteous Kill and Herod's Lost Tomb.  Lloyd has also developed and implemented Merscom’s online and retail distribution networks both in the U.S. and Europe.
 
Merscom’s Advisory Board includes leading experts on consumer behavior and new product launches.

Dr. John Lynch, Leeds School of Business, University of Colorado at Boulder, is a decorated researcher and teacher who has been honored by the American Marketing Association for outstanding contributions to the science of marketing.  His paper on Internet shopping is the 3rd most cited paper to appear in any marketing journal from 1997 to the present and won the 1998 Paul Root/MSI award “for greatest contribution to the practice of marketing.” His paper on price sensitivity on the Internet is the 5th most cited paper to appear in any marketing journal from 2000 to the present. This work has been credited with changing retailers approach to pricing when considering selling their products to consumers on the internet. A core theme in his work is why manufacturers and retailers sometimes avoid electronic marketplaces that enhance consumer choice and make it easy for consumers to compare offerings because of fears of intensified price competition.  Lynch is past president of the Association for Consumer Research, past associate editor for the Journal of Consumer Research and past associate editor and co-editor for the Journal of Consumer Psychology.

Dr. Dan Ariely is the Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Behavioral Economics at MIT, where he holds a joint appointment between MIT's Media Laboratory and the Sloan School of Management. He is also a researcher at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and a visiting professor at Duke University. Dr. Ariely is also the author of Predictably Irrational, a New York Times bestseller His work has been featured in leading scholarly journals and a variety of popular media outlets, including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, Scientific American, and Science. Ariely has appeared on CNN and National Public Radio. He divides his time between Durham, North Carolina, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the rest of the world.. He has published over the past twelve years over 50 articles on consumer behavior, decision-making and hedonics in academic journals.  Dr. Steve Hoeffler is an expert in consumer products marketing, brand management and consumer behavior. His research on such topics as positioning multiple category products, marketing radically new products and the advantages of strong brands have appeared in such journals as Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of Product Innovation Management and Journal of Marketing Research.

Dr. Steve Hoeffler of the Owen School at Vanderbilt University is an expert in consumer products marketing, brand management and consumer behavior. His research on such topics as positioning multiple category products, marketing radically new products and the advantages of strong brands have appeared in such journals as Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of Product Innovation Management and Journal of Marketing Research. Among his current research interests are the marketing of "really new" (novel) products and the development of consumer preferences.