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Meet The Board

“The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.” – Phil Jackson

Chairman of the Board

Howard Bass

Howie spent 35 at EY (Ernst & Young) where he led Advisory Services for the Media & Entertainment industry. At EY, Howie drove the market growth of EY’s global M&E advisory business. He led large global teams of consultants delivering transformative client outcomes. During his tenure, he held a variety of global leadership roles, P&L responsibilities. He served clients in Corporate Finance and M&A, Management Consulting and led CEO think tanks. In addition to his highly successful career at EY, Howie also served as SVP and CFO for Savoy Pictures Entertainment, Inc. There he led the motion picture and television production and distribution studio from its start-up, through a successful IPO and its eventual sale to Barry Diller’s IAC.
Board Member

Andrew Swinand


Andrew Swinand is the CEO of Leo Burnett Group and runs the Central Region for Publicis Communications. Andrew is also the co-founder of Abundant Venture Partners, a Chicago-based incubator dedicated to improving the human condition through investments in healthcare and technology. Andrew became CEO of Leo Burnett when they acquired two companies he founded, which were focused on personalized content and search analytics. Being a serial entrepreneur, Andrew has founded nine companies and had seven exits. Prior to Abundant, Andrew was president of Starcom Mediavest Group, one of the world’s largest media agencies, placing over $43B in advertising through 110 offices around the globe.
Board Member

Eric Langshur

Eric is the co-founder and Managing Partner of Abundant Venture Partners, a purpose-based incubator focused on improving the human condition by creating companies that improve Human Wellness, Human Performance and Human Engagement. Eric is also the co-founder and CEO of AVIA, the nation’s leading healthcare innovation network. Eric is a New York Times best-selling author. His book “Start Here: Master the Lifelong Habit of Wellbeing” was published by Simon and Schuster: North Star Way in 2017 and has been translated and released internationally by Hachette/Larousse.
Board Member

Mike Woods

Mike Woods is a Senior Vice President at Acxiom where he leads a team that focuses on developing and bringing to market digital transformation solutions. Prior to joining Acxiom he was part of the senior leadership team at Forbes Media. Mike joined the Transparent board because he believes; “… We are at an inflection point as organizations are struggling to make sense of the increasingly complex marketing ecosystem. Clients want a trusted advisor to help them focus on the things that will have the biggest impact on their business and future proof their investments. The Transparent team is well positioned to provide the unbiased guidance required for true transformation. I’m very excited to be part of that journey!
Board Member

Ted Meisel

TED MEISEL is a healthcare entrepreneur, executive and investor. He is co-founder of AVIA Health, a firm that helps ~50 of the nation’s leading healthcare system to make fundamental, technology-enabled change in care delivery and operations. In addition to AVIA, he serves on the boards of several health information technology and services companies that are transforming the delivery of care, including WiserCare, Caravan Health and Doctor Evidence. Ted is a Senior Advisor with Next Equity Partners, the successor to Elevation Partners, known for its investments in Facebook, Yelp and Marketshare, which became the leader in predictive analytics and modeling for Fortune 500 chief marketing officers. He is the former CEO of Overture Services, the pioneer of the internet search and advertising business models, which he led to $1 billion in revenues as a public company, before selling the business to Yahoo and joining that executive team. Prior to Overture, Ted was an executive at CitySearch, later acquired by IAC/Interactive Corp. He started his career at the consulting firms of McKinsey & Company and Mercer Management Consulting in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and Singapore. In addition to his business interests, Mr. Meisel is a director of Hope Street Group, a non-profit formed by business leaders and professionals in 2003 to identify and support policies advancing economic opportunity for all Americans in the context of increasing globalization and automation. He has also served as a senior adviser to CMS for healthcare delivery system reform. Ted joined the board of Transparent because the team fills an important gap. “It is one thing for a company to aspire to be digital-first; it’s another to execute the strategy,” he said. “With dozens of overlapping data sources and technologies to select/integrate and new processes to establish, chief marketing officers face unprecedented complexity and demands. Transparent has the experience and know-how to guide its clients through the decisions and the process.” Mr. Meisel holds a BA from Dartmouth College and a JD from Stanford Law School.