Centurion Acquisition Corp.
MANAGEMENT & BOARD
Executive Officers
Mark Gerhard, 47
Chief Executive Officer and Director
Mr. Gerhard served as the Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Ascendant Digital Acquisition Corp. III (“Ascendant III”) from January 2021 until its dissolution in February 2023. Mr. Gerhard served as the Chief Executive Officer and a director of Ascendant Digital Acquisition Corp. (“Ascendant I”) from March 2020 until its business combination with MarketWise in July 2021. He currently serves as the Chairman of Pulsiv Ltd, a deep technology company disrupting power electronics, a director of Build a Rocket Boy, an innovative video game and technology developer and publisher, and Chief Executive Officer and Chief Technical Officer of JustWontDie Ltd, a video game developer and publisher, where he has also served as a director since January 2020. Mr. Gerhard has been a director of Cambridge Venture Partners since October 2004, where he acts as an investor and advisor, focusing on technology and video games. He has also served as the Vice Chairman of TIGA, the United Kingdom’s trade body for video game developers and publishers, since 2013. Previously, Mr. Gerhard was a director and member of the Audit, Nominating and Corporate Governance and Compensation Committees for MarketWise from July 2021 to November 2023. He also served as Chairman of the board of directors and Chair of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee from May 2023 to November 2023. Mr. Gerhard was also the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Technical Officer of Beauty Labs International Ltd, a technology company that provides AI applications for beauty brands from December 2019 until August 2021. Previously, Mr. Gerhard was the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Technical Officer of Disruptional Ltd (f/k/a PlayFusion Ltd) until its voluntary liquidation in 2022, following the sale of its subsidiary. From February 2008 to January 2015, Mr. Gerhard was the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Technical Officer of Jagex Game Studios, the makers of RuneScape.
Riaan Hodgson, 54
Chief Operating Officer and Director
Mr. Hodgson served as the Chief Operating Officer and a Director of Ascendant III from January 2021 until its dissolution in February 2023. Mr. Hodgson served as the Chief Operating Officer and a director of Ascendant I from March 2020 until its business combination with MarketWise in July 2021. Mr. Hodgson currently serves as the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of JustWontDie Ltd, a games developer and publisher, and has been a director since January 2020. He has also been a director of Cambridge Venture Partners since January 2015, where he acts as an investor and advisor, focusing on technology and games. Previously, Mr. Hodgson was a Director and Chair of the Audit Committee of Marketwise from July 2021 to November 2023. Prior to that, he was a director of Ascendant Acquisition Corp from March 2020 to July 2021. Mr. Hodgson was also the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of BeautyLabs International Ltd, a technology company that provides AI applications for beauty brands, from December 2019 until August 2021. Previously, Mr. Hodgson was the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Disruptional Ltd (f/k/a PlayFusion Ltd) until its voluntary liquidation in 2022, following the sale of its subsidiary. From April 2008 to January 2015, Mr. Hodgson was the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Jagex Game Studios, the maker of RuneScape. Mr. Hodgson is a chartered accountant, who trained with Ernst & Young and has finance and commerce degrees from North-West University.
David Gomberg, 51
President and Director
Mr. Gomberg served as President and a Director of Ascendant III from January 2021 until its dissolution in February 2023. Mr. Gomberg served as the President and a director of Ascendant I from March 2020 until its business combination with MarketWise in July 2021. Mr. Gomberg served as Co-Founder of Beauty Labs International Ltd and Disruptional Ltd (f/k/a PlayFusion Ltd) from 2019 to 2021, and 2015 to 2022, respectively. Disruptional Ltd was voluntarily liquidated in 2022 following the sale of its subsidiary. Additionally, in 2019, Mr. Gomberg co-founded JustWontDie Ltd, a games developer and publisher. He has also been the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Lazoo Worldwide Inc., a developer of transmedia properties and mobile applications, since January 2010. Mr. Gomberg was previously the Chief Web Officer of Bunk1.com, a provider of web services for summer camps, and the Vice President of Nextoy, where he conceived, marketed and licensed products to global toy companies. Mr. Gomberg has over 20 years in the digital entertainment industry. Mr. Gomberg received a B.A. degree from Duke University in 1995.
