Kiliaen Drackett Van Rensselaer (born ) is an American business executive and philanthropist."NARSAD Officers and Board of Directors" NARSAD."Fountain House: Inspiring Communities for Mental Health" Fountain House. Van Rensselaer is the founder and CEO of Insurrection Media.Todd Spangler, "Kiliaen Van Rensselaer leaving Fox Broadcasting to Launch Digital TV Studio (Exclusive)", Variety, July 15, 2015 He is a member of the prominent Van Rensselaer family.
Early life Kiliaen Drackett Van Rensselaer was born in 1970, the second son of Alexander Taylor Van Rensselaer (b. 1934) and Sallie Bolton Van Rensselaer (née Drackett). He had an older brother, Alexander Rogers Van Rensselaer (1968–2003), who was an artist, and died aged 35 in Marina del Rey, California. His parents ran gourmet food retail stores called Hay Day, which were bought in 1999 by Sutton Place Gourmet and re-branded as Balducci's."Sutton Place, Balducci's in Partnership", The New York Times.
He attended Fairfield Country Day School, an all boys school in Fairfield, Connecticut, followed by St. George's School, in Middletown, Rhode Island Van Rensselaer was an American history major at Trinity College.
Career Van Rensselaer began his career holding various marketing roles including brand manager at Colgate-Palmolive and Heinz, and vice president of marketing at Tickets.com, a start-up that became publicly traded B2B and B2C ticketing solutions and software provider for live events."Kiliaen Van Rensselaer: Executive Profile" Bloomberg, May 18, 2016. It was under Van Rensselaer's leadership that Tickets.com formed a strategic alliance with Visa USA, rolling out integrated marketing programs that encouraged Visa cardholders to take advantage of the comprehensive offering of live events available through Tickets.com’s multi-channel distribution system."Tickets.com and Visa USA Form Strategic Alliance; Companies to Enhance Online Security and Collaborate on Marketing Initiatives", PR News Wire, April 16, 2001.
AT&T Mobility Van Rensselaer served as executive director of national marketing at AT&T Mobility (formerly known as Cingular Wireless), responsible for customer acquisition. While at AT&T Cingular Wireless, he was the primary marketing executive on the iPhone deal team that structured the original exclusive agreement directly with Steve Jobs, and he played a key role on the task force that collaborated with Apple Inc. for the record-breaking launch phase of the product.Apple Press Info, "AT&T and Apple Announce Simple, Affordable Service Plans for iPhone" "Apple.com", June 26, 2007.
Skiff In 2008, Van Rensselaer co-founded a software and services e-reading company called Skiff that was acquired by News Corp. in 2010.David Barbosa, "Murdoch Buys Skiff, Makes Move to Tablet PC's iPad" TabletPC Review, June 17, 2010. The Skiff e-reading platform was acquired separately to the device itself (which remained the property of Hearst),Peter Kafka, "News Corp. Buys Hearst's Skiff Platform, Leaves The Reader" "CNet", June 14, 2010. delivering enhanced content experiences to dedicated e-readers, as well as to multipurpose devices such as smartphones and netbooks."Skiff E-Reading Service to Launch in 2010" Hearst, December 3, 2009.Brandon Griggs, "Bold New E-Readers Grab Attention at CES" CNN, January 8, 2010.
News Corporation Van Rensselaer joined FOX from News Corporation, where he was senior vice president, marketing & partnerships for digital media. At News Corp., he helped lead strategy for digital distribution of key media properties, identified and gestated new businesses, and managed the scripted digital video entertainment venture WIGS, which launched May 2012 on YouTube that Van Rensselaer subsequently oversaw at FOX. Van Rensselaer also spearheaded negotiations with wireless carriers, mobile device OEMs and retailers for distribution agreements on behalf of many News Corp. properties, including The Wall Street Journal, Fox News, and IGN.
FOX Broadcasting Company Van Rensselaer served as senior vice president, multi-platform programming at FOX Broadcasting Company,Michael O'Connell, "FOX Restructures Programming With New Department, Partners with YouTube Channel" The Hollywood Reporter, February 19, 2013 overseeing multi-platform development initiatives including multi-year deal with Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone's The Lonely Island,Philiana Ng, "Andy Samberg's The Lonely Island Inks Multi-Year Deal At Fox" The Hollywood Reporter, January 13, 2014. as well as multiyear programming, marketing and distribution partnership with digital studio WIGSNatalie Jarvey, "Director Rodrigo Garcia, Fox Multi-Platform SVP on Bringing Back 'Delirium' Pilot (Q&A)" The Hollywood Reporter, June 20, 2014 (now Indigenous Media),Todd Spangler, "Jon Avnet and WIGS Partners Launch Digital Studio backed by ITV, WPP" Variety, September 16, 2014. co-founded by director/producers Jon Avnet (Black Swan, Risky Business) and Rodrigo García (Mother and Child, Nine Lives).Brian Stelter, "Fox Broadcasting Partners With YouTube Channel" The New York Times, February 20, 2013. Under Van Rensselaer's leadership, FOX widened the WIGS digital studio's content availability from exclusively YouTube to include Hulu,Todd Spangler, "Hulu Picks Up WIGS Series as Fox Expands Beyond YouTube" Variety, June 18, 2013. beginning with WIGS' most popular, award-winning series Blue - starring Julia Stiles as the title character - offered to Hulu and Hulu Plus viewers in longer-form, TV-length.Roger Newcomb, "FOX Expands Distribution of WIGS Series Blue to Hulu and Hulu Plus" We Love Soaps, June 18, 2013.
