The Los Angeles Venture Association (LAVA) will hold its Twelfth Annual Venture Awards Dinner on Thursday, March 12, 2015 to recognize Southern California’s best venture-backed companies and celebrate the induction of Chuck Davis into the LAVA Hall of Fame. The awards dinner will be held at Fairmont Miramar Hotel in Santa Monica and will be attended by over 300 leaders in the Venture Capital community, including CEOs and founders of successful emerging companies.
This year's LAVA Hall of Fame inductee Chuck Davis is a veteran of e-Commerce. Davis currently serves as the Chairman and CEO of Prodege, LLC, parent company of the web's leading rewards platform, Swagbucks.com, which raised $60 million in first-round funding from Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV) in April 2014. Since 2011, Davis has also been a Venture Partner at TCV, which has raised nearly $10 billion in capital and has invested in Netflix, Facebook, Fandango, and many other highly successful technology brands.
Davis previously served as CEO of Fandango 2006 – 2011 and Shopzilla/BizRate (now Connexity, Inc.) 1999 – 2006, where his leadership successfully guided both brands through major growth phases leading to successful sales to Comcast Corporation and The E.W. Scripps Company, respectively.
Prior to assuming the leadership of Shopzilla/BizRate, Davis was President, e-Commerce for The Walt Disney Company's Internet Group, where he launched many merchant and travel businesses including Disneystore.com and Disneyvacations.com and supervised advertising sales, marketing, and online subscription initiatives during his 1996-99 tenure. Earlier in his career, he was in senior marketing, circulation, and financial roles at TV Guide and Time, Inc.
Davis earned his BA from Brown University and his MBA from the Harvard Business School. He serves as a director on several boards including Boingo (NASDAQ: WIFI) and as Chairman of The Teaching Company (publisher of The Great Courses series). He previously served as a director for Business.com through its $345 million sale to R.H. Donnelley in 2007. He also served as a Trustee at Brown University from 2006-13 and was Advancement Committee Chair.
Davis was elected the 2012-13 International Chairman of the Young Presidents' Organization (YPO) worldwide board of directors, where he previously chaired YPO's Networks and Technology Committees. Davis has also been an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Harvard Business School since 2012, where he served as a judge for their Best Business Plan competition.
Among his many honors, Davis won the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in Los Angeles in 2004 for his work with Shopzilla/BizRate, and he continues to serve as a judge for E&Y’s annual Entrepreneur of the Year competition.
“This is one of LAVA's signature events and it continues our tradition of showcasing Los Angeles' top emerging companies, entrepreneurs and investors,” says Alan Spatz, President of LAVA. “We are proud to be recognizing Chuck Davis at our Annual Awards Dinner.”
About the Los Angeles Venture Association:
LAVA is Los Angeles’ premiere Venture Capital focused industry organization that provides a forum for Entrepreneurs, Investors and the community of businesses that assist companies in their formation and growth. LAVA celebrates 30 years of service to the LA Startup community. It is led by a team of volunteers that provide program, sponsorship and leadership in the venture funded community. For more information, visit www.lava.org.
Contacts:
Leonard Lanzi, Executive Director
310-499-3162
len@lava.org