Board of Directors
Mickie Rosen, 56
Director
Ms. Rosen has been a principal at Mickie Rosen Consulting since October 2013, where she advises and serves on the board of directors of early, growth, and public companies. She has served as a member of the board of directors of the Bank of Queensland (ASX: BOQ) since March 2021 where she serves as the chair of the transformation and technology committee and as a member of the audit, risk, people, culture and remuneration, and nominating and corporate governance committees and is also a member of the board of directors of Nine Entertainment Co. (ASX: NEC) since March 2017. Ms Rosen served on the board of directors of FaZe Clan (Nasdaq: FAZE) from July 2022 to March 2024 where she served as a member of the audit and nominating and corporate governance committees. Ms Rosen served on the board of directors of Ascendant III from November 2021 to February 2023 and on the board of directors of Ascendant I from July 2020 until its business combination with MarketWise in July 2021. Ms. Rosen also served as a director of Pandora Media (NYSE: P), from October 2015 to February 2019, where she served as the chair of the nominating and corporate governance committee and as a member of the compensation committee. In addition, Ms. Rosen was the president of the Tribune Publishing Company (Nasdaq: TPCO) from October 2017 to January 2019 and was a senior advisor at the Boston Consulting Group from January 2016 to October 2017. Ms. Rosen was a co-founder and partner of a strategic advisory firm, Whisper Advisors. She was also the senior vice president of Global Media & Commerce for Yahoo, where she led Yahoo’s media division worldwide. Prior to Yahoo, she was a partner with Fuse Capital, a consumer Internet-focused venture capital firm, investing in early-stage video, publishing, advertising technology and e-commerce companies. Prior, Ms. Rosen was the senior vice president and general manager of entertainment for Fox Interactive Media, where she ran digital businesses such as Rotten Tomatoes, Fox.com and MySpace Entertainment, and played a lead role in envisioning, negotiating and launching Hulu. Earlier in her career, she was an executive with Fandango, where she helped build the movie ticketing company from an early-stage start-up to the leader in its space (acquired by Comcast), and The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) in the Corporate Alliances group. Ms. Rosen built the foundation of her career with McKinsey & Company and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Michael Jesselson, 72
Director
Mr. Jesselson has been president and chief executive officer of Jesselson Capital Corporation since 1994 and was an early investor in internet startups such as ICQ Mirabilis, which was sold to AOL. He previously served on the board of directors of Ascendant III from November 2021 until its liquidation in January 2023. Mr. Jesselson served as a director of Ascendant I from July 2020 until its business combination with MarketWise in July 2021. Mr. Jesselson served as a lead independent director of American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (NYSE: AEO) from November 1997 to May 2017. He has been on the board of directors of XPO Logics (NYSE: XPO) since 2016. Prior to that, he worked at Philipp Brothers, a division of Engelhard Industries, from 1972 to 1981, then at Salomon Brothers Inc. in the mortgage-backed security trading department. He has been the director of C-III Capital Partners LLC, Clarity Capital and Cricket/EPals since 2012, 2014 and 2016, respectively, as well as numerous philanthropic organizations.
Robert Foresman, 56
Director
He has served as a director of Twelve Seas Acquisition Corporation II since February 2021. He served on the board of directors of Ascendant III from November 2021 until liquidation in January 2023. Mr. Foresman served as a director of Ascendant I from July 2020 until its business combination with MarketWise in July 2021. Mr. Foresman served as vice chairman of UBS Investment Bank (NYSE: UBS), based in New York, from October 2016 to April 2020. Mr. Foresman was also chairman of OOO UBS Bank in Russia as well as UBS Group country head for Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States region (“CIS”) from January 2018 to April 2020. Prior to joining UBS, Mr. Foresman was the Barclays Group (OTC: BCLYF) country head for Russia and the wider region from December 2009 to April 2016, where he represented and coordinated the activities of Barclays Group in the region, including investment banking and wealth management. Prior to his work at Barclays, Mr. Foresman was deputy chairman of Renaissance Capital (from August 2006 to November 2009, chairman of the management committee for Russia and the CIS at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (from January 2001 to June 2006) and head of investment banking for Russia and the CIS at ING Barings (from August 1997 to December 2000). Mr. Foresman also ran the Ukrainian Privatization Advisory office of the International Finance Corporation (“IFC”) from June 1993 to November 1995 in Kyiv and worked on private equity and project finance transactions as an investment officer at IFC’s head office in Washington, DC, from December 1995 to July 1997. Mr. Foresman served as an independent non-executive director of TMK Group (MCX: TRMK), a producer of steel pipes for the oil & gas industry, from June 2012 to June 2019. Mr. Foresman has served as senior advisor to SDR Ventures (which holds his FINRA licenses) since June 2022. Mr. Foresman has been a member of the advisory board of Harvard University’s David Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies since January 2016 and a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations since March 2015. Mr. Foresman graduated from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Arts & Sciences in 1993 and Bucknell University in 1990.