Dan Rosensweig is an American business executive who is chairman, president and

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

(CEO) of student services company

Chegg Chegg, Inc., is an American education technology company based in Santa Clara, California. It provides homework help, digital and physical textbook rentals, textbooks, online tutoring, and other student services. The company was launched in 2005 ...

. Previously, Rosensweig served as president and CEO of ''

Guitar Hero ''Guitar Hero'' is a series of music rhythm game video games first released in November 2005, in which players use a guitar-shaped game controller to simulate playing primarily lead, bass guitar, and rhythm guitar across numerous songs. Player ...

''; COO at

Yahoo! Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds managed by Apollo Global Man ...

; president of

CNET ''CNET'' (short for "Computer Network") is an American media website that publishes reviews, news, articles, blogs, podcasts, and videos on technology and consumer electronics globally. ''CNET'' originally produced content for radio and televi ...

, and president and CEO of

ZDNet ZDNET is a business technology news website owned and operated by Red Ventures. The brand was founded on April 1, 1991, as a general interest technology portal from Ziff Davis and evolved into an enterprise IT-focused online publication. Hist ...

Career

Following college, Rosensweig's first job was at

Dictaphone Dictaphone was an American company founded by Alexander Graham Bell that produced dictation machines. It is now a division of Nuance Communications, based in Burlington, Massachusetts. Although the name "Dictaphone" is a trademark, it has bec ...

, then an independent

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a s ...

Pitney Bowes Pitney Bowes Inc. is an American technology company most known for its postage meters and other mailing equipment and services, and with expansions into e-commerce, software, and other technologies. The company was founded by Arthur Pitney, who i ...

, selling word processors

door-to-door Door-to-door is a canvassing technique that is generally used for sales, marketing, advertising, evangelism or campaigning, in which the person or persons walk from the door of one house to the door of another, trying to sell or advertise a p ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. Within three hours on the job, he was informed that the company had to lay off nearly 1,000 people, including his division. In 1983, Rosensweig began working at

Ziff Davis Ziff Davis, Inc. is an American digital media and internet company. First founded in 1927 by William Bernard Ziff Sr. and Bernard George Davis, the company primarily owns technology-oriented media websites, online shopping-related services, an ...

as a

cold caller Cold calling is the solicitation of business from potential customers who have had no prior contact with the salesperson conducting the call. It is an attempt to convince potential customers to purchase either the salesperson's product or servic ...

selling magazines to

mom-and-pop Small businesses are types of corporations, partnerships, or sole proprietorships which have fewer employees and/or less annual revenue than a regular-sized business or corporation. Businesses are defined as "small" in terms of being able to ap ...

computer retail stores, then worked his way up through the circulation department, to classified ad sales and display ad sales, and then to associate publisher of ''

PC Magazine ''PC Magazine'' (shortened as ''PCMag'') is an American computer magazine published by Ziff Davis. A print edition was published from 1982 to January 2009. Publication of online editions started in late 1994 and have continued to the present d ...

''. Under Rosensweig's leadership, ''PC Magazine'' became the leading computer magazine in both audience reach and revenue. In 1996, Rosensweig led the Ziff Davis launch of a series of

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

print magazines, including, by license, the acclaimed ''

Yahoo! Internet Life ''Yahoo! Internet Life'' was a monthly magazine published by Ziff Davis, which licensed the name from Yahoo!, the well-known web portal and search engine website. It was created and launched by G. Barry Golson, the former executive editor of ''P ...

''. In 1998, he took over Ziff Davis'

Operation as president and CEO of ZiffNet, now known as

, where he took the company public and sold it to

, in 2001. Rosensweig played a critical role in the successful merger with CNET. During his tenure at CNET, Rosensweig served as a key participant in company-wide efforts to develop and introduce innovative new Internet advertising formats, such as interactive messaging. In 2002, Rosensweig joined

as COO, where he oversaw global operations through 2006, and developed a mentoring program. In 2007, Rosensweig became a partner of private investment firm

Quadrangle Group Quadrangle Group is a private investment firm focused on private equity. The firm invests in middle-market companies within the media, communications and information-based sectors. The firm, which is based in New York City, was founded in 2000, ...

