bio

Alec Pollak helped to lay the groundwork for modern Internet marketing with some of the first big budget websites for companies including Olympus America, Warner Bros. Movies, Atlantic Records, The New York Public Library, Smithsonian Magazine, Snapple and Duracell. In the web 1.0 world, alongside other early pioneers like Jeffrey Zeldman, Seth Goldstein and Mike Essel, he pushed the envelope of what the online world could be.

He started an agency-friendly web shop and then his own web design firm and sold that to a tech partner, staying on to help them grow. As the century turned he turned his attention to branding and B2B communications, sharpening his skills and client service chops with work for AT&T, Pfizer, Lucent Technologies, Corvis and MasterCard International. Working with a former cable and phone executive and an Israeli philanthropist he jumped to the client side to explore product development and built publish-on-demand software for Little League International, Cruise West, American Youth Soccer Association, USA Football, Regent Cruises and the Boston Pops Orchestra.

When the infrastructure could handle it and the web turned to video, Pollak worked with long-time collaborator Paul Kontonis to create one of the top NYC internet production and marketing studios.

When the bigger agencies started to adopt Brand Content as a serious mantra, Pollak took on a major assignment to direct domestic, branded-content creative for The Third Act: Digitas and taught Brand Content for the Miami Ad School and subsequently consulted for a number of design and brand content clients.

Moving his career into the world of healthcare, Pollak served as the VP Director of User Experience and ultimately SVP Director of Customer Experience at Juice Pharma Worldwide, helping to grow the burgeoning digital strategy business at the highly revered, "big-tique" pharma agency. He is currently leading UX and CX efforts at AREA 23, the most celebrated healthcare advertising agency in the world.

Pollak also serves as a partner at bhoomki, a burgeoning, world-friendly fashion label with his wife, Swati Argade; and has several screenplays in development.