Stephen Shearin-VP of Sales: East Coast, CPX Interactive

Stephen Shearin's path to his current role as Vice President of East Coast Sales at CPX Interactive has been full of adventures. More than simply 'stops along the way,' however, these life stories have crafted his ability to bring a unique perspective to his role at the center of the online marketing landscape.

As a teenager, after spending a year as an exchange student in South Africa, Shearin discovered a love of world travel. He spent time touring Europe, and working off and on in the construction industry, and then set off once again, this time to the Virgin Islands. He lived there for seven years. Initially, he filmed, edited and produced underwater videos for tourists on boat dives as proprietor of Aqua Vidiots.

It was when Hurricane Hugo hit the Caribbean in 1989, that Shearin was first bitten by the advertising bug. In the aftermath of the hurricane, broadcast network television was knocked out, so Shearin would go to friends' houses and watch what had become a burgeoning new fascination...cable television. As he and his friends would pass through their favorite channels, Shearin made an interesting observation. He explains, "I watched my friends become strikingly aware of what advertising seemed 'cool' and I began to understand that the future of advertising was no longer going to rest with what network channel owned the two-hour primetime block on Thursday night, but with the proliferation of demand for new and interesting content."

Shearin's next revelation would come as a student at Arizona State University in 1993, still years before the Internet would prove his hypothesis correct. When Shearin and his classmates turned a professor's question back upon him, the professor responded that, given the chance to do 'anything,' he would begin a commercial venture on the Internet. It was soon that when Shearin was shown a webpage that had been set up by a fellow student. The page featured the student's cat in his dorm room, and Shearin remembers realizing that "the ability of the masses to easily create original content was going to level the playing field."

Clearly, the wave was building, and Shearin was never one to miss a ride. Throwing himself into the water, he promptly began his first venture, an ISP named GetNet, which soon morphed into a nationwide Internet backbone, ultimately going public in May of 1996. Shearin's next venture was in 1997, with Indiginet, a communications company offering bundled multimedia services. He explains, "Although today we can easily get our phone, internet and cable on one plan, such a thing was far less common at that time." It was also around this time that Shearin befriended Rob Rasko, now the President and COO of CPX Interactive .

In the shadow of 9/11, Shearin went back to school and graduated from Arizona State with a degree in Sociology with an Urban Focus. He is clear on how this scholastic direction dovetails with his success in today's demographic 'slice and dice' that is the online advertising space: "In school, we had a real interest in who was moving, watching, doing what...and when. What were they buying? Why did networks show some ads at different parts of the day and in different places in the country?" Shearin embraced the fact that the questions that lay at the core of a study of Sociology were really the same questions that occupy the minds of those who wish to distribute their message in the fields of advertising and marketing.

After school, Shearin worked on numerous Internet ventures and start-ups, including Mommytalk.com, a social networking space for parents. He always kept in contact with his friend Rob Rasko, and it was Shearin's exposure to this world of social media that brought him to CPX. When Rasko mentioned a web-based project that CPX was considering undertaking, Shearin offered his expertise, and in return ended up with a product development job. Then, In late 2007, there was an opportunity at CPX to head up East Coast Brand Sales, and Shearin again saw the chance to jump on top of the Internet wave.

Shearin feels lucky to have had these life experiences, and the ability to draw upon them in his role as Vice President of East Coast Sales at CPX Interactive . From his time as an entrepreneur, Shearin learned that putting in extra time and effort is necessary to stay on top of the wave of competition. However, he has also found that being ahead of the wave does not necessarily guarantee success. Shearin encourages his team to keep the big picture in mind at all times and not get too easily discouraged by daily events. "CPX is at a great time in its evolution, but I sometimes find myself amazed at how easily success can be taken for granted by people of all ages, with less life experience. I guess I have been lucky to have seen enough to know that we have a good thing going here."

Perhaps the most valuable lesson Shearin has learned along his journey, though, is the importance of loving what you do. He is passionate about the work he does at CPX Interactive , and he can't imagine it any other way.