Press Releases
Oct 7, 2010SwarmBuilder Appoints Tom Stockham as New CEO
Experienced internet executive brings strong leadership, entrepreneurial passion and proven ability to grow businesses
SALT LAKE CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SwarmBuilder, whose products and services connect brands with sales influencers to create brand advocates, today announced that Tom Stockham has been named as the company’s new chief executive officer. Mr. Stockham previously served for several years as a founding investor and member of the board of directors at SwarmBuilder before being named CEO. He replaces Duncan Robins, who has served as CEO since March of 2007 and led the company through a period of dramatic growth culminating in the company being recently named as the 100th fastest growing private company on the prestigious Inc. 500 list.
In his new role, Mr. Stockham will use his considerable expertise as an experienced executive and strategic entrepreneur to drive forward growth initiatives that will widen SwarmBuilder’s customer base and will create new revenue opportunities for the company. Under Mr. Stockham’s leadership, SwarmBuilder is poised to transition from a small business into a larger organization whose products and services have a direct impact on the ability for its brand customers and retail partners to increase sales.
“We’re excited to have Tom leading the team,” said Scott Petty, SwarmBuilder board member and partner at vSpring Capital. “With Tom’s track record as an executive with numerous notable companies and his rich entrepreneurial background, we’re eager to see him lead SwarmBuilder to even greater growth.”
Mr. Stockham has acted as a senior executive for a number of extremely well known and well regarded companies where he has built a significant record of achievement and value creation. He was previously the CEO of Ancestry.com, where more than one million paid subscribers are able to connect with their family histories. He also served as president of Ticketmaster.com, now part of Live Nation Entertainment, the world’s largest live entertainment company. In the late ‘90s, Mr. Stockham was part of the early team at Citysearch and acted as the general manager of one of the original Citysearch offices.
“SwarmBuilder has already made an important contribution to the outdoor and sporting goods industries and I’m excited to work with the company’s management team, talented staff and customers to extend this success,” said Mr. Stockham. “There are extraordinary opportunities ahead for SwarmBuilder and I look forward to spearheading our growth strategies while maintaining our commitment to our more than 225 brand customers, 25,000 retail partners, and 450,000 members.”
About vSpring
vSpring Capital (www.vspring.com) is an early-stage venture capital firm with $400 million under management. With offices in Utah and New Mexico, vSpring invests in information technology and life science companies that have the potential to transform their markets and create lasting value. The firm recently closed its third fund raising over $160M in committed capital. vSpring is one of the most active early-stage venture investors within the Rocky Mountain region.
About SwarmBuilder, Inc.
SwarmBuilder, Inc., the parent company of 3point5.com.com and ProMotive.com, is the intersection where brands and sales influencers meet to create brand advocates. The company identifies and connects brands with this powerful audience – retail sales staff, VIPs and Pros – and converts them into true brand advocates that use word of mouth marketing to share their personal experiences and deep product knowledge in order to drive sales. SwarmBuilder focuses on creating an aggregated and certifying a network of sales influencers, providing customized trainings for them, managing product seeding programs at deep discounts, all the while maintaining a strong engagement that fosters long-term relationships between brands and influencers. SwarmBuilder has connected more than 450,000 brand advocates with more than 225 brands and thousands of Retail locations. www.SwarmBuilder.com