Paul Crystal, CPA

Mr. Crystal has over 30 years of global experience in the financial and operational management of mid to large-sized publically held companies in the media, licensing and publishing industries. For the past ten years, Mr. Crystal was the SVP of Finance & Administration (Division CFO/”De-facto COO”) for United Media, the $100 million ($2 billion at retail) worldwide licensing/syndication/Internet agency subsidiary of the NYSE listed EW Scripps Company. UM licensed character and company owned brands in 90 product categories in 75 countries and syndicates 150 features in over 2,000 newspapers and internet sites. Mr. Crystal led the areas of finance, information systems, operations, and auditing and was member of Scripps Executive Committees for SEC reporting and Outsourcing of accounting/operations to India. Mr. Crystal has held senior financial management positions with Sesame Workshop (formerly Children’s Television Workshop), KPMG, Viacom divisions of Simon & Schuster and Paramount Pictures.

Mr. Crystal holds a B.A. in Accounting from Michigan State University and is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of New York. He is a member of the AICPA, Financial Executives Institute (FEI) and Licensing Industry Merchandise Association (LIMA) and is a frequent conference speaker on topics ranging from budgeting and strategic planning to creation of an IP/licensing royalty audit program.