Meet Lizard Media
Who We Are
LIZ KRESSEL, MANAGING DIRECTOR
Liz Kressel develops agile, multi-platform solutions that get results. Liz has been delivering digital expertise to major corporations on content and commerce, as well as recommending operational improvements. Today, as founder of Lizard Media, Liz optimizes messaging, increases digital monetization, develops global expansion strategies, and strengthens the foundations of top tier organizations and startups alike.
Liz also has direct operational experience running digital properties. Building a digital lifestyle brand from scratch called Collectors Quest, Liz secured a million-dollar partnership with A+E Television Networks. The site delivered custom content and sold out inventory with both live TV and online sales. In Collectors Quest, Liz built a movement that resonated with its audience, reaching 500,000 monthly unique users within a year of launch without any marketing investment, gaining rich engagement with over 20 pageviews per visitor and more than five minutes average time on site. Popular series such as Pawn Stars, American Pickers, and Counting Cars were part of the digital experience she developed. For her entrepreneurial efforts, she was presented with the Highest Leaf Award in 2008 by the Women’s Venture Fund and was named a 2009 Company to Watch at the Pipeline Technology Awards given her focus on content and commerce.
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Before that, at PriceWaterhouseCoopers’ Media Entertainment Practice, Liz developed strategies for ad sponsorships and cross-promotional revenue opportunities. She also co-authored “The Economic Impact of September 11th on New York City,” a financial impact study on the Media and Entertainment industry published by the New York City Partnership. While there she realized over $300M in total cost savings and prompted over $200M in investment for her clients. She also did a short stint as an Equity Analyst for SG Cowen covering the Media & Entertainment landscape.
Liz holds an MBA in Finance from New York University and a BA in Economics from Brandeis University. She also serves on the Board of New York Women in Communications (NYWICI) running sold-out leadership and technology events. She was also a long-time board member for Women in Cable Telecommunications (WICT) in a similar capacity. Liz loves languages and has studied Spanish, Russian, and Japanese and is hoping to start Mandarin Chinese in the near future.
Liz Kressel is an innovative ecommerce leader with hands-on expertise in strategy and execution across digital, social and traditional channels.
An imaginative executive focused on B2B and B2C best practices, Liz straddles the chasm between commerce and content to create optimized customer funnels designed to flow into sustainable revenue streams. As founder and managing director of Lizard Strategy, Liz now works with small and mid-sized retailers and consumer brands— including Keurig, Eagle Creek and Crunch Fitness —to craft, launch and grow digital sales strategies.
Previously, Liz founded Collectors Quest, a digital ecommerce company, raising $2 million to fund its launch and growth, including securing a million-dollar strategic
partnership with A+E Networks to showcase merchandise from popular shows Pawn Stars, American Pickers, American Restoration and Counting Cars as well as delivering custom content for History Channel’s special programming division and Bio.com. The result: a complete merchandise sellout in its first three months. The site attracted fans from over 80 countries, representing a gaining rich engagement of 20 page views a user and over 5 minutes average time on the site.
Liz began her commerce career in Time Inc.’s $4B consumer division, leading strategic analysis, testing new product rollouts and focusing on customer acquisitions for major brands such as Better Homes and Gardens, Sports Illustrated and Book of the Month club. She then moved into equity research and consulting roles before returning to her love for all things commerce.
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LIZ KRESSEL, MANAGING DIRECTOR
LIZ KRESSEL, MANAGING DIRECTOR
Liz Kressel develops agile, multi-platform solutions that get results. Liz has been delivering digital expertise to major corporations on content and commerce, as well as recommending operational improvements. Today, as founder of Lizard Media, Liz optimizes messaging, increases digital monetization, develops global expansion strategies, and strengthens the foundations of top tier organizations and startups alike.
Liz also has direct operational experience running digital properties. Building a digital lifestyle brand from scratch called Collectors Quest, Liz secured a million-dollar partnership with A+E Television Networks. The site delivered custom content and sold out inventory with both live TV and online sales. In Collectors Quest, Liz built a movement that resonated with its audience, reaching 500,000 monthly unique users within a year of launch without any marketing investment, gaining rich engagement with over 20 pageviews per visitor and more than five minutes average time on site. Popular series such as Pawn Stars, American Pickers, and Counting Cars were part of the digital experience she developed. For her entrepreneurial efforts, she was presented with the Highest Leaf Award in 2008 by the Women’s Venture Fund and was named a 2009 Company to Watch at the Pipeline Technology Awards given her focus on content and commerce.
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Before that, at PriceWaterhouseCoopers’ Media Entertainment Practice, Liz developed strategies for ad sponsorships and cross-promotional revenue opportunities. She also co-authored “The Economic Impact of September 11th on New York City,” a financial impact study on the Media and Entertainment industry published by the New York City Partnership. While there she realized over $300M in total cost savings and prompted over $200M in investment for her clients. She also did a short stint as an Equity Analyst for SG Cowen covering the Media & Entertainment landscape.
