Intersection Company Overview

Ari Buchalter is a recognized innovator and thought leader in digital media and advertising, marketing technology, and data science. As CEO, Ari drives the development of new technologies that transform the experience of public spaces through content, advertising, connectivity, and other services that create value for cities, consumers, and brands.

Prior to Intersection, Ari served as President of MediaMath, a leading programmatic advertising technology platform. He led the company’s growth from a startup to a global enterprise, building out the commercial, operational, and technology teams, leading the development of its proprietary media, data, and machine learning platforms, and evangelizing the use of technology and data to drive better marketing results. Ari was previously a Senior Partner at the marketing consultancy and agency Rosetta, where he led the Digital Media & Technology vertical. Prior to that, he was an Associate Principal in McKinsey & Company’s Media & Technology practice and a founding member of their Innovation practice.

Driven by the pursuit and implementation of breakthrough ideas, Ari’s career spans cutting-edge PhD and postdoctoral research in theoretical astrophysics to more than a decade of leadership building successful data-driven marketing businesses. Ari holds a BS in Physics from Stanford University, a PhD in Astronomy from Columbia University, and was a postdoctoral fellow in Theoretical Astrophysics at Caltech.

Allison serves in the dual role of Chief Legal Officer and Chief Talent Officer for Intersection, overseeing legal matters and shaping corporate culture across its nine offices nationwide. Directing the organization’s growing team, Allison is responsible for identifying, recruiting and nurturing talent, as well as fostering an environment where people love to work.

Prior to joining Intersection, Allison oversaw the legal and human resources departments for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, culminating in oversight of the company’s recent sale. She was also SVP and Chief Legal Officer of ALM Media, a global leader in specialized business news and information, and began her career at Skadden Arps.

Throughout her career, Allison has been recognized for successfully advocating and navigating change, as well as developing performance-driven cultures of excellence to deliver exemplary results. Allison holds a BA from the College of Arts and Sciences and a BS from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and received her JD from the University of Chicago Law School.

As Chief Operating Officer, Chris is responsible for product development, business development, partner management, deployment, and field operations at Intersection. Chris leads our efforts to bring our team’s forward-thinking products to market and ensure they get deployed and operated at scale.

Chris has had a long career helping re-invent media products for the digital world at NBC Universal, AOL, and Hearst. At NBCU and Hearst, he launched several new digital products leveraging traditional media brands. At AOL, he repositioned AOL.com from a homepage utility to a multi-platform destination content site, dramatically increasing video usage, content consumption, and revenue yields. At all three companies, his teams launched iOS and Android apps that reached the top download lists in their respective categories.

With 20 years of digital media operating experience, Chris has deep expertise in product development, business development, and operational strategy. He holds a BS from Yale University and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. Chris lives in New York City with his wife and two daughters.

Craig is Intersection’s Chief Financial Officer, responsible for the company’s financial functions, reporting across divisions, and its growing finance team. He also serves as the CFO of CityBridge, LLC, overseeing finances for the consortium behind LinkNYC.

Previously, Craig was EVP, CFO of Titan, which merged with Control Group to form Intersection. Prior to Titan, Craig was CFO of Covanta Energy Corporation, with over 3,000 employees in 8 countries, where he raised $400 million in equity and $1.6 billion in debt, and was instrumental in moving the company from NASDAQ to the NYSE. Together, these enabled a $2 billion transformational acquisition that ultimately increased the company’s market cap four-fold. Prior to that, Craig held the role of CFO at DIRECTV Latin America, and spent ten years with The Walt Disney Company in various divisional CFO roles in California, Miami and Argentina, culminating in the role of Chief Financial Officer of The Walt Disney Company Latin America.

With more than 20 years of experience, Craig is an accomplished leader with a track record of exceeding breakthrough goals in the media, technology, consumer products, environmental services, and real estate industries. His clear focus on near-term performance, coupled with a long-term strategic vision, enables sustainable shareholder value growth. Craig is a CPA and has a BA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Dafna is the Chief Marketing Officer for Intersection, responsible for leading all consumer and B2B marketing activities including brand, content, public relations, customer and external communications, and product marketing.

Before joining Intersection, Dafna was SVP of Marketing for Yodle, a late-stage tech startup offering digital marketing and operations management SaaS products to small businesses. There, she led marketing and product teams, and was part of the team that completed the sale of Yodle to Web.com in March 2016, when she assumed leadership of marketing for Web.com.

