May 7, 2019: ‘Satan & Adam’ Comes to New York; Altice Acquires Steinberg ’99’s Digital News Network

Satan & Adam, a documentary film about the collaboration between Adam Gussow ’79 *00, left, and Harlem bluesman Sterling “Satan” Magee, center, opened in New York last month. On May 5, The New York Times wrote about Gussow’s recent return to Harlem. Read more about Gussow and Magee in a PAW feature from October 2011.
 

The digital-first news network Cheddar will be acquired by cable operator Altice USA in a $200 million deal, making Cheddar founder and chief executive Jon Steinberg ’99 president of a newly created Altice News division. — The Wall Street Journal
 
On his podcast, Steve Forbes ’70 interviewed Princeton economist Burton Malkiel *64, who famously predicted that a monkey throwing darts at stock tables would beat most investment managers — and then backed it up with data, helping to catalyze the growth of index funds. — Forbes
 
A decade after launching Artsy from his Princeton dorm room, Carter Cleveland ’09 has built the site into “the largest online art marketplace globally with no visible challengers.” — Observer
 
Tom Leighton ’78’s cybersecurity company, Akamai Technologies, is backing a new “zero-trust” approach to digital security, aiming to reduce hacking liability by prompting users to prove their identity more frequently. — The Wall Street Journal
 
Greg Revelle ’00, chief marketing officer at Kohl’s, is leading a push to target millennials, a demographic that the retailer has historically struggled to reach. — CNN Business
 
The Tampa Bay Rays — who’ve put mathematician Jonathan Erlichman ’12 on the coaching staff and experimented with low-cost ways to build a winning roster — are baseball’s “most innovative team,” according to a recent feature story. — Sports Illustrated

“If we use a purely financial metric to assess the value of academic books, the scholarly mission of the academy will be lost.”

— Text from a petition circulated by Stanford professor Ge Wang *08 after the university’s provost indicated she might discontinue financial support for the Stanford University Press. The administration has since committed funds to the press for the coming fiscal year. Read more in Inside Higher Ed.

Major League Baseball Deputy Commissioner Dan Halem says former pro pitcher Chris Young ’02 has become “indispensable” in his first year as the league’s vice president of on-field operations, initiatives, and strategy. — Dallas Morning News
 
Former Aramark general counsel Stephen Reynolds ’80 has returned to the Newark, N.J., office of Gibbons, the law firm where he’d spent 16 years as a commercial and corporate litigator. — New Jersey Law Journal
 
Sophie Schmidt ’09, a former communications manager at Uber, is starting a digital publication about the effects of technology on the non-Western world. — BuzzFeed News
 
Richard Garner ’75 will retire from his post as dean of the Adelphi University Honors College after 25 years leading the program he helped found. ­— Garden City News
 
Mississippi State English professor Michael Kardos ’92 received the John Grisham Master Teacher award, one of the school’s highest faculty awards. — Mississippi State University
 
Michelle Obama ’85 celebrated College Signing Day May 1 at UCLA, praising a crowd of over 10,000 students for their choices to pursue higher education, career education, or military service after high school. — Los Angeles Times
 
In the three weeks since we recapped the Princetonians who have been selected to speak at commencement events or receive honorary degrees this spring, three more alumni have joined that list: Andy Florance ’86 (Virginia Commonwealth University), Kwanza Jones ’93 (Winston-Salem State University and Bennett College), and Eric Lander ’78 (Harvard University’s Phi Beta Kappa Literary Exercises).