Jess Barron

Current

VP, Content and Community at YooStar Entertainment Group, Inc.

Past

Director of Programming, Yahoo! News at Yahoo!
Director Front Page Programming at Yahoo!
Managing Editor, Broadband at Yahoo!

Program Manager at Microsoft
Product Manager at Scour.com
Senior Producer at Wildweb.com
Executive Producer at CollegeBeat.com
Web Producer at Monster.com

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Education

Vassar College

Recommended

5 people have recommended Jess

Connections

500+ connections

Industry

Online Media

Websites

Jess Barron’s Summary

User-focused Internet leader who has produced online content that has measurably increased user engagement in major websites and digital products. Fourteen years online editorial, production, and product management experience, providing vision for web content initiatives. Strategic thinker who is also able to execute effectively and efficiently.

Speaking Engagements and Media Appearances:
* Sirus XM satellite radio POTUS channel during 2008 U.S. Presidential elections
• MSNBC, “The Most” (2006)
• Panelist, Online News Association conference, New York, NY, October 2005, What’s New in New Media?
• Seminar speaker, Western Knight Center for Specialized Journalism, Los Angeles, CA, 2005

Jess Barron’s Specialties:

Online news, online video, social media, online community-building, user engagement, blogging.

Jess Barron’s Experience

VP, Content and Community

YooStar Entertainment Group, Inc.

(Privately Held; Computer Games industry)

October 2008 — Present (1 year 5 months)

* Reporting to the CEO, responsible for driving talent clearances, daily web programming, and overall customer experience for a robust large-scale viral entertainment website.
* Manage content partnerships with major movie studios including Paramount Pictures, Universal, MGM, LionsGate, and Warner Brothers.
* Work with senior management to develop and implement the company's business and web product strategy from the ground up.
* Drive and determine programming calendar and weekly clip production schedule based on user requests and feedback. To date, over 300 movie scenes are available on Yoostar.
* Worked with VP of Marketing to launch Yoostar's Facebook Fan page ( http://www.facebook.com/yoostar ) and grew it to over 35,000 fans.
* Develop and grow Yoostar community engagement with the site and product through identifying top user-created videos and highlighting them through daily programming on Yoostar.com as well as on Facebook, Twitter, and the Yoostar blog.
* Analyze daily and weekly web statistics to optimize traffic driven to Yoostar.com through daily programming and interaction with users on Facebook, Twitter, and the Yoostar Blog.
Director of Programming, Yahoo! News

Yahoo!

(Public Company; YHOO; Internet industry)

April 2008 — October 2008 (7 months)

• Oversaw editorial programming of Yahoo! News, the #1 news site on the Internet with over 40 million global unique visitors.
• Directed the daily work of twenty-two editors and producers based in Santa Monica, Sunnyvale, Chicago, and New York City, programming news content on a 24x7 news cycle.
• Supervised programming of Good Morning Yahoo!, a daily morning news video playlist/show.
• Drove programming and feature set for Yahoo!'s 2008 presidential elections coverage, found at elections.yahoo.com.
* While News Director, Yahoo! News landed first ever online-only interview with President Bush.
Director Front Page Programming

Yahoo!

(Public Company; 5001-10,000 employees; YHOO; Media Production industry)

December 2006 — March 2008 (1 year 4 months)

• Oversaw editorial programming of the Featured module on Yahoo.com, the most visited site on the Internet with over 48 million global unique visitors each day.
• Directed the daily work of eleven producers based in Santa Monica, Sunnyvale, and Dallas, programming news, entertainment, video, sports, and lifestyles content on a 24x7 news cycle.
• Increased CTR to more than 350 percent YOY growth
• Defined Yahoo’s front page video strategy. (Yahoo! is #1 on the Internet in monetized video streams).
• Hired national-caliber talent; team includes hires from AOL, Hollywood Reporter, and People.
• Guided the team to develop news judgment, headline writing, and content packaging skills.
• Worked with product managers and others to plan a new content management system and other improvements to the Yahoo.com front page.
• Analyzed hourly, daily, and weekly content statistics to optimize content mix.
Managing Editor, Broadband

Yahoo!

(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; YHOO; Internet industry)

June 2002 — December 2006 (4 years 7 months)

• Led team of eight editors programming news and video content for Yahoo’s broadband portals (AT&T Yahoo! and Verizon Yahoo! in the U.S., and Rogers Yahoo! in Canada) with an audience of over 12 million registered users.
• Created programming philosophy for the Today module, an editorially-programmed module with the highest click-through rate (7%) and user engagement rate on the Yahoo! network.
• Success of editorially-programmed broadband Today module influenced the redesign of yahoo.com in 2006 and inspired the creation of the yahoo.com Featured module.
• Developed and implemented broadband content strategy, including creating popular original content offerings (AT&T Yahoo! Blog and weekly Yahoo! Top 5 in partnership with ABC News) for Yahoo's broadband portals.
• Worked with product managers, engineers, and designers to plan new features, including inline video, the Quick Picks video module, a redesign to the Today, and the creation of a new content management system.
Program Manager

Microsoft

(Public Company; MSFT; Online Media industry)

2000 — 2002 (2 years )

• Led cross-functional teams to create user interfaces for UltimateTV, a consumer television DVR (digital video recorder) product.
• Produced prototypes of UltimateTV Music (an interface for accessing and sharing music via TV) and Best Bets (an interface helping viewers to find television shows to record).
• Devised and prioritized features based on research, consumer feedback, usability testing and business requirements.
• Wrote detailed product specifications.
Product Manager

Scour.com

(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Online Media industry)

1999 — 2000 (1 year )

• Drove daily editorial updates to Scour.com, a multimedia search engine start-up founded by UCLA computer science students and funded by Michael Ovitz and the Yucaipa Company.
• Managed SX Now, a section of editorially-selected multimedia downloads on Scour Exchange.
• Collaborated with partners including DMusic.com, Grand Royal and Moonshine Records to promote artists via MP3 downloads.
Senior Producer

Wildweb.com

(Online Media industry)

1998 — 1999 (1 year )

• Drove daily editorial updates and programming vision for AltaVista's Entertainment Zone and Wildweb.com, broadband entertainment websites owned by technology and internet venture capital company CMGI.
• Recruited and managed a staff of fifteen freelance entertainment and video games writers.
• Covered music and cultural events for CBS/Eyemark syndicated “behavioral convergence” TV show “Wild Wild Web.”
Executive Producer

CollegeBeat.com

(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Online Media industry)

1997 — 1998 (1 year )

• Oversaw editorial, design, development, and daily production for this online magazine and social networking site for college students.
Web Producer

Monster.com

(Public Company; MNST; Marketing and Advertising industry)

1996 — 1997 (1 year )

• Wrote, edited and produced content for Monster.com, one of the leading career websites.

Jess Barron’s Education

Vassar College

Bachelor of Arts , American Culture , 1992 — 1996

Hypertext senior thesis received honor of distinction.

Activities and Societies:

Editor-in-Chief of The Miscellany News, Women's Rugby team