Since founding paidContent.org in 2002, Ali has overseen the rollout to three new verticals and the expansion into revenue generating events for the parent company ContentNext Media.

Before ContentNext, Rafat was managing editor of the Silicon Alley Reporter. Editor & Publisher has called Rafat “journalism’s poster boy for career independence from news companies,” and CBS MarketWatch has called him “a pioneer in using the Web for an almost real-time business news feed.”

In July 2008, Rafat sold ContentNext Media to UK-based Guardian News & Media. Rafat and his executive team continue to run the company as a stand-alone business.

Rafat was the Knight Foundation Fellow at Indiana University, his alma mater, where he completed his Masters in Journalism, 1999-2000.