Dafna brings over 10 years of experience in various marketing roles at American Express, as well launching Air Miles/Loyalty Management Group, a Boston-based marketing startup. She began her career as a Consultant at Bain & Company. Dafna holds an MBA from Harvard and an AB in Mathematics from Dartmouth College.

David is Chief Technology Officer for Intersection, leading the company’s Link, Transit, ad tech, hardware engineering, and technical operations teams.

Prior to joining Intersection, David built and scaled Travelocity.com from its early stages as an online travel agency into a site supporting millions of requests per day. David also lead technical teams for lastminute.com in Europe, Sabre Holdings, Amplify Education, and the online retail company ideeli Inc.

With over 15 years experience growing and leading engineering teams, David’s background spans software development, technical operations, and hardware development. David studied computer science at the University of Oklahoma and holds a master's degree in business administration from Southern Methodist University.

Jen Hensley is President, Link, overseeing all aspects of the LinkNYC program including deployment, operations, and service delivery for the world’s most comprehensive free public Wi-Fi network.

Prior to joining Intersection, Jen led the expansion and evolution of the City’s preeminent civic advocacy organization as Executive Director of the Association for a Better New York (ABNY). Previously, she was Senior Adviser to the Chairman at Empire State Development Corporation, leading economic development projects across New York State. Jen has also held positions in finance at Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase, and served as Assistant Vice President at the Alliance for Downtown New York.

Jen brings more than 15 years of experience working with government, civic, and business communities to Intersection, and she’s an integral part of the company’s Smart Cities mission. Included among Crain's 2018 "40 Under 40," she is a graduate of Barnard College and holds an MBA from NYU's Stern School of Business, as well as an MPA from NYU's Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.

As Chief Revenue Officer, Michael leads Intersection’s sales organization and is responsible for media revenue streams across Intersection’s fast-growing range of products.

Prior to joining Intersection, Michael was SVP of Sales at Foursquare, where he led media and measurement sales. During his tenure, he drove rapid growth of new products, including their audience and attribution measurement platforms, transforming Foursquare from a purely consumer app into the leader in location intelligence for marketers. Prior to Foursquare, Rosen was Chief Revenue Officer at First Look Media, and held leadership positions at AT&T AdWorks, Bloomberg Media, WeatherBug and Showtime Networks.

Michael brings over 20 years of experience in advertising and technology, spanning mobile, online, and TV, with deep expertise in cross-channel advertising, programmatic buying, creative innovation, and the application of audience & location data. Michael received his MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business and bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University.

Scott is President, Cities and Transit, responsible for the continued growth and evolution of Intersection’s nationwide business development, extending to more than 30 municipal partnerships in 11 major media markets across the U.S. He also serves as Chief Operating Officer of CityBridge, LLC, the consortium behind the groundbreaking LinkNYC initiative.

Previously, Scott held a variety of senior executive positions at Titan, which merged with Control Group to form Intersection. As a veteran of municipal and transit media, he has deep expertise in helping cities transform physical assets into valuable public services and platforms for revenue generation.

A graduate of Fordham Law School, Scott has practiced real estate, zoning, and corporate law with extensive experience in land use, historic preservation, and environmental issues. Scott serves on the Board of Directors for NYC & Company, the City’s primary marketing, tourism, and partnership organization.

One of the world’s leading urban visionaries and a champion of leveraging technology and data for social change, Dan is Chairman of Intersection, responsible for overall leadership. He is also the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Sidewalk Labs, an urban innovation company and lead investor in Intersection, which he founded with Google to focus on improving city life for residents, businesses, and governments alike.

During his prior seven-year tenure as CEO of Bloomberg L.P., Dan led the company through the generation’s worst financial crisis while nearly doubling revenue, dramatically increasing the size and influence of the news organization. He previously served as Deputy Mayor for Economic Development and Rebuilding, spearheading the effort to revive New York City after 9/11 through a five-borough strategy that included the most ambitious land-use transformation in modern city history; the largest affordable housing program ever launched by an American city; The High Line; and PlaNYC, a model for integrated urban planning around the world.

Dan holds a BA from Harvard and a JD from the University of Chicago, where he serves on the Board of Trustees.