About Us
Reboot Partners is a boardroom innovation, growth acceleration and corporate governance group that helps boards and CEO's tackle their most challenging issues, seize emerging market opportunities, build global expansion partnerships and develop the next-generation of entrepreneurial leaders.
Keynote speaker, author, board member and advisor, Dean DeBiase is the co-founder of Reboot Partners, Startup Partners and Innovation Excellence and co-author of the best-selling book The Big Moo.
In addition to being a professional speaker, Dean is also a serial CEO, practicing what he preaches, inspiring audiences with secrets from the front-lines of business about rebooting everything from your innovation and technology to your company and career. When not delivering keynotes, he's helping people reboot companies—taking them to the next level of innovation and market leadership and their investors to sucessful liquidity events. With a reputation for scaling and optimizing organizations, he’s noted for his keen ability to lead strategic-execution while seizing emerging global opportunities.
Photo: Stephen J. Serio, Crains
Dean DeBiase (Biography)
Chairman, Reboot Partners
One of the pre-eminent voices in the advancement of the innovation economy, Dean DeBiase is an expansion phase CEO with a track record scaling emerging growth companies and embedding entrepreneurial-grade talent into multi-national corporations. Dean has built consumer and B-to-B brands in mobile, social, local and video media, games, entertainment, e-commerce, advertising, marketing services, retail, distribution, information services, research/insights, analytics, technology, cloud and Internet services industries—and has led global organizations through expansion, turnaround, divestiture, M&A and IPO operating phases.
Dean is the Chairman and CEO of entertainment.com, the leading provider of the most recognized and purchased consumer discount, promotion and coupon services. He has been chief executive of over a dozen private and public corporations and Fortune 500 subsidiaries, including CEO of TNS Media, a roll-up he orchestrated of advertising, marketing, entertainment, digital media and social networking groups which was acquired by WPP; CEO of Autoweb, which he took public, built into one of the top web brands and merged with Autobytel to create the largest Internet automotive marketing services group; and CEO of The Imagination Network, a social media games company which was acquired by AOL and ranked the number one games and entertainment brand by comScore.
As Chairman of Reboot Partners, a growth management and board advisement group, Dean has helped organizations tackle their most challenging issues, seize emerging market opportunities and inspire people to deliver on the next generation of innovation. Through Reboot he’s served in various advisor and board roles including Akoo, Amway, Donlen which was sold to Hertz, and Excelligence which was sold to Thoma Bravo, and he has served in interim leadership roles, including CEO of Fathom Online, a MIXX award winning search marketing analytics company acquired by GI; CEO of Free Drive, a media sharing network, which was acquired into AOL; and CEO of CatchTV, a TV-to-Web platform, which was acquired into Liberty Media.
Earlier in his career, Dean directed brand strategy as CMO of LG/Zenith, and as head of their Network Systems Division, led a turnaround which was credited for introducing cable modems and helping create the broadband services industry. Previously, he served as CMO and President of two Anixter International operating units, which were awarded the NCTA’s Vanguard Award for innovation; and as one of the youngest Managing Directors at FedEx, he operated two units and helped pioneer the company’s efforts into digital services.
He has served on public, private and government boards including NIU, Keller, Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center, Security Innovation Network and is a member of National Association of Corporate Directors, Turnaround Management Association and TechNet, a CEO network that partners with policy makers to advance America’s global leadership in the innovation economy.
Known for his collaborative management style that attracts and inspires people and business partners to excel in product/marketing delivery, channel/sales expansion, partner/customer development and attainment of profitable financial results, Dean's teams have been acknowledged for industry-shaping leadership—through the development of next-gen innovation, services and ventures—and recognized for producing award-winning products, brands, trademarks, marketing, media, programming, technology, software, patents and IP.
Dean received a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from Northern Illinois University and an MBA from Keller Graduate School; he completed the MBA-Plus Executive Program at the University of Chicago, the CEO Program at the AMA, and the Directors Certification Program at the NACD’s Corporate Directors Institute; and he is a participant in the Stanford Law School Directors’ College and a KIN Global Delegate at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.
