Hi, I’m
Lee Kurland
Product Leader
Santa Monica,CA
Summary
Product leader with 15+ years of experience in B2C experiences at top streaming, media and sports brands including The NFL, Hulu and The New York Times, building products reaching 10s of millions and driving over $2B in revenue. 8 years in people management hiring, developing and aligning product teams to deliver exceptional experiences across mobile, web and TV platforms. Experience with each piece of the streaming customer lifecycle: acquisition, conversion, engagement and retention. Skilled at driving cross-functional collaboration to develop and align product strategy with business goals, engaging with engineers, designers, content teams and executives. A strong communicator comfortable with the c-suite, the scrum team, and creative leaders.
Overview
19
years of professional experience
Work History
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUEINGLEWOOD, CA
SENIOR DIRECTOR OF PRODUCT
01.2022 - 01.2024
Job overview
- Hired and led a 7 person team building the fan-facing experiences for NFL.com, NFL Mobile, CTV apps, and NFL Fantasy app, serving over 30M+ annual visitors
- Partnered with executive leadership to set new digital product strategy tied with new D2C organizational goals
- Launched NFL+ across platforms, hitting $200M+ revenue targets
- Led product strategy and delivery for a rebuilt, personalized NFL mobile app, increasing time spent 20% YoY and earring Webby award nominations
- Managed the 2023 NFL CTV app redesign and expansion onto smart TVs
- Implemented a new experimentation framework boosting testing velocity
- Collaborated with video, identify, ad, CMS, football data and ecommerce platform teams to deliver new experiences on top of an evolving tech stack
- Revamped roadmapping for all product teams creating a single source of truth
- Coached PMs in developing roadmaps balancing fan experience and business priorities from media, editorial/news, partnerships, biz dev and strategy teams
- Executed key partner initiatives: Apple Music, Genius Sports enhanced live games, Ticketing, Snap AR lens integration and YouTube Sunday Ticket
THE NEW YORK TIMES COMPANYREMOTE
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PRODUCT - MESSAGING
01.2020 - 01.2022
Job overview
- Led a product team of 4 for NYT's in-house email and mobile push platforms, reaching millions
- Defined vision, strategy and roadmaps for email, push and on-site messaging systems critical to company engagement and retention efforts
- Led a cross-department analysis of team structure, purpose and objectives, re-organizing teams to align with business outcomes
- Collaborated as product lead with engineering, design, data, and business teams to define a dynamic on-site messaging platform for optimizing revenue
- Project lead for remaking the Product Team Career Ladder, enhancing transparency and promoting equitable growth for a 100-person organization
HULUSANTA MONICA, CA
DIRECTOR, PRODUCT - PROGRAMMING, MOBILE & EMAIL
01.2019 - 01.2020
Job overview
- Led a 20 person team driving strategy, execution and innovation across 4 engagement channels: in-app content curation, video promos, email and push
- Key product leader for the launch of Hulu + Live TV and a rebuilt app across web, mobile and connected TVs
- Led new discovery experiences for sports, news, tv, film and kids verticals
- Revamped strategy and operations for content curation, integrating personalization, A/B testing and coordination with algorithmic recommendations
- Redesigned KPIs for programming to better track discovery & engagement
- Acted as primary liaison between Product team and TV networks/content studios
- Core member of 'The Hulu Way' cross-functional team responsible for continuous improvement of the strategic planning process
