Executive Staff

David Mather

President

David Mather joined Hoover's as president in June 2007. In this role, he is responsible for ensuring the successful execution of the company's initiatives and for driving Hoover's overall strategy. Before joining Hoover's, David served as Vice President and General Manager of Global Business Operations for a $1.4 billion Global Systems and Technology division at Unisys.

David joined Unisys from Hewlett-Packard, where he was Vice President of Imaging Printing Group Worldwide Direct, which was responsible for developing the division's go-to-market model, as well as its global direct sales, Internet, and marketing strategies. Prior to this, David was HP's Vice President of Americas Sales Operations, after serving as a member of the acquisition team during the HP merger with Compaq Computer Corporation.

During his time at Compaq, David served as the company's Vice President of North America Operations. He also held a number of other executive management positions, including directing sales and marketing, worldwide services management, and customer services. In addition, he participated in several merger and acquisition teams including Compaq Innacom, Compaq Digital, and Compaq Tandem.

Prior to joining Compaq, David instituted and managed engineering and consulting services divisions at Unicom MicroAge. He also founded and privately sold several startup companies, including NSI Networking Solutions and Impact Software Systems. David holds a B.S. in Computer Science from Northeastern University and serves on the board of directors of MPTV Corporation, a company that designs clean energy solutions. He resides in Austin with his wife and son.

Russell Secker

Executive Vice President, Editorial and First Research

Russell Secker directs the editorial team at Hoover's and also leads the First Research division of Hoover's.

Russell joined Hoover's in June 2000 as its Chief Operating Officer for Europe, and subsequently relocated to the company's Austin headquarters, where he has held senior roles in Product, Marketing and Technology. He previously served as Marketing Director for Dun & Bradstreet Europe, coordinating key initiatives across Europe, with particular focus on report products delivered via the Internet. Russell joined D&B in the U.S. in 1986 as Development Manager, responsible for introducing PC technology to the data gathering and reporting function. He later held more senior technology positions, with responsibility for both collection and marketing systems.

Before repatriating to the U.K., Russell worked on projects designed to enhance the global position of D&B, most notably the design, development and implementation of the world's largest business database, WorldBase. Before moving to the U.S. to work for CIGNA Insurance, he held a variety of technology consulting assignments in the U.K. and started up his own consultancy. Russell holds a Master's degree from the University of Warwick Business School, England.

Karen Kennedy

Executive Vice President, Sales

Karen Kennedy joined Hoover's in June 2008 as executive vice president of sales, where she is responsible for Hoover's go-to-market initiatives, sales excellence, and customer experience and loyalty programs. She brings to Hoover's more than 20 years of experience in sales, sales operations, and the technology sector.

Before joining Hoover's, Karen was vice president of global sales support, development and operations for Unisys Corporation. Prior to Unisys, she held senior roles at Compaq and Hewlett-Packard, including director of inside sales, director of total customer experience, and global account executive for the Walt Disney Companies. Before entering into the technology industry, Karen utilized her entrepreneurial skills to partner in the creation of two successful retail businesses.

Karen holds a PhD in Leadership Theories from Capella University, as well as an M.B.A. in Marketing from Pepperdine University and a B.A. in Social Sciences from the University of California at Berkeley. She is actively involved in several charities, including AutismSpeaks and Habitat for Humanity.

Jim Currie

Vice President, Sales and Operations

Jim Currie was appointed as Hoover's Vice President of Sales and Operations in March 2007. In this role, he is responsible for increasing sales in the SMB space and growing the company's base of loyal customers. Jim has been with Hoover's for ten years, serving in a number of different roles, including successful leadership of Hoover's customer training, customer service and loyalty marketing teams, as well as the company's account services and acquisition teams.

In the past five years, Jim's leadership on Hoover's account services team directly contributed to that team's consistent over-performance. He helped lead Hoover's subscription sales efforts from the time of Hoover's debut as a public company in 1999, through D&B's acquisition of Hoover's in 2003, to the present. He has helped grow Hoover's from $1.5 million/year in revenues, to more than $85 million/year in revenues.

Much of Jim's career has focused on serving small and midsized businesses, an important target market for Hoover's. Prior to joining Hoover's, he served as a field sales account executive for MCI Sales, and also held several call center sales leadership positions. Jim holds both a BA and MA in Economics from the University of Delaware.

Chris Warwick

Vice President, Product Development and Management

Chris Warwick was appointed as Hoover's Vice President of Product Development and Management in November 2007. In this role she is responsible for the delivery of new customer-focused products and executing product line strategies for specific market segments. Chris joined Hoover's in 2004 as Vice President of Acquisition Marketing and Site Development. She was responsible for driving the overall performance of Hoover's online and direct marketing efforts to drive qualified leads, unique visitor traffic and brand awareness.

