Ben R. Neumann (born Bernd Neumann; May 27, 1966 in

Krefeld Krefeld ( , ; li, Krieëvel ), also spelled Crefeld until 1925 (though the spelling was still being used in British papers throughout the Second World War), is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, i ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

) was an American

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...

investor An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital most of the time the investor purchases some species of property. Type ...

, film producer and

mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incorpo ...

, best known for founding early

Internet hosting service An Internet hosting service is a service that runs servers connected to the Internet, allowing organizations and individuals to serve content or host services connected to the Internet. A common kind of hosting is web hosting. Most hosting provi ...

Internet Communication Icom.com, and his subsequent investments into companies such as iBoost.com
Globat.com
and his work in the motion picture industry. Some of Ben's more recent ventures were the

content delivery network A content delivery network, or content distribution network (CDN), is a geographically distributed network of proxy servers and their data centers. The goal is to provide high availability and performance by distributing the service spatially rel ...

NetDNA StackPath is an American edge computing platform provider headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Its founding team was led by Lance Crosby, who also co-founded SoftLayer Technologies, acquired by IBM in 2013. Acquisitions * MaxCDN ( CDN), 2016 * Sta ...

MaxCDN StackPath is an American edge computing platform provider headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Its founding team was led by Lance Crosby, who also co-founded SoftLayer Technologies, acquired by IBM in 2013. Acquisitions * MaxCDN ( CDN), 2016 * Sta ...

and HDDN, which he co-founded together with business partner and protégé Chris Ueland in October 2009. In 2011, through his consulting firm Innovative Currency, Ben ventured outside the technology field and created his unique coaching programs InspireMoreHeroes and MillionairesMentor. He helped others with his innovative way of marketing and creating leads. Neumann, a former bodyguard, and avid martial artist since second grade, who grew up in Krefeld, Germany in a working-class family, immigrated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

from

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

in 1994. While working on his martial arts career and after winning several mixed martial arts tournaments, he successfully built and sold his first U.S.-based technology company Icom.com at the pinnacle of the

Dot-com bubble The dot-com bubble (dot-com boom, tech bubble, or the Internet bubble) was a stock market bubble in the late 1990s, a period of massive growth in the use and adoption of the Internet. Between 1995 and its peak in March 2000, the Nasdaq Compo ...

in 1998, a move that made him one of the original Internet pioneers. He subsequently began investing into other technology and real estate companies and became involved with film making in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

in early 2004, when he was approached by an independent filmmaker. The result of this partnership was '' Dark World'', starring

Michael Pare Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian and ...

and

Theresa Russell Theresa Lynn Russell ( Paup; born March 20, 1957) is an American actress whose career spans over four decades. Her filmography includes over fifty feature films, ranging from mainstream to independent and experimental films. Born in San Diego, ...

. Neumann also produced or was involved with other notable films and TV shows, such as ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...

'', ''

The Apprentice ''The Apprentice'' is a reality talent game show franchise originally aired in 2004 in the United States. Created by U.S.-based British producer Mark Burnett, the show depicts contestants from around the country with various professional backg ...

'', ''

Grey's Anatomy ''Grey's Anatomy'' is an American medical drama television series that premiered on March 27, 2005, on ABC as a mid-season replacement. The series focuses on the lives of surgical interns, residents, and attendings as they develop into s ...

'', '' House M.D.'', '' Only in LA'', '' You, Me, Love'' and '' Smile of April''. He continued to invest in local niche companies and became an engaged community activist. In March 2006 Neumann was elected to the Board of th
Studio City Neighborhood Council
and was President of the Council from March 2008 until June 2010. As a successful immigrant

, Neumann has been quoted off-line and online in numerous ezines,

magazines A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combination ...

and books. For his achievements in the technology sector he was nominated for

Ernst & Young Ernst & Young Global Limited, trade name EY, is a multinational professional services partnership headquartered in London, England. EY is one of the largest professional services networks in the world. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and Pricewat ...

's Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2000 and 2003. He died in February 2020 after suffering a heart attack.

Mixed Martial Arts Record

References

External links