# Tom Gerace

> Tom Gerace is the founder and former CEO of Skyword and coauthor, with Robert McKee, of Storynomics. His earlier ventures include affiliate marketing company Be Free and social network Gather. His public work connects digital marketing, audience development, content production and the economics of storytelling.

- **Role:** Founder and board director at Skyword
- **Organizations:** Skyword, Be Free, Gather.com, National Leisure Group, Harvard Business School, Social Media Advertising Consortium
- **Education:** Bachelor of Arts in Social Studies, magna cum laude, Harvard University
- **Known for:** Cofounded Be Free, which became a publicly traded affiliate marketing business., Founded Gather.com and Skyword., Awarded US patents 5,848,396 and 5,991,735 concerning user profiling and advertising targeting.

## Career timeline

- **1993** — Graduated from Harvard; subsequently worked as a senior business analyst at Harvard Business School.
- **1996** — Started Be Free with his brother Sam, according to a 2000 Boston Fed account.
- **1999** — Be Free went public in November.
- **2002** — ValueClick acquired Be Free.
- **2005** — Founded Gather.com.
- **2010** — Founded Skyword.
- **2015** — Delivered the opening keynote at Skyword’s Content Rising Summit.
- **2016** — Announced a Storynomics teaching partnership with Robert McKee.
- **2018** — Storynomics published March 20; Skyword merged with TrackMaven on October 23, with Gerace leading the combined company.
- **2019** — Shared the Forward conference opening keynote with Allen Gannett.
- **2020** — Andrew Wheeler was identified as Skyword’s new CEO in a November company article.

## Achievements

- Cofounded Be Free, which became a publicly traded affiliate marketing business.
- Founded Gather.com and Skyword.
- Awarded US patents 5,848,396 and 5,991,735 concerning user profiling and advertising targeting.
- Coauthored Storynomics: Story-Driven Marketing in the Post-Advertising World with Robert McKee.
- Led Skyword during its 2018 merger with TrackMaven.

## Latest updates

- **2026-10** — Skyword’s current company page lists Gerace as founder within its board of directors; Andrew Wheeler is listed as CEO. This is the verification month, not a newly announced appointment.

## Links

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomgerace/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/tomgerace

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/tom-gerace
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-21