Marvel recently announced a $10 million investment in digital media. If you’ve been paying attention to what positions Marvel has been hiring for the last year or two, this shouldn’t have come as a surprise to you. Since you probably weren’t paying attention to this, I’ve done a quick flip through LinkedIn and identified 12 people that would be directly involved in Marvel’s digital initiative. Surprise, surprise, the majority have been at Marvel for less than 2 years. It would be responable to assume these plans started moving past the “study” phase in November of 2006 when John Dokes changed titles from VP of Marketing and Business Development to VP of Online Operations and Marketing.

Have a look at who’ve they’ve been hiring. Recognizable former employers include Sony’s digital wing and WWE. MBA’s and MFA’s seem to be a definite plus for higher-level positions.

And remember, this is just what I found giving it a once-over, there will be a larger cast than just 12 people.  You don’t hire this many people at the management and executive levels unless you’re building out a robust department.  Oh, yes, real change is coming.

Format of the list:

{Name & position at Marvel}

  {Last position before current}

  {Education}

• Glenn Magala 
    SVP and CIO at Marvel Entertainment, Inc.
    February 2006 – Present (2 years 10 months)   

    CIO
    Atari, Inc.
    February 1996 – January 2006 (10 years)   

    Chubb Institute 
    Computer Science
    1981 – 1982 

    Pennsylvania State University-Erie Campus 
    Engineering 
    1978 – 1981  
   

• Ira Rubenstein 
    Executive Vice President at Marvel Entertainment 
    April 2008 – Present ( 8 months) 

    EVP 
    Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment
    2000 – 2008 (8 years) 

    University of Southern California 
    MFA, Motion Pictures Producing. Peter Stark Program 
    1990 – 1992 

    University of California, San Diego
    1982 – 1987   
   

• John Dokes 
    Vice President of Online Operations and Marketing at Marvel Entertainment
    November 2006 – Present (2 years 1 month)   

    Vice President of Marketing and Business Development
    Marvel Entertainment
    December 2005 – November 2006 (1 year)   

    California State University-Northridge 
    B.S., Business Administration; Marketing 
    1987 – 1992   
   

• Andreea Enache 
    VP Games & Digital Distribution at Marvel Entertainment 
    June 2008 – Present ( 6 months)   

    Director Business Development
    Sony Pictures Digital / Sony Online Entertainment
    May 2005 – June 2008 (3 years 2 months)   

    California State University-Northridge 
    BA, Communication Studies 
    1998 – 2001   

    University of Bucharest 
    BA, Linguistics and Foreign Languages 
    September 1994 – October 1996  
   

• Seana Baruth 
    Vice President of Production, Digital Media Group
    July 2008 – Present ( 5 months)  

    Director of Product Development, Interactive 
    Travel Channel Media, a Cox Communications Company
    January 2007 – July 2008 (1 year 7 months)   

    University of South Carolina-Columbia
    BA, English 
    1984 – 1988  
   

• Peter Olson
    Director of Web Development at Marvel Entertainment 
    (time at position uncertain, but at least a couple years)  

    Internet Consultant 
    Self-employed 
    June 2001 – April 2004 (2 years 11 months)  

    Wesleyan University
    1993 – 1997  
   

• John Cerilli 
    Director of Content, Marvel.com 
    November 2007 – Present (1 year 1 month)   

    Director of Content, WWE.com 
    World Wrestling Entertainment Inc.
    August 2006 – October 2007 (1 year 3 months)   

    Emerson College 
    BFA, Creative Writing 
    1985 – 1989   
   

• Joshua Shimkin 
    Manager, Premium Services at Marvel Entertainment 
    August 2008 – Present ( 4 months)   

    Summer Associate Brand Manager 
    Unilever
    June 2007 – August 2007 ( 3 months)   

    New York University – Leonard N. Stern School of Business
    MBA, Finance; Marketing; Entertainment, Media & Technology 
    2006 – 2008 

    Wesleyan University 
    BA, Italian Studies 
    September 1995 – May 1999   
   

• Edward Ticzon 
    Web Quality Control Process Manager at Marvel Entertainment Group 
    October 2007 – Present (1 year 2 months)  

    Q/A Analyst
    Rosetta
    March 2005 – September 2007 (2 years 7 months) 

    De La Salle University 
    BSCS, Information Technology 
    1988 – 1992   
   

• Margarita Vaisman 
    Marketing Coordinater, Digital Media Group at Marvel Entertainment 
    May 2008 – Present ( 7 months)  

    Executive Assistant 
    Marvel Entertainment
    June 2007 –May 2008(11 months)   

    Emerson College
    1996 – 2000   
   

• Ryan Penagos 
    Associate Editor, Marvel.com at Marvel Entertainment 
    (time at position unclear)  

    Associate Editor 
    Wizard Entertainment
    2003 – 2006 (3 years) State   

    University of New York College at Purchase
    2000 – 2002   

    Adelphi University 
    Education 
    1998 – 2000   
   

• Tara Fenton
    Flash Developer at Marvel Entertainment
    October 2007 – Present (1 year 2 months) Flash Developer   

    Summit Tech Communications 
    March 2006 – May 2007 (1 year 3 months) 
  
    Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale
    2000 – 2004