Peter Bieler is president of Media Funding Corporation, which is a leading funding source in the direct response industry. The company, in business since 1996, funds media purchases so marketers can make major media buys quickly to build revenues and take advantage of marketing momentum. Media Funding also factors "Multi-Pay" receivables and continuity programs to help marketers with their cash flow needs.

Before founding Media Funding in 1996, Bieler co-founded Ovation, Inc to sell products on TV in short or long form. He found a product called the V-Toner leading an unglamorous life as a rehabilitative device for injured skiers. He re-named it the ThighMaster®, hired Suzanne Somers as spokesperson, and set records for short form sales. In 1993, he sold his shares, and left the company.

Bieler is the author of a well regarded book on the industry titled “This Business Has Legs” about his experiences creating and running the ThighMaster campaign. The memoir was commissioned and published by John Wiley and Sons in 1996. He has been quoted in Worth Magazine, Publisher's Weekly, The San Francisco Chronicle, Response TV, DM News and others. His writing has been featured in Success Magazine, and he has lectured on direct response marketing in New York, Washington DC, Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego.

Mr. Bieler has an M.A. in philosophy from the University of Glasgow, Scotland. He started his marketing career at Proctor and Gamble, as an assistant brand manager on Crest Toothpaste. Subsequently, he studied three years at the University of Southern California Graduate Program in Cinema, before taking his first job in the television industry.

Mr. Bieler worked in motion pictures at Columbia and UA, on such films as The Deep, The Champ, and Bound for Glory. In 1978, he was appointed Associate Director of The American Film Institute, where he was responsible for the administration of all the Institute's west coast programs, including the Center for Advanced Film Studies, which is widely regarded as the premiere film school in the country.

Mr. Bieler is married to the screenwriter, Randee Russell. They have two young daughters, and live in Malibu, California.