THE EXECUTIVE TEAM
MATT COHN
Chief Executive Officer
Matt came to Thrill One in June 2023 from Endeavor, the global sports and entertainment company, and home to many of the world’s most dynamic and engaging storytellers, brands, live events, and experiences. During his decade-long tenure at Endeavor, Matt was responsible for leveraging the organization’s vast ecosystem and comprehensive network of talent, brands, partners and owned assets. He oversaw the 2016 integration of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and drove continued growth across content, digital and direct-to-consumer, international, consumer products, and partnerships. Matt also developed and executed strategies and partnerships for other leading global sports and motorsports properties including William Morris Endeavor (WME), IMG, Professional Bull Riders, Inc. (PBR), IMG Academy, Formula Drift, and more, helping to drive business and brand growth.
A native of New Jersey, Matt holds a Bachelor of Sciences from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.
TRAVIS PASTRANA
Founder
Travis Pastrana is an iconic athlete, magnetic personality and driven innovator committed to the progression of action sports. To date, he has won 17 X Games medals (11 of them gold), six National Rally championships, numerous Supercross podiums, as well as a prestigious Motocross of Nations title – seen as the Olympics of motocross. His groundbreaking 2006 FMX double backflip remains a towering moment in action sports history, while in 2018 Travis celebrated his hero, Evel Knievel, by recreating three of the American legend’s most famous moments – including his epic Caesars Palace fountain jump – all on live television. As ringleader of Nitro Circus, a global action sports authority known for pushing the limits with huge stunts and seminal new tricks, Travis strives to break new ground. In 2018, fueled by that inspiration, he created Nitrocross to elevate four-wheel motorsport, boosting racing excitement for drivers and fans alike.
![20211119-RDMachine12353[2]_edited.jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/541236_aa4957aca4354360bf1dc8919b5a556c~mv2.jpg/v1/crop/x_15,y_48,w_467,h_467/fill/w_216,h_216,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/20211119-RDMachine12353%5B2%5D_edited.jpg)
ROB DYRDEK
Founder
Rob Dyrdek is a serial entrepreneur, media magnate, and founder and CEO of Dyrdek Machine. Rob became a professional skateboarder at the age of 16, started his first company at 18, and over the course of a 25-year career, became one of the sport’s most prominent ambassadors. He has founded eighteen brands of his own—including Street League Skateboarding, the world’s first true professional skateboarding league. Rob also remains one of the most prolific personalities in TV history. His current show, MTV’s Ridiculousness, produced by Dyrdek and Thrill One’s Superjacket Productions is now in its 31st season.
LIA FRAZIER
Chief Financial Officer
Lia Frazier is the Chief Financial Officer at Thrill One Sports & Entertainment and is responsible for all of the company’s financial functions including accounting, audit, corporate finance and treasury.
Prior to joining Thrill One, Lia was SVP of Finance and Administration at NextVR, Inc., and she played a key role in effectuating the acquisition of NextVR by Apple in May 2020. Before that, she served as VP - Global Corporate Controller at Viant Technology, a now publicly traded digital media company. Lia spent the first four years of her career as an auditor at KPMG.
SARAH CASTANEDA
EVP, Events
Sarah Castaneda is the Executive Vice President of Events for Thrill One. Sarah has over 18 years of experience in event development and execution of the largest and most prestigious events in action sports. She has held a leadership role with large, world-class events and special content-driven projects within the action sports disciplines of Skateboarding, BMX, Snowboarding, Freeskiing, Freestyle Moto, RallyCross and Scootering.
Sarah’s expertise lies in the specific areas of competition management and overall athlete experience; including selection, invites, athlete activation, competition format, scheduling, rules, run-of-show formats, and live televised competition coordination/management.
CHIP PANKOW
General Manager, Nitrocross
Chip is the General Manager of Nitrocross, working closely with Travis Pastrana to bring a new vision of motorsports to the world stage. Chip has a long history in the automotive and motorsports industry. Having worked closely with world class drivers that went on to careers in Formula 1, Indycar and other major motorsports.
Prior to co-founding the sport of rallycross in the USA, Chip headed up major projects with Audi, BMW and DaimlerChrysler working with their motorsports and experiential marketing teams.
Chip most recently served as the head of EV manufacturer Arrival in the USA and led Roborace, the world’s first autonomous racing championship that featured driverless cars capable of 200mph.
With an eye for the next thing in motorsports, Chip has found his home at Nitrocross where revolutionizing motorsport is job one.
