Tony Wells is a marketing executive whose experience in different disciplines of the marketing mix helped build his reputation as a progressive thinker and agile marketer in a quickly changing, highly competitive and increasingly digital world. Tony is currently a Venture Partner at AZ-VC, which is Arizona’s largest venture capital fund. Wells most recently was the Chief Media Officer for Verizon, one of the world’s leading providers of technology and communications services generating more than $133 billion in revenue and serving more than 120 million customers.

Prior to Verizon, Wells served as Chief Brand Officer for USAA, the 13-million-member Fortune 100 and +$35 billion revenue financial services company. He has also served as a Chief Marketing Officer across multiple industries and go-to-market strategies, including Schneider Electric, ADT Security and 24 Hour Fitness. His career also included senior marketing roles at Visa, Interpublic Group of Companies, SFX Sports and Nissan.

Having left roles as an operating executive, Wells has focused on public and private equity board service. He currently serves on three company boards with Yelp (NYSE: YELP), Nexstar (NASDAQ: NXST) and TripleLift (Vista Equity). Prior he also served on two private equity company boards in Octiv and Pattern89, both having been successfully acquired. Wells also has extensive non-profit board experience having served on the Board of the Association of National Advertisers, New York Ad Club, and as Chairman of both the USAA Foundation and the USAA Educational Foundation. Additionally, he served on the Boards of Directors of his alma mater Our Lady of Good Counsel High School and Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Wells served as an infantry officer in the United States Marine Corps and holds a BS degree from the United States Naval Academy and a Management Certificate from Johns Hopkins Carey School of Business. He and his wife Lydia are the proud parents of thre