MessageMedia Inc. Names A. Laurence Jones Chief Executive Officer and Strengthens Management Team
Company appoints Dennis Cagan Chief Strategy Officer and expands its executive ranks
BOULDER, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 29, 1999-- MessageMedia Inc. (Nasdaq:MESG - news), the leading provider of email-based direct marketing and customer relationship management services, today announced the election of A. Laurence Jones as chief executive officer.
Larry Jones, whose title becomes president and chief executive officer, was also elected a member of the MessageMedia board of directors.
Jones joined MessageMedia as president in March 1999 bringing over 20 years of experience in the technology arena, and considerable experience in direct marketing services. ''Larry has always been regarded as an exceptionally effective, strategic leader,'' said Bradley Feld, co-chairman of MessageMedia. ''In his new role as CEO, Larry is already beginning to aggressively build a world-class management team to pursue the massive growth opportunities we see in the burgeoning email outsourcing market.''
Previously, Jones had served as an independent Operating Affiliate of McCown DeLeeuw and Co. (MDC), a private equity investment firm, where he provided managerial oversight to a number of MDC's portfolio companies. Prior to MDC, he was president and chief executive officer of Neodata Service, Inc. a leading provider of outsourced direct marketing services. In addition, Jones served as president and chief executive officer of GovPX, a leading government securities pricing firm, and as senior vice president of Automatic Data Processing (ADP). Jones began his technology career with Wang Laboratories where his last position was chief executive officer of Wang Information Service Division.
Dennis Cagan, most recently interim CEO of MessageMedia, continues as a member of the board of directors and assumes new duties as chief strategy officer, where he will lead partnership development and strategic alliances. ''With Larry's transition to CEO complete, Dennis will now focus on the critical task of expanding our strategic partnerships and alliances,'' said Bradley Feld.
Cagan is a nationally recognized authority on Internet-related businesses as well as computing and communications with over 32 years in the entrepreneurial computer-based technology industry. Since 1981 he has served as a management consultant, becoming a member of numerous companies' boards of directors and serving as a member of various company management teams. He is currently chairman of the board of Acorn Technologies, Inc., Pacific Palisades, Calif., and on the boards of directors of ISOCOR (Nasdaq:ICOR - news), Santa Monica; and Sanctuary Woods Multimedia Corp. (Nasdaq:SWMC - news), Emeryville.
MessageMedia Strengthens Executive Ranks
MessageMedia also announced the hiring of Robin D. Green as vice president of sales and marketing. Green will oversee all sales and marketing activities for the company and be based in Boulder. He joins MessageMedia from Oracle Corporation where he was vice president, global services & integrator alliances for the Systems Product Division.
''Robin is a technology industry veteran who will help us continue our aggressive sales growth and market penetration,'' said Larry Jones. ''We are excited to be adding someone to the team with his proven organizational and leadership ability and superior bottom-line performance.''
Prior to Oracle, Green served as vice president of technology and vice president of business development for Robert Half International, Inc. Green also worked with Deloitte Consulting, LLP as a senior marketing manager of DRT Systems, and with First Data Systems, Inc. as vice president of sales & marketing. He has a BA from Belmont University in Nashville and also studied at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.
MessageMedia also announced the appointment of David B. Ehrenthal as vice president of international development, a new position. Ehrenthal, formerly vice president of sales, will oversee the expansion of MessageMedia into European and Asian markets.
''We expect our international client growth to accelerate as email messaging explodes worldwide and Dave has the direct marketing, sales and international experience to lead our team,'' said Larry Jones. Ehrenthal previously was marketing director for American Express Travel Related Services in Europe where he helped launch the Small Business Corporate Card business.
About MessageMedia Inc.
MessageMedia (Nasdaq:MESG, formerly Nasdaq:MAIL) is the leading provider of email-based customer relationship management and direct marketing services. The Company offers a comprehensive suite of outsource messaging services for information delivery, permission-based direct marketing and ongoing customer communications using industry standard Internet protocols. MessageMedia's customer portfolio includes clients from the financial services, publishing, direct marketing, retailing and electronic commerce industries. Clients include E-TRADE(a), USA Today, GeoCities, Intuit, CMP Media, Barclays Bank and Bertelsmann.
SOFTBANK and its affiliates own approximately 49% of the outstanding common stock of MessageMedia Inc. Pequot Capital Management, a Connecticut-based research-intensive investment firm with more than $5 billion in assets under management, is also a major investor in MessageMedia.
''Safe Harbor'' Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. With the exception of the historical information contained in this release, the matters described herein contain forward-looking statements that involve risk and uncertainties. These risk factors include, but are not limited to, the integration of a new senior management team, the Company's limited operating history, the integration of recent acquisitions, the anticipated fluctuations in operating results, the uncertain acceptance of new services being offered, and undeveloped and rapidly changing market. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. MessageMedia undertakes no obligation to release publicly the result of any revisions to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
MessageMedia Inc.
6685 Gunpark Drive East, Suite 240, Boulder, Colo. 80301
Phone: 303/440-7550; Fax: 303/440-0303
www.messagemedia.com
(a) The asterisk which normally appears in the name E-TRADE has been replaced with a hyphen in this release because the asterisk does not appear in some systems.
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Contact:
MessageMedia Inc.
Beth Mayfield, 619/410-3759
investor@messagemedia.com
or
Edelman Public Relations Worldwide
Herb Ritchell, 312/297-7443
herb_ritchell@edelman.com
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