HULUSANTA MONICA, CA
DIRECTOR, PRODUCT PROGRAMMING
01.2018 - 01.2019
Job overview
HULUSANTA MONICA, CA
SENIOR MANAGER, PRODUCT MANAGEMENT
01.2017 - 01.2018
Job overview
HULUSANTA MONICA, CA
MANAGER, PRODUCT MANAGEMENT
01.2016 - 01.2017
Job overview
HULUSANTA MONICA, CA
SENIOR PRODUCT MANAGER
01.2015 - 01.2016
Job overview
TIME INC. / PEOPLE.com (now Dotdash Meredith)NEW YORK, NY
SENIOR PRODUCT MANAGER, PEOPLE.COM
01.2013 - 01.2015
Job overview
- Product Manager for PEOPLE's digital extensions, including people.com with 30MM+ monthly users
- Led People.com product team for 6 months during Head of Product search
- Led launch of People Premium, Time Inc.'s first digital subscription news product
- Product lead for award winning PEOPLE CelebFood iOS and Android apps
- Product lead for the launch of Stylfind.com, an ecommerce website
- Developed a new role leading content-driven, cross-functional web and app initiatives for numerous Time Inc. brands
TIME INC. / PEOPLE.com (now Dotdash Meredith)NEW YORK, NY
MANAGER, DIGITAL PRODUCT PLANNING AND ANALYSIS
01.2012 - 01.2013
Job overview
TIME INC. / PEOPLE.com (now Dotdash Meredith)NEW YORK, NY
SENIOR BUSINESS ANALYST
01.2011 - 01.2012
Job overview
IBM GLOBAL BUSINESS SERVICESWASHINGTON, DC
MANAGING CONSULTANT - STRATEGY & TRANSFORMATION
01.2010 - 01.2011
Job overview
- Key contributor to strategy, product development and systems implementation projects for major media, entertainment, and communications clients, including Warner Bros., Disney, Comcast, and Sprint
- Acted as a team lead in business analysis, digital content workflow, web portal development and business intelligence reporting projects, delivering impactful solutions for high-profile clients
IBM GLOBAL BUSINESS SERVICESWASHINGTON, DC
SENIOR CONSULTANT
01.2008 - 01.2010
Job overview
IBM GLOBAL BUSINESS SERVICESWASHINGTON, DC
CONSULTANT
01.2005 - 01.2008
Job overview
Education
New York University Stern School of Business
MBA from Entertainment & Media, Technology, Leadership & Change Management
University Overview
The College of William and Mary
BBA from Marketing
University Overview
GPA: Magna Cum Laude
Skills
- Streaming Media Platforms
- Product Strategy
- Content Personalization
- Testing & Experimentation
- 0-1 & 1-Scale Development
- Mobile, Web and TV UX
- D2C & Ad-driven Products
- Roadmapping Frameworks
- CMS
- Product Career Ladders
- Executive Comms
- Presentations
- Usability Testing
Websites
Personal Information
Personal Information
Title: PRODUCT MANAGEMENT LEADERTimeline
SENIOR DIRECTOR OF PRODUCT
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
01.2022 - 01.2024
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PRODUCT - MESSAGING
THE NEW YORK TIMES COMPANY
01.2020 - 01.2022
DIRECTOR, PRODUCT - PROGRAMMING, MOBILE & EMAIL
HULU
01.2019 - 01.2020
DIRECTOR, PRODUCT PROGRAMMING
HULU
01.2018 - 01.2019
SENIOR MANAGER, PRODUCT MANAGEMENT
HULU
01.2017 - 01.2018
MANAGER, PRODUCT MANAGEMENT
HULU
01.2016 - 01.2017
SENIOR PRODUCT MANAGER
HULU
01.2015 - 01.2016
SENIOR PRODUCT MANAGER, PEOPLE.COM
TIME INC. / PEOPLE.com (now Dotdash Meredith)
01.2013 - 01.2015
MANAGER, DIGITAL PRODUCT PLANNING AND ANALYSIS
TIME INC. / PEOPLE.com (now Dotdash Meredith)
01.2012 - 01.2013
SENIOR BUSINESS ANALYST
TIME INC. / PEOPLE.com (now Dotdash Meredith)
01.2011 - 01.2012
MANAGING CONSULTANT - STRATEGY & TRANSFORMATION
IBM GLOBAL BUSINESS SERVICES
01.2010 - 01.2011
SENIOR CONSULTANT
IBM GLOBAL BUSINESS SERVICES
01.2008 - 01.2010
CONSULTANT
IBM GLOBAL BUSINESS SERVICES
01.2005 - 01.2008
New York University Stern School of Business
MBA from Entertainment & Media, Technology, Leadership & Change Management
The College of William and Mary
BBA from Marketing