Noel Biderman

Noel Biderman (born 1971) is a Canadian Internet entrepreneur, former sports agent, and business marketing and operations specialists from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Biderman has occupied roles as coroporate President, CEO, COO and International Lead for businesses that have operated in 58 different countries around the globe. Biderman is the former CEO of Avid Life Media and was the Chief Executive of parent company extramarital affair website Ashley Madison.

Growing up in Toronto, Biderman attended the York Mills Collegiate Institute in 1986, the University of California (economics) in 1989, and in 1996 graduated from York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School.

Biderman is a former lawyer and sports agent.

Noel began his career as a sports agent in 1997 at Interperformances Inc., eventually becoming director of all Canadian operations. Interperformances Inc. is one of the largest and most dynamic sports agencies in the world. Interperformances is a full-service agency specializing in the representation of professional athletes throughout the world.

In 2000 Noel began a position at Homestores Inc. (now, Move.Inc.), eventually becoming General Manager of Canadian Operations (Nasdaq: MOVE). Move, Inc, is a real estate web site, which operates real estate web sites for consumers and real estate professionals. The Move Network of websites captures more than 30 million monthly visitors.

In December 2005 began a position at Jump TV (TSX: JUMP) and was named Head of Product Development and Marketing. JumpTV Inc. is a Canadian company, the country’s largest internet television carrier.

Biderman became CEO of Avid Life Media and Ashley Madison in 2007. Ashley Madison, or more accurately The Ashley Madison Agency, was founded in 2002 by Darren Morgenstern. The company slogan is "Life is short. Have an affair."

Responding to critics, Biderman says that Ashley Madison does not promote infidelity, "We're just a platform. No website or 30-second ad is going to convince anyone to cheat. People cheat because their lives aren't working for them." He has said that he writes the commercials for his company (which have featured two attractive people in the throes of passion, and then the sign: "This couple is married...but not to each other"), which the LA Times called "hilarious." Biderman marketed Ashley Madison as having a focus on married women, instead of married men. "I was very confident that men would gravitate towards a service to conduct these otherwise anonymous affairs. They were seemingly doing it already," Biderman told BusinessWeek. "I was much less confident that women would behave that way." Biderman's concern was confirmed in the data breach of 2015 which revealed that less than 1% of the female users were ever active on the site, the 5 million accounts held by women "show so little activity that they might as well not be there".

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