We Are Verified hires digital media veteran Phil Ranta as COO to scale creator services

Top creator management firm We Are Verified's executive hire signals expansion into web3 and creator entrepreneurship.

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 8, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- We Are Verified is moving beyond talent management to building creator economy companies with new key executive hire Phil Ranta, formerly CEO of Wormhole Labs and Head of Gaming Creators North America at Facebook, as their Chief Operating Officer and new top-tier talent signings. Ranta spent the past two years as an advisor to the company.

We Are Verified, helmed by CEO Jordan Worona, is best known as a culture-moving talent management company featured in MTV's Tana Turns 21 and their impressive roster of over 100 managed talent. The past year has seen exponential growth within WAV's creator services department, which included the launch of NFT projects, podcasts, and end-to-end management and strategy on fan platforms. Phil Ranta is joining WAV as their Chief Operating Officer to continue expanding creator services efforts, as well as brand, web3, and platform relationships.

"Through our time working together at Fullscreen and Studio71, I've always been blown away by Jordan Worona's talent development skills." Ranta noted, "I'm thrilled to be joining this best-in-class team to build a 21st century value proposition for WAV's creative entrepreneurs."

"In 2022 alone we've helped create over 1,000 pieces of branded content and generated over $10m in value for our clients. With new expansions in both our team and our partners, we expect to triple that goal in 2023," Worona says, "With the best-in-class industry expertise of Phil Ranta on the team, we'll unlock web3, investment, and platform partnership relationships as well."

Phil Ranta will still be involved at Wormhole Labs where he will continue as a Board Member, as he will with his previous advisory positions at Alfan Group, SOLIS, Brand Army, and Influencer Stuff.

With influencer marketing spend projected to reach $16.4 billion in 2022 and creator investment companies reaching unicorn status, We Are Verified is poised for exponential growth.

"I've spent nearly two decades in the creator economy, starting with branded profiles on MySpace and blip.tv," Ranta says, "It's time to help define the next evolution in the space."

About We Are Verified: We Are Verified is a digital talent management and brand services company founded in 2017 by CEO Jordan Worona, known for onboarding talent that moves culture. With over 100 talent under management reaching 250 million followers, brands trust We Are Verified to help them find their 'cool factor' through social content. We Are Verified have helped ideate, produce, and execute over 1,000 pieces of branded content in 2022 alone with over 100 talent. Along with a talent management division, We Are Verified has a creator services department that have produced breakthrough podcasts (Haley Elizabeth's Behind You, Chase Keith's The Caustic Show), NFT projects with Gloom-E-girls and Crypto.com/NFT, and end-to-end platform management services on Brand Army, OnlyFans, Centerfold, and more.

About Phil Ranta: Previously, Phil Ranta was the CEO of Wormhole Labs where he created social white-label metaverses as digital twins of the real world and co-created the NFT project 'Own Every Word' with Crypto.com/NFT which has driven over $1m in sales in 2022 alone. Phil was also the Head of Gaming Creators, North America at Facebook and the Head of Creators at Mobcrush. In both roles, the departments saw significant growth working with top game streaming talent including Ronda Rousey, Disguised Toast, Corinna Kopf, Shroud, and Nate Hill, to name a few. Phil was the COO of Studio71, one of the world's largest MCNs, growing the network from 1 billion to over 8 billion monthly views in 3 years with over 1,000 creators. Before S71, Phil joined Fullscreen as the Head of Channel Partnerships as the 9th employee, completing his tenure as the VP of Networks. He grew the network to the largest MCN in the world (on comScore) in less than 1 year. He was the recipient of Fullscreen's first "Founders Award" for his role in building the industry-leading company. As a creator, Phil produced hundreds of hours of successful, digital-endemic original content.

Media Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE We Are Verified