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Bill Glass

CEO, Connexity, Inc.

As CEO of Connexity, Inc., Bill Glass is responsible for steering business strategy, evangelizing company culture, ensuring business capitalization and providing day-to-day oversight of the company’s portfolio of businesses. Bill joined Connexity (then Shopzilla) in March 2004. As Chief Operating Officer, he was a member of the senior executive team that sold Shopzilla to the E.W. Scripps Company for $525M in 2005. He was appointed President in February 2007 and drove the business’s continued success under Scripps’ ownership. In 2011, he led the successful divestiture of Shopzilla from Scripps in partnership with Symphony Technology Group. At that time, Bill was promoted to CEO.

Under Bill’s leadership as CEO from 2011 to the present, Connexity has completed its transformation from a comparison shopping company to a portfolio of technology-driven digital marketing businesses. Along the way, the company integrated six acquisitions and expanded its operations from Los Angeles and London to include offices in Camarillo, New York, Germany and Australia.

Bolstered by the acquisitions of PriceGrabber and Become in early 2015, the company’s Connexity Commerce division has navigated significant headwinds in the Comparison Shopping industry. As a result, Connexity Commerce returned to high revenue growth as a leader in retail product listings syndication in both US and Europe. In late 2015, Bill and the team also acquired Hitwise, a leader in online behavioral audience insights. Under Connexity’s ownership, the Hitwise team has executed a significant turnaround, which resulted in the restoration of healthy SaaS bookings growth rates that is supported by accelerated product innovation. In 2016, Bill and the team also successfully orchestrated the sale of Bizrate Insights, a point of sale feedback business, to Time, Inc. for more than 5x the business unit’s value at the time of Symphony’s original acquisition.

Before joining Connexity, Bill spent several years serving in executive-level product management and operations capacities at Vivendi Universal’s Internet Division, as a result of Vivendi’s acquisition of Prize Central Networks, a San-Francisco-based online entertainment company. In this company, Bill served as Vice President of Product Development from 1999-2001. Earlier in his career, Bill also spent four years in technology project management and operations at Electronic Data Systems.

Bill holds an MBA from The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of California at San Diego. When he’s not leading the charge to build valuable businesses and a great place to work at Connexity, Bill can be found on the beach in the Pacific Palisades where he lives with his wife and three daughters or on the links, where he enjoys playing golf whenever he can.

Bob Michaelian

President, Connexity Commerce

Bob has been the heart and soul of the company since joining in 1999. During his tenure at Connexity, Bob has served numerous roles including head of Product and Business Operations, Traffic Acquisition and Strategy. As the President of Connexity Commerce, he currently oversees sales and business development, product, technology and business operations.

In 2002, Bob helped build a world-class traffic acquisition operation that quickly catapulted Bizrate to be one of the best-indexed sites in the shopping space. In 2003, Bob was part of the team that worked to scale the product search engine to be able to index over 100 million products, an accomplishment that allowed the company to not only grow in capacity, but also serve up products in a more relevant fashion to consumers. Bob was also integral to launching the company’s three international properties, evolving them from technology prototypes to commercial successes. Bob helped lead the Become.com and Pricegrabber acquisitions in 2015 and has been intimately involved in growing Connexity’s EU business. He was also one of the primary architects behind Connexity’s proprietary pricing platform.

Born and raised in Long Beach, California, Bob received his MBA and his BA in Economics from the University of California Irvine. When he’s not moonlighting as the President of the Connexity Commerce Division, Bob is a frustrated ping pong player and a fledgling race car driver. Bob races in both the IMSA and Pirelli World Challenge series and has participated multiple times in the 24 hours of Daytona.

Blythe Holden

EVP & Chief Legal Officer, Connexity, Inc.

As Chief Legal Officer at Connexity, Blythe directs all of the company’s legal affairs both domestically and abroad. In addition to providing counsel on company policy day to day, Blythe is the key protectorate of Connexity’s intellectual property and advisor on legal, policy, compliance and new product initiatives. Blythe joined Connexity in 2005 as Assistant General Counsel and was quickly promoted to General Counsel in 2006.

Blythe’s role has expanded to include management of human resource strategy and operations across Connexity globally. Added to this, Blythe holds an instrumental role in M&A activity. Having worked closely with Bill and other executives, she spearheaded the acquisition of three companies in less than one year in 2015 (Pricegrabber, Become, Hitwise), following with the sale of the Bizrate Insights business to Time, Inc in 2016.

In March 2010, Blythe was instrumental in lobbying for a new Internet tax ordinance, creating a clear tax definition for Internet companies across the Los Angeles County, which helped secure the continued presence of internet businesses in Los Angeles, Connexity included. In 2010, Blythe won the Los Angeles Business Journal’s Corporate Counsel of the Year award. She was also honored by the Daily Journal as one of the 25 Leading General Counsels in California, in 2011.

Prior to Connexity, Blythe built over five years of experience in technology and internet law. In 2002, she served as a VP & Associate Counsel for Panavision, Inc. Prior to that, Blythe joined an idealab! start-up “The .tv Corporation,” informally known as “dotTV.” She began her career at one of Los Angeles’ most renowned law firms, Latham & Watkins, specializing in intellectual property and information technology

Blythe graduated cum laude from the Harvard Law School in 1997, and summa cum laude from the University of Minnesota in 1994. She was also a Harvard Berkman Center for Internet & Society Fellow. An outdoors woman at heart, Blythe enjoys skiing and cycling. She lives in Santa Monica, California with her husband and their two children.

Timur Yarnall

CEO & President, Hitwise

A long-time entrepreneur and tech industry veteran, Timur now brings his wealth of experience in product innovation as a successful CEO of several data and data-science driven start-ups to Hitwise, as the CEO and President.

As Senior Vice-President, Advertising Products & Corporate Development at comScore (SCOR), Timur ran the digital ad validation and data management (DMP) platform partnerships teams responsible for comScore’s core advertising product platforms, include vCE, Activation, and Lift product lines. Prior to comScore, Timur was CEO/co-founder for MdotLabs, the leading provider of bot detection and campaign security tools for digital advertising which was acquired by comScore in August 2014. He was also co-founder of Broadcast Interactive Media, a leading TV data services provider that acted as a trusted resource for hundreds of local broadcasters such as Gannett, NBC, and CBS.

Timur holds a BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University, with a focus on Mechatronics (embedded systems) for his graduate work. He still serves as an Advisor to a number of seed and Series A startups.

Timur is a native Californian, a former American college baseball player and an avid international rugby player. He currently lives in the San Francisco Bay area with his wife and 2 daughters.

Nigel Wilson

Chief Operating Officer, Hitwise

Nigel established the global Hitwise business within Experian and led the sale of Hitwise to Connexity in 2015. In his current role as Chief Operating Officer, Nigel helps set the strategic direction of the Hitwise business, with a focus on the global go-to-market sales, marketing, propositions and a range of strategic projects.

A fixture at conferences and industry panels (Customer-centric data: The foundation of all decision making in retail), Nigel is one of the UK’s leading experts in defining, understanding and reaching target audiences for brands. Previously, Nigel fulfilled a range of roles at Experian, including Sales Director, and Managing Director for Experian’s Consumer Insight and Targeting business, part of Experian Marketing Services, for 7 years prior to the acquisition.

A proud advocate for Nottingham, Nigel has previously been a representative in the Invest in Nottingham Club, and a Board member of Nottingham Creative Quarter – a company charged with promoting the re-generation of Nottingham city centre as a hub for digital, gaming, media and clean-tech sectors.

Nigel holds a BSc in Marketing and Economics from the University of Lancaster. Nigel has two sons, Jack & Ted and daughter Eve, and resides in Nottingham with his wife Caroline. Outside of work Nigel enjoys running (slowly) and spends as much time in the French Alps as possible – ideally skiing (fast).

Craig Teich

EVP & Chief Revenue Officer, Hitwise

Craig oversees the global commercial team at Hitwise across the US, EU and Australian markets. As the EVP and Chief Revenue Officer, he is responsible for driving revenue growth for the company across all data and insights product lines. Bringing over 14 years of experience in digital marketing at the time, Craig first joined Connexity in 2011 as VP and GM of Media Solutions, and was later promoted to SVP of Sales and Business Development in 2013.

Prior to joining the team, Craig worked for WildTangent, where he introduced new display advertising models in the online gaming space. He has extensive experience working with Fortune 500 marketers across verticals and has successfully implemented award winning campaigns with major brands, Unilever, Coca-Cola, Turner Broadcasting, Sprint, Novartis, and P&G.

Craig is a graduate of the University of Michigan. A native New Yorker, Craig lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two daughters.

Tara Fraser

SVP, Program Management, Connexity, Inc.

As Connexity, Inc., Head of Program Management, Tara oversees and orchestrates the execution of all product development areas of the company and is responsible for overseeing all strategic initiatives. Tara leads a team of project managers who work hand-in-hand with product and engineering teams to organize activities across all projects and continually optimize processes. A Connexity veteran having joined the company in 2005, she has been a driving force behind the company’s process and delivery for the past 13 years.

Tara started her career in online production at The Walt Disney Company, where she spent several years as the Executive Producer of the eCommerce Division, and then went on to lead the redesign of Walt Disney Parks & Resorts Online – the precursors to the hugely popular Disneyland and Disneyworld apps. Tara left Disney for an email marketing start up, Dynamics Direct, where she was the head of Production and Client Services.

A native Californian, Tara does her best to live the California dream: weekend trips, live music, outdoor wine tastings and spending time with her beloved (and spoiled!) English Retriever, Goose.

Bob Caputo

SVP, Sales & Account Management, Connexity Commerce

As the head of Global Sales & Account Management for Connexity Commerce, Bob is responsible for building and managing multiple teams globally related to the CPC retailer network. Bob leads both client acquisition and account management teams, with a proven track record of growing existing revenue streams, launching new products and services, and providing results-oriented management and mentorship.

Bob joined Connexity in 2000 and has served various roles from senior account management to VP of Sales and Account Management. Prior to Connexity, Bob held sales, account management, and business development roles with Overture (formerly GoTo.com), The Los Angeles Times and General Mills.

A graduate of Georgetown, Bob also holds an MBA from the George L. Graziadio School of Business and Management, Pepperdine University. When he’s not burning the midnight oil at Connexity, Bob can be found hiking the trails of Runyon or Fryman canyon with his golden retriever, Brockton.

Michael Nguyen

SVP, Product Management, Connexity Commerce

As Connexity Commerce’s SVP of Product, Michael is responsible for product and design for all Connexity Commerce experiences. He oversees both consumer-facing and revenue generating products. His team is responsible for the end-to-end customer experience, including: Marketplace, Merchant, Publisher, and Sites across desktop and mobile devices, and internal platforms enabling Connexity Commerce’s marketplace performance.

Michael joined Connexity in 2006, as one of Connexity’s earliest traffic acquisition employees. In 2017, he became Senior Vice President of Product, after serving as Vice President of Product and Director of SEO. Before Connexity, Michael served as Director of R&D for SEO Inc., a digital marketing agency. Prior to that, Michael worked in a technical capacity for The Aerospace Corporation, a federally funded research center providing technical guidance on space missions.

Before turning his attention to customers, Michael studied Neuroscience at UCLA. He now spends his time researching users instead of neurons, who are even more complicated and much harder to predict. A SoCal native, Michael never moved away, and lives with his high school sweetheart, son, daughter and chihuahua. He enjoys cycling and exploring with his family.

Niladri Batabyal

SVP, Product & Technology, Hitwise

As SVP of Product and Technology, Niladri leads the software engineering, data science, infrastructure, and partnership teams at Hitwise. He joined Connexity in 2016 as VP Global Data Partnerships and Strategy, leading data sourcing and usability optimisation initiatives, which are the lifeblood of Hitwise.

Niladri has spent the last 20 years building a career that spans multiple business and technology functions across a number of industries. Prior to Connexity, he was an early employee at the location intelligence start-up, PlaceIQ, where he led product and engineering teams, new business incubators, and finally settled in as the General Manager of the Enterprise business unit. Prior to that, he was with the Core Strategies group at Goldman Sachs and held engineering roles at Microsoft.

Niladri has a Bachelors and Masters degree in Computer Science from the University of Florida with a specialization in Artificial Intelligence. He lives in the Bay Area with his wife and two toddlers and spends most of his free time not-sleeping and pretending to be a dinosaur. In his occasional free moments, he enjoys cycling, DIY projects around the house and hopelessly rooting for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Giles Longhurst

SVP & General Manager, UK & International Markets, Hitwise

As SVP & GM of Hitwise International Markets, Giles oversees and runs the Hitwise business in the UK and Australia, covering sales, marketing, client services and analyst functions. Giles also oversees the implementation of Hitwise’s go-to-market strategy and product innovation plans.

Giles has 18 years of diverse digital experience across general management, business and product development positions. Prior to Hitwise, he spent over 13 years working in digital marketing and advertising companies; managing multi-functional teams. In these roles, he supported key travel brands with the development of their digital applications and content marketing strategies. Post-acquisition of Hitwise to Connexity, Giles led the US Hitwise Business, and was instrumental in building out the go-to-market team.

Giles holds a BSc in Geology from the University of Sheffield. When he’s not problem solving across Hitwise, Giles splits his time his wife and two children, and the rugby field.

Phil Scutt

SVP, Global Finance, Hitwise

Phil has over a decade of experience in financial leadership within the Digital Marketing industry. As SVP, he manages the Global Finance and Sales Operations teams at Hitwise, and works closely with the regional operational leads to drive performance and business growth. Working closely with Nigel and other executives, Phil played an active role in the sale of Hitwise to Connexity.

Phil began his career at Deloitte as an Audit Manager, and qualified as a Chartered Accountant. He later moved to Experian Group in 2008 holding various corporate finance roles, and was later promoted to the Global Finance Director of the Consumer Insights division. During these roles, he had a strong track record in delivering large scale change initiatives in finance, efficiency and business growth.

Phil holds a BSc Hons in Management from the University of Nottingham. Outside of overseeing the Company books, Phil enjoys weekend adventures with his wife and two kids, is a keen sportsman (mainly golf, skiing and middle distance running), and serves on the boards of two non-for-profit organisations.

Ryan Curran

SVP, Operations & Analytics, Connexity Commerce

Ryan and his team are responsible for all operations, reporting and pricing needs in support of the Connexity Commerce marketplace. As SVP of Operations & Analytics, Ryan leads Connexity’s internal paid traffic acquisition efforts (SEM, Product Listing Ads, Social), as well as overseeing all pricing optimization efforts on behalf of partners, and actively manages core business operations for Connexity Commerce.

Ryan joined Connexity in 2006 and has served in various roles throughout the Traffic Acquisition and Pricing verticals. Prior to Connexity, he spent five years in corporate finance and risk management at Aon Corporation.

Loyal to ACC schools, Ryan holds an MBA from Duke University and a BBA degree in Finance from the University of Notre Dame. When not working, he often can be found watching college football, NCAA basketball, running in the roasting Texan heat, or playing with his three sons and wife in their backyard.