OUR TEAM

Jack Myers is founder of MediaVillage, Advancing Diversity.org and The Myers Report. He’s the nation’s leading media ecologist, having dedicated his career to studying and reporting on the media business. His five decades of behind-the-scenes work with brands, agencies, content publishers, studios, emerging tech companies, non-profit organizations and educational institutions has made Jack one of the most influential leaders in the history of the media and advertising business.

Jack has received the Excellence in Education Award from the Global Forum on Education & Learning, the George Foster Peabody Award, and an Academy Award nomination for Documentary Filmmaking. He’s written five books on the intersection of media and culture, including his visionary 2007 book Virtual Worlds: Rewiring Our Emotional Future; Hooked Up: A New Generation’s Surprising Take on Sex, Politics and Saving the World in 2012; and The Future of Men in 2016.

Through his research on technological and generational trends, Jack anticipated the industry’s need to invest in and train a new workforce, leading to his founding of MediaVillage and AdvancingDiversity.org. Today more than 100 content partners in the MediaVillage Knowledge Exchange connect with thousands of professionals, educators, students and job seekers who subscribe to free daily MediaVillage reports and rely on MediaVillage.com for meeting preparation and professional development.

Jack began his career in advertising sales and marketing with Metromedia Outdoor, ABC Radio, CBS-TV and UTV Cable. He majored in Radio-Television at the S.I. Newhouse School of Communications at Syracuse University and has a master’s degree in Media Ecology from NYU Steinhardt. Jack is Chairman Emeritus of the International Radio and Television Society Foundation (IRTS), founder of the Newhouse 44 Mentoring Program, serves on multiple advisory boards, and is the recipient of the Mac Dane Humanitarian Award from the UJA. Jack and his wife, Ronda Carnegie, have established the 501C-3 Jacaronda Foundation to provide college loan relief to deserving young professionals.

Diane Stefani is a results-driven public relations specialist with over two decades of experience garnering top-tier press placements and providing brand strategy for a broad range of innovative organizations, mission-based startups and legacy media companies.

Diane was brought on board to bring awareness to MediaVillage’s AdvancingDiversity.org and annual Advancing Diversity Hall of Honors. The relationship has grown to include publicizing the growing number of content marketing channels, subject matter columnists, and multiplatform journalists.

Prior to launching Diane Stefani Public Relations, the born and bred New Yorker was Executive Vice President at the Rosen Group, managing clients as diverse as the James Beard Foundation, B. Smith Enterprises, One Club for Art & Copy, Barnes & Noble, National Magazine Awards, Etsy, and Fast Company. Stefani credits her earlier career as an entertainment reporter at The New York Post and Director of Communications at Playboy Enterprises for a passion for journalism.

Photo credit: Matt Sutton.

Jeff is an award-winning advertising and digital media pioneer, strategist, and media technologist. He is one of only a handful in the industry with not only a strong mix of traditional and digital knowledge and experience, but also experience on all sides of the business, agency, client, and media sales.

Throughout the course of his 25-plus years in the marketing communications industry, Jeff has driven media strategy, internal digital change management, and media negotiation/project management for brands as diverse as IBM, Intel, McDonalds, The CW, CBS, Showtime, Disney, Visa, Hilton, State Farm, Anheuser Busch, and Pepsi. He has been influential in creating the industry frameworks by which digital media is purchased as the coauthor and lead negotiator for the 4As/IAB Industry Standard Terms and Conditions for the Buying of Digital Media.

Juan Ayala is a Brooklyn-based writer, podcast producer and host at MediaVillage. Since 2017, under his column Multicultural TV, he has covered programming aimed toward diverse and multicultural audiences, as well as the LGBTQ+ and Latin communities. Since 2021, he has hosted the podcast “Multicultural TV Talk” for MediaVillage, where he interviews with stars of television and media, focusing conversations on diversity, representation and inclusivity in entertainment. In addition, he hosts “Actors With Issues” a podcast where he chats with rising and established stars from across entertainment, taking mini deep-dives into their careers and the lessons they’ve learned along the way.

