Paul Hynek has decades of successful experience in finance, technology, and entertainment. Paul is a Wharton MBA, an Adjunct Professor of Finance and Accounting at Pepperdine University, and the creator of startup financial projections software that has raised over $1 billion for thousands and startups. He has significant executive, software, and high tech experience in the US, Europe, and Asia.

Paul was involved in the making of Avatar, Lord of the Rings, Planet of the Apes, Tintin, Real Steel, Warcraft, The Hobbit, Halo, Call of Duty, and numerous other movies and games. Paul led the successful acquisition of Giant Studios’ ownership of its renowned virtual production motion capture software, and was instrumental in Giant’s sale to James Cameron for Avatar 2-5. Paul is also the Technology Consultant on Mayne vs. Shark, which will be Discovery Channel’s big "Shark Week" special in August 2019.

Paul has been in the forefront of entertainment technology for decades. He conceived and produced Surf Monkey, the world’s first children’s online service, and introduced it with Bill Gates at the launch event for Microsoft Internet Explorer 4. Paul was instrumental in raising over $30,000,000, and positioning it for an IPO. As Director of Business Development at Bandai Digital Entertainment, he produced the first online service for a set-top box, managing this multi-million dollar project with custom browser, chat, and e-mail, including relationships with over 100 developers. Paul currently works with the leading virtual and augmented reality companies, in both content creation and distribution. He is also active in cryptocurrency and Blockchain, advising several companies in the space.

Paul has significant Board experience, serving on several corporate Boards and Advisory Boards, and has 15 years of non-profit Board experience, nine years as Chair. Paul is a grant reviewer for the National Science Foundation, and leads the Technology Committee of the $100-million-dollar effort to revitalize Pershing Square, the oldest public space in Los Angeles. He has lived in Asia and Europe, is fluent in French, capable in Japanese, and speaks some Mandarin, Thai, Portuguese, and Spanish. He authored a paper entitled “The Hyper-Commons: How Open Science Prizes Can Expand and Level the Medical Research Playing Field” that was published in Rejuvenation Research.