Mike Seiman - CEO & Co-Founder, CPX Interactive

Mike Seiman has extremely high standards for himself in both his personal and professional lives. He has always been driven, and though he is now a successful entrepreneur, CEO of CPX Interactive, an Inc. 500 recognized 'fastest growing' ad network, and a fledgling 'indie' production house (with a full-length feature film already completed) to his credit, Mike has never even submitted a resume to a perspective employer.

More than seven years ago, Mike and Carlton Hickman, now CTO, began laying the foundation for an innovative new business venture. They met as students at Hofstra University, and found that they shared a computer savvy interest in the Internet. At first, they worked on websites together, but then developed an interest in online advertising. They began to focus on the monetization of online inventory, with ads they would target to their specific audiences. Using one of their own websites as a test case, they began to work through strategies to increase the efficiency with which they could drive more and more ad traffic through their own web pages. Mike and Carlton also began examining how existing ad servers placed their ads, to determine the best way to maximize profit.

In this age, where there are as many as 300 ad networks littering the landscape, it is easy to overlook the degree to which CPX co-founders Hickman and Seiman were well ahead of their time as they built their own ad server and network in 1999 and 2000. Their drive and desire for innovation paid off. CPX Interactive now delivers more than 30 billion impressions to more than 200 million unique users in more than 60 countries every month.

Mike and Carlton had a vision of the company they wanted to create, not just the business, but the environment as well. They dreamed of a creating a place where people were more like family than co-workers, "Your work environment doesn't have to be just about work. Hopefully, you're working there because you like doing business with the people, creating with them, making money with them...regardless of what the business is. Creating a business that people wanted to be a part of and grow with, where it wasn't just a job and they wanted to come to work every day, that's what I envisioned for CPX Interactive," Mike explains.

In addition to his drive to succeed, Mike also feels strongly about giving back. Throughout his childhood, Mike's parents instilled in him the importance of showing consideration for others. He believes that the more successful a person is, the more important it is to give back to those who are less fortunate, and he has done so on a personal and professional level, using the Internet as a powerful tool. Once the business had matured, a philanthropic division called CPXample was formed. Through CPXample, CPX Interactive has been involved in a variety of philanthropic endeavors, and has donated millions of impressions to worthy causes including Save Darfur, Live Earth, Children International, and the American Diabetes Association.

Mike also makes sure to give back to the causes that are important to him, and the places that made a positive impact on him in the past. When he was 18, Mike became involved with Children's International, and has since adopted 12 children through the program. He has also donated money to build a community center in Ecuador, which is currently under construction. Mike and Carlton created the Seiman/Hickman scholarship fund to be awarded to a student of a new computer science/entrepreneurship school at their alma mater. Mike will be a member of the school's board, in addition to his current role on the Hofstra Liberal Arts & Sciences Advisory Board. Among the many other causes that Mike supports is the Hebrew Educational Society, a nonprofit Jewish community center in Brooklyn. Mike volunteers his time at HES and has recently been assisting with marketing the center's summer camp programs.

Mike Seiman has accomplished a lot, and he's not even 30. Not only did he go straight from college to starting his own business, but he has grown that business to become the 5th largest ad network in the world, and a generous philanthropic advocate. Even though times are tough, Mike believes that it is still important to think of others. The slogan of CPXample is "with power comes responsibility," and Mike Seiman is thrilled to be in a position where he has been able to take on that responsibility.