Company
John Knific
Chief Executive Officer 
John Knific is a seasoned entrepreneur and jazz pianist. He has extensive domain
knowledge of the music education space. Originally starting CitizenGroove in his
dorm, John has since led the CitizenGroove team to be featured among the top 25
young entrepreneurs in the US by Bloomberg Businessweek and grown the company be
the leading provider of online audition services to universities. John is passionate
about growing the young entrepreneur culture in Northeast Ohio. He is a regular guest
lecturer at Case Western Reserve University, Kent State, Baldwin-Wallace College,
Oberlin College, and more. Having graduated with a degree in Pre-Med Biology, John
turned down an acceptance to Case Western Reserve University's Medical School to grow
CitizenGroove. He is grateful for the support of the region, his investors, and his colleagues.
Marc Plotkin
VP Business Development
Marc is an accomplished musician, producer, and entrepreneur. Constantly
tinkering with a number of projects, he has experience working on everything
from Grammy-nominated recording projects, to composing for commercials, to
creating innovative internet solutions for the challenges facing the
modern-day music community. While finishing his studies at Case
Western/The Cleveland Institute of Music, Marc co-founded CitizenGroove.
To date he has personally facilitated successful working relationships with
upwards of forty institutional clients for the company. Marc lives and works
in New York City, managing the CitizenGroove sales team as well as continuing
his music career.
Eric Neuman
Chief Technology Officer
Eric is an experienced web developer who has lived and worked on both coasts and the
midwest. He has worked with NASA (Mountain View, CA) on two separate occasions as
both a developer for autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles and as a software engineer
for mission control. He is fluent in a wide range of technologies including Python,
JavaScript, AWS, ActionScript, .Net, XNA, Java/Android, HTML, XML, CSS, JSON, MYSQL,
postgres, and more. In addition to being a programming Swiss Army Knife, Eric is a
talented visual artist who has shown in galleries around his home in New York City.
Christine Vienna Knific
Director of Accounts
As Director of Accounts, Christine Vienna Knific facilitates the CitizenGroove
applicant support platform and manages all customizations for our clients. In short,
she is CitizenGroove's First Line of Defense. Christine is a talented vocalist who
has performed internationally with renowned vocal jazz artists, including a year with
Toxic Audio in Las Vegas. She is also pursuing a masters in Speech Pathology in
addition to her work with CitizenGroove.
Nick Svoboda
Account Manager
Nick Svoboda comes to CitizenGroove with a strong background in audio engineering.
He completed his bachelors degree through a joint program with Case Western Reserve
University and the Cleveland Institute of Music, and worked as an audio technician for
the conservatory since 2009. A talented percussionist, Nick has performed internationally
with a recent 6 week tour in Australia. Nick works directly with our Director of Accounts
to facilitate client relations, platform customizations, and top notch applicant support.
