Our People
Lisa Peri, Mom, CEO & Co-Founder
Hometown: Annapolis, Maryland
Favorite Tunes: Earth, Wind & Fire, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jimmy Buffett, Sting, Doobie Brothers
Fav Flicks: Star Wars, Fifth Element, Frankie & Johnny
Hobbies: Reading, Social Work and raising my daughters to be independent and loving people.
Quote: “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.”
Oddities: Fascinated by The Girls Next Door
Save the Planet by: recycling aluminum cans
Pro Stuff: Lisa Peri has dedicated her life and career to both the parenting field and environmental sustainability awareness. She earned a bachelor’s in sociology from Clark University and masters of social work from the University of Pennsylvania. Lisa is also a proud mother of two daughters, and wife to Jeff Peri, her business partner in many of their endeavors.
Jeff Peri, Dad & Co-Founder
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Favorite Tunes:
old stuff: ”Electric Avenue” –Eddy Gran , Van Halen (Dave, of course), Vivaldi, Bach, Ozzy
new stuff : Zero 7 – “Destiny”, Radiohead, The Killers, The Sword
Fav Flicks: Scarface (with Pacino), The Big Lebowski, Animal House, Gattaca
Hobbies: reading, art, music, in-line skating, playing with the kids, Chuck E. Cheese’s
Quote: “It’ll be fine.”
Oddities: Where do I begin…ever watch Monk?
Save the Planet by: recycling my beer cans, using non-toxic products, new “green” cars
Pro Stuff: Jeff’s experience includes business development, marketing/ PR, operations, HR, and management of a high-end clientele base. He established and retained retail, wholesale and services contracts with Sony, DreamWorks, Paramount, NBC/Universal, Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox, Disney and many more clients. Jeff attended both USC and UCLA on his way towards a BS in Biological Sciences in 1990.
Stacey Donnelly, Manager of U.S. Sales
Hometown: Phoenix, AZ
Favorite Tunes: Coldplay, Zero 7, No Doubt, Santana, Journey
Fav Flicks: Planes, Trains, & Automobiles; Saving Private Ryan; A Christmas Story; Castaway; The Piano
Hobbies: Photography, scrapbooking, interior design, organizing stuff
Quote: : “What is the use of a house if you haven’t got a tolerable planet to put it on?” -Henry David Thoreau
Oddities: I can hang a teaspoon on the end of my nose.
Save the Planet by: Practicing the 4 R’s (reduce, recycle, reuse, & repurpose)
Pro Stuff: With over 20 years of sales and customer service experience, Stacey is very attentive to a high level of customer satisfaction. She comes from a diverse background in several different industries ranging from paper and packaging to custom injection molding to new home flooring design. While sales has been at the forefront of her career, she also has experience leading a company’s implementation and conversion of a new computer software system, maintaining ISO-9000 procedures as Quality Manager, payroll and Human Resources activities, and developing the curriculum and conducting training for her co-workers.
Dan Fierst, Business Manager
Hometown: Northhampton, MA
Favorite Tunes: Stevie Ray Vaughn, Sublime, Phish, Stevie Miller Band, Kanye West, Johnny Coltrane, MGMT, Metallica, The Police
Fav Flicks: City of God, Slumdog Millionaire, The Big Lebowski, Saving Private Ryan, Best in Show, Silence of the Lambs, No Country for Old Men, Kill Bill Vol. 1
Hobbies: Skiing, hiking, playing guitar, Xbox, Frisbee, softball, foosball, board games
Quote: : “My country is the world, and my religion is to do good” – Thomas Paine
“Be the change you want to see in the world” -Mahatma Gandhi
Oddities: Constant pen-twirling and mind bending card tricks. GUITAR HERO Champion.
Save the Planet by: Recycling bottles, cans and paper. Driving a hybrid and walking when I can, using re-usable bags when shopping.
Pro Stuff: After graduating from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2006 with a degree in Sociology and a minor in Business, Dan worked for an intellectual property management company in Beverly Hills that specialized in licensing before joining the team at Lucky Earth. Dan has a passion for the environment and what he lacks in work experience, he makes up for with his energy and infectious optimism.
Tim Strube, Global Sales & Business Dev.
Hometown: Dornach, Switzerland
Favorite Tunes: Too many to name from Punk to Rock to Classical…
Fav Flicks: Once upon a Time in the West, Apocalypse Now, and many more…
Hobbies: Running (when I can get away), after a few marathons I am preparing for my first Ultra.
Quote: Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. -Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Oddities: Twice married
Save the Planet by: Doing it – not talking about it.
Pro Stuff: For the last 20 years, Tim has worked in various capacities including the establishment of premium brands in Europe and the USA, developing sophisticated international distribution networks and sales channels in a range of industries with an emphasis on automotive markets. Tim has held varied roles including buyer, business and operations manager, marketing director, EVP and CEO. Tim has worked in the United States and Europe with leading importers and distributors, and has succeeded in a broad range of roles with varied responsibilities and leadership positions. He has also worked under his own name as a consultant to a range of premier companies developing specific products and services. As a multi-skilled all-rounder who is fluent in German, Tim has a thorough understanding of every aspect that goes into establishing, building, running, and growing a business, both domestically and internationally.
