Mark Chasan is a digital media pioneer, lawyer, merchant banker, entrepreneur, and regenerative developer. He is known for founding eMusic, the first digital music distribution company. Currently, Chasan is the Chairman and CEO of AWE Global, a company developing sustainable communities as well as integrated conscious & healthy workspaces. Also, Chasan is the CEO of Transformative, which helps eco-social entrepreneurs obtain resources necessary for success. Chasan has been instrumental in creating new financial models for a process driven approach to liquidity and value creation utilizing a private-to-public strategy.
Business career
In 1985, Chasan became a lawyer and opened his practice in Los Angeles, CA. In 1995, Chasan founded eMusic, creating the world's first onlinedigital music distribution and retailing company and a leading online music and entertainment superstore. In February 1999, Chasan merged eMusic with Goodnoise, Inc. to form eMusic.com in a transaction ultimately taking the company public on the NASDAQ, trading under the symbol EMUS. Also in 1995, Chasan formed Webcentral, one of the first web development, co-hosting and co-location facilities in the US and hosted such customers as Caltrans, Re/Max and AudioNet/Broadcast.com. In 1997, Webcentral was acquired by Interworld Communications. After selling his shares in eMusic and Webcentral, he became a leader in IBM's digital media consulting division and then co-founded a technology fund, Publex Ventures, which specialized in accelerating the growth of early-stage companies with public exits. He subsequently combined his experience in law, finance, and entrepreneurship with his commitment to the environment as the founder and CEO Transformative in 2005, helping eco-social entrepreneurs obtain the resources they need to succeed in building impact businesses. He currently serves as the founder and CEO of AWE Global, an organization devoted to developing regenerative communities and environments that transform the way people live, work, play, and consume. Chasan is a regular contributor to HuffPost and Planetary Experts, writing about the regenerative economy, corporate transformation and sustainability, as well as an international speaker on the subjects of digital media, finance, global transformation, natural capital, entrepreneurship, blockchain, and crypto.
