Michael Zimbalist is a 30-year veteran of the digital media and marketing industries. Since 2018 he has served as Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer for the Philadelphia Inquirer, where he is leading the transformation of that 190-year-old newspaper into a modern, digitally centric, media company. Prior to the Inquirer, Michael spent 10 years at the New York Times where he founded and led their award-winning Research & Development Lab, and served as Senior Vice President, Advertising Products. In 2001, after the first dot-com bubble burst, Michael co-founded and was President of the Online Publishers Association, a trade group of digital content providers that rebranded, in 2014, as Digital Content Next. Michael began his career on the creative side of the business, as a concept designer and show writer for Walt Disney Imagineering. From there, he became creative director of the ABC television multimedia group, where he was part of the original team that launched abc.com, and abcnews.com. Michael has three children, and lives in Montclair, New Jersey, with his wife, Melissa Engel, a cat, and a dog.