MICHAEL RUBIN

From basement entrepreneur to internet pioneer, Michael Rubin has decades of experience invested in shaking up consumer industries. An e-commerce visionary, Rubin is currently transforming the global sports licensing industry with Fanatics. Through game-changing deals, strategic acquisitions, and an innovative, tech-infused vertical model, Rubin and the Fanatics team that he built are changing the way professional leagues and collegiate teams bring their fans closer to the sports they love. Rubin has been winning with a new model called “Vertical Commerce (v-commerce).” V-commerce platforms control their own destiny by owning, producing, and distributing their own merchandise end-to-end… from design to delivery.  With v-commerce, Rubin offers brands and retailers an alternative playbook to thrive in a market dominated by giant third-party marketplaces.  By scaling the v-commerce model for faster, speed-to-market of merchandise in an increasingly on-demand world, it is possible to deliver sustained, profitable growth in the evolving retail landscape.