Before joining Hoover's, Chris served as Director of Customer Development for Bath & Body Works, where she was responsible for the development and delivery of customer communications including direct mail, e-mail, in-store and alternative marketing channels. Prior to this, she was Vice President of Consumer Marketing and Merchandising for Travelocity, where she drove the company's CRM and database marketing initiatives, as well as all relationship and customer contact marketing and channel merchandising.

Chris's early career included roles within media mogul Meredith Corporation, including Associate Director of Database Marketing, Business Development Manager for Better Homes and Gardens Brand Licensing, and Promotion Manager for Ladies' Home Journal. She holds a B.A. in Media Arts, Radio and Television, from the University of Arizona.

Mike Clark

Vice President, Finance

Mike Clark joined the Hoover's finance team in January 2006 and assumed the role of Vice President in November 2007. He has oversight responsibility for the company's financial functions as well as Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) compliance.

Prior to joining Hoover's, Mike held various management roles with HP, Compaq, and Tandem Computers. He has management experience in many functional areas, including finance, operations, product development, and program management. The early part of Mike's career was spent in the financial services industry, where he held portfolio accounting jobs with The Benham Group and Charles Schwab.

Mike holds a BBA in finance from Georgia State University, a Masters in Computer Information Systems from UOP, and is completing coursework for an MBA from Baylor University. Mike is married with two children and resides in Cedar Park, Texas.

Mamie Jones

Vice President, Technology

Mamie Jones joined Hoover's as vice president of technology in June 2008. In this role, she is responsible for helping to drive technology transformation for all of the company's Internet initiatives. Mamie, with more than 20 years of software development experience, joined Hoover's from Dell, where she served as director of IT.

Prior to her years at Dell, Mamie served as senior vice president of product development for Travelocity.com, a subsidiary of Sabre Holdings, where she oversaw core technology initiatives and product development for the company. She joined the Travelocity technology team a year before the company launched in 1996 and fulfilled a critical role in the successful implementation of the company's Internet initiatives.

Mamie began her career at American Airlines in 1987, joining the airline's Decision Technologies business unit in 1989 where she helped design and build Sabre's Qik Access family of products. Throughout her career, Mamie's focus has been software design and development, for which she has proven her leadership abilities by creating best-in-class teams dedicated to implementing high-quality, innovative products and services. Mamie holds an M.S. in Education from Portland State University and is a member of the CIO Executive Council and Women in Technology International.

Mark Walters

Vice President, Advertising Sales & Operations

Mark Walters joined Hoover's in June 2008 as vice president of advertising sales and operations. Prior to joining Hoover's, Mark served as associate publisher of online advertising for Newsweek magazine, where he was responsible for increasing revenue by more than 450%.

Mark joined Newsweek from Publicitas North America, where he served as director of sales and managing director of integrated media. Publicitas is a division of PubliGroup, a multi-billion dollar global media services organization serving clients such as Forbes, USA Today, MP3.com and Bloomberg.

Mark's career began in 1992 when he became a sales executive with TMP Worldwide. He then joined Texas Business Magazine as associate publisher. Following his three years with this magazine, Mark ran online advertising for Dallasnews.com and Guidelive.com for the Belo Corporation.

Mark has extensive experience creating integrated sales teams for traditional publishers and expanding the scope of print and broadcast media sales teams to identify, develop, and integrate online opportunities. Mark has 15 years of integrated media and operations management experience.

Heidi Tucker

Vice President, Business Development

Heidi Tucker serves as Vice President of Business Development at Hoover's, a D&B Company. In this role, she is responsible for driving all business development efforts, including identifying and building new alliances, partnerships, and acquisitions.

Prior to this, Heidi was Senior Vice President of Enterprise Sales at First Research, where she led the company's North American expansion into new sectors: telecom, technology, and business services. Prior to joining First Research, Heidi was president of Off My Ears, a marketing and business development consulting practice. Previously, she was Vice President of Marketing for Courtlink Corporation, now a division of LexisNexis. She also spent 18 years with Bank of America, holding many roles in finance and marketing, culminating in the role of Senior Vice President of Marketing for Bank of America's Small Business Banking division.

Heidi holds an MBA from the University of Washington and a BA in International Relations and Economics from Mills College. She is currently president of the board of International Ballet Theatre and a member of the Board of Directors of Girl Scouts of Western Washington. Heidi has also been a member of two international diplomatic trade delegations: Baltics (2005) and China (2008). She resides in the Seattle area with her husband and two children.