DecisionDesk
DecisionDesk™ is a service company headquartered in Lakewood, Ohio and Brooklyn, New York that utilizes a Software-as-a-Service video application platform which allows organizations to accept and review video as part of their recruitment, admissions, and HR process. It enables clients to process high volumes of applications with video by automating their submission and review workflow.
History
DecisionDesk™ was created in 2008 by a group of college students, and started out as an idea for a social networking site designed specifically for aspiring musicians called CitizenGroove™. The founders of CitizenGroove Inc., John Knific, Marc Plotkin and Eric Neuman, had originally intended to create a site that allowed professional musicians to network with one another, as well as share portfolios and audition recordings with potential performance opportunities.
The team worked out of their respective apartments while attending Case Western Reserve University. The Cleveland Institute of Music signed on as a beta tester and the website officially launched in 2009.
One year later, the group returned to their original beta testers and learned that there was a major need for a more efficient application evaluation tool in their recruitment departments. In March 2010, Knific, Plotkin, and Neuman pivoted the company and in three months had created a new digital tool which gave music schools the ability to process and screen auditions through their own application websites.
The new program launched in August 2010 and was first licensed to the Cleveland Institute of Music and Oberlin College Conservatory of Music. Using the new tool, candidates were able to upload and label their own auditions for administrators to access and review, eliminating the need for equipment, physical storage, and reducing the amount of personnel required for processing. The company onboarded 10 additional universities to pilot the new platform after successfully landing accounts with Cleveland Institute of Music and Oberlin.
On December 2, 2011, CitizenGroove™ launched its second-generation platform called DecisionDesk™. The company re-branded entirely under the DecisionDesk™ name in March 2012.
Executive Management and Board of Directors
- CEO, Co-Founder, Board Member - John Knific
- CTO, Co-Founder – Eric Neuman
- VP Business Development, Co-Founder - Marc Plotkin
- Board Member, Todd Federman (North Coast Angel Fund)
- Board Member, Theodore Frank (SparkBase)
- Board Member, Carl Baldassarre (PNC Erie View Capital)
Awards And Recognition
- 2009 – LaunchTown Competition
- 2009 – Civic Innovation Lab Champions
- 2010 – Lorain County Community College Innovation Fund
- 2010 - Top 25 Entrepreneurs Under 25—Bloomberg Businessweek
- 2012 - 100k Intel Innovators Award Nominee
Current Clients
DecisionDesk currently supports over 70 organizations including (but not limited to):
- Oberlin Conservatory of Music
- Cleveland Institute of Music
- San Francisco Conservatory of Music
- CUNY Hunter College - Music
- New England Conservatory
- IInterlochen Center for the Arts
- Ithaca College
- Texas Christian University
- Valparaiso University - Music
- American String Teachers Association (ASTA))
- Case Western Reserve University
- Arizona State University
- College of Wooster - Ohio Light Opera
- Los Angeles Music Academy
- International Society of Bassists (ISB)
- State College of Western Colorado
- Westminster College of the Arts at Rider College
- Royal Danish Academy of Music, Copenhagen
- IInstitute of International Education - Fulbright
- Credo Chamber Music
- Philadelphia International Music Festival
- Rocky Ridge Music Center
- Up North Vocal Institute
- Eastman International Viola Congress
- Rutgers University - Music
- University of Hawaii at Manoa - Architecture
- University of New South Wales - Music
- New York International Ballet Competition - Dance
- COSE (Council of Smaller Enterprises)
- University of Miami - Art
- Aspen Music Festival and School
- Cleveland International Piano Competition
- University of New Mexico - IFDM
- University of Texas at Austin - Film
- Me2Orchestra
- LaunchHouse
- LightHouse Ohio
- NASA
- Roosevelt University
- Northwestern University Bienen School of Music
- Johns Hopkins University - Peabody Institute - Music
- Eastman School of Music
- Carnegie Mellon School of Music
- Cornish College of the Arts
- University of the Pacific - Music
- University of Miami - Music