Justin Beckett is an American entrepreneur

Entrepreneur

An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...

, philanthropist

Philanthropist

A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...

 and author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

. He is founder and chief executive officer of affinitytv247.

Investment Management

After graduating from college in 1985, Justin Beckett joined the Pension Consulting division of investment banking firm E.F. Hutton. In 1986, Justin Beckett became the first employee at Sloan Financial Group, a diversified asset management firm, where he was a principal executive at subsidiaries, NCM Capital Management and New Africa Advisers.

Music Gaming, Inc.

After leaving the investment management industry in 2000, Beckett founded and was CEO of Music Gaming, Inc. Music Gaming was an Internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

 based music related gaming destination that built the Internet's largest annotated music trivia database. Funding for the venture was provided by VIZX Corporation and in 2001, Music Gaming, Inc. was sold to Intermix Media

Intermix Media

Intermix Media, Inc. was a Los Angeles-based Internet marketing company founded in 1998 that owned the MySpace website...

/MySpace

MySpace

Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....

.

SkillJam Technologies

In 2002, while a member of the Intermix Media/MySpace executive team, Beckett re-purposed the Music Gaming, Inc software platform and co-founded SkillJam Technologies. SkillJam Technologies received approximately $2 million in growth capital

Growth capital

Growth capital is a type of private equity investment, most often a minority investment, in relatively mature companies that are looking for capital to expand or restructure operations, enter new markets or finance a significant acquisition without a change of control of the business.Companies...

 from Intermix Media/MySpace and became the leading skill based gaming website destination. SkillJam developed partnerships with a broad network of popular entertainment brands including AOL

AOL

AOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services...

, MSN

MSN

MSN is a collection of Internet sites and services provided by Microsoft. The Microsoft Network debuted as an online service and Internet service provider on August 24, 1995, to coincide with the release of the Windows 95 operating system.The range of services offered by MSN has changed since its...

, MySpace, PopCap Games

PopCap Games

PopCap Games is an American video game developer and publisher, based in Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 2000 by John Vechey, Brian Fiete and Jason Kapalka, and currently employs about 400 people...

 and Disney.

In 2004, Intermix Media/MySpace sold SkillJam Technologies to FUN Technologies

FUN Technologies

FUN Technologies was a listed company providing online games.Founded in 2002 by Canadian businessmen Lorne Abony and Andrew Rivkin, FUN grew to become the world's largest provider of online casual games and fantasy sports, with over 35 million registered customers. FUN was publicly traded with a...

, a diversified online gaming and entertainment company which in turn became a subsidiary of Liberty Media

Liberty Media

Liberty Media Corporation is an American media conglomerate and the control is exercised by company Chairman John C. Malone, who owns a majority of the voting shares....

 in 2006.

Fluid Music

In 2004, Beckett founded Fluid Music, (since renamed Mood Media

Mood Media

Mood Media Corporation formerly known as Fluid Music Canada Inc., is a music delivery company. Their services include both in-store media as well as in-store kiosks. They market their products through wholly owned operating subsidiaries, Mood Media, Trusonic and Somerset Entertainment...

) one of the worlds largest distributors and aggregators of independent music.

On behalf of Fluid, Beckett facilitated a partnership with FremantleMedia

FremantleMedia

FremantleMedia, Ltd. is the content and production division of Bertelsmann's RTL Group, Europe's second largest TV, radio, and production company...

, whereby the company acquired an exclusive license for the American Idol

American Idol

American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...

 brand and launched the online music discovery website, American Idol Underground

American Idol Underground

Artist Underground was founded by Justin Beckett in 2006 and was an online community and internet radio station where unsigned artists where able to get their music heard. Artists submit their music to Idol Underground for a fee and receive feedback from listeners...

. Beckett was also responsible for Fluid Music's acquisitions of Audio Lunchbox, the world's first DRM

Digital rights management

Digital rights management is a class of access control technologies that are used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals with the intent to limit the use of digital content and devices after sale. DRM is any technology that inhibits uses of digital content that...

 free online MP3

MP3

MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...

 store and Trusonic

Trusonic

Mood Media North America is a commercial music company and a wholly owned subsidiary of Mood Media Corporation. Founded originally in 1999 as a small business unit SBU of the now defunct MP3.com, Trusonic provided background music to businesses...

, one of the largest providers of in-store background music.

During his five years with Fluid Music, Beckett served as the company's Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, President and COO. Under Beckett's management, the company raised over $40 million in equity capital including a June 2008 IPO on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

affinitytv247, Inc.

