Kevin Mayer is Founder and Co-CEO of Candle Media, a next-generation media company and home to category-defining brands including Hello Sunshine, Moonbug Entertainment, Faraway Road Productions, Exile Content Studios, ATTN:, and Westbrook Media. Mr. Mayer is also Co-Founder and Managing Director of Smash Capital, a later-stage investment firm focused on private, high-growth consumer internet, software, and technology companies with the potential to create lasting brands.

Mr. Mayer is a former long-serving top executive at The Walt Disney Company, where he oversaw its Direct-to-Consumer businesses which included streaming platforms Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu. Mr. Mayer architected the development and successful rollout of Disney+ that today has over 150 million subscribers globally. In his capacity as Chairman, Direct-to-Consumer and International, he also led global advertising, content sales, channel sales, as well as studio distribution and marketing internationally, managing over 25,000 employees around the world and over 60% of Disney revenues. Prior to that role, Mr. Mayer served as Chief Strategy Officer for Disney, where he was responsible for positioning Disney for the impact of advancing technology and evolving consumer behavior. This work led to the most strategic transactions in media history, as Mr. Mayer oversaw and executed the acquisitions of Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, BAMTech, and 21st Century Fox. 

After Disney, Mr. Mayer served as CEO of TikTok and COO of its parent company, ByteDance, driving one of the greatest disruptions in social media history and helping to steer one of the world’s largest social entertainment platforms with over 1 billion users.  

Mr. Mayer is an advisory board member at Salesforce. He is on the board of Tinuiti, a private performance marketing agency, as well as Beachbody, a leading online/connected fitness company.

Mr. Mayer holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from MIT, MS in Electrical Engineering from San Diego State University, and MBA from Harvard University.