Board of Managers
Lisa Peri, Mom, CEO & Co-Founder
Lisa has 12 years of experience in non-violent crisis intervention, parenting training, conducting psycho-social assessments, family and child therapeutic interventions, race- relations education, and conflict resolution have established her as an expert in the parent-child relationship. Her excellent communication skills and extensive knowledge of this subject have made her highly sought after by child development professionals and parents alike. In addition to her extensive experience in training and consulting with parents, Lisa has been quoted and interviewed in The Los Angeles Times as a child discipline expert on parenting and nannies issues and featured in Los Angeles on the KTLA Morning News for “Nanny 101″. She has also appeared as an expert on TLC’s “Bringing Home Baby”.
Lisa is currently the co-founder and CEO of Lucky Earth “Waterless” Carwash, a green and non-toxic product committed to saving water, eliminating run-off and protecting the health of the planet. She and Lucky Earth have recently been featured in The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, National Public Radio, Entrepreneur Magazine, Discovery’s Planet Green and many more. As CEO of Lucky Earth, Lisa is circulating the idea that what is good for the Earth is good for our families, our health and our economy. She is proud to have partnered with Heal the Bay in California to help support their efforts to protect the health of the bays in Southern California.
Lisa Peri is currently developing additional products that offer Earth-friendly alternatives for a healthier lifestyle.
Jeff Peri, Dad & Co-Founder
Jeff Peri brings almost two decades of experience as an executive and entrepreneur to Lucky Earth. Jeff began his career in retail management, promotions and buying with Music Plus (Shamrock Holdings) and Virgin Megastores – helping establish Virgin’s flagship store in the U.S. Jeff later founded a computer-telephone integration business that focused on the music industry, establishing progressive marketing technology for Epitaph Records. Soon thereafter founded and operated Protect-It LLC dba Cardboard Junkies, a film and television location management business, where grew a fledgling business into a profitable niche, grossing close to $1 million annually with margins above and beyond most conventional business. Jeff’s experience includes business development, marketing/ PR, operations, HR, and management of a high-end clientele base. He established and retained retail, wholesale and services contracts with Sony, DreamWorks, Paramount, NBC/Universal, Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox, Disney and many more clients. Jeff attended both USC and UCLA on his way towards a BS in Biological Sciences in 1990.
Jeff is co-founder Lucky Earth and currently sits on the board. As past President, he has been transformative in developing branding, new product development, IT, and early stage capital. Beyond his board manager duties, Jeff brings further assistance to Lucky Earth as needed.
David Krasnow, Principal, Funk Ventures
David Krasnow, Principal with Funk Ventures Acceleration Partners, joined the firm in 2003 as an Associate. Funk Ventures recruited David out of University of California, San Diego where he graduated with degrees in Computer Science and Management Science. He received Honors with Highest Distinctions after studying under Clive Granger, a Nobel Laureate in Economics.
For the past five years, David has been instrumental in evaluating and screening investment opportunities, conducting due diligence on various portfolio companies and working closely with senior management teams.
In 2004, he was infused into Encore Fitness, a Funk Ventures portfolio company, as COO, where he restructured a near-bankrupt company, settling all outstanding debts, renegotiating the Company’s unfavorable lease, shutting down a failing division of the company, replacing all employees, and optimizing pricing‚ -all of which provided the platform for Funk Ventures to exit out of the investment within a year.
In 2006, Funk Ventures admitted Used Cardboard Boxes (UCB), an earth-friendly moving supply company, into its Acceleration program. UCB was a failing retail company with limited web presence. David was infused as UCB’s COO. The old business model was replaced with a goal of franchising UCB across the country. He developed a process to profitably ship used boxes via a common carrier. Within one year, UCB expanded to seven distribution centers across the country and shipping its products nationwide. David currently sits on the boards of UCB and Lucky Earth.
David Pierce, CEO and President of Atari Inc.
David Pierce is an accomplished corporate leader with over 20 years experience driving the strategic turnaround and growth of high-profile companies and divisions in the media and entertainment sector. Balancing advanced business acumen, a revenue-driven mindset, and a common sense approach to achieving results, David has consistently revitalized underperforming businesses, driven year-over-year revenue and market share gains in one of the toughest and most competitive industries.
From 1989 to 2005, David held SVP and EVP roles with Sony Corporation USA, where he successfully managed and grew Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment and Sony Wonder, completely restructuring both businesses and dramatically re-invigorating revenue and profit performance.
In his most recent role, David took over as CEO and President of Atari Inc., (NASDAQ), $150 million interactive media company, with the specific challenge of turning around the U.S. operation and redirecting the strategy and operations to position the business for new growth. As a critical component of Atari’s survival, David negotiated a new financial partnership with Guggenheim Partners, LLC.
Fran Seegull, Managing Dir., Funk Ventures
Fran Seegull joined Funk Ventures as Managing Director in 2006. She brings more than 20 years of experience building new organizations and optimizing existing ones, creating and implementing growth strategies, developing strategic partnerships, entering new markets, innovating new products and services, and raising capital.
