Sinan Kanatsiz

Sinan Kanatsiz (born 1974) is an internet marketer and serial entrepreneur of Turkish descent. He is most well known for founding KCOMM, a public relations and Internet marketing agency based in California. The company is one of the most recognized in its field, and Kanatsiz has been called upon to offer his expertise at numerous industry events. (TN) Kanatsiz likewise has a strong commitment to philanthropy and civil service. He has donated both time and money toward the betterment of his community, particularly the young people of his community.

Education
Kanatsiz attended Chapman University in Orange, California. He received the BA in Communications, followed by a dual Master's degree in Human Resources and Organizational Leadership.

Career
While still a student, Kanatsiz began work on a company that would later become KCOMM. He founded a public relations firm, Kanatsiz & Associates. At first, he performed free work on behalf of the Chapman University dean; this work helped him establish a strong foothold in the local business community. The company morphed into KCOMM, as Kanatsiz saw the potential of the Internet to be a driving force in the future of marketing and PR. He accurately predicted that direct mail campaigns via e-mail was the tip of the iceberg in terms of the Internet's potential as a marketing vehicle. The company now provides a variety of services for clients, including web development, public speaking and ad campaign management.

Today, KCOMM has more longstanding relationships with more than 1,000 clients. The company has opened centers in Dallas, New York, Canada, Dubai, Argentina and India. Major clients of KCOMM include Sony, Toshiba, Caltech, IBM, Kingston Technology, NEC, Orange County Transit Authority, T-Mobile and University of Phoenix.

Kanatsiz followed up his success with KCOMM by founding Newsblaster.com, a news distribution company that targeted small and medium-sized businesses.

In 2004, Kanatsiz launched Generation NeXt, a social activist group of entrepreneurs and community leaders. He also founded a nonprofit entity called SoCalLeaders.com. With the help of SoCalLeaders, he organized the Young Entrepreneur's Summit, a first-of-its-kind event in Southern California.

Kanatsiz is the founder of the Internet Marketing Association, a trade association for Internet marketing professionals. Membership is free, and corporate sponsorship funds all events. Past corporate attendees of IMA events include Quest Software, Yahoo, Facebook, Microsoft and Google. Internationally, there are more than 750,000 members of the Internet Marketing Association. The United States Patent and Trademark Office issued the trademark to Kanatsiz in 2009.

Kanatsiz is a board member for Boys Town of Southern California. He regularly meets with local schoolchildren to discuss the possibilities and rewards of entrepreneurship. He also serves on the board of directors for SAFE BIDCO. In this role, he assists with creating investment opportunities for California based start-ups.

Awards and Recognition
Chapman University named Kanatsiz the Young Alumnus of the Year in 2000. He received the Hall of Fame Award from Santa Ana College in 2005. At age 30, he was the youngest-ever recipient of the award. That same year, Kanatsiz was chosen as the California Community College Alumnus of the Year, selected from a pool of over 600,000 state-wide alumni.

KCOMM has twice won the PROTOS Award from the Orange County chapter of the Public Relations Society of America.