FindWhat has made the following executive appointments: the promotion of Bob Protheroe to senior vice president of technology; the promotion of Ken Cragun to vice president of finance; the promotion of James Burrows to head of special projects; and the addition of Tom Wilde as vice president and general manager of the primary traffic division.
Bob Protheroe has been working with FindWhat.com since 2002, most recently as vice president of technology where he has led the technical operations of the FindWhat.com Network. In his newly expanded role, Mr. Protheroe will also assume direct responsibility for technical operations of the Espotting Division; technical operations include production systems, management information systems and software development. Mr. Protheroe has over 20 years of experience in product and technology strategies and development for companies ranging from start-ups to large, multi-national concerns. Additionally, Mr. Protheroe has a rich background in generating patents and supporting patent and product strategies–he currently holds over 20 United States patents. “I am very excited to take this international role in driving technical initiatives that will continue to fuel our growth in core and new business, as well as private label partnerships,” commented Mr. Protheroe. “We have built excellent technical teams in the US and Europe and will continue to invest in their growth, and the expansion of our high performance technical infrastructure.”
Ken Cragun joined FindWhat.com as director of finance in July 2003, bringing 19 years of finance experience spanning the technology and media sectors. Additional responsibilities with his promotion include the consolidation of the international accounting, reporting and financial planning processes. Mr. Cragun’s career began at Deloitte & Touche LLP. From there he spent nearly four years with 3Com Corporation and then progressed through a series of finance positions with Silicon Valley semiconductor manufacturer C-Cube Microsystems, Inc. where he was a senior finance executive. During his time with C-Cube, the company grew from a privately-held $24 million company to a $400 million public company. He is a certified public accountant licensed in the state of California. “FindWhat.com is a company at that exciting stage of rapid growth due to its operations, acquisitions, partnerships and other initiatives,” said Mr. Cragun. “I look forward to addressing the challenges of managing the finance and accounting functions in this multi-divisional, international, high-growth environment.”
James Burrows, formerly Espotting’s director of strategy and a member of Espotting’s founding team, takes on a unique corporate role–head of special projects. He began functioning in this capacity earlier in the year as a primary force behind the integration of the FindWhat.com and Espotting Networks. In this new position he will be looking across the different divisions of FindWhat.com, Inc. in an effort to best leverage the assets and core competencies of each, not only to complement and grow the company’s existing revenue streams, but also to identify and drive future ones. “All of our acquisitions have been strategic in nature, so I anticipate a plethora of opportunities to grow our company and I will draw on my European experience to help to this end,” stated Mr. Burrows. Prior to Espotting, he spent seven years in the offline advertising industry with several multi-national advertising agencies where he won many prestigious industry awards.
Tom Wilde joins FindWhat.com, Inc. as vice president and general manager of the primary traffic division. In this role, he will drive FindWhat.com’s strategy for creating and delivering world-class consumer Internet solutions for the Company and its key partners and affiliates. Prior to FindWhat.com, Mr. Wilde was vice president and general manager of search & publishing at Lycos. He has also served as vice president of marketing and channels and as a member of the board of directors at Fast Search & Transfer. His overall depth of experience from both the consumer and advertiser perspective in the search category has made him a frequent participant at industry conferences and events. Mr. Wilde has been widely quoted in the press including Business Week, the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and The Boston Globe. “FindWhat.com has been a key player in the explosive search industry,” commented Mr. Wilde. “I look forward to extending the company’s breadth of offerings and contributing to an already impressive track record of profitable growth.”
“With the swift expansion of FindWhat.com into new products, services and geographies we have been filling key leadership roles with stellar individuals, based on the right combination of experience and acumen,” stated Craig Pisaris-Henderson, chairman and chief executive officer of FindWhat.com, Inc. “We didn’t have to look too far beyond our existing company resources to find Bob, Ken and James–I have great respect and trust for each of them and know they will fulfill their new roles successfully. In regards to Tom, we’ve worked closely with him over the years given the private label partnership which created Lycos InSite AdBuyer; he is a solid addition to the FindWhat.com team and comes as a well respected member of our industry. These individuals will help lead the FindWhat.com organization as we charge ahead in our ambition to become the leading global supplier of business growth solutions.”
Murdok | Breaking eBusiness News
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