After graduating with a B.S. in economics from Columbia University, Fran was a program officer at the Santa Monica-based Peter Norton Family Foundation, evaluating and recommending grants to support museums and other non-profit organizations in acquiring and exhibiting cutting-edge contemporary art.
From 1998 to 2000, Fran was a management consultant in the corporate strategy practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers. She also served in the firm’s global strategic ventures group which invested capital in nascent technology companies.
From 2000 to 2002, Fran was VP of business development at Novica United, a venture-backed, web-based company that retails and wholesales home decor products made by artisans in developing economies.
In 2002, Fran founded her own management consulting practice, providing strategy, as well as business and corporate development services to small and mid-market businesses. She conducted strategy engagements for several mid-market media companies including National Geographic, MediaNews Group and NPR West as well as multi-channel retailer Blair Corporation and Nestle USA. She also partnered with many entrepreneurial ventures to create and implement growth strategies.
Fran has an MBA from Harvard Business School and serves on the Board of Lucky Earth and the Barbara Lee Family Foundation.
Advisory Board
Allen Dolgoff, Founder and Former President of Data Systems Marketing
Allen received my electronics education in the U.S. Navy and in college following the service. After several years as a manufacturers’ representative selling sophisticated electronics components, then working as a Regional Manager covering 36 states for three different companies, he struck out on his own in 1976, starting Data Systems Marketing Corporation.
Initially, Data Systems was a manufacturers’ representative company selling to commercial as well as military contractors, i.e. Westinghouse, G.E., and Raytheon. As President of Data Systems he help develop an internal G.S.A. (Government Services Administration) schedule which allowed them to sell manufacturers’ products to the government on behalf of their principals who did not have their own G.S.A. contracts. Furthermore, Allen‚Äôs government clearances, which gave Data Systems opportunities to bid on contracts with classified government agencies.
As CEO and President of the company, helped increase profitability and diversify his clientele. Data Systems evolved from a manufacturers’ representative outfit, to a manufacturers’ reseller, and ultimately into one of the largest computer networking companies on the East Coast, with the corporate office in the Washington, D.C. area, and additional offices in New York, Boston, Florida and Virginia. As a networking company we designed, installed and maintained network systems for government clients including The White House, Freddy Mac, NASA, and numerous agencies. Among our commercial customers were The University of Maryland, Westinghouse, The Boston Globe, Ferris Baker Watts, Legg Mason and the City of Alexandria, Va.
Ultimately, Allen sold the company at the peak of the Dot Com spike in 1998, at which time Data Systems employed 140 people and produced 44 million in gross sales.
He is now happily retired on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, golfing regularly and working cattle several times a year at a ranch in Wyoming.
Canyon Ceman, Strategic Business Consultant & AVP Super Star
Mr. Ceman is an independent business consultant whose most recent work has centered on business plan development and turnarounds of distressed companies. Canyon earned a BA and MA from Stanford University in 1994 and an MBA from UCLA Anderson in 2005. Prior to his business career, Canyon enjoyed a 14-year Pro Beach Volleyball career (#1 in US in 2000-2001) during which he dabbled in real estate, freelance journalism, and sports marketing. Canyon wrote the business plan and helped create the operational and sales strategy for LUCKY EARTH. He will advise in ongoing business decisions.
Dr. Rita Kachru, Immunologist/Allergist, Allergy Medical Clinic Inc.
She is a well respected board certified allergist who is studying (at the University of California, Los Angeles) Multiple Chemical Sensitivity as a catalyst for Rhinitis in children. She currently works on staff at Allergy Medical Clinic Inc., one of the most prestigious allergy clinics located in Beverly Hills, California. Most importantly she helped our daughter, when no one else could.
Farshid Almassizadeh, Sr. Director of Product Development, EA Mobile
Farshid was the Founder and VP of development for Presto Studios which developed one of the most popular computer games of it time called,”Journeyman”; he was Lead Animator and Programmer for this groundbreaking computer game which garnered high critical praise and was another enormous success for Presto Studios; “Journeyman“has recently been produced as a television series for NBC.
Throughout his career, Farshid has managed and created numerous award winning games for the Macintosh, PC, Xbox, and PlayStation consoles including: The Simpsons Game (Electronic Arts, Inc.), The Sims 2 (Electronic Arts, Inc.), The Urbz: Sims in the City (Electronic Arts, Inc.), The Sims: Bustin’ Out (Electronic Arts, Inc.), Myst III: Exile (Ubi Soft Entertainment Software), Stephen King’s F13 (Blue Byte Studio GmbH), Star Trek: Hidden Evil (Activision Publishing, Inc.), The Journeyman Project 3: Legacy of Time (Red Orb Entertainment), The Journeyman Project 2: Buried in Time (Sanctuary Woods, Inc.) and The Journeyman Project: Turbo! (Sanctuary Woods, Inc.).
Farshid’s responsibilities at EA Mobile include M&A, Budget Analysis, and Executive procedures.
