“Unlikely” is how I’d characterize the idea that Danny Sullivan and I would share a 20 year collaboration that resulted in creating two successful businesses.
We’re about as different in many ways as two people can be. He’s the poster-child digital native who expects technology to just work; I still believe human error can cause technology to fail. He’s comfortable in the limelight and possesses lightning-fast wit; I’m more suited for bit parts in silent movies. He’s 100% California; I’m as Yankee as cheddar and chowda.
Yet in 20 years we never – literally never – encountered an issue we couldn’t resolve to our mutual satisfaction. It’s not that we didn’t disagree, but we always managed to understand the other’s point of view and reach a resolution. I’m generally suspicious of people who dole out advice about running a business. Compromising is a principal I’m comfortable recommending.
You probably got to this page from Danny’s post, so I won’t rehash what he’s already said so well. I will say I’m grateful and humbled he chose to spend the last 20 years working with me and all of the fantastic people at Third Door Media and internet.com. I’m equally grateful that Danny will be staying on as an advisor and resource to me and all of us here; he has no idea how busy he’ll be.
I also want to thank the founding partners who started TDM with Danny and me, and who will continue applying their formidable skill, talent and passion to the company: Sean Moriarty in his role as Vice President of Sales and Chris Sherman as Vice President of Event Programming.
Say “Hi” to the New Third Door Media Team
TDM’s future is incredibly bright as the community we serve, digital marketers, continues to grow and evolve. We cherish our leading position serving search marketers with Search Engine Land and Search Marketing Expo. And we’re incredibly optimistic about MarTech Today and the MarTech conference series, which serve marketing technology professionals and we produce in collaboration with the brilliant and talented Scott Brinker, editor of chiefmartec.com.
Here are some key members of the team and what they’ll be doing.
I’m very pleased to announce that Michelle Robbins is now SVP of Content & Marketing Technology, a role she’s uniquely qualified to assume. She’s fluent in martech and search engine marketing. She’s been on the front lines of implementing marketing technology at TDM for more than 10 years. She enjoys a close professional and personal relationships with others on the editorial team. Michelle began her career in marketing and later in editorial/trade publishing for the music industry.
Working with Michelle are: Chris Sherman; Matt McGee, editor-in-chief of TDM’s Search Engine Land, Marketing Land and MarTech Today sites; and John Blanchard, who’s been promoted to Director of Marketing Technology.
Marc Sirkin moves to Senior Vice President of Experience & Marketing. Marc’s rather unusual title acknowledges the reality that there’s no longer separation between product and marketing. Marc joined TDM at the beginning of 2016 and has been instrumental in driving innovation ever since. His responsibilities include audience growth and engagement, event marketing, on-site experience and customer service.
Marc will be working with the two people who’ve been instrumental in TDM’s audience growth and retention: Vice President of Audience Engagement Monica Wright and Vice President of Audience Development Elisabeth Osmeloski.
I’ll take this opportunity to reintroduce Leslie Bacon, Senior Vice President of Marketing Solutions, a new position she assumed earlier this year. Leslie’s responsibilities include developing marketing programs that build engagement, customer acquisition, brand recognition and project thought leadership for our customers. She’s responsible for overseeing those programs’ sales and execution. She was previously general manager of Access Intelligence’s marketing practice, which includes Chief Marketer and MultiChannel Merchant, and has held sales and management positions at B2B trade publishers Primedia and Penton.
Last but by no measure least, I’d like to acknowledge the rest of the TDM team, now over 40 strong. I’m grateful that you choose to spend your precious time and mighty talents serving our readers, advertising/lead gen/exhibitor clients and each other. There’s nothing without you.