Our Team
Blackwave Group encompasses a working environment where people of diverse backgrounds and perspectives feel welcome and safe, where every group has a seat at the decision-making table, and where prosperity is shared.
Management
General Managing Partner
Brad
Tilford
Brad Tilford is a media, sports, and technology entrepreneur with more than three decades of experience building, acquiring, and scaling profitable companies across advertising, entertainment, sports representation, and advanced manufacturing.
Brad began his entrepreneurial career in 1986 by launching his first advertising agency. By 1990, the firm secured Fortune 500 contracts with companies such as Square D and Toyota Motor Manufacturing. The agency later evolved into a platform focused on acquiring marketing and brand firms, ultimately culminating in a successful exit from the specialized media sector.
In 2000, Brad expanded into film and music, securing an output film deal with Artisan Entertainment and forming a partnership with Warner Music that produced soundtrack releases reaching the top of the Billboard charts. This period established his reputation for cross industry dealmaking and creative media execution.
In 2005, Brad founded BEST, which rapidly became a global force in sports representation. Through strategic acquisitions and partnerships including the sports agencies of Bill Strickland and Joel Segal, followed by the purchase of the SFX Sports unit from Live Nation BEST added industry leaders such as Donald Dell, Ken Mayerson, and later Dan Fegan. The firm grew into the second largest sports representation company in the world across basketball, football, and tennis. In 2010, BEST was sold to Lagardère Unlimited with a roster exceeding 400 professional athletes, coaches, entertainers, and media personalities.
Beyond ownership and exits, Brad has served as a strategic advisor to globally recognized organizations and brands including Apple, AMC Theatres, Cinemark, Regal, Build-A-Bear, Ace of Spades, UFC, AEG, the US Open, Major League Baseball, and the MLB Players Association. In 2018, he secured a partnership with Nike, Inc., further expanding his footprint in global brand alliances. In 2020, Brad acquired ownership of Players Media Group, a media company generating more than 300 million monthly impressions. In 2025, he led the international expansion of Players TV into global sports markets, including a major launch in the Philippines through a partnership with Cignal TV.
Currently, Brad is focused on advanced manufacturing and patented material technologies through Stealth Industries, overseeing facility development in Kentucky and Pennsylvania supported by state incentive packages. These initiatives are aimed at next generation solutions across military, data infrastructure, power systems, and transportation sectors.
Brad Tilford’s career is defined by strategic acquisitions, high value exits, cross industry partnerships, and a consistent ability to identify and scale emerging market opportunities.
Chief Business Officer
Darryl
Taja
Darryl Taja is a C-suite executive with more than 29 years of broad business experience, who has executed hundreds of millions of dollars in transactional deals for his clients. Darryl studied finance and law at Howard University where he received a four-year, full, soccer scholarship. Darryl started his early career working for Lehman Brothers on Wall Street in their M & A division, then transitioned to business and legal affairs at BMG/RCA Records. He has had stints as an account executive and brand manager for NFL players while at Global Sports and Entertainment, as well as Disney Consumer Products in their Merchandising and Licensing Division, monetizing the Disney global brand worldwide. As the current CEO of Epidemic Management, he has represented many A-list show runners, writers, and directors, including Mark Brown (“creator of the Barbershop franchise”), who is also the Co-founder of the tech-enabled platform, Snap Nurse, once valued at over a billion dollars on Wall Street. Previously, Darryl was EVP of Catch 23 Entertainment, where he oversaw a $200 million dollar media fund and the production of the film, “One Hour Photo”, which starred the late, great, Robin Williams, and earned over $100 million dollars in gross revenues. Darryl left Catch 23 to become a principal in Revolution Media Television Studios, where he oversaw a budget of $200 million dollars, and managed acquisitions of several companies for the fund. Darryl has run multiple multimillion dollar hedge-fund-backed media companies, and has negotiated and executed hundreds of transactional deals in the media sector, which have earned well over a billion dollars in revenue for clients. Darryl has a substantial legal background and has negotiated bilateral education and trade agreements for the US Government in the State of Qatar, which he considers one of the highlights of his career. Additionally, Darryl is also a frequent guest lecturer at the business and film schools of several colleges and universities, such as Georgetown, UCLA, Northwestern, NYU, and Columbia, to name a few. Darryl is a board member and partner in the Blackwave Polymers Group, which acquires portfolio companies that specialize in automating and integrating resin systems for sustainable polymers. The company’s product suite is valued at over $100 million.
Chief Legal Officer
Peter
Allan
Since 1994, Peter Allan has developed one of New York's leading entertainment law practices by focusing on the commercialization of intellectual property. He has negotiated agreements worth over $200 million and represented writers, producers, and artists whose albums have collectively sold over 30 million units and represented such notable artists as Grammy Award-winning Mary J. Blige. His experience also extends to film, including securing national US distribution for the British motion picture "Effie Gray" featuring Academy Award-winning Emma Thompson and Dakota Fanning. A cum laude graduate of Middlebury College and the Georgetown University law center, Peter serves on the Board of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.