Jirka Rysavy
Founder and Chairman
Jirka Rysavy, founder, Chairman and CEO of Gaia, has been Chairman since inception and has served as Chief Executive Officer (except from March 2009 to July 2016). Mr. Rysavy is the beneficial owner of approximately 38% of Gaia outstanding shares. In 1986, Mr. Rysavy founded Corporate Express, Inc., which, under his leadership as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, grew to become a Fortune 500 company with $4.7 billion of revenue. Mr. Rysavy also founded and served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Crystal Market, a health foods concept, which was sold in 1987 to become the concept and first Wild Oats Markets store. Mr. Rysavy was also Chairman of Real Goods Solar, Inc., founded within Gaiam in 1999 and brought public in 2009. Mr. Rysavy resigned from the board of Real Goods Solar in June 2013 after Gaiam sold its investment.
Paul Tarell
Office of President and Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Tarell became Gaia's Chief Financial Officer in July 2016 and joined the Office of President in November 2020. Prior to this, Mr. Tarell, was Chief Financial Officer of Gaia's subscription segment since May 2014 and Vice President of Finance since September 2013. Prior to Gaia, Mr. Tarell held senior finance and operations roles at SET Media, Inc. (acquired by Conversant, Inc.), an online video technology company and Velti, Inc., a publicly traded mobile advertising technology company. Mr. Tarell started his career as a licensed CPA working in public practice at KPMG and Armanino LLP.
Kiersten Medvedich
Office of President and EVP Content
Ms. Medvedich became Gaia's Executive Vice President of Content in June 2020 and joined the Office of President in November 2020. Prior to this, Ms. Medvedich was Senior Vice President of Content since November 2016 when she joined Gaia. Ms. Medvedich's experience has been firmly rooted in all facets of production and brings a level of national broadcast experience to Gaia by way of her long-standing tenure with Sony Pictures Television. From 1995 to 2009, Ms. Medvedich worked in daily syndication out of New York City, where she led nationally syndicated production efforts for some of the most widely viewed programming at the time.