Luthier Society Team
BOARD OF MANAGERS
John Royal, CEO & Chairman of the Board
With over 10 years experience in the entertainment industry as a social media and viral marketing expert, John offers not only practical knowledge but also passion for the industry. John has run viral marketing, social media and public relations campaigns for hundreds of clients and their respective campaigns including President Obama, Al Gore, Universal Records, Wellness Pro and Sony.
Recently, John was nominated for the PRSA’s 2009 and 2010 Silver Anvil and PR Professional of the Year awards, he published the world’s first white paper on Social Media 3.0, and is in the process of writing and publishing the first text book ever written on Social Media 3.0. John is also the founder of Archimedes; the world’s first online weighted-value index and global media buying platform for the World Wide Web.
During his tenure on Wall Street, John worked for Morgan Stanley’s investment brokerage division and throughout his financial career managed over $72 million in assets. John held the Series 7, 63, 65 and 31 licenses, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from Saint Vincent College and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Performance from Westminster University in London, England. John is an accredited member of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and currently resides in Los Angeles, CA.
Max Webb, CTO & Board Secretary
Max has a wealth of professional experience in the software industry, spanning a wide range of areas such as software engineering & architecture, identity management, technology roadmapping and IT consulting. Max has a deep understanding of the technical and business aspects of building, creating and planning for software products. Max was the chief architect for rebuilding the Caps Lock infrastructure after the Chinese DDOS attack. Max designed and oversaw the implementation of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s database which manages hundreds of thousands of user-identities and secures access between the front end and back end servers for other interface programmers. Max attended Drexel University majoring in Electrical Computer Engineering and was inducted into the global E4 program and is the chief software engineer on the Archimedes project. Max currently resides in Hollywood, CA.
Gerry Shear, Vice President and Board Asst. Secretary
Gerry brings over 18 years experience in finance, real estate investment and corporate start-ups. He serves as a board member on many privately-held and non-profit organizations. Mr. Shear resides in Las Vegas, NV.
MANAGEMENT TEAM
Brendan Davis, Chief Operating Officer
As the 2009 recipient of the “Outstanding Performance in Digital Media” award, Brendan coordinates all logistics behind daily client operations at Luthier Society.
He has worked in the entertainment business for 25 years and has successfully created numerous alliances to build financing for feature films and marketing campaigns throughout the online film and music communities. With strategic partnerships set in motion with Doug McCallie (former Executive Producer, “Survivor”), Brendan has helped introduce digital media into the television medium.
Brendan graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Film & Television from Georgia State University and is a board member of several service / non-profit organizations. He currently resides in Los Angeles, CA.
Steve Graham, Director of New Media
As head of the new media department for Luthier Society, Steve is responsible for upkeep with all relevant digital media partners, online and offline, as well as supporting the firm’s business development efforts.
Initially cutting his teeth as a successful senior sales representative for a multi-million dollar logistics provider, Steve brings a strong skill set in both negotiation and relationship building to the Luthier team.
Steve holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and currently resides in Hollywood, CA.
Christine Sarin, Senior Account Manager
Formerly a publicist and manager to musicians, Christine has created numerous alliances with webmasters and editors that have helped give an edge to Luthier Society for its clients.
Christine attended The University of Massachusetts Amherst, and graduated from Temple University with a B.A. in Political Science while working as a grant writer. She then had the opportunity to live in India for 2 years, where she created the first electronic data base for blood donors in Northern India.
She currently resides in Los Angeles, CA .
Steve Ayers, Archimedes Technology Developer
Steve is a Sun Certified Java Programmer for the Java 5 platform and has over 5 years experience in the design and development of J2EE architecture. He is proficient in languages and technology stacks such as Java, Oracle PL/SQL, Ajax, LAMP, HTML and XML.
Steve holds a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology from Duquesne University and currently resides in Pittsburgh, PA with his wife and daughter.
