Management Team

Jeff Hays, President and Founder
Jeff Hays is a self-described 'serial entrepreneur', a lifetime exercise fanatic, and an award-winning film producer. After financing several film projects as an investment banker, in the early 90's he set his sights on filmmaking. Mr. Hays formed Capstone Entertainment, whose projects included a direct response product with Dr. Laura Schlessinger that won numerous awards and earned his company over $10 million in sales in its first year. After selling Capstone to its management, Mr. Hays went on to found several cutting-edge technology companies. In 1998, he founded the 'world's first voice portal to the internet', Talk2 Technologies. Talk2 successfully raised $68 million in venture capital funding in its first two years, including key strategic investments from both Hewlett Packard and Oracle. In 2004, Mr. Hays returned to film to create, fund and produce FahrenHYPE 9/11, the response to Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11. The day after the film was completed, it was sold to Overstock.com for over $2.5 million and went on to sell hundreds of thousands of copies in its first month of release. In addition to founding Podfitness.com in 2005, Mr. Hays produced and financed On Native Soil: The Documentary of the 9/11 Commission Report, narrated by Oscar winners Kevin Costner and Hilary Swank. ONS was selected for the 2005 Academy Award shortlist, and was released by Lions Gate Entertainment in August 2006, commemorating the 5 year anniversary of 9/11. A consummate creator, Mr. Hays has numerous technological patents to his credit.

Teri Sundh, CEO and Co-Founder
Teri Sundh has excelled in executive management for over 15 years, negotiating multi-million dollar contracts with Fortune 500 Companies as a Vice President at Franklin Covey, as well as developing strategic partnerships for several successful startup companies. Her experience includes negotiations with Xerox, Disney, IBM, Merrill Lynch, Coca-Cola, Nike, AT&T, and the National Chamber of Commerce. Ms. Sundh has managed hundreds of employees and developed numerous national sales/marketing programs. As one of the first key executives of ThinMillionaire Inc., she was responsible for developing and negotiating each of the many strategic relationships that ThinMillionaire formed with vendors, promotional partners, and fulfillment centers including Kraft, EAS, General Growth, SlimFast, Simon Properties and Jenny Craig. Ms. Sundh was a co-founder in the collaboration and launch of ZingBack Inc, a patent-pending voice messaging technology.

Marilee Esplin, Chief Operating Officer
Marilee Esplin spent the past 15 years with FranklinCovey, in a variety of key financial and operational upper management positions. These positions focused on the consumer and small business side of FranklinCovey and included Retail Stores, Catalog, E-Commerce and Wholesale Product Sales as channels of distribution. Ms. Esplin was responsible for managing key business expenses and internal and external service metrics while maintaining standards compliant with GAAP and Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002. Her ability to lead and manage people to obtain financial success, while satisfying customers, makes her a perfect fit on the Executive Team at Podfitness.com. She is certified in the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Managers, 4 Roles of Leadership, and Focus Training courses. Her personal passion about fitness, finance and delighting customers intersect perfectly in her role as COO for Podfitness.com. Ms. Esplin holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from the University of Utah.

Micheal Babbitt, Executive Vice President of Product Development
Micheal Babbitt has served as the creative force behind Power Music's products and marketing for the past 15 years, helping them become the worldwide leader in fitness music. Originally hired as a music producer at Power Music, Mr. Babbitt worked in every department during his tenure, including catalog design and production, as well as design of the company's e-commerce website. With his experience as a 13 year master aerobics instructor, coupled with his considerable business acumen, he offers invaluable direction for product development at Podfitness.com. Mr. Babbitt holds a Bachelor of Music in Theory and Composition from Brigham Young University and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Utah.

Alan Winters, Executive Vice President
Alan Winters has a unique blend of creative and business skills and over two decades of entertainment industry experience at large communications conglomerates and startup entrepreneurial companies. He has a lengthy track record of successfully launching new products, building innovative content-related businesses, working with talent, and establishing advertiser partnerships. At Podfitness.com, he is responsible for managing relationships with trainers and talent, overseeing key strategic relationships, and developing content for television and other platforms. As consultant to Lions Gate Television, he oversaw the $16 million CBS-Tommy Hilfiger reality series, The Cut. He also was co-executive producer of the Hilary Swank/Kevin Costner narrated 9/11 documentary, On Native Soil. Mr. Winters was the creator and Executive Producer of the Dick Clark hosted daily talk show, The Other Half, for NBC Enterprises and the prime-time reality series, The Last Resort, for ABC Family. As Vice President of Sales at All American Television (now Fremantle Television), he oversaw the sales of the worldwide hit, Baywatch. As VP of Strategic Planning at Fox Television, he was the studio executive in charge of creative development and advertising sales of A Current Affair, which generated in excess of $100 million in profit. Mr. Winters started his career in business planning with CBS Entertainment. Mr. Winters holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English/Economics from Cornell University and a Masters of Business Administration in Marketing/Entertainment Management from the Anderson School at UCLA.

