Ricky Van Veen

Richard Rafael Van Veen (born December 14, 1980)[1] is an American entrepreneur and the Head of Global Creative Strategy at Facebook.[2] Van Veen co-founded the brand and humor website CollegeHumor. He was also CEO of Notional, a television production and spin-off company of CollegeHumor.

Ricky Van Veen
Van Veen speaking at SXSW in 2007
Born (1980-12-14) December 14, 1980
Lutherville-Timonium, Maryland, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Alma materWake Forest University
OccupationHead of Global Creative Strategy at Facebook, Co-founder of CollegeHumor
Years active2006–present
Spouse(s)
​
(
m. 2015; div. 2019)

Early life and education

Born in Lutherville-Timonium, Maryland, Van Veen is the son of Helen and Richard Van Veen.[3] He graduated from Wake Forest University with a degree in management and information systems.[4]

Career

Van Veen created CollegeHumor as a student at Wake Forest University.[5] Van Veen's site was earning between $10–15 million a year before the partners sold a controlling stake to IAC/InterActiveCorp.[6][7] He is also one of the principal owners and founders of Connected Ventures, a company formed around CollegeHumor that included BustedTees.[8] He also appeared in episode six of Jake Hurwitz and Amir Blumenfeld's podcast, If I Were You, becoming the first guest to do so.

He made appearances in several College Humor video series, such as Jake and Amir and Hardly Working,[9] and the former MTV program The CollegeHumor Show.

In July 2009 Van Veen was announced to be the CEO of the new production company, Notional,[10] which would be producing material for the traditional media of television. One of Notional's most noteworthy TV shows is Chopped on the Food Network. Van Veen would be mentored by Barry Diller, who is the chairman and senior executive of IAC/InterActiveCorp.

Ricky also co-founded product company Scroll Commerce in 2015, where he would invent products designed to sell online, including the popular "Homesick Candle." The company was later acquired by BuzzFeed to be the foundation of its new Product Labs division.[11]

Personal life

Van Veen married actress Allison Williams in September 2015.[1] On June 27, 2019, Van Veen and Williams issued a joint statement announcing their divorce.[12]

gollark: Because it's Haskell Discussion.
gollark: Haskell is *also* "to experiment with weird ideas".
gollark: I mean, Haskell fits "to be hard to program in"...
gollark: ```An esoteric programming language (ess-oh-terr-ick), or esolang, is a computer programming language designed to experiment with weird ideas, to be hard to program in, or as a joke, rather than for practical use. ```
gollark: My favourite esolang is probably Haskell.

References
  1. "Get the Details on Allison Williams and Ricky Van Veen's Wedding (Tom Hanks Officiated!)". People. September 19, 2015. Retrieved September 19, 2015. Ricky Van Veen ... the 34-year-old College Humor co-founder...
  2. "Facebook hires CollegeHumor's Ricky Van Veen to make its giant video business even bigger". Recode. June 8, 2016. Retrieved 2019-02-06.
  3. "news". Baltimore County, Maryland. Retrieved 2015-05-11.
  4. "Cofounder of CollegeHumor is to speak". wfuogb.com. Retrieved 2020-08-13.
  5. St. John, Warren (2005-07-24). "Sophomorically Incorrect". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-11-16.
  6. Gangemi, Jeffrey (2006-09-12). "Buying Sites with a Built-in Audience". Business Week. Archived from the original on October 3, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-16.
  7. "Barry Diller Buys CollegeHumor". Gawker.com. August 15, 2006. Retrieved 2015-05-11.
  8. Mead, Rebecca (2005-01-25). "Funny Boys". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2008-11-16.
  9. "Ricky Van Veen's College Humor Page". CollegeHumor.com. Retrieved 2008-11-16.
  10. Ali, Rafat (2009-07-25). "paidContent - CollegeHumor's New Production Spinoff: Notional; Van Veen's Heading It". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2010-05-22.
  11. "BuzzFeed Wants to Sell You Stuff". Fortune.
  12. "Allison Williams & CollegeHumor founder Ricky Van Veen files for divorce, Here's why". Union Journalism. June 28, 2019.
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