About the Authors
Eugene Carr
Eugene Carr, founder of Patron Technology, is an entrepreneur who has been a visionary in bringing Internet-based technology solutions to arts and cultural organizations since the early days of the consumer web. Gene’s first technology company in 1995 was the groundbreaking national arts listing site Culturefinder.com, funded by AOL Ventures and Comcast. He has also worked in arts management, serving as the Executive Director of the American Symphony Orchestra and Concordia Orchestras, and prior to that, he worked in management positions at American Express. He is also the co-chairman of LaunchU, an alumni-lead program he initiated for entrepreneurship at Oberlin College as a member of the President’s Advisory Board. Today, Gene is CEO of ALO.ai, a live event communications technology company.
In addition to Breaking the Fifth Wall, Gene also wrote three previous books on e-marketing: Wired for Culture: How Email is Revolutionizing Arts Marketing, Sign-Up for Culture: The Arts Marketer’s Guide to Building an Effective Email List, and Web Sites for Culture: Essential Principles for Great Arts Web Sites.
Michelle Paul
Michelle Paul joined Patron Technology as its fifth employee, and for fifteen years led the team for the initial conceptualization, build, and launch of PatronManager, the market-leading box office ticketing, fundraising, marketing, and CRM system for nonprofit arts organizations.
As Head of Product and Managing Director, she worked closely with executive leaders at client organizations to understand their varying business models and operational challenges, and build a product to help arts organizations sell more tickets, raise more money, and cultivate stronger bonds with their audiences. She’s been an invited speaker for over a dozen sessions at industry seminars and events on topics relating to arts marketing, management, technology adoption, and customer experience
Michelle holds a B.A. in Classics from Wesleyan University, but spends much more time dealing with apex code exceptions than translating ancient Greek, these days.