Gayle Franger : Vice President of Marketing
Ms. Franger comes to Podfitness with the background of a senior marketing executive with a wealth of experience in consumer packaged goods marketing (PepsiCo), retail marketing (McDonald's) and subscription businesses, specifically in the fitness industry (Bally Total Fitness). Gayle is an innovative strategist with proven ability to grow and build brands, identify and launch new products and exploit untapped growth opportunities. She possesses a demonstrated track record of success in driving strong business growth, leadership, innovation, strategic alliances, problem solving, and in building high performing teams. Gayle holds a BS in Business from Indiana University and an MBA with a concentration in Internation Marketing from DePaul University.

Steve R. Hutchinson, Vice President of Business Affairs and Legal
Steve Hutchinson brings to Podfitness.com his general skills and experience in business management and law. During the past two years, Mr. Hutchinson served as a Vice President and General Counsel of Overstock.com, Inc., an $850M, publicly traded online retailer. Throughout the past 12 years, he founded or co-founded several diverse startup companies, including a regional food franchise system that he grew 400% to be the nation's largest operator of its kind, a $20M+ hedge fund with annualized returns in excess of 50%, and a real estate development and investment company with operations in Colorado, Utah and Texas. During this period, Mr. Hutchinson took a hiatus from the private sector for a couple of years to work as a Special Agent in the Los Angeles office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation where he focused on anti-terrorism in the National Security Division. Mr. Hutchinson is a self described entrepreneur trapped in a lawyer's body. Mr. Hutchinson is a Summa Cum Laude Finance graduate from Brigham Young University and a Cum Laude Law graduate from the J. Reuben Clark Law School.

Bryan Haycock, M.S., Exercise Physiologist, Podfitness.com SME
Bryan Haycock is a well-known writer and authority in the fitness and bodybuilding industry, and has gained a strong reputation for his expertise in the field of nutrition and fitness. Mr. Haycock, a physiologist and adjunct faculty member of the University of Utah, holds certifications with the NSCA, ACE and is also a member of the American College of Sports Medicine. He has been bodybuilding for 28 years and is currently the Editor in Chief of ThinkMuscle.com. He is perhaps most widely known for his world-renowned training method Hypertrophy-Specific Training. Mr. Haycock is a highly sought after authority/speaker on the physiology of muscle growth and fat loss. He also specializes in the management of type II diabetes through diet and exercise. He manages Podfitness.com's exercise database, SME modeling and interfaces with key trainers. Mr. Haycock holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Exercise and Sports Medicine along with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and a Masters of Science degree in Exercise Physiology all from the University of Utah.

Linda Shelton, Fitness Director
Linda Shelton is an internationally recognized fitness consultant, trainer, lecturer and health writer with 35 years of teaching experience in the exercise field. Fitness professionals acknowledge her as the instructor's instructor, an industry leader for her innovative, scientifically applied programs and unique, cutting-edge choreography. As a founding member of the Aerobic and Fitness Association (AFAA), she has trained and certified thousands of fitness professionals worldwide. In 1983, Ms. Shelton became Shape magazine's Fitness Editor and has overseen fitness editorial for all AMI/Weider Women's Active Lifestyle magazines, including Natural Health, Fit Pregnancy and Living Fit. She is currently the Fitness Director for VIVmag, the first interactive, digital lifestyle and fitness magazine for women. Ms. Shelton has appeared on Good Morning America, Inside Edition, Discovery Channel and E! Entertainment and has directed, choreographed and/or produced more than 250 exercise videos, including The Method, Shape's DVD workout series, Platinum Buns of Steel 2000, Crunch Fitness and the Dummies Fitness Line. She has authored six fitness training books, including the acclaimed Shape's Ultimate Body Book (Hay House, 2005), the Method Jump Start Journal: 8 Weeks to Wellness (Peter Pan Press, 2005) and Stronger Legs and Lower Body (Human Kinetics, 2002). Ms. Shelton oversees quality control over all Podfitness.com exercises and interfaces with key trainers and business affairs. A former physical education, dance teacher and aerobic studio owner, Ms. Shelton completed her master's work in exercise physiology.

Darren Wesemann, Director, Technical Advisor
Darren Wesemann serves as Board Member and Technical Advisor to Podfitness.com. He also currently serves as Chief Technology Officer for SunGard's Financial Systems business, comprising over 60 business units and over 200 software products for the Financial Industry. He is a technology industry veteran, 20 years including both business and technical experience. Mr. Wesemann ran a successful IT consulting company for three years, served as CIO for AIB, a National Association Bank, CTO to three software companies and one hardware company: Spontaneous, Cornell Evans, Talk2 and Xanthon, and CIO for EduServ, an education software company. Mr. Wesemann also serves as an advisor to Leucadia National, a NY based investment firm, for technology and telecommunications acquisitions. Mr. Wesemann has held numerous roles with various popular standard bodies, international consortiums and associations such as the OMG (CORBA, UML, MDA), OMA, W3C, 3GPP, TINA, ISC, UITA, and TCA. In 2001, Mr. Wesemann was named Technology Executive of the Year by a Utah Business Assembly. Mr. Wesemann holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from the University of Utah.