William E. Kreth

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Résumé

At-a-glance: Senior Director at both Prodigy and Time Warner's Road Runner; Co-founder of both HotWired and Wired; early member of the R&D team at Apple Multimedia Lab. Marketing Strategist at Agillion (a B2B ASP startup); and founder of media personalization software company Lifeset.com. Veteran member of five startups and six product launch teams since 1992.

Areas of interest: strategic 1to1 marketing solutions; customer analytics and segmentation; customer relationship management (eCRM); e-business collaboration; XML, metadata, data mining, e-commerce; Internet service/product positioning and branding strategies; customer experience and website usability issues; "opt-in" and permission-based models of deep personalization, customization, and privacy; broadband (esp. residential LAN applications); wireless; smart cards; rich media/information delivery and notification.


4/1999 – 1/2000
Strategist - Marketing and Content
Agillion, Inc. –– Austin, TX

Recruited by Chairman Frank Moss to help plan and implement marketing, branding, editorial and content position strategies for Agillion, a customer-focused B2B Internet ASP providing eCRM solutions and custom extranet pages to small and mid-sized businesses. Accomplishments:

  • Launch campaign that resulted in successful $45m second-round funding.
  • Researched and evaluated strategic service partnerships and MOUs.
  • Selected, edited, and positioned Web, marcom and branding content.
  • Delivered white papers outlining personalized B2B customer retention programs.
  • Managed staff build-out of a small-business community space that included opt-in mailing lists, message boards, and content features designed to market and promote Agillion's ASP model to small business.



11/1996 – 3/1999
Senior Director - Content and Marketing Strategy
Road Runner & Road Runner Pro – Time Warner Cable – Portland, ME 

Recruited by TW Cable News Director Sean Callahan to help create and launch Road Runner - Maine (a pilot market for Time Warner's high-speed cable modem service). Responsible for marketing and promotion of Road Runner Pro (the first Road Runner B2B marketing initiative in the nation). With over 25% penetration of 110,000+ homes and businesses passed, Maine is still the most successful cable modem launch in the U.S. The site (using Vignette's Story Server) featured the following integrated, productized deliverables:

  • VPN's, server co-location, SQL databases, work from home/telecommuting solutions, hosting, & e-commerce.
  • Syndicated broadband content from FasTV, IFC, Bravo, History Channel, MuchMusic, and Shockwave.
  • Geo-coded, personalized mapping and trip routing.
  • Acted as Consultant to TWC and Road Runner national offices on B2B marketing analysis, positioning strategy, legal policies, streaming media programming, and technology implementation.
  • Managed local on-site staff, interns and freelance contributors.
  • Helped with the marketing plan for TWC's LineRunner.com - a VoiceOverIP telephony service, now in beta.
  • Assisted in the planning and creation of GetItTV.com, a 24hr. B2B channel/service for TWC customers.
  • Mentored national and regional TWC/RR Content Directors for launches in new markets.



7/1995 – 10/1996
Senior Director - Content and Technology Integration
Prodigy Services Company – NYC and White Plains, NY

Recruited by Prodigy CEO Ed Bennett to help conceive, create and implement an original, "Internet Centric" Prodigy service - a high-profile "turnaround" project for the entire company. Worked closely with internal IT, Marketing, Strategy and Content Development Departments