He is also a member of the Critics Choice Association.

Justin Paura is the host of the "View from the Grandstand" podcast and head of Audio Content at MediaVillage.com. The Long Island-based podcaster provides insights into rights, production, distribution and advertising strategies wielded by top media companies and executives as they look to score with existing audiences and connect with new ones in the ever-evolving world of sports media. In his role as Director of Content Management, Justin is the liaison between MediaVillage journalists and its members, who are thought leaders in the marketing, media, advertising, and entertainment industries. He graduated from Syracuse University's S.I. School of Public Communications with a degree in Broadcast and Digital Journalism. Justin joined the MediaVillage team as a producer in 2020.

Maryann has been an integral part of the Myers team for over 30 years. She serves as the hub of MediaVillage, ensuring that members, readers, and staff are best served. On a daily basis she manages internal operations, including human resources and accounting; and she oversees such customer-facing operations as content distribution and web management. In her brief moments of "spare time" she dabbles with the company's research, supporting and working alongside the research team to deliver top-notch insights to the industry.

As the person with the most institutional knowledge (besides Jack, of course), she serves as a key mentor and supporter for all new team members. She thoroughly enjoys working with every member of the team to help them succeed individually, and to help them come together to ensure the success of MediaVillage and its members and readers.

As MediaVillage’s member services manager, Robin leads the business relationship with our member companies. She also works to help foster a sense of community for our members by managing events such as the 3rd Advancing Diversity Hall of Honors Induction Experience, the leading diversity & inclusion event at CES.

Robin started her career in movie advertising, working on behalf of New Line Cinema and Dreamworks. She moved to the nonprofit sector, where she worked in partnerships and fundraising for organizations including UJA-Federation of New York, Women in Need, and Urban Dove. Most recently, Robin was able to merge her love of media and entertainment with her passion for bringing people together while at The Paley Center for Media, where she ran membership and events for their industry executive group.

When she’s not working, Robin can be found hanging out with her husband Paul and her kids Quinn and Noah.

Sierra Addams supports the AdvancingDiversity.org team by managing collegiate level outreach and reviewing submissions to MediaVillage’s resume portal. She also coordinates #TVTuesday for @mediavillagecom on Instagram which highlights Behind the Scenes in Hollywood, The Ed Martin Report, #AndradeSays, In the Loop, and Multicultural Media articles. Sierra joined MediaVillage as the Media Ecology Intern through the International Radio & Television Society’s (IRTS) Summer Fellowship in June 2022.

Graduating in May 2023, Sierra is a senior at New York University earning her B.S. in Media, Culture, and Communications with a minor in Producing. During her time at NYU, she has worked on Tristan Flournoy’s music video ‘Too Good to Forget’ and was the producer of ‘Behind the Screens’, a documentary following female content creators of color’.

Stacey Lynn Schulman, Market Intelligence Lead for MediaVillage and The Myers Report, is an award-winning Media Ecologist and executive at the intersection of marketing and analytics. As the founder of Hi: Human Insight, Schulman is laser-focused on the human aspect to data insights and strategy. She is highly experienced as both a new media and traditional researcher, having conducted TV, print, radio, cable, and digital research for national and local media entities (CBS, Turner Broadcasting, Katz Media, Sports Illustrated) as well as for media agencies globally (DMB&B, Bozell, TN Media, Initiative). Schulman is an esteemed researcher, winning the ARF's Gold Medal for Research Innovation and being the first researcher to be inducted into the American Advertising Federation Hall of Achievement. Her work in understanding and valuing fan cultures was awarded Best Conference Paper Honors at Esomar's Global audience measurement conference in Shanghai.

Throughout her career she has written multiple academic papers, has taught media measurement at MIT and has been routinely quoted in trade and consumer media outlets, appearing regularly on CNN, CNBC and FOX News Channel to discuss media trends. Schulman is a proud graduate of Northwestern University's Radio/TV/Film program and earned her Master of Arts in Media Ecology from New York University.