James Philip Bankoff (born December 23, 1969) is an American media executive who is the co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer (CEO) of Vox Media. He previously worked for AOL and joined Vox Media's predecessor, SB Nation, in 2009.
Jim Bankoff
| |
---|---|
![]()
Bankoff in July 2018
| |
Born | James Philip Bankoff (1969-12-23) December 23, 1969 (age 54) |
Citizenship | American |
Education |
|
Occupation(s) | Chairman and CEOofVox Media |
Employer | Vox Media |
Spouse |
Diane Elson (m. 2003) |
Parents |
|
Bankoff was born to Marvin and Adrienne Bankoff on December 23, 1969, and raised in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.[1][2][3] His father owned a jewelry business and his mother worked as an editor.[3] Bankoff developed an interest in media at an early age.[4][5] He obtained a bachelor's degree in international studies from Emory University.[2] During his senior year, he interned at CNN.[6] Bankoff earned his Master of Business Administration degree at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.[7]
Bankoff initially worked as a production assistant for the WETA-TV series Washington Week.[5] He also worked at Ruder Finn's Global Public Affairs group, where he became an account supervisor in 1991.[8][9] After graduating from Wharton, he declined job offers from The New York Times, The Walt Disney Company, and a record company to join AOL in 1995.[5][6] In various roles, he worked on projects including AIM,[10] AOL.com,[11] AOL Music, FanHouse,[4] MapQuest, Moviefone, and Netscape.[3][7] He focused on the company's digital content business,[12] helped the company acquire Engadget,[3][7][13] and was involved in the creation of TMZ.[14][15]
Bankoff became director of business development for AOL Greenhouse in 1996.[9] He was named vice-president of strategy and operations for the AOL brand in 1998,[9] and oversaw business strategy, category management, and content acquisition. He also directed AOL Music and AOL Plus.[8] Following the merger of AOL and Netscape, Bankoff became president of Netscape in 2001.[16] He was responsible for business operations and the growth of Netscape.com and Netbusiness.[8][17] He then served as president of AOL Web Properties,[18][19] managing AIM, CompuServe, ICQ, MapQuest, Moviefone, and Netscape.[9][20]
Bankoff held the role of executive vice-president of programming and products from 2002.[9][12][21] Bankoff left AOL in late 2006,[3][7] working as a consultant for The Huffington Post and SB Nation, starting in 2008.[12]
As an angel investor for SB Nation, Bankoff led the company's first round of financing. He became its chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) in January 2009.[7][12] He expanded SB Nation's network and number of writers.[22] In November 2011, Bankoff co-founded Vox Media as the parent company for SB Nation and The Verge.[23] As Vox Media's chairman and CEO, Bankoff pursued growing the company through acquisitions.[13] He oversees the company's media brands.[2][24]
In 2015, Bankoff was included in Washingtonian's list of the "100 Top Tech Leaders" in Washington, D.C.,[25] and ranked number 18 on Business Insider's "Silicon Alley 100" list of the "coolest, most inspiring people in the New York tech industry".[26] He was also included in The Hollywood Reporter's list of "The 35 Most Powerful People in New York Media" in 2016.[27] Bankoff ranked number 67 on Mediaite's list of the most influential figures in media in 2017.[28]
Bankoff and Diane Elson, who founded the rug design company Elson&Company in 1998, married on April 26, 2003.[1] Bankoff is a fan of the New York Yankees.[3]