About Catnip Media
Catnip Media creates applications and games for the iPhone and the iPod Touch. Founding partners are Mark Herrick, Julie Spoonamore and Lisa Ann Walter.
Founders
Lisa Ann Walter
Partner, Chief Creative Officer
Lisa Ann WalterLisa Ann Walter is an actress, comedian, writer and producer. Walter studied drama at Catholic University of America where she graduated with a bachelor of arts degree and began appearing in various regional and dinner theater productions. Walter soon moved to New York and began performing at several high profile comedy clubs. Lisa married and became a young mother at 24 and quickly had audiences roaring with her dead-on perspectives on kids, domestic life and social issues.
After five years of standup comedy, Lisa was cast to star in her own Fox Network comedy series, My Wildest Dreams. That was followed by an ABC sitcom, Life’s Work, which she both created and starred in. Walter also co-starred in the critically acclaimed Bravo series Breaking News and in the NBC sitcom Emeril. In addition to numerous guest starring television roles, Lisa was a judge on the ABC reality series The Next Best Thing and a celebrity contestant on VH1’s Celebracadabra.
On the big screen, Walter has appeared in several big budget studio films including the 1988 Disney smash hit The Parent Trap, Bruce Almighty, Shall We Dance, War of the Worlds, Eddie and Drillbit Taylor. She can also be seen in a number of independent films, including the critically acclaimed Dee Dee Rutherford.
Walter is currently in production on a reality television series, Dance Your Ass Off, that will air on the Oxygen network. Lisa created the show and serves as both a producer and a judge. She is designing mobile applications and related products that will tie-in with the series. Lisa is also actively developing other scripts, show concepts and mobile applications.
Lisa resides in Los Angeles, California.
Mark Herrick
Partner, General Counsel and Chief Financial Officer
Mark HerrickMark Herrick has extensive experience in the Internet marketing realm. In his capacity as Vice-President of ClickAction, an internet marketing and services corporation, Mark headed the Non-Profit and Political divisions.
One of Mark’s major accomplishments at ClickAction involved starting with a database of fewer than 100,000 members and expanding it to over 1.1 million in less than six weeks. This expanded database delivered over 17,000,000 personalized emails and resulted in millions of dollars of fundraising donations during that short timeframe.
ClickAction was subsequently sold to YesMail, at which time Mark founded Herrick & Associates. The new company continued to provide the email, web design and implementation services until it was absorbed into Catnip Media in late 2008.
Mark holds both an MBA and a law degree from the University of San Diego. After obtaining these degrees, he first worked in international corporate finance in both Europe and Japan. While in Japan, Mark’s legal practice expanded into the entertainment industry in the Los Angeles, California area. Herrick moved to the Silicon Valley while working for ClickAction and continues to reside in that area.
Julie Spoonamore
Partner, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Marketing Officer
Julie SpoonamoreJulie Spoonamore has over 18 years experience in marketing, advertising, sales and management. She has worked in a variety of industries including advertising, retail, staffing and wholesale. Julie has also volunteered for various non-profit causes throughout most of her adult life. She has gained substantial experience in event management and fundraising, among other things, from her volunteer positions.
Spoonamore has always had an entrepreneurial spirit and began selling various things door-to-door to her neighbors at the young age of seven. She opened her first self-supported business at the age of 14. While living in California in the 1990’s and still working in the corporate world, Julie started her first solo venture as an adult – an antiques and collectibles business. That business moved to the online realm when Julie returned to Kentucky. Spoonamore continues to operate the antiques and collectibles business in addition to Catnip Media. She has been solely self-employed for the last few years.
Julie is known for achieving excellent results by applying her creative and innovative ideas to the development and implementation of promotional programs. In one eight week promotion, she increased sales by 37% over the prior year within a targeted demographic. The campaign, which was wholly devised and implemented by Julie, was for a national alcoholic beverage company. Her efforts paved the way for a similar national program and earned the following praise: “In 17+ years, I haven’t seen this level of creativity…it hit on all cylinders and drove the numbers in a big way”.
Julie graduated from the University of Kentucky with a BA in Advertising.