Banzai Appoints Michael Kurtzman as Chief Revenue Officer
Veteran Revenue and Go-to-Market Executive to Scale Leading Video Engagement, Production, and Webinar Solutions
SEATTLE, June 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Banzai International, Inc. (NASDAQ:BNZI) ("Banzai" or the "Company"), a leading marketing technology company that provides essential marketing and sales solutions, today announced the appointment of Michael Kurtzman as Chief Revenue Officer of Banzai to head operations and customer-facing functions of leading video engagement, production, and webinar solutions including Demio, CreateStudio, and OpenReel, effective Monday, June 16, 2025.
Michael Kurtzman is a seasoned revenue and go-to-market executive with more than 20 years of global experience driving growth across startups, growth-stage ventures, and Fortune 50 companies. He has led organizations through revenue expansion from $10 million to over $100 million, with deep expertise in B2B enterprise SaaS and AI solutions across sectors such as financial services, media, and education.
Most recently, Michael served as CEO of Violett, Inc., an AI-enabled air health platform. Prior to that, he was Chief Revenue Officer at Zype (acquired by Backlight), where he oversaw all revenue and customer-facing functions and led the integration of multiple acquisitions. Earlier in his career, he served as Senior Vice President of Sales at Panopto, a venture-backed SaaS company, where he helped triple annual recurring revenue and supported a successful exit. He also held the role of Vice President of Global Sales at Comcast Technology Solutions, following its acquisition of the Platform.
"As we enter our next phase of growth, Michael brings the experience and demonstrated success to scale technology companies, and we welcome him to this new role," said Joe Davy, Founder and CEO of Banzai. "His extensive experience across operations and customer-facing functions will enable him to grow our Video business unit while overseeing sales, marketing, customer support, professional services, and operations, with a dotted-line influence over product management and engineering."
"Michael will be responsible for accelerating self-service subscriber growth, enterprise and mid-market expansion, and customer retention, while ensuring the continuous evolution of our product offerings. The primary objective of his role will be to increase revenue in the Video business unit to $50 million over the following three years," concluded Davy.
Michael Kurtzman added, "I am honored to be joining Banzai to scale its high-growth SaaS business. Combined with recent acquisitions, Banzai has built intuitive, high-impact AI-powered video solutions with Demio, CreateStudio, and OpenReel that drive engagement, retention, and revenue. I look forward to working with the team to meet our revenue and operational goals in the months and years ahead."
About Banzai
Banzai is a marketing technology company that provides AI-enabled marketing and sales solutions for businesses of all sizes. On a mission to help their customers grow, Banzai enables companies of all sizes to target, engage, and measure both new and existing customers more effectively. Customers who use Banzai's product suite include Autodesk, Dell Technologies, New York Life, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Thinkific, and ActiveCampaign, among thousands of others. Learn more at www.banzai.io. For investors, please visit https://ir.banzai.io.
Forward-Looking Statements
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Investor Relations
Chris Tyson
Executive Vice President
MZ Group - MZ North America
949-491-8235
[email protected]
www.mzgroup.us
Media
Nancy Norton
Chief Legal Officer, Banzai
[email protected]
