Ethan Assal
Managing Partner
CYwP Fund
Ethan Assal is managing partner of CYPF Manager, LLC, CYPF Manager III, LLC, CYPF Manager IV, LLC, CYPF Manager V, LLC, CYPF Manager VI, LLC and CYPF Manager VII, LLC, each of which manages its related CYwP Fund.
Before establishing CYWP Fund, Assal founded and served as Chairman and CEO of Multi-Media Holdings, Inc. (MHI). In 2000, the Washington Business Journal ranked MHI as the largest advertising firm in Washington, DC. At MHI, Assal grew capitalized billings to $400 million and managed a staff of 600 employees in offices across five states. He negotiated more than $50 million in a combination of mezzanine and equity financing and oversaw a mergers and acquisitions program that successfully purchased and integrated more than 20 competitors’ firms. Prior to MHI, Assal founded Personalities, Inc. while still in college. Assal directed all licensing, marketing, product development and manufacturing. Under his leadership, the company grew to be the largest manufacturer and distributor of non-apparel licensed rock n’ roll merchandise. In the 1980s, Personalities, Inc. shipped more than one million buttons and key chains per month to major retailers for bands including The Police, Duran Duran, AC/DC, Grateful Dead and The Rolling Stones. Assal sold the business in 1986 at the age of 25.
A graduate of Brandeis University and the Harvard Business School OPM Program, Assal is an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award winner and served as a judge for the prestigious award for several years. He also is a recipient of the Washington Business Journal’s “Forty under Forty” award and the Mass Mutual Blue-Chip Award. Assal is an active member of the Washington-Baltimore World Presidents’ Organization.