, founded by

Steven Rattner Steven Lawrence Rattner (born July 5, 1952) is a New York investment asset manager who served as lead adviser to the Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry in 2009.

, opening an office in

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo County ...

. In March 2009, Rosensweig became president and CEO of ''

''; under his management, the company launched ''

Band Hero ''Band Hero'' is a spinoff video game as part of the ''Guitar Hero series'' of music rhythm games, released by Activision on November 3, 2009, for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii and Nintendo DS consoles. The game is structu ...

'' and ''

DJ Hero ''DJ Hero'' is a music video game, developed by FreeStyleGames and published by Activision as a rhythm game spin-off of the ''Guitar Hero'' franchise. It was released on October 27, 2009 in North America and on October 29, 2009 in Europe. The ga ...

''. In February 2010, Rosensweig joined

as president and CEO, where he has overseen expansion and multiple acquisitions, and heads operations and executive management. He launched the company's IPO in 2013. Chegg expanded from textbook rental into a portfolio of student services under his leadership, transforming Chegg's digital assets to meet student needs. Rosensweig is a proponent of

mentoring Mentorship is the influence, guidance, or direction given by a mentor. A mentor is someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person. In an organizational setting, a mentor influences the personal and p ...

, and of workplace equality. He is an investor in many

companies, including

Rent The Runway Rent the Runway is an e-commerce platform that allows users to rent, subscribe, or buy designer apparel and accessories. It was founded by Jennifer Hyman and Jennifer Fleiss, who launched the company in November 2009. History In 2007, Hyman ...

and

Reputation.com Reputation.com is a business-to-business online reputation management and customer experience management company headquartered in San Ramon, California. The company claims its software-as-a-service platform helps businesses monitor and respond t ...

Personal life

Rosensweig is married and has two daughters.

Boards

Rosensweig participates on the

advisory board An advisory board is a body that provides non-binding strategic advice to the management of a corporation, organization, or foundation. The informal nature of an advisory board gives greater flexibility in structure and management compared to th ...

of NPO

DonorsChoose.org DonorsChoose is a United States-based nonprofit organization that allows individuals to donate directly to Public school (government funded)#United States, public school classroom projects. The organization has been given Charity Navigator's highe ...

, has served as a Executives in Residence for the mentoring program of The Media and Technology Program at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

; and sits on the

boards of directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

of Adobe, Inc.,

VOX Media Vox Media, Inc. is an American mass media company based in Washington, D.C., and New York City. The company was established in November 2011 by Jim Bankoff and Trei Brundrett to encompass ''SB Nation'' (a sports blog network founded in 2005 by ...

Katalyst Media Katalyst Network was a company founded by Ashton Kutcher and Jason Goldberg, based in Los Angeles, California. It was the company behind television series such as ''Beauty and the Geek'' and ''Punk'd''. Founding history The company was launched ...

, Fender, and OZY Media, among others. He also sits on the board at

Hobart and William Smith Colleges Hobart and William Smith Colleges are Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts colleges in Geneva, New York. They trace their origins to Geneva Academy established in 1797. Students can choose from 45 maj ...

, where the Rosensweig Learning Commons, Warren Hunting Smith Library is named for him. He is a

Colgate University Colgate University is a private liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York. The college was founded in 1819 as the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York and operated under that name until 1823, when it was renamed Hamilton Theologi ...

''emeritus'' trustee. He also works with the

Boys and Girls Club Boys & Girls Club may refer to: * Boys & Girls Clubs of America * Boys & Girls Clubs of Canada * Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Clubs, Bronx, United States * Essex Boys and Girls Clubs, in Essex and East London, England * The Boys' and Girls' Clubs A ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosensweig, Dan Living people Guitar Hero American chief operating officers Scarsdale High School alumni Hobart and William Smith Colleges alumni American chief executives of education-related organizations American corporate directors Adobe Inc. people Yahoo! employees Year of birth missing (living people) CNET People from Dobbs Ferry, New York People from Scarsdale, New York American magazine editors