Scott Tilson (born May 11, 1963) is an American businessman who owned

poetry.com Poetry.com is a domain name that has historically been used for poetry-sharing in various forms. History Before March 7, 2009, the domain name Poetry.com was owned by New Catalyst Fund (NCF). The site was previously run by a Maryland-based company ...

and is the founder of "The International Collectors Society". He is also the co-owner of "Psychedelic Art Exchange".

Career

Tilson started his business career at the age of 15, buying and selling rare United States coins under the name "Scott Tilson Rare Coins" while at the same time pursuing his graduation at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

in Evanston,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. In 1992, Tilson, along with his new business partner Jeffrey Franz, launched "The International Collectors Society" (ICS). The ICS operated by mass-market advertising, pushing its products via supermarket tabloids and magazines rather than the specialist hobby media used by most stamp dealerships. Initially, the company was formed with the idea of distributing

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

memorabilia, but when this endeavour failed to take off Franz and Tilson returned to postage stamps. ICS was sued by

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

in 1996 for distributing copyright-infringing stamps from

Chad Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic ...

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

and

Abkhazia Abkhazia, ka, აფხაზეთი, tr, , xmf, აბჟუა, abzhua, or ( or ), officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, recognised by most countries as part of Georgia, which vi ...

Purchase of Poetry.com

In June 1997, Tilson, along with Franz, purchased

Poetry.com Poetry.com is a domain name that has historically been used for poetry-sharing in various forms. History Before March 7, 2009, the domain name Poetry.com was owned by New Catalyst Fund (NCF). The site was previously run by a Maryland-based company ...

from

Cendant Corporation Cendant Corporation was an American provider of business and consumer services, primarily within the real estate and travel industries. In 2005 and 2006, it broke up and spun off or sold its constituent businesses. Although it was based in New Yo ...

. The company grew to over 2,000,000 paying members and they held conventions 3 times per year, each of which was attended by over 2500 poets. The company was sold in 2005 in a $9 million transaction to New Catalyst Fund. New Catalyst Fund sold the business to

Lulu.com Lulu Press, Inc., doing business under trade name Lulu, is an online print-on-demand, self-publishing, and distribution platform. By 2014, it had issued approximately two million titles. The company's founder is Red Hat co-founder Bob Young. Lu ...

on March 7, 2009. On April 14, 2011, LuLu.com announced that they would close Poetry.com on May 4, 2011. On May 11, 2011, Tilson re-purchased Poetry.com from Lulu.com for ten dollars. Poetry.com shut down again in April 2018.

Education

Tilson received his schooling from

The Park School The Park School is an independent day school in Brookline, Massachusetts, for boys and girls in Pre-Kindergarten through eighth grade. Founded in 1888 as Miss Pierce's School, it is a 34-acre campus in Brookline, Massachusetts near Jamaica Pond. ...

in Brooklandville, Maryland in 1981 and graduated from

in 1985 with a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

Personal life

Tilson moved with his family to Park City, Utah in June 2005. He has been married to his wife Suzanne since 1990. They have three children, Kyle (born 1994) and Brooke and Grant (born 1997).

References

External links

Psychedelic Art Exchange
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tilson, Scott 21st-century American businesspeople 1963 births Living people