Liz holds an MBA in Finance from New York University and a BA in Economics from Brandeis University. She also serves on the Board of New York Women in Communications (NYWICI) running sold-out leadership and technology events. She was also a long-time board member for Women in Cable Telecommunications (WICT) in a similar capacity. Liz loves languages and has studied Spanish, Russian, and Japanese and is hoping to start Mandarin Chinese in the near future.
Liz Kressel is an innovative ecommerce leader with hands-on expertise in strategy and execution across digital, social and traditional channels.
An imaginative executive focused on B2B and B2C best practices, Liz straddles the chasm between commerce and content to create optimized customer funnels designed to flow into sustainable revenue streams. As founder and managing director of Lizard Strategy, Liz now works with small and mid-sized retailers and consumer brands— including Keurig, Eagle Creek and Crunch Fitness —to craft, launch and grow digital sales strategies.
Previously, Liz founded Collectors Quest, a digital ecommerce company, raising
$2 million to fund its launch and growth, including securing a million-dollar strategic
Liz Kressel develops agile, multi-platform solutions that get results. Liz has been delivering digital expertise to major corporations on content and commerce, as well as recommending operational improvements. Today, as founder of Lizard Media, Liz optimizes messaging, increases digital monetization, develops global expansion strategies, and strengthens the foundations of top tier organizations and startups alike.
Liz also has direct operational experience running digital properties. Building a digital lifestyle brand from scratch called Collectors Quest, Liz secured a million-dollar partnership with A+E Television Networks. The site delivered custom content and sold out inventory with both live TV and online sales. In Collectors Quest, Liz built a movement that resonated with its audience, reaching 500,000 monthly unique users within a year of launch without any marketing investment, gaining rich engagement with over 20 pageviews per visitor and more than five minutes average time on site. Popular series such as Pawn Stars, American Pickers, and Counting Cars were part of the digital experience she developed. For her entrepreneurial efforts, she was presented with the Highest Leaf Award in 2008 by the Women’s Venture Fund and was named a 2009 Company to Watch at the Pipeline Technology Awards given her focus on content and commerce.
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Before that, at PriceWaterhouseCoopers’ Media Entertainment Practice, Liz developed strategies for ad sponsorships and cross-promotional revenue opportunities. She also co-authored “The Economic Impact of September 11th on New York City,” a financial impact study on the Media and Entertainment industry published by the New York City Partnership. While there she realized over $300M in total cost savings and prompted over $200M in investment for her clients. She also did a short stint as an Equity Analyst for SG Cowen covering the Media & Entertainment landscape.
Liz holds an MBA in Finance from New York University and a BA in Economics from Brandeis University. She also serves on the Board of New York Women in Communications (NYWICI) running sold-out leadership and technology events. She was also a long-time board member for Women in Cable Telecommunications (WICT) in a similar capacity. Liz loves languages and has studied Spanish, Russian, and Japanese and is hoping to start Mandarin Chinese in the near future.
Liz Kressel is an innovative ecommerce leader with hands-on expertise in strategy and execution across digital, social and traditional channels.
An imaginative executive focused on B2B and B2C best practices, Liz straddles the chasm between commerce and content to create optimized customer funnels designed to flow into sustainable revenue streams. As founder and managing director of Lizard Strategy, Liz now works with small and mid-sized retailers and consumer brands— including Keurig, Eagle Creek and Crunch Fitness —to craft, launch and grow digital sales strategies.
Previously, Liz founded Collectors Quest, a digital ecommerce company, raising $2 million to fund its launch and growth, including securing a million-dollar strategic
James has over 15 years of operations and client service management. With extensive experience in consulting and as an audit manager, he has helped companies enter and exit markets, developed solutions to eliminate revenue loss, delivered process improvements designed to streamline operations, audited website content and usability and provided on-going client support.
Prior to coming to Lizard Media, James worked as a senior audit manager and a consultant for Meridian Global Services. James provided comprehensive solutions for companies selling goods and services in foreign markets. He also recovered millions of dollars in lost revenue for clients across the US. His work included all stages of the audit and client service management, including RFP's to closing sales and on going client management. James's clients range from Fortune
1000 companies to small businesses in the following industries --media/entertainment, technology, e-commerce, energy, automotive, pharmaceutical, brick & mortar retailers, among others.
James started out in operations for Radnor Alloys, pipe/steel company in Houston, managing an inventory valued at over $75 million dollars. He implemented cost saving solutions to manage damaged/returned items and assisted with a warehouse redesign to improve shipping/receiving. James graduated from Saint Louis University with a B.A. in History and has lived in New York city since 2003.
LIZ KRESSEL,
FOUNDER &CEO
Liz is an ecommerce strategist and innovator, optimizing and launching revenue streams for both Investors and Brands. She was an early pioneer in the shoppable content space creating content and ecommerce integrations across multiple platforms including TV. Her mantra is "Leave No Dollar Behind" and she specializes on ensuring companies maximize engagement leading to purchase.
After receiving her MBA in Finance and International Business from New York University, Liz has spent the last 15+ years optimizing and generating new revenue streams for International giants and Fortune 500 companies alike including Rakuten, ViacomCBS, Keurig, VF Corporation, Disney, and TIAA. Liz created Lizard Strategy to build an omnichannel approach for companies to drive increased revenue, reduce costs and maximize the lifetime value of each customer across their commerce platforms.
Previously, Liz founded Collectors Quest, a digital ecommerce company, raising $2 million to fund its launch and growth, including securing a million-dollar strategic partnership with A+E Networks to showcase merchandise from popular shows Pawn Stars, American Pickers, American Restoration and Counting Cars as well as delivering custom content for History Channel’s special programming division and Bio.com. Integrating content and live commerce early on proved very successful. The result: a complete merchandise sellout in its first three months. The site attracted fans from over 80 countries, gaining rich engagement of 20 page views a user and over 5 minutes average time on the site.
Liz currently is the Founder & CEO of Lizard Strategy and serves as a mentor for TIG Brands, a CPG Accelerator as well as an Executive in Residence for The Fashioneering Lab. Liz started her early days in ecommerce working on lifestyle-based subscription models (cooking, health, crafting, DIY) for the big media giants. She has also had the good fortune to spend the past few years working on global ecommerce projects in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Peru, the UK and Australia in addition to her work at home in the United States.
OSCAR SCARANO,
CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER
Oscar Scarano, CTO of Lizard Strategy, is an Electronics Engineer specialized in digital technologies. He has been leading a professional team carrying out projects in the areas of software development, web & mobile application development and digital transformation strategy for over 20 years.
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Oscar and team have successfully designed responsive websites, web applications and mobile applications for industries such as retail, travel, banking, healthcare, packaged goods, agriculture, healthcare and even astrology. Whether we are working with an existing design system or creating a graphic identity from scratch, we design digital experiences with a clear vision of who the users are and most importantly, with a clear understanding of their needs, so that they enjoy interacting with interfaces that are helpful, simple, useful and fully aligned with each company's main business objectives.
Oscar has also a strong expertise in trading strategies (CFD Forex and Stock Index markets) incorporating machine learning and innovative mathematical models. Since 2008 he has been involved in wave model research, ultimately leading to the co-development of new robot-trading and machine learning assisted products.
He holds an Electrical Engineering degree is from the University of Buenos Aires. A 4th dan Japan Karate Association (JKA) Karateka, Oscar enjoys practicing, competition and teaching of this wonderful martial art, participating in several international seminars and clinics.
JAMES DALY,
VP OF OPERATIONS
James has over 15 years of operations and client service management. With extensive experience in consulting and as an audit manager, he has helped companies enter and exit markets, developed solutions to eliminate revenue loss, delivered process improvements designed to streamline operations, audited website content and usability and provided on-going client support.
Prior to coming to Lizard Strategy, James worked as a senior audit manager and a consultant for Meridian Global Services. James provided comprehensive solutions for companies selling goods and services in foreign markets. He also recovered millions of dollars in lost revenue for clients across the US. His work included all stages of the audit and client service management, including RFP's to closing sales and on going client management. James's clients range from Fortune 1000 companies to small businesses in the following industries --media/entertainment, technology, e-commerce, energy, automotive, pharmaceutical, brick & mortar retailers, among others.
James started out in operations for Radnor Alloys, pipe/steel company in Houston, managing an inventory valued at over $75 million dollars. He implemented cost saving solutions to manage damaged/returned items and assisted with a warehouse redesign to improve shipping/receiving. James graduated from Saint Louis University with a B.A. in History and has lived in New York city since 2003.
LIZARD STRATEGY'S TRUSTED PARTNERS
AMANDA GHARGHOUR,
STRATEGY CONSULTANT
Amanda Gharghour is Founder & CEO of the Strategy & Implementation Consultancy, Ocean Stride LLC. She founded Ocean Stride with the mission of accelerating clients’ growth through top-notch, customized solutions. Areas of focus include Business Strategy, Product Management, Operations & Data Optimization, and Marketing & Branding. Additionally, Amanda personally serves as a Coach to Executives seeking Leadership, Cultural, or Organizational improvement.
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She works hand in hand with clients, outlining the path forward and helping them get to the finish line – making “Ocean-large” Strides together. In addition to her firm’s deep toolbox, Ocean Stride collaborates with trusted subject matter experts and partners such as Lizard Strategy for a truly tailored engagement.
Amanda thrives on new challenges and helping others accomplish their mission. Her ability to both see the big picture and provide detailed guidance – as well as blend analysis with creativity – is a unique combination.
She holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, a BA double-major in Economics and French from Dartmouth College (with Honors), and a Certificate in Graphic and Digital Design from Parsons.