Insurrection Media, Inc.
Insurrection Media is an independent digital TV studio that develops and produces scripted content for over-the-top video platforms as well as broadcast and cable networks internationally.Bree Brouwer, "FOX's Kiliaen Van Rensselaer Founds Digital-First TV Studio Insurrection Media", TubeFilter, July 15, 2015 Founded by Van Rensselaer in 2015, the company has a multi-year exclusive comedy pod deal in place with Jonathan Stern (Wet Hot American Summer, Childrens Hospital), founder of Abominable Pictures, and senior entertainment executive and producer Keith Quinn (Paramount Digital, LivePlanet),Natalie Jarvey, "'Burning Love' Duo Ink Pod Deal With Insurrection Media (Exclusive)", The Hollywood Reporter, September 25, 2015 and a multi-year SciFi production partnership with The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman and David Alpert of Skybound Entertainment.Cynthia Littleton, "Robert Kirkman's Skybound Entertainment Sets Series Pact with Insurrection Media", Variety, November 9, 2015Johnny O'Dell, "Insurrection Media Teams Up with Skybound" , Skybound Entertainment, November 9, 2015 The company has a strategic relationship with HarperCollins where key books in SciFi, Drama and Comedy are optioned and developed into digital video and linear television series.Ross A. Lincoln, "HarperCollins & Insurrection Adapting YA Series 'Mila 2.0' for TV" Deadline, December 14, 2015.
Insurrection is currently producing Tiny Pretty Things, Netflix’s upcoming hourlong drama series based on the book by Sona Charaipotra and Dhonielle Clayton, from writer and producer Michael MacLennan (Bomb Girls, The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco).
Gestating from the strategic relationship with HarperCollins, Insurrection Media developed and produced The Dead Girls Detective Agency, a paranormal YA drama based on the novel written by Suzy Cox and adapted by Jerica Lieberman and Molly Margraf (ABC's Mistresses). The Dead Girls Detective Agency holds the record as the highest performing scripted show on Snapchat with the lowest episodic audience decay rate. The Dead Girls Detective Agency was referenced by the Snap Inc. executive leadership during the February 5th earnings call in 2019 as evidence that their original content strategy is a success.https://investor.snap.com/~/media/Files/S/Snap-IR/press-release/q4-18-earnings-release.pdf Insurrection has produced and premiered four seasons of Dead Girls Detective Agency on Snap.
Insurrection produced Exeter, a scripted podcast that premiered on Sundance Now (AMC Networks’ direct-to-consumer SVOD service). Due to its success, AMC ordered a second season of Exeter that premiered in 2019. Created & directed by Ronnie Gunter (writer-director of “Lighter”, 2013) the drama-noir series features performances by Jeanne Tripplehorn (Big Love, Criminal Minds) and Oscar-winner Ray McKinnon (The Accountant, Sons of Anarchy). Both seasons of the series, consisting of 12 thirty minute long episodes, were co-written by Ronnie Gunter and George Ducker (Luna e Leo, Ex-Best) and are available on iTunes & Sundance Now.
Personal life In 2008, he was dating Monique Menniken, a former professional tennis player from Germany who was also a model.
Van Rensselaer, a resident of the exclusive River House on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, is a member of the Society of the Cincinnati, the Holland Society and the Brook Club in New York.
Philanthropy Van Rensselaer is the treasurer and a board member of the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation's National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD)."NARSAD Officers and Board of Directors" , NARSAD: The World's Leading Charity Dedicated To Mental Health Research.
He also co-chairs the annual Associates Fall Fête charity fundraiser for Fountain House,"Fountain House: Inspiring Communities for Mental Health", Fountain House. a professional self-help program, which started in New York City in the 1940s, operated by men and women recovering from major mental illness in collaboration with a professional staff. The event serves to introduce a new audience of prominent young leaders to Fountain House's comprehensive mental health model and its mission to fight the stigma associated with mental illness."2015 Associates Fall Fête", Fountain House.
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