Research Firm Vault AI Selects NRG Veteran Ethan Titelman as President of Client Solutions, Makes 3 More Key Executive Hires

Exclusive: Vault AI, a technology-focused emerging market research firm, has created a starter kit for executive recruiting.

The new list is led by NRG veteran Ethan Titelman, who joins the company as president of customer decisions.

Luke Shocknecht, who ran Australia-based branding agency Raine & Makin before consulting Vault last year, has been named Chief Marketing Officer. AJ Giovannetti, a Paramount Pictures and NRG veteran, will join as senior vice president of product strategy. Also new is Rich Calabrese, CEO of Ideas and Strategy.

Vault closed its $ 8 million Series A funding round last December. Investors in that round included Israel-based PICO Venture Partners and Hearst Ventures, an investment group of Hearst Corp., and early backers from the likes of Roku, Pandora, and BuzzFeed. Other Series A attendees included Iair Landau, former vice president of Sony Pictures Entertainment, as well as current investors at Vault TV Azteca and Remagine Ventures.

Founded in 2015, the company now has around 50 employees and has offices in Los Angeles and Israel.

Titelman, who was at EVP NRG, manages all of Vault’s customer relationships. The company uses artificial intelligence and other technologies to reduce its reliance on traditional elements of the research process, such as surveys and focus groups. The Los Angeles-based executive will focus on the broadcasting and theatrical entertainment industry looking to expand the company’s client list.

Schoknecht will oversee product marketing, strategic communications and thought leadership initiatives, reporting directly to CEO and co-founder David Steff. Giovannetti develops new products that use company-owned databases, machine technology and data science capabilities. Calabrese, former vice president of MarketCast, manages one of the company’s US client groups and reports to Rachel Krauss, senior vice president of Insight and Strategy.

Founded in 2015, Vault AI’s roster also includes industry veterans Abe Recio (former senior vice president of strategic marketing and research at Sony Pictures Entertainment) as Chief Product Officer and Rachel Krauss (former senior vice president of MarketCast) who is Senior Vice President of Insights and Strategy.

In a statement, Steph called Titelman “one of the most trusted minds in the consumer information space,” adding that “he has helped many top executives get the best results in their films and programs.”

Titelman said, “The entertainment industry is undergoing tremendous changes and, at the same time, consumer perceptions must evolve. Vault AI is advanced using predictive analytics, behavioral data, artificial intelligence and mechanical engineering to enhance creative development and marketing research – I’m looking forward to helping our entertainment customers become more efficient and use Vault’s new AI analytics – delivered faster and more accurately – to make creative decisions.

At NRG, Titelman helped restore the agency, which pioneered film research and helped usher in the modern era of blockbusters in the 1980s and 1990s before being sold to Nielsen in 2003. When Mark Penn Investment Firm acquired Stagwell Group from NRG Nielsen. In 2015, Titelman helped expand his horizons beyond theater for broadcast, television, games, sports and technology. Prior to joining NRG, Titelman spent more than 14 years at Penn Schoen Berland, helping build and grow his entertainment research business.

In addition to overseeing Raine & Makin, Shocknecht was a consultant for Vault AI for 14 months before joining the team full-time. He helped plan Vault Communications for Series A’s successful growth, as well as focusing on the company’s overall brand strategy, design and communications.

Calabrese has spent nearly ten years in the media and entertainment research industry. He was COO of GM and social analytics firm Fizziology, where he led their research and reporting teams before the company acquired MarketCast in 2017. Following this transaction, he became vice president of entertainment accounts for MarketCast.