Every day I walk into my job, I count myself extremely lucky to work alongside the talented, driven people who make up the ShareThis family. We’ve accomplished great things over the years but our work is far from done. As ShareThis explores new ways to expand and improve our services, we have found ourselves on the verge of something huge – an idea so disruptive, we expect it’ll completely transform the business of online advertising. As we look to make this leap, I knew we needed a seasoned technology and media veteran to lead us through this next phase of growth. It’s not every day that a CEO has the chance to hand-pick his successor and I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to do just this. I’m thrilled to introduce the new CEO of ShareThis, Kurt Abrahamson, and look forward to working side by side with him as we drive ShareThis to new heights. Kurt blew us away with his experience and enthusiasm for the always changing and evolving world of sharing and online advertising. We are delighted to welcome him to our team.
A little bit about Kurt: He joins the ShareThis team with close to 20 years of sales, marketing and product development experience under his belt. He most recently served as CEO of SocialMedia.com, an innovator in online social advertising, which was recently acquired by LivingSocial.com. Kurt came to SocialMedia.com from Google, where he first served as Director of the Content Media Group, leading the global launch of Google AdSense. This is obviously very important to us. We have always believed that the Sharing Economy is a win-win for publishers and advertisers. Sharing is the way quality content is curated by people and advertisers should be willing to pay more for quality content and audience. Kurt’s experience with Google AdSense directs relates to understanding the needs of publishers.
He then managed the direct sales channel for publishers and secured long-term deals with five of the top 10 Web properties. Kurt also served as the Director of Global Sales & Operations Strategy and as Director of Sales Operations for North America. Prior to working at Google, he served as Chief Operating Officer of Jupiter Communications and President of Jupiter Media Metrix, where he helped build their business from a small 12-person group to 520 employees worldwide, establishing Jupiter as one of the leading Internet research organizations.
While we have accomplished a great deal, there is so much more to be done. As Chairman, I will maintain an active role in the company and plan to partner and support Kurt. We have a strong shared vision for what’s possible. It’s only the early innings of this ballgame and there’s a lot of work to be done. The innovation cycle for advertisers, publishers and consumers is rapidly expanding. People have become the marketing channel and they are marketing to each other in new, interesting ways everyday.
This is also a great time for the transition. The business growth is strong and well-positioned for explosive growth. Under his leadership, ShareThis will not only continue providing a valuable service to both our publishers and advertisers alike, we will leave an indelible mark on the world of online advertising. I am so proud to say I’m a part of this amazing team of creative, passionate innovators, and I can’t think of a better person than Kurt to lead our company into this new age. Welcome aboard Kurt!
by Tim Schigel, Chairman and Founder, ShareThis, Inc.
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