Organizers of TEDxBroadway: 

Damian Bazadona is the founder and president of Situation — a digital agency that is best known for helping brands build passionate communities through digital-first marketing strategies.

Over the years, Damian has worked with some of the world’s leading brands including Stoli Vodka, The Metropolitan Opera, HBO, Major League Soccer, National Geographic, and The Ad Council. His agency has also been honored with numerous workplace awards from Crain’s, Best Companies Group, Cynopsis, Digiday, and Fortune. Damian himself was honored by Cynopsis with the Social Good Leader of the Year and HR Visionary of the Year awards.

Outside of Situation, Damian acts as a speaker and thought leader, and has organized one of the longest-running TEDx events—TEDxBroadway. He also passionately invests in arts education and community involvement—he founded the 501(c)(3) corporation Situation Project, the Situation Cares/Ian Bennett Memorial scholarship, and the Situation Interactive Prize for Experience Research at SUNY Albany. His 501(c)(3), Situation Project, was even invited to participate in the White House’s inaugural SouthxSouthLawn in 2016.

Damian believes that the power of the human spirit is remarkable, and he brings that conviction into his company and to his clients.

Jim McCarthy is currently the CEO and Co-Founder of Stellar. 

For nearly 20 years, Jim served as CEO of Goldstar, revered as an essential marketing tool for 5,000 live entertainment organizers looking to find new audiences, increase revenue and sell out shows.   

When the COVID-19 crisis shut down the live entertainment industry in March 2020, Jim led the charge to develop Stellar, the first-ever Total Show Management System (TSM) to help producers create and sell high quality livestreaming events. In October 2020, Stellar officially launched. In January of 2022, Goldstar was acquired and Stellar became its own company.

An e-commerce veteran, Jim has spent his entire career in high-growth businesses and freely shares his knowledge and insight with others. He's the curator and co-founder of TEDxBroadway, the sold-out annual event dedicated to the question: What's the Best Broadway Can Be? He's spoken at conferences all over the world, including TED, SXSW, INTIX and more. He's the organizer of the Pasadena Entrepreneurs' MasterMind Meetup. His articles have been in Forbes, Fast Company and Business Insider. About Jim, Bob Lefsetz has said, "Jim McCarthy is smart, he'd win in any world, not only via his brain, but his hard work and dedication."

Jim is a very active member on the Board of Directors of the Pasadena Playhouse. He studied English at Harvard University and received an MBA at UCLA Anderson School of Management. Jim has a black belt in Northern Eagle Claw Kung Fu. And, he hosts a very popular podcast dedicated to his pursuit of great whiskey.

TEDxBroadway Team:
Patch Canada
Steven Tartick
Lisa Cecchini
Ken Davenport (originating co-founder)
Maria Martinez
Eileen Minnick
Stephanie Connors
Jordan Person

TEDxBroadway Young Professionals Team Leaders:
Zachary Baer
Jillian Robbins

About TED
TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with two annual conferences — the TED Conference in Long Beach and Palm Springs each spring, and the TEDGlobal conference in Edinburgh UK each summer — TED includes the award-winning TEDTalks video site, the Open Translation Project and TED Conversations, the inspiring TED Fellows and TEDx programs, and the annual TED Prize.

About TEDx
TEDx was created in the spirit of TED’s mission, “ideas worth spreading.” The program is designed to give communities, organizations and individuals the opportunity to stimulate dialogue through TED-like experiences at the local level.

TEDxBROADWAY LEADERSHIP BOARD