Industry & Services >> CEO Interviews >> March 1, 2004
HOUMAN SALEM is the founder and managing director of SMGI, where he
brings a significant breadth of experience working with start-up
ventures and with multinational corporations. Prior to SMGI, Mr. Salem
was a partner in a southern California-based management consulting firm,
where he provided strategic management consulting and leadership to
start-up and growth-stage companies across a variety of industries An
experienced entrepreneur, Mr. Salem founded a groundbreaking online
streaming music entertainment network in 1998, where he was instrumental
in pioneering the (now ubiquitous) online "targeted" audio advertising
business model. As the source of the company's vision, Mr. Salem
developed value-added partnerships and alliances with leading
technology, advertising, and recording companies, while building the
company into one of the most popular destinations for online music
worldwide. Among his milestones, Mr. Salem had secured expansion capital
from Microsoft Windows Media' and received a product endorsement from
recording artist Don Henley. Prior, Mr. Salem held a position in
business development & strategic planning at the Universal Music Group,
where he worked hands-on with the company's $10.4 billion acquisition
and integration of media giant PolyGram. In this position, Mr. Salem had
worked with top management and with the Boston Consulting Group in
formulating and implementing corporate-level strategies within the
company's "U.S. Label Integration" group. Additionally, he helped
develop online product and marketing strategies within the company's "E-
Commerce & Advanced Technologies" (now, eLabs) group. Mr. Salem also
held positions at Columbia Records, working with Randy Jackson's
("American Idol") A&R team; and at A&M Records, where he was the liaison
between the company, its recording artists (including Sting and Sheryl
Crow) and national FM radio stations. Mr. Salem developed his sharp
business skills while working under some of the most prominent figures
in the music industry. In 1994, Mr. Salem began his career working with
the media & artist relations group at EMI-Capitol Records. In this role,
Mr. Salem conceptualized and helped implement national and international
media campaigns for the company's franchise recording artists --
including The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Pink Floyd and Duran Duran. Mr.
Salem holds an MBA from the Pepperdine University Graziadio School of
Business & Management, as well as a Bachelors degree in History from
California State University Northridge. Mr. Salem regularly lectures on
the subjects of business start-up and investor funding strategies at
business schools and is a volunteer youth mentor at the John Hopkins
University & Goldman Sachs "Center for Talented Youth." Profile
Mr. Salem: I launched the Company in 2001 just as I had graduated with
my MBA from Pepperdine University. The way I got into