In 2008, Beckett founded affinitytv247, Inc. (formerly Muse Media, Inc. and BTV247, Inc.) with friend and business partner, Cecil Cox

Cecil Cox

Cecil Cox is an American entrepreneur, media executive and philanthropist. He is the Co-Founder and President of .- Talent Management :Cecil Cox began his career in the entertainment industry in the International Creative Management Agent Training Program in 1991. He was mentored by the late ICM...

 and currently serves as the company's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

affinitytv247 is a digital media company that is focused on the aggregation and Internet distribution of internet based affinity programming. The company was created in response to the increasing popularity of online video consumption and the associated growth in revenue for the sector.

affinitytv247, Inc. has three operating divisions: affinitytv247, BTV Productions and MyLocalBuzzTV.com

Board Memberships

Beckett currently serves as a board member for the following corporations:

• Aptilon (An Internet based healthcare services company)
• Consonus Technologies (A provider of IT data centers, consulting and managed services)
• Flight Deck Gaming (A transit focused gaming solutions provider)
• Fluid Music Corporation (see above)
• GNO Healthcare (A healthcare services provider)
• affinitytv247, Inc. (see above)
• 7touch Group (An Internet based provider that develops real-time, web and mobile technology.)

Philanthropy

Beckett is the Chairman of the Tighe Scholarship Fund, Vice Chairman of the Imani Baraka Foundation and is a board member of Generosity Water and Oasis Christian Center. He has also been a member of several African mission teams.

Author

Beckett is the co-author of Investing In Africa: An Insiders Guide to the Ultimate Emerging Market, which includes a foreword by recognized emerging market investment expert Mark Mobius

Mark Mobius

Dr. Joseph Mark Mobius is a global investor and emerging markets fund manager, and is considered to be one of the leaders in the industry as he has been involved in these markets for over 40 years.-Biography:...

 and was published by Wiley Publishing.

In 1996, under the pseudonym Herbert Francis (the first and middle names of his late father), Beckett wrote and produced the Telly Award winning television documentary Africa: An Emerging Market which featured Iman, Nigel Hawthorne

Nigel Hawthorne

Sir Nigel Barnard Hawthorne, CBE was an English actor, perhaps best remembered for his role as Sir Humphrey Appleby, the Permanent Secretary in the 1980s sitcom Yes Minister and the Cabinet Secretary in its sequel, Yes, Prime Minister. For this role he won four BAFTA Awards during the 1980s in the...

, Danny Glover

Danny Glover

Danny Lebern Glover is an American actor, film director, and political activist. Glover is perhaps best known for his role as Detective Roger Murtaugh in the Lethal Weapon film franchise.-Early life:...

 and Academy Award Winner Louis Gossett, Jr.

Louis Gossett, Jr.

Louis Cameron Gossett, Jr. is an American actor best known for his role as Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley in the 1982 film An Officer and a Gentleman and Fiddler in the 1970s television miniseries Roots...

Athletic Career/Interests

Beckett attended Duke University on an athletic scholarship, where he was a member of the Duke Blue Devils football

Duke Blue Devils football

The Duke Blue Devils football program is a college football team that represents Duke University . The team is currently a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference , which is a Division I Bowl Subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association . The Blue Devils compete in the Coastal...

 team. He was a 3 year starter, a 4 year varsity letter winner and earned academic All Atlantic Coast Conference

Atlantic Coast Conference

The Atlantic Coast Conference is a collegiate athletic league in the United States. Founded in 1953 in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC sanctions competition in twenty-five sports in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association for its twelve member universities...

 honors.

In 1986, he was a free agent with the Dallas Cowboys

Dallas Cowboys

The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football franchise which plays in the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League . They are headquartered in Valley Ranch in Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas...

 football team and played in the inaugural American Bowl

American Bowl

The American Bowl was a series of National Football League pre-season exhibition games that were held at sites outside the United States between 1986 and 2005.- Overview :...

 (against the World Champion Chicago Bears

Chicago Bears

The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...

) in the National Football League

National Football League

The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

's first game played outside of the United States.

In recent years, Beckett's athletic interests have been focused on youth activities; during which time he has coached several youth football and basketball teams.

External links

• Into Africa (Fortune)
• IDGA Casual Games White Paper
• Calling All Crooners: American Idol Underground (Canadian Business)
• No False "Idol" for Fox (CNN Money)
• New IPO Goes for a Song (Financial Post)
• Transit Buzz TV Reaches 30 Million Monthly Viewers!

See full article from DailyFinance: http://srph.it/fOikaS