​
NICOLE LESANI
General Counsel
Nicole Lesani is the General Counsel at Thrill One and oversees the legal and compliance functions across the enterprise. She brings extensive experience in complex commercial transactions, strategic risk management, and corporate governance. Prior to joining Thrill One, Nicole was Vice President & Senior Associate General Counsel at Las Vegas Sands Corp. where she was responsible for litigation, intellectual property, cyber security, information governance and was the company’s Data Privacy Officer. She began her career as a litigator in private practice.
​
Nicole earned her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the William S. Boyd School of Law at University of Nevada-Las Vegas and her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Missouri.
BRETT CLARKE
Chief Revenue Officer
Brett Clarke is the Chief Revenue Officer and has an extensive background in the sports and entertainment industry after serving 9 years in Australia’s National Rugby League as the General Manager of Wests Tigers, one of the country’s largest sporting franchises.Brett was inducted into the Ivy League’s inaugural 10 NEXT Class of 2011 for global sports leaders 30 or under and was also inducted into the Leaders Under 40 Class of 2016 at the Leaders Sports Business awards event in London.Currently driving the commercial elements of the business, Brett is overseeing the rapid growth of sponsorship, as well as heading up the global licensing, consumer products and media distribution departments of the business as well as the establishment of the Nitrocross brand.
MATT CABRAL
Chief Operations Officer
Matt Cabral currently serves as COO of Superjacket, where he is responsible for business development, company acquisitions and long-range planning, with a concentrated focus on finding new and creative ways to continue building on Superjacket’s current growth and success. Matt is also responsible for operational excellence across the company, and has created a solid corporate structure within the organization.
Prior to his employment with Superjacket, Cabral was SVP, Production at Lizard Trading Company (Emmy-nominated Whale Wars) where he oversaw all production operations and business development for the company, including new series development and production planning.
​
Previous to that, Cabral was Executive in Charge of Production at 10 x 10 Entertainment, overseeing all areas of production on a wide-range of reality programming including Pussycat Dolls, White Rapper, The Shot, Stylista and 24/7. With over 13 years of television experience, Cabral has worked on a broad-range of alternative and unscripted series across networks ranging from ABC to Showtime to Travel Channel and more. He has built off his years of experience in the industry to hone his focus on building businesses and finding creative ways to ensure long-term growth.
JEN O'CONNOR
SVP, Content
Jen has been a part of Superjacket since it’s origin in 2013, and a producer on every project that Superjacket has ever produced or where Dyrdek has appeared on camera as talent.
As SVP of Content, Jen is point for all current Superjacket programming across digital, linear, broadcast, and streaming projects, as well as consulting on SJ development projects.
Prior to joining Superjacket, Jen was a free-lance producer where she produced series for Viacom, Discovery, YouTube, TLC, Lifetime, Conde Nast, and History Channels.
![_MG_0914[70]_edited_edited.png](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/541236_10014c5c7daa44d398425972b303c940~mv2.png/v1/crop/x_102,y_0,w_838,h_842/fill/w_216,h_217,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/_MG_0914%5B70%5D_edited_edited.png)
RICKY MELNIK
SVP & GM, Nitro Circus
Ricky Melnik is the General Manger for sports entertainment leader Nitro Circus. Melnik has a long history in action sports, starting at a very young age when he competed as an aspiring snowboard athlete. As he traveled to events across the country, Melnik began building an extensive network of relationships within the sports community and became increasingly drawn to the creative energy of the business.
In 1996, Melnik’s passion for action sports grew into a career which has now spanned over two decades. He since has gone on to work for numerous top brands including DC Shoe Company, World Industries, Forum Snowboards, Von Zipper Eyewear and DVS Shoe Company where he was the Global Marketing Director. Most recently Melnik served as the Athlete and Brand Manager for Nitro Circus, where he traveled, managed, and co-produced over 200 live shows in stadiums and arenas across the globe over the past 8 years.
With his history of successful leadership in all aspects of brand and athlete marketing, Melnik has developed an acute insight into market demand, and can tap into his creativity, innovation and resourcefulness to discover untapped markets and open new revenue channels.
MATT RODRIGUEZ
General Manager, SLS
Matt Rodriguez is the General Manager of Street League Skateboarding (SLS), bringing over 25 years of experience in the skateboarding industry. Since the league's inception, he has played a pivotal role in its global growth and progression, leveraging his deep skateboarding expertise across content, live competition, and brand strategy. Under his leadership, the league’s international expansion has set the precedent for competitive street skateboarding worldwide and continues to ensure the highest quality standards are consistently met for the world’s best street skateboarders, while also enhancing community engagement and support for skateboarding at the local level.
Before joining SLS, Matt has worked with prominent brands such as Vans, Adidas, Converse, Monster Children, & The Berrics, driving innovative projects that have left a lasting impact on the industry.