About Us

Michael McCarthy

Founder & Managing Director

My business perspective was shaped early in my career by a branding and marketing indoctrination in the technology sector. Straight out of college, I was accepted to take a sales and marketing position with Xerox. As part of the team, I experienced firsthand the power of branding and marketing during the rollout of the new the Xerox personal copier and plain paper fax machine. We ramped up consumer interest of what was then a radical new product and relied on Xerox’s proven marketing techniques to drive small office sales. Those early lessons have never left me.

After a successful Xerox stint, I was recruited to join Best Buy which only had about 60 store locations at the time and its market presence was a sad second to Circuit City. Just five years later, Best Buy had grown to over 600 stores and dominated the retail technology market. Looking for the next challenge, I then joined with Cellular One where our team spearheaded the branding of the new cellular phone market in the American Midwest and Florida. While in Florida I was asked to head-up product marketing for a tech start-up that ultimately went public then collapsed. That experience ignited my passion for the stock market, but not as a typical investor. I witnessed what happened at the start-up and realized that many of the challenges that public companies face are the direct result of ineffective corporate branding and marketing. That epiphany was the origin of our formation.

In 2006, we launched our first website as well as our overall concept of integrating a technology-driven platform of brands and partners to help public companies achieve extraordinary brand recognition. In the space of just a few years, this concept has grown from merely an idea into a full-service platform with connections in all major industries. I’ve been blessed to have an amazing team of professionals surrounding me that have guided and assisted me in every step of our development. We all have the same objective and I rely on them every day to execute our mission to deliver our clients results that exceed their expectations. Our concept has come to fruition and now we’re a driving force in the branding, marketing and advertising space. We’re unlike anything you’ve ever seen before.

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Albert Cohen

Managing Partner

Albert Cohen brings over four decades of experience in investment and merchant banking, specializing in syndicating strategic opportunities to high-net-worth individuals, families, and institutional partners. His focus spans a wide array of sectors including energy, mining, real estate, M&A, public markets, and joint ventures. At IBN, Albert serves as Director of Strategic Partnerships, where he plays a pivotal role in capital raising, client relationship management, investment optimization, and product development. He also provides leadership and strategic guidance across the firm’s high-impact initiatives.

Albert is renowned for his proven track record in client acquisition, deal structuring, and delivering results across complex financial landscapes. With a broad and deeply rooted investor network, he has successfully built, led, and scaled ventures that bridge opportunity with execution. His career highlights include founding Blue Star Industries, a water infrastructure company; holding 3 U.S. and 36 international patents; and previously owning Motor Trend Auto Group, where he pioneered automotive leasing operations.

Albert is also a major investor in Malvy Technology, a London-based public company innovating in automotive anti-theft solutions. Throughout his career, he has held influential positions and ownership stakes in numerous public and private companies across the U.S. and international markets.

A respected leader and visionary, Albert continues to drive value through his strategic insight, financial acumen, and relentless focus on long-term partnerships.

Randy Clark

Director of Global Operations

I’ve spent the last 20+ years building and managing high functioning organizations, departments and teams. Some from scratch, some as part of an overhaul, others as a challenge to improve from their current state.

A few things I’ve learned along the way: Surround yourself with talent, develop greatness. Support people to a fault. Embrace change cause it’s coming. Alignment is essential, agreement is not. Diversity is the biggest catalyst for growth. Provide “lift” to everyone you touch. Have fun and love what you do.

Building successful teams, watching others grow and winning along the way are the most rewarding experiences I have been able to be part of in my professional career. I am extremely lucky to have contributed to many great ones.

I am a husband to a wonderful woman that has taught me more than I could ever mention, father to two really awesome teens, loving dog owner to two vizsla’s, saltwater aquarium enthusiast and having grown up in Knoxville, TN and attended the University of Tennessee, I am a rabid Vol for Life and obsessed with all UT sports.

Jonathan Keim

Director of Investor Communications

I’ve been trading in the stock market since I was 15 years old. In 2006, I came across the very first IBN brand while looking for stock tips and became an active follower of its newsletter. In February of 2007, I joined the team as a writer and was soon promoted to create more content and expand the team of contributors. Since then, I’ve worked with more than 400 publicly traded companies with personal responsibilities ranging from creating new company profiles and corporate media kits to developing digital marketing initiatives for both our internal brands as well as clients. Although certain techniques of the past are not as effective as they once were, there’s always a steady stream of new opportunities for companies to strategically reach highly targeted audiences.

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Christopher Johnson

Director of Client Solutions

I graduated from Auburn University in 2011 before beginning my career with an internship in Guangzhou, China. Over the next two years living abroad, I uncovered a love of travel and a passion for communication. When visiting foreign countries without a firm grip on the local language, the importance of delivering a clear, concise message becomes apparent. I apply this lesson to my work as director of strategic content distribution. Whether covering our clients’ latest news or examining the impact of market events on promising stocks, my goal is to deliver content to our audience that’s both informative and approachable. As the individual responsible for publishing and distributing content on a daily basis, I take pride in ensuring that the articles presented to readers are consistently of the highest quality. When I’m not working, I’m usually traveling with my wife, whether we’re down the street, across the country or around the world.

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James King

Director of Social Media Relations

As the director of Social Media Relations at InvestorBrandNetwork (IBN), I help maintain the 180+ social media accounts that IBN uses to connect companies with vast audiences of online investors. I am also a certified ethical hacker (CEH) skilled in assessing the security of computer systems, but in a lawful and legitimate way. I enjoy using a number of tools to track activity and exposing rugged projects, as well as identifying the people behind them. I have also been trading digital collectibles and various crypto assets for years, in addition to the social engagement work I do for a large variety of clients in many different industries.

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Cole Ferry

Director of Syndicated Communications

Throughout college, I insisted on trying everything under the sun in hopes of finding something that I truly loved to do. Then, I took a step back outside of my bubble of passions to realize I have been doing what I loved all along. Whether listening to hours of Star Wars podcasts or reading and writing about my favorite sports, I knew that communications was the thing for me. I was lucky enough to connect with IBN through family, and, since then, I have had the pleasure of connecting with people from all over the world – sharing their own success stories. My position gives me the opportunity to help clients not only release their news to the public but share their own narratives through their companies. In my free time, I enjoy working out, annoying my three beloved cats, and watching my favorite sports team, Chelsea FC.

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Josh Roberts

Director of Newsletter Creative Development

Unlike the stories of the bonafide super-geniuses you will find all over this page, my story is rather simple. My name is Josh. I live for the news and I had an experimental operation in the late 90’s to have my entire circulatory system replaced with 100% pure, mountain-grown Arabica. I got hired as a merc/writer back in the early days and have been in the trenches for over a decade now helping this unstoppable team of true visionaries deliver. From compelling sector analysis, to consistent daily reportage, there isn’t an industry I can’t handle. With a 30,000-foot view of the real-time battlespace, I know how to channel the news and where to place assets in order to fully exploit the constantly changing terrain of the 24/7/365 news cycle.

Partner Newsletters

Jessica Pegueros

Director of Events and Partnerships

I have been working in B2C management since 2016 climbing the ropes from store management, project management and operations management all while studying Psychology at the University of California, Riverside. After graduating with my bachelors in the midst of a global pandemic, I decided I wanted to explore other options and expand the fields of work I am used to and that’s when I found InvestorBrandNetwork. I joined IBN as a Partner Support Specialist and have enjoyed my time jumping headfirst into this new endeavor and learning the ropes of everything the platform has to offer.

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Jeffrey Abelson

Director of Analytics & Reporting

I’ve been involved with news release distribution for over two decades, working with international corporations and sole proprietors, from all business sectors including entertainment, sports, technology and energy, facilitating releases, images, videos and other graphic content to the national and international media and across social media networks. I love technology and the media, as well as writing, books, photography and music. I also love cycling along the Mohawk Hudson Bike Trail in upstate New York!

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Chris Bigelow

Director of Brand Awareness Distribution (BAD)

Christopher Kimball Bigelow has authored a dozen books and edited several periodicals. He earned a BFA in writing, literature, and publishing at Emerson College, Boston, and an MA in creative writing at Brigham Young University. Currently he works as a writer, editor, and instructor. He lives with his wife in Provo, Utah.

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Jacob S. Frenkel

SEC Counsel & Compliance

InvestorBrandNetwork (IBN) rely on Mr. Frenkel because of his aggressive, tenacious, creative and proactive strategies often put the other side on its heels, and because he gets successful results in investigations and litigation. Mr. Frenkel has secured superior results for his securities enforcement, white-collar criminal defense, FCPA and internal and government investigations clients. Mr. Frenkel brings his experience and outstanding reputation, including for creative strategies and solutions, to the defense of investigations, litigation strategy and governance counseling. IBN views him as a trusted advisor and consultant who understands the needs of our business.

As a former Senior Counsel in the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, US federal criminal prosecutor of corruption and financial crimes; Mr. Frenkel has practiced in the private sector for 17+ years. Mr. Frenkel conducts internal investigations for public and non-public companies and represents officers, directors and employees in internal investigations. Mr. Frenkel practices regularly before all offices of the SEC, the Department of Justice’s Fraud Section, United States Attorneys’ Offices throughout the country, FINRA, state securities regulators, and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB).

Mr. Frenkel frequently appears in national and local print and broadcast media commenting on white collar, securities and governance issues. IBN finds his media experience of particular value in managing the public policy and public relations aspects of legal matters.