• CEO & Co-Founder, Neotive Gateway Solutions
• TV, Toys, Entertainment and Media Industry Consultant and Speaker
• Founder & Chairman, GrapevineStar Entertainment Inc., a media & entertainment intellectual property & new media integration company
• Founder, Social Media Analysts™, a leading social media consultancy

http://www.linkedin.com/in/jacobrmiles

Raised in the Millvale Housing projects in Cincinnati, Ohio he entered a government sponsored engineering apprentice program for at risk youth leading him to the University of Cincinnati, School of Engineering. From there, Jacob R. Miles, III went to work at General Electric designing jet engines. This experience working with aerospace engineers, detailed drawings, exotic materials, fabrication procedures, intricate production cycles, journeymen, and tool & die makers proved to be an invaluable training ground for his chosen career in product development, engineering, planning, and operations. He went on to excel at combining product development with TV and film content development becoming a Fortune 100 senior executive managing content, development engineering, marketing, toy, internet, film, and television focused teams.

For the last 25 years, Jacob has spearheaded many Toy, Internet, TV, Film focused content, along with product development, manufacturing, licensing, and distribution campaigns from Asia to Hollywood to New York and virtually everywhere in between. Besides being a critical part of the first major toy industry TV and Film production, licensing, and merchandise program to come out of Hollywood, STAR WARS, he has worked for Kenner Toys, General Mills Entertainment Group, Tonka, and Hasbro developing family and children’s programming with notable programs and products such as Care Bears, Batman, Superman, Ghostbusters, GoBots, Pound Puppies, and SEGA video games among many others. He has worked side by side developing television and film properties with Lucasfilm, Jim Henson Cos., DIC, Disney, Warner Bros., Film Roman, NBA, MLB, NFL, and Hallmark Entertainment among many others. Capitalizing on his business experience and relationships, he founded Cultural Exchange Entertainment Corp. (CEE), an award winning company that focused on edutainment and multi-cultural properties, as well as designed, developed, and licensed a number of toys and entertainment properties for TV, e.g. Hollywood Hounds, C-Bear & Jamal, Dinkytown Kids, and others featured on ABC, FOX, and HBO.

After leaving CEE he began consulting with internet focused entertainment and media companies leading to the founding of Urban Cool Network Inc. Mr. Miles relocated from Minneapolis to Dallas, Texas, co-locating at 2929 Elm St., with Mark Cuban’s Broadcast.com. Here he partnered with Silicon Valley technology companies and the U.S. Government to bring broadband access to minority communities. He was instrumental in Vice President Al Gore’s Digital Divide imitative & programs and toured the company with the Vice President & industry leaders addressing this critical issue.

In 2003, the Urban Television Network Corporation appointed him to its Board of Directors and hired him as a consultant. In March 2005, he was named CEO and Chairman of the Network to lead a strategic make over of the company.
Several years later he set up operations in Grapevine, Texas and founded Grapevine Entertainment Company, (the predecessor to GrapevineStar Entertainment Inc.) www.grapevinstar.com which provides Intellectual Property (TV/Film content, product, and character) development and licensing services to the media and entertainment industry. The company has developed proprietary systems and networks for integrating media and entertainment based intellectual properties with new media. The new media systems and networks are licensed and managed by Social Media Analysts™, an operating unit of GrapevineStar.

Neotive Gateway Solutions™, which was co-founded by Mr. Miles and three others, has licensed GrapevineStar’s Social Media Analysts’s proprietary technology and systems

Along with Jacob’s significant background in product development, merchandising, and programming, his expertise in TV operations, toys, video games, and the internet has helped many companies develop affordable and profitable programs. He brings an attention to detail and an understanding of social media across multiple industries as a hallmark of Neotive Gateway Solutions, which is dedicated to helping clients increase revenues & brand awareness, develop, and manage social media assets.

With a strong sense of civic pride and responsibility, Jacob is immediate past President of the Dallas-Fort Worth chapter of the National Association of Minorities in Communications (NAMIC).

He is a City of Grapevine, Texas (Mayor and City Council) appointee serving on the Board of Directors of the Grapevine Heritage Foundation.
He is an active member of the First United Methodist Church of Grapevine and a founding member of its “Iron Men” men’s group.
He is a member of the University of North Texas – Denton, Marketing School Advisory Council.
He is national speaker focused on diversity, non-violence, entrepreneurship, and the importance of mentoring and role models in media and on the ground in the minority communities. He has presented companies to Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Piper Jaffrey, along with many others.

He has been featured on MTV, CNN, PBS, NPR, BET, NBC, CBS and in the Wall Street Journal, USA TODAY, Business Week, Entrepreneur, EBONY, Black Enterprise, Institutional Investor magazine and many local television programs, magazines, and newspapers.

He has been chronicled in several best selling books including “FOREVER BARBIE” by MC Lord and “How to Succeed in Business without being White” by Earl Graves, publisher of Black Enterprise Magazine among others.