I have over 25 years of Yellow Pages industry experience in business development, operations, and product development functions in both domestic and international markets, on both print and electronic products. My main work efforts are as Publisher of the YP Talk newsletter (www.YPTalk.com) an information source for the Yellow Pages industry. I also am a “head hunter”/recruiter with Hawthorne Executive Search, a specialty search firm where I complete searches nationally/internationally with a focus in the advertising, publishing and new media industries.

Prior to these current efforts I was VP-Business Development at Yellow Pages I.M.A. (now YPA), the leading Association for the $26 billion dollar Yellow Pages industry. My efforts there included positioning the industry as a leading advertising media with key external groups, development and implementation of an order processing system through which $2 billion in advertising orders flow, continued developments to the industry’s Rates & Data products, and expansion of its co-op programs. In this role I had responsibility for 80% of the Associations non-dues related revenue.

Prior to YPIMA, I had the unique opportunity to lead the start-up of operations for ChinaBig, a print and Internet Yellow Pages company based in the People’s Republic of China and Hong Kong. The ChinaBig effort was part of a seven year stint at R. H. Donnelley. My other efforts at RHD included coordinated the transition of publishing services to a totally new company-wide system, and the relocation/re-staffing of the publishing operations to a new facility in Raleigh, NC.

My early career was at Bell Atlantic (now Verizon) where my last position was as Director - Multimedia Product Development. In this role, I led initiatives to develop and implement new electronic directory products for consumers that have become the foundation for many of today’s IYP/local search products. Outside of work, I am the former Mayor of the town of Sykesville, Maryland. I hold a B.S. in economics from State University of New York at Stony Brook, an M.B.A. from the University of Baltimore and a US Patent for an Enhanced Access Telecommunications Device (#5218633).

For fun, I am an avid (ok, maybe fanatic) golfer. My wife Priscilla and I have two grown kids (actually people — they aren’t kids anymore) – a son Kenny, living/working in Hong Kong, and a daughter, Kylene, still enjoying (NOT) living at home while working for a local bank as a fraud investigator.