TMCnet News
Stephen Collins Joins Bazaarvoice as Chief Financial OfficerAUSTIN, Texas --(Business Wire)-- Bazaarvoice, the market and technology leader in hosted social commerce applications that drive sales, today announced that Stephen Collins, former CFO and CIO of DoubleClick (News - Alert), has joined the company as CFO. Collins, who helped lead DoubleClick through a highly successful IPO in 1998 prior to its $3.1 billion acquisition by Google, brings over 22 years of financial experience and 13 years of technology industry experience to the Bazaarvoice leadership team. In his new role at Bazaarvoice, Collins will lead all aspects of the company's global financial and legal operations. The addition of Collins to the Bazaarvoice team is the latest in a series of high-profile appointments that support Bazaarvoice's explosive global growth. Most recently, Bazaarvoice announced that Erin Mulligan Nelson, who previously served as CMO of Dell (News - Alert), will join the Bazaarvoice executive leadership team as CMO. Last month, Bazaarvoice also announced that former Dell CFO Tom Meredith joined the Bazaarvoice Board of Directors as the company's sixth Board member and new Audit Chair. The company also recently welcomed Bryan Barksdale as General Counsel. Barksdale, who previously was a member of the corporate securities practice at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, leads Bazaarvoice's legal team and advises the company's board and management team on corporate governance matters. Barksdale will report directly to Collins. "Bazaarvoice is one of most groundbreaking and fastest-growing technology companies today, and it has built an extremely exciting business by bringing innovation, transformation, and transparency to the largest brands in the worlds," said Collins. "In fact, there are many parallels between DoubleClick and Bazaarvoice: they are both highly disruptive companies that are pioneers and leaders in a new industry. DoubleClick was an early interactive advertising leader and now Bazaarvoice is blazing the trail in social commerce. I am very excited to join Brett and the Bazaarvoice executive team to help lead this great company through its next phase of growth." "Stephen's appointment is a huge win for Bazaarvoice and tremendous validation of the social commerce market opportunity," said Brett Hurt. "With last week's announcement that Erin Nelson will join Bazaarvoice as CMO, the appointment of Tom Meredith to our Board, the addition of Bryan Barksdale as General Counsel, and today Stephen's appointment, Bazaarvoice is positioned extremely well with four of the brightest leaders in the industry. Stephen's expertise, passion for excellence, and financial leadership experience are a huge asset to the company as we help the biggest brands across the globe transform their businesses through digital word of mouth." Prior to joining Bazaarvoice, Collins served as President and CEO of Juris, the leading enterprise software company providing business systems to mid-sized law firms. During Collins' tenure leading Juris, the company doubled revenues and more than doubled cash flow. Collins also invested in product development initiatives to ring new software and service offerings to their 2,000 law firm customers leading to a successful 2007 acquisition of Juris by LexisNexis (News - Alert). Prior to Juris, Collins served as CFO and CIO of DoubleClick, where his responsibilities included leading the finance, accounting, investor relations, and legal teams. He joined DoubleClick in January 1997 as Controller and helped grow the company from $6 million in revenue to a publicly traded multi-national company with more than 2,300 employees in 23 countries and over $500 million in annual revenue. DoubleClick was acquired by Google in 2007 for $3.1 billion. "Stephen is one of the brightest financial minds in the industry today," said David Rosenblatt (News - Alert), former CEO of DoubleClick. "In working with Bazaarvoice, he is returning to the vanguard of marketing and technology, and he will be a tremendous asset to Brett and his team as they continue to navigate the opportunities and challenges associated with being a high-growth company in a market that is being closely watched." Before DoubleClick, Collins held several financial roles at the consumer products company Colgate-Palmolive. Stephen began his career at the accounting firm of PriceWaterhouseCoopers. He is a CPA in the state of New York. In addition, Collins is a USAC category 2 competitive cyclist and a co-founding member of TriStar Cycling Team, a charitable organization with a mission of developing junior cyclists. Collins has also served on the board of directors of Carmichael Training Systems, a company providing coaching to endurance athletes including 7-time Tour de France winner, Lance Armstrong. "Bazaarvoice's corporate culture defines our company and drives our success, and Stephen shares our vision of a spirited workplace that is based on transparency, generosity, respect, and performance-driven success," continued Hurt. "The entire executive team and Board of Directors welcome Stephen and we're all very excited to work alongside him during the next chapter of Bazaarvoice's incredible journey." About Bazaarvoice Bazaarvoice's Software as a Service (SaaS (News - Alert)) social commerce solutions have served more than 140 billion pieces of customer-generated content on more than 950 brand web sites like Best Buy, Blue Shield of California, Costco, Dell, Macy's, P&G, Panasonic, QVC, and USAA in 36 countries. The company connects organizations to their influencers through a unique network that reaches hundreds of millions of consumers around the globe, enabling authentic customer-powered marketing. Through syndication, analytics, partnerships, and consulting, Bazaarvoice brings the voice of the customer to the center of their clients' business strategy, proving "social" can drive measured revenue growth and cost savings for manufacturing, retail, travel, and financial services companies. Headquartered in Austin, the company has offices in Amsterdam, Düsseldorf, London, Paris, Singapore, Stockholm, and Sydney. For more information and access to client success stories, visit www.bazaarvoice.com, read the blog at www.bazaarvoice.com/blog, and follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/bazaarvoice.
|

