Gary Mekikian

Gary Mekikian is an American entrepreneur and investor who is the co-founder and CEO of M&M Media Inc., a Los Angeles-based media technology company. Prior to M&M Media, Mekikian also co-founded International Integration, Inc. also known as i-Cube; answerfriend, Inc., which became Inquira; and GATeIC, Inc.

Gary Mekikian
Picture taken at LA2DC.org fundraiser in April of 2015
Born
Garo Mekikian

Yerevan, Armenia
NationalityAmerican
Alma materStanford University
University of Southern California
OccupationCEO of M&M Media, Inc.
Years active1993 — present
Known forTechnology and software entrepreneurship
Board member of
Websitela2dc.org

Mekikian is a co-organizer of LA2DC.org, a Los Angeles-based organization whose mission is to raise awareness of modern-day genocides and the Holocaust, and to eliminate genocide as a war tactic.

Mekikian has a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California and an MS from Stanford University, and he holds patents in media technologies[1][2] and medical devices.[3] Mekikian is a member of Stanford University's Graduate School of Business MSx Alumni Advisory Board. He collaborates with Stanford University professors Dr. William Barnett[4] and Dr. John Roberts to write and teach case studies on entrepreneurship, information technology, semiconductor industry, and the mobile internet.

Education

After attending Hollywood High School for two years, Mekikian earned an electrical engineering degree from University of Southern California and an MS from Stanford University.

Career

Early ventures

In 1993, after working at Hewlett-Packard Company as a sales engineer, Mekikian joined the founding team at International Integration Inc., also known as i-Cube, which went public in 1998.[5] i-Cube was acquired by Razorfish, Inc. in 1999.[6]

Mekikian began working with Dr. Deniz Yuret, a researcher in Natural Language Processing at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Sundar Subramaniam, a co-founder of i-Cube, to found answerFriend, Inc., which developed commercialized web based question-answering technologies.[7][8] In 2002, answerFriend merged with another natural language processing technology company, Electric Knowledge, to form InQuira. In 2011, Oracle Corporation acquired Inquira.[9]

In 2006, Mekikian co-founded GATeIC[10] a semiconductor IP company.

M&M Media / Trebel Music

In 2014, after a patent was issued on a new method of delivering and monetizing digital media on mobile and desktop devices,[1] Mekikian co-founded M&M Media, Inc., a digital music distribution company that released the Trebel Music app to reduce digital media piracy by specifically targeting a demographic which uses piracy as a form of digital media consumption.[11][12]

Genocide Awareness and Prevention

In 2015, the descendants of the Armenian Genocide around the world commemorated the 100 anniversary of the first genocide of the 20th century.[13] Mekikian, along with a group of American-Armenians, organized an event called LA2DC,[14] a coast-to-coast, running and cycling, relay marathon. The mission is to increase awareness of modern-day genocides, and to stop genocides as a war tactic. Over a thousand athletes ran and cycled non-stop, from Los Angeles to Washington DC, to deliver a petition to Congress - a message of gratitude to Americans and others who worked to prevent genocides, and rescued the survivors. Mekikian and colleagues authored the petition[15] which was delivered in a relay baton to Congressman Adam Schiff who read it on the floor of the House of Representatives on May 20, 2015.[16]

Bibliography
  • Prof. William Barnett and Gary Mekikian, (2013) Mercado Libre, Leadership and Managing People, Stanford Graduate School of Business[17]
  • Gary Mekikian and Prof. John Roberts, (2009) Note on IT Services Industry, Economics, Stanford Graduate School of Business[18]
  • Gary Mekikian and Prof. John Roberts, (2009) Tata Consultancy Services, Globalization of IT Services, Economics,[19]
  • Prof. William Barnett and Gary Mekikian, (2008) Creating Qualcomm, Organizational Behavior, Entrepreneurship, Stanford Graduate School of Business[20]

References
  1. "Electronic Media Download and Distribution Using Real-Time Message Matching and Concatenation".
  2. "Answering natural language queries".
  3. "Method and apparatus to prevent esophageal damage".
  4. "William P. Barnett". Stanford Graduate School of Business.
  5. "International Integration Inc. S1". SEC Report.
  6. Journal, Andrea PetersenStaff Reporter of The Wall Street (August 11, 1999). "Razorfish Is Set to Acquire i-Cube In Stock Deal Worth $677 Million" – via www.wsj.com.
  7. "AnswerFriend Seeks to Sell Question-Answering Software". Wall Street Journal.
  8. "The Innovators MEET THE 65 COMPANIES AND THEIR OWNERS WHO HAVE CONJURED UP THE LATEST WAVE OF PRODUCTS, SERVICES, AND TECHNOLOGIES. - May 1, 2001". money.cnn.com.
  9. "Oracle and InQuira". www.oracle.com. Retrieved 2020-03-02.
  10. "Gary Mekikian". Stanford Graduate School of Business.
  11. Braa, Megan (September 23, 2015). "Trebel Music app provides free music downloads, campus charts tailored to students". The Rocky Mountain Collegian.
  12. "Trebel Music app aims to bring free tunes to college students". September 21, 2015.
  13. Herszenhorn, David M. (2015-04-24). "Armenia, on Day of Rain and Sorrow, Observes 100th Anniversary of Genocide". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-01-01.
  14. "Cyclists, Marchers Commemorate Armenian Genocide". NBC Southern California. Retrieved 2016-12-31.
  15. "Congressional Record". www.congress.gov. Retrieved 2016-12-31.
  16. AdamSchiff (2015-05-20), Rep. Schiff Speech on House Floor Honoring LA2DC Participants, retrieved 2016-12-31
  17. "Mercado Libre". Stanford Graduate School of Business.
  18. "Note on the IT Services Industry". Stanford Graduate School of Business.
  19. "Tata Consultancy Services, Globalization of IT Services". Stanford Graduate School of Business.
  20. "Creating Qualcomm (A)". Stanford Graduate School of Business.
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