Corporate Board
Joseph A. Ripp
Joseph A. Ripp, has been the Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Company since August 2009. Mr. Ripp is the Chief Executive Officer of Cannondale Investments. Inc. Cannondale is partnering with the private equity firm GTCR, LLC and is focused on acquiring companies in the data enabled marketing services industry. Mr. Ripp is also the former President and Chief Operating Officer of Dendrite International, Inc. Dendrite was a leading supplier of sales, marketing, clinical and compliance solutions for the pharmaceutical industry with over 4,000 employees in 52 countries around the world. Prior to joining Dendrite Mr. Ripp was Senior Vice President of Time Warner’s Media & Communications Group. Mr. Ripp’s responsibilities at Time Warner, Inc. included America Online, where, as Vice Chairman from 2002 to 2004, he oversaw AOL’s advertising, technology, network operations, marketing, call centers, human resources and legal departments. In this capacity he was directly responsible for revenues in excess of $7 billion and costs in excess of $5 billion. Prior to leading AOL and since he joined Time Warner in 1985, Joe held numerous senior positions, including Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Time Warner Inc. from 1999 to 2001, and Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Time Inc. At the time Mr. Ripp was Chief Financial Officer, Time Warner’s revenues were in excess of $30 billion.
Mr. Ripp is currently the Vice Chairman and Treasurer of the Board of Directors for Lighthouse International which is a leading non-profit organization dedicated to preserving vision and helping people of all ages overcome the challenges of vision loss. Mr. Ripp serves on the Board of Trustees of Manhattan College and the Advertising Educational Foundation. Mr. Ripp previously served on the Board of Directors of Greenfield Online, Inc. until it was sold in November 2007. He has also served on the Board of Whittle Communications, American Express Publishing and A Better Chance, Inc.
Mr. Ripp graduated from Manhattan College, Riverdale NY in 1973 with a Bachelor of Arts degree and earned his Master’s of Business Administration from Bernard M. Baruch College of the City University of New York in 1978.
Michael Diament
Michael S. Diament has been a member of the Board of Directors for the Company since August 2009 and currently serves as Chairman of the Audit Committee and a member of the Compensation Committee and the Corporate Governance Committee.
Mr. Diament is also a member of the Board of Directors of Magellan Health Services, Inc., a publicly traded diversified leading specialty health care management organization, where Mr. Diament is Chairman of the Compensation Committee and a member of the Audit Committee. Mr. Diament also currently serves on the Board of Directors of Mark IV Industries, Inc. where he is Chairman of the Compensation Committee and a member of the Audit Committee and Finance Committee. Mark IV Industries, Inc. is a privately held diversified manufacturer of highly-engineered systems and components for the worldwide automotive and heavy duty OEM market and automotive aftermarket.
Mr. Diament previously served in various positions for investment management firms. From January 2001 to February 2006 Mr. Diament served Q Investments in several positions including Portfolio Manager and Director of Bankruptcies and Restructurings. Prior to this, Mr. Diament was a Senior Analyst for Sandell Asset Management and served as Vice President of Havens Advisors.
Mr. Diament also previously served on the board of directors of J.L. French Automotive Castings, Inc., a privately held manufacturer of auto parts, i2 Technologies, Inc., a formerly publicly traded supply chain software and services company, and WilTel Communications, a formerly publicly traded telecommunications company.
Mr. Diament graduated from Columbia Business School with a Master of Business Administration degree. Mr. Diament earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Washington University in St. Louis where he graduated magna cum laude with a double major in economics with honors and psychology.
John Paton
John Paton, joined the Board of Directors of the Company in August 2009 and currently serves as the Company’s Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Paton is the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of impreMedia LLC, the largest news and information company serving the U.S. Hispanic population. In 2000 Mr. Paton and a partner co-founded Knight Paton Media Corporation, a company which advised firms on mergers and acquisitions. From 1999 to 2000 he was the Chief Executive Officer of Canoë, Inc. in Toronto, Ontario. Canoë provided online information and services across a number of vertical segments, including news, sports, travel, health and careers. Mr. Paton was responsible for several of their acquisitions and the launch of several online city sites and the creation of divisions in France and Spain. Mr. Paton has served in senior executive positions with London Free Press Printing Company Ltd., Ottawa Sun and Toronto Sun Publishing Corporation.
Mr. Paton is also a member of the board of directors of Postmedia Network, The Newspaper Association of America and a member of the board of advisors of the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. Mr. Paton formerly served on the boards of Canoë, Inc., MMI Media Management and Osprey Media Income Fund.
Mr. Paton graduated from Ryerson University in Toronto, Ontario with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism and completed the Finance for Senior Executives Program at Harvard Business School in Boston, MA.
Randolph l. Thornton
Randolph I. Thornton joined the Board of Directors for the Company in November 2010 and currently serves as Chairman of the Compensation Committee and a member of the Audit Committee. Mr. Thornton is the Chief Executive Officer and sole director of Comdisco Holding Company, Inc. Mr. Thornton was a Managing Director and Senior Credit Officer of Citigroup, Inc. where he managed hundreds of corporate reorganization matters in a thirty-three year career there until his retirement in 2004. He currently serves as non-executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of Core-Mark International, Inc., the second largest marketer and distributor of packaged consumer products in North America to over 24,000 retail locations across the United States and Canada through its 26 distribution centers throughout the United States and Canada. Mr. Thornton also continues to serve as Chairman of the Board of Directors for National Energy & Gas Transmission, Inc. Prior board assignments include Edison Brothers Stores, Looking Glass Networks and Churchill Financial.
Mr. Thornton received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Lafayette College and a Master of Business Administration degree from Columbia Business School.
Betsy Morgan
Betsy L. Morgan is the president of The Blaze, an information network curating content, community and debate. She joined The Blaze in January 2011. Previously, she was the chief executive officer of the award winning Huffington Post. Under Ms. Morgan’s leadership The Huffington Post grew from 4 million to 22 million unique visitors a month, launched seven content verticals, and doubled its blogger roll to 3,000+ influential bloggers including celebrities, politicians, academics and policy experts. Ms. Morgan joined HuffPost in October 2007, after ten years at CBS. Prior to joining HuffPost, Ms. Morgan was Senior Vice President for CBS Interactive and the General Manager of CBSNews.com, where she was in charge of the network’s 24-hour broadband, on-demand news service. Under Morgan’s leadership, CBSNews.com’s excellence was recognized with several prestigious industry awards. Prior to joining CBS Interactive, Morgan was a Vice President of CBS News, where she was in charge of business development, digital media and new television ventures. She began her career at CBS as the Head of the CBS Television Network’s Strategic Management Group working in the Office of the Chairman and CEO of CBS. Ms. Morgan has worked for American Sky Broadcasting, News Corporation’s venture into the U.S. direct satellite business. She also spent several years in investment banking at the North American Headquarters of Schroders, in the Media and Entertainment Group. Ms. Morgan earned a MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in Political Science and Economics from Colby College, where she currently serves on the Board of Trustees. She is on the board of CT Partners, a leading global executive search firm and the board of Vertical Acuity, an Atlanta based technology company. She currently serves as Chairman of the Poynter Institute’s National Advisory Board. She is also an advisor to LearnVest. (@blmorgan)
