TomD, another Kleiner deal. This time it's wedding gifts on the Internet.
<PALO ALTO, Calif. -- E*Trade Group Inc. on Monday will lose one of its senior executives: Rebecca Patton, who is resigning to join an Internet wedding-gift business as chief executive.
Ms. Patton, who has been with the online brokerage firm since 1995, is the company's senior vice president for advanced products and a pivotal member of the company's eight-person management team. Earlier this year, she helped engineer the launch of the company's revamped Web site, which came to market behind schedule but has generally won praise from analysts and investors.
Ms. Patton's resignation, effective Monday, was announced to E*Trade employees in an internal e-mail message from Chief Executive Christos Cotsakos Thursday morning. In the message, Mr. Cotsakos called her new position -- running Della & James, a San Francisco start-up backed by Silicon Valley venture-capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers -- a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."
Ms. Patton said she was sought out for her new job and took it for the chance to grab the No. 1 spot at a technology startup, which she called "the dream that many people in senior management positions have" in Silicon Valley. Della & James, which isn't yet operational, makes it easier for people to buy and register for wedding gifts from multiple stores online, according to Mr. Cotsakos's e-mail.
Jerry Gramaglia, E*Trade's senior vice president for marketing, will temporarily assume Ms. Patton's responsibilities. A company spokeswoman said she couldn't comment on further plans to fill Ms. Patton's position.> |
