Interview By April Drew, February 11, 2009

What are your Irish roots?
“I was born and raised in the Bronx in 1971. My father, Patrick J. Sullivan, comes from Castletownbere, Co. Cork and my mother, Kathleen Angela Donagher comes from Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal. I have two brothers and one sister.”

Tell us about yourself.
“I’m happily married now for almost two years to a wonderful woman, Chastity Martinez-Sullivan. Chastity was born and raised in New York and she comes from Dominican and Puerto Rican descent. We’ve been together for almost eight years and we spend quite a bit of time together and travel as much as possible when on business. Chastity is very supportive of what I do and we compliment each other with our backgrounds. I’m a pretty career-minded individual and enjoy what I do at work very much.”

What do you do?
“I’m currently president and CEO of RightsFlow (www.rightsflow.com), a company I founded in October 2007 which works in the music and entertainment space. The company is a fast growing company that deals with intellectual property and copyright management globally. I’ve been fortunate to be involved in digital music and rights negotiations for the last 15 years plus. My experiences have varied over the last 10 years, from working on industry negotiations, legislative issues and litigation, including working on two Supreme Court cases.”

Who does your company work with?
“New York-based RightsFlow works with music and entertainment companies from all over the world with licensing and royalty services, as well as helping companies with professional services such as strategy, rights negotiations and business development. RightsFlow services over 1,000 companies, and some of the many clients we service include companies such as EMI Music, Muzak, Active International, Artpages, CD Baby, Mint Records, Limewire, IODA, Pandigital, TV Land and TouchTunes among others.”

Have you ever been to Ireland?
“I lived in Ireland with my family for two years in the early seventies, and I’ve been back several times since to both Cork and Donegal. I love the people and the country. Quite a few of my relatives live there as well as in New York, and I’ve learned quite a bit from all of them while growing up. My father has a nice piece of land in Cork, and I plan to travel with him again to go fishing.”

What do you do in your spare time?
“In my spare time I teach at Hunter College in NYC. I’ve guest lectured quite frequently at colleges, universities and at music related conferences in the U.S. and around the world. I actively work out at the gym as much as possible, ride my bike and try to keep up with a very hectic travel schedule. I love spending time with my nephew and nieces.”