Jeff Ma
Jeff Ma or Jeffrey Ma was a member of the MIT Blackjack Team in the mid-1990s.[1] He graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy. He attended MIT where he graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1994. He was the basis for the main character of the book Bringing Down the House (where he was renamed Kevin Lewis) and the film 21 (where he was renamed Ben Campbell). Ma also co-founded PROTRADE (a sports stock market website, that has since been shut down)[2] and does consulting work for professional sports teams including the Portland Trail Blazers and San Francisco 49ers.[3] He cofounded Citizen Sports, a sport-information website and iPhone application based in San Francisco, which was acquired by Yahoo! in May 2010.[4]
His first book, The House Advantage: Playing the Odds to Win Big In Business, was published in July 2010 by Palgrave Macmillan. Ma is a regular speaker at corporate events and conferences where he talks about how to use data and analytics to make better business decisions.[5]
Ma makes a cameo in 21 as a blackjack dealer named Jeffery at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino.[6][7] Jim Sturgess's character, Ben Campbell, refers to Jeffrey as, "my brother from another mother."
Ma is the CEO and Founder of tenXer, a San Francisco-based startup, with the vision to "make work better and your work better". TenXer was sold to Twitter in April 2015.[8]
Ma joined ESPN in November 2014 as their Predictive Analytics Expert. Per this arrangement, he does weekly TV appearances on SportsCenter and contributes as a writer on ESPN.com.
References
- ^ "Jeff Ma, Former MIT Blackjack Whiz, Riffs on Fantasy Sports, Statgeeks, Yahoo". Wired News. September 2010. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
- ^ Justin Berton (2008-03-27). "Hollywood deals Jeff Ma a good hand with '21'". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2008-03-29.
- ^ Zack O'Malley Greenburg (2006-10-16). "Picking Winners". Forbes. Retrieved 2008-03-29.
- ^ Jason Kincaid (2010-03-17). "Yahoo Acquires Citizen Sports". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2010-03-17.
- ^ Keppler Speakers. "Jeff Ma Corporate Speaker". Retrieved 2012-10-31.
- ^ "21 (2008)". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2008-04-30.
- ^ Bowles, Scott (March 25, 2008). "New film '21' counts on the real deal for inspiration". USA Today. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
- ^ "Twitter Buys TenXer For Under $50M To Improve Its Tools For Engineers".