ABOUT US
We believe in the potential of licensing
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Global retail sales of licensed products grew to $251.7 billion in 2015, a gain of 4.2 percent from the previous year, generating royalty revenues of $13.9 billion*. However, the challenges of managing royalties puts an unnecessary burden on both licensees and licensors, and limits unlocking the full potential of licensing.
We created SparkX with one thing in mind: to be your “boost button", and allow both licensors and licensees to spend more time on what matters most: growing their business.
Our name proves it: our mission is to provide the spark to your business, any business (that’s why we have an X), whether you are a licensor or licensee.
* 2016 International Licensing Industry Merchandisers’ Association’s (LIMA) Annual Global Licensing Industry Survey
Patrik Wijkstrom
Chief Executive Officer
Patrik is a former Director at PwC, and brings over two decades of application development, process re-engineering, sales, marketing and team building.
At SparkX he drives vision, strategic direction and building a vibrant business.
He received his BA from Cal State East Bay.
Patrik enjoys taking a beating from Christian at tennis. He lives in Redwood City, California, with his wife and two mischievous dogs.
Christian Ferri
Vice President of Operations
Christian is a former Engagement Lead at PwC, and brings over 10 years of operations experience.
At SparkX he drives client affairs, ensuring things go as smoothly as planned.
He received his MBA from Cornell University.
Christian enjoys beating Patrik at tennis and loves coaching young students. He lives in Santa Clara, California, with his wife and baby.
Matt McGraw
Interim Chief Technology Officer
Ramzi Haidamus
Strategy
Matt is a Silicon Valley serial entrepreneur and technology evangelist, bringing over 20+ years of business and technical know-how into SparkX.
During his career, he has founded, scaled and sold multiple companies, leading large (200+) teams on complex technical transformations ranging from design and development of scalable mobile & web applications, big data visualizations, cloud service implementations and machine learning projects.
Ramzi is a high-tech product executive and the former CEO of Nokia Technologies. Being a seasoned product development expert and trained engineer, he has spent most of his career at Dolby Laboratories which he helped grow from a $72M private business to a nearly $1B thriving public company.
He also founded and guided Dolby's wholly owned subsidiary, Via Licensing Corporation, from start-up to a profitable patent licensing organization.
Frederick Held
Licensing & Retail
Lynn Rosenblum
Marketing
Fred is a former Senior Vice President of Global Marketing and Operations for Mattel Inc, and contracted Executive for McDonald's, Burger King and IBM. He has over 35 years of experience in licensing, and he is the man behind making the McDonald’s Happy Meal a reality.
Lynn has over 30 years of experience working with well-known consumer product companies including Disney, Hasbro, Mattel, and Spin Master.
At SparkX, Lynn oversees marketing, branding and creative efforts.
She received her MBA from USC Marshall School. At Otis College in Los Angeles, Lynn teaches the Toy Business Practices course, including a Licensing and Royalties Capstone.
Vittorio Viarengo
Product
Vittorio is the CMO at Skyhigh Networks. He was previously a Senior Executive at MobileIron, where he was fundamental in taking the company IPO.
In his 20+ year career, Vittorio held executive roles for some of the most prominent tech companies in Silicon Valley, and began his professional journey as an entrepreneur, founding and successfully exiting his company, Vivi software.