Corporate Governance

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.

Mr. Sutherland has worked in the investment and financial advisory business since 1975. Until it was acquired by Mercer Advisors in December 2018, he was President of Financial & Investment Management Group, Ltd., a registered investment adviser that he founded in 1984 and managed investment portfolios on a discretionary basis for individuals, trusts, foundations and retirement plans. Mr. Sutherland is Chairman and a founding board member of the Utopia Foundation, Squaring the Education Pyramid Institute, and is author of various books including Zenvesting, Creating life success the Zenvesting way, Virtues of Wealth and the AMA guide to Financial Planning. Mr. Sutherland is owner of Yen Yoga and Fitness LLC, the largest yoga, spinning and fitness studio in northern Michigan. Mr. Sutherland has served on the board of directors since June 2012.

Since September 2018, Ms. Frank has served as President of AdPredictive, a software company delivering the industry’s first outcomes-driven customer marketing intelligence platform. Before joining AdPredictive, Ms. Frank spent 23 years at Viacom Inc. She served from 2015 to 2017 as Chief Operating Officer of MTV, from 2013 to 2015 as Executive Vice President of Viacom Music and Entertainment’s Connected Content Division, from 2009 to 2012 as General Manager for MTV and VH1 Digital and from 2005 to 2009 as Chief Operating Officer at LOGO TV. Ms. Frank currently serves on the board of Brightcove, a global provider of cloud solutions for managing, delivering and monetizing video and privately-held company boards of AdPredictive and Cornerstone Capital Group. Ms. Frank has served on the board directors since October 2013.

Mr. Maisel is Founder and Chairman of Mythos Studios, a movie production company. From 2012 to 2017 he was a Senior Advisor to Rovio, the owner of Angry Birds, and was also the Executive Producer of the Angry Birds feature film, released in May 2016. From 2004 until 2011, Mr. Maisel was with Marvel Entertainment, Inc., where he was the Founding Chairman of Marvel Studios and architect of the strategy to make its own films and obtain its $500 million plus film facility. From 2001 to 2003, Mr. Maisel headed the Corporate Strategy and Business Development for Endeavor Talent Agency. Prior to that, Mr. Maisel served as Managing Director of Chello Broadband, President of Livent, Inc., Director of Strategic Planning and Corporate Development for The Walt Disney Company and held positions with Creative Artist Agency and The Boston Consulting Group. Mr. Maisel has served on the board of directors since June 2016.

Mr. Patel has served as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Fuse+Media Pvt. Ltd. since 2008. Mr Patel was a Co-Founder and a Chairman of Fabrik, LLC, led the turnarounds for Inktomi and Maxtor, and incubated, hatched, and ran a number of successful companies including Brience, Metrius, Webvibe, and Phoenix Software. He served as a General Partner of ComVentures. Mr. Patel has also served as the Managing Partner and Chief Strategy Officer of KPMG Consulting Worldwide, Chief Executive Officer at KPMG Internet business, and Managing Partner and Managing Director of the Price Waterhouse Technology Consulting Practice. Mr. Patel has served on the board of directors since May 2017.

Mr. Colquhoun is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Food Matters Lifestyle Pty Ltd, a digital media and production company he founded in 2008. He also founded and was Chief Executive Officer of Food Matters TV Pty Ltd, a health and wellness subscription video on demand company, until its acquisition by Gaia in June 2019. During Mr. Colquhoun’s tenure the Food Matters group has grown to reach over 120 countries. He is also the producer of the feature documentary films Food Matters and Hungry For Change and the Transcendence docu-series. Mr. Colquhoun has served on the board of directors since May 2020.

Since its launch in 2007, Ms. Udaybabu has been the Founder of Culture Unplugged, a global platform of documentaries for cultural transformation, which has served over 50 million people globally. She founded and recently launched Fasting Culture with a vision to integrate consciousness within through at-home diagnostics and Integral Fasting — the experience she has been exploring at the Center for Healing and Transformation, which she founded in India. She has been visionary in developing early disruptions in the internet and media domain. Ms. Udaybabu has served on the board of directors since April 2021.