Execs and Accounts for September 3, 2002

Agency.com's Kyle Shannon to step down; Bluestreak to donate its IonMail platform to the Ad Council; Bigfoot Interactive adds Ray Butkus to board of directors.

Interactive shop Agency.com is expected to announce Thursday that Kyle Shannon, executive vice president of its Applied Concepts Lab and a co-founder of the company, is stepping down and taking an advisory role. In an email sent to Agency.com employees and associates, Shannon gave several reasons for his decision. First and foremost, he said the company has outgrown the need for his particular strengths.

“From the earliest days of the company, I knew there would come a time where the company would mature to a point that my entrepreneurial skills may not be as vital as they were in the early days,” Shannon said. “While I obviously have mixed emotions, it is heartening to know that Agency.com has reached this point.”

He added that his own interests and strengths don’t suit the nature of his role as they once did, and said the company will benefit fiscally as he takes a reduced role.

“As the company has stabilized, the need for executive overhead has shrunk as well,” Shannon added. “By reducing my salary dramatically, I can still add value where needed, and save the company some money as well.”

It’s not yet clear whether Agency.com will be replacing Shannon. He and current CEO Chan Suh founded the company together in 1995, and their tenure as leaders has lasted far longer than that of many of their counterparts at other start-ups, most of whom were replaced when their companies began to falter with the bursting of the dot-com bubble. Company spokespeople couldn’t be reached for comment by press time.

Online marketer Bluestreak will donate its IonMail platform to the Ad Council to help the pro bono advertiser communicate more effectively with key media outlets and other constituents.

Under the partnership, IonMail will become the preferred solution for delivering Ad Council email campaigns. The personalization and automation capabilities built into the IonMail solution will enable the Ad Council to optimize its messaging and effectively communicate appropriate information to a varied audience. Potential uses include communicating campaign-related updates to TV stations and other media outlets and directing interested parties to its Web site.

“We are happy to make this donation to the Ad Council,” said Annette Tonti, chief marketing officer at Bluestreak. “Their mission of educating the public on key issues is critical and we are proud to help by offering our technology.”

E-mail marketing firm Bigfoot Interactive has added Ray Butkus to its board of directors. Butkus most recently served as president and chief operating officer of Naviant Marketing Solutions. Prior to that, he was vice president of Intelliquest’s IQ2.Net division, which marketed information products. He also served as president of GEN Logistics Systems, a provider of information services to the transportation industry, and as a sales VP at AT&T , where he spent nearly 20 years in various management roles.

“It’s an honor to welcome Ray Butkus to the Bigfoot Interactive team,” said Al DiGuido, CEO of Bigfoot Interactive. “Ray is a proven business executive whose experience and tenure in the interactive marketing arena will add valuable strategic and industry leadership to the board.”

For more breaking news on account action and executive moves, visit ChannelSeven.com.

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