James Louderback (born 1961) is the

CEO 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 ...

of VidCon, and was previously the

of Revision3. He has had numerous jobs in media companies involved in

technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, science, ...

, most notably with

TechTV TechTV is a defunct 24-hour cable and satellite channel based in San Francisco featuring news and shows about computers, technology, and the Internet. In 2004, it merged with the G4 gaming channel which ultimately dissolved TechTV programming. ...

and

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

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 ...

''. He is also well known as the television host of TechTV's '' Fresh Gear'' for three years from 1998 to 2000.

Early life

Louderback graduated from Northfield Mount Hermon School, then attended the

University of Vermont The University of Vermont (UVM), officially the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont. It was founded in 1791 and is amon ...

Burlington, Vermont Burlington is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the seat of Chittenden County. It is located south of the Canada–United States border and south of Montreal. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population was 44,743. It ...

from 1979 to 1983. He graduated

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

in 1983 with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

Mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

and a minor in

Communications Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inquir ...

. Upon graduating from the University of Vermont, Louderback went on to New York University Stern School of Business located in

New York, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Uni ...

. He graduated

Beta Gamma Sigma Beta Gamma Sigma () is the International Business Honor Society. Founded in 1913 at the University of Wisconsin, University of Illinois and the University of California, it has over 980,000 members, selected from more than 600 collegiate chapters ...

in 1986 receiving a

M.B.A. A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

with a concentration in Computer Applications and Information Systems.

Career

Louderback started out working for Fortune 100 companies in the 1980s building computer systems and LAN-based client-server systems. In 1991, Louderback was hired as the Executive Lab Director of ''

PC Week ''eWeek'' (''Enterprise Newsweekly'', stylized as ''eWEEK''), formerly PCWeek, is a technology and business magazine. Previously owned by QuinStreet; Nashville, Tennessee marketing company TechnologyAdvice acquired eWeek in 2020. The print edi ...

'' magazine. In his time with the publication, Louderback refined the product reviews into essential news stories. For his work, he was awarded "Best Journalist" in 1993 by the SPA. Louderback's next position was as the Editor-in-Chief of ''

Windows Sources ''Windows Sources'' was a magazine by ZDNet. It focused on product reviews rather than 'how to,' and it lasted from 1993 – c. 2001. In 1997 Ziff-Davis Inc. appointed Frank Quigley as the publisher of the magazine. The magazine was late ...

'' from 1995 to 1996 in New York. In 1996, Louderback headed back to Boston to become the Vice President and Editorial Director at ''PC Week''. In 1997, Louderback headed out to

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

to be Vice President and Editorial Director of ZDTV (later

), the first 24-hour technology television channel. He was in charge of the program content for the channel. He also appeared in numerous segments on the network, and hosted the '' Fresh Gear'' show for three years. In 1999, he developed the "Best of CES" awards program for the CES trade show. This program judges new products on the trade show floor and still continues to this day. Louderback developed a daily 8-hour live TechTV news program called ''

TechLive ''TechLive'' (formerly known as ''ZDTV News'' and ''TechTV News'') was an American live television program that aired from 1998 to 2004 on TechTV, a former television channel that specialized in technology Technology is the application of ...

'' in 2000. The show supplied viewers with a steady stream of market news, technology reporting, product information, and CEO interviews. Louderback became Editor-In-Chief for

Ziff Davis Media 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, a ...

's internet properties in 2002, he managed PCMag.com, eWeek and Microsoft Watch. He was promoted to Senior Vice President and Editor in Chief of PC Magazine in the fall of 2005 where he managed '' DL.TV'', ''

Cranky Geeks Cranky may refer to: * Irritability * Cranky Kong, a character from the ''Donkey Kong'' video game series * Cranky the Crane, a character from the children's television series ''Thomas & Friends'' * Cranky Doodle Donkey, a character in the Canad ...

'', and ExtremeTech, TechnoRide, GearLog, and Smart Company. He also did a weekly podcast along with Patrick Norton called ''What's New Now'' as well as a video podcast called ''DL.TV''. In 2007, he wrote "The iPhone is deeply flawed. Apple will sell lots at first and then sales will plummet." On July 10, 2007, Louderback became

of Revision3. After 7 years, Louderback resigned to focus efforts on a book about being a first time CEO. On August 29, 2017, Louderback was named as CEO of VidCon, replacing VidCon co-founder

Hank Green William Henry Green II (born May 5, 1980) is an American vlogger, science communicator, entrepreneur, author, internet producer, and musician. He is known for producing the YouTube channel Vlogbrothers with his older brother, author John Green ...

. Louderback had served as editorial director of VidCon's industry programming track for the last three years.

Books

Louderback is the author of the book ''TechTV

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

(R)

Windows XP Windows XP is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It was released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001, and later to retail on October 25, 2001. It is a direct upgrade to its predecessors, Windows 2000 for high-end and ...

for Home Users''.

Contributor

Since early 2011, Louderback has been one of the featured " CoolHotNot Tech Xperts," along with

John C. Dvorak John C. Dvorak (; born 1952) is an American columnist and broadcaster in the areas of technology and computing. His writing extends back to the 1980s, when he was a regular columnist in a variety of magazines. He was vice president of Mevio ...

Chris Pirillo Chris Pirillo is an American entrepreneur and former television personality. He is the founder and former CEO of LockerGnome, Inc., a now-defunct network of blogs, web forums, mailing lists, and online communities which are now closed. He is b ...

, Dave Graveline, Robin Raskin, Dave Whittle, Steve Bass, and Cheryl Currid. At CoolHotNot's web site, Dvorak and rest of the Tech Xperts used to share their "Loved List" of favorite consumer electronics, their "Wanted List" of tech products they would like to try, and their "Letdown List" of tech products they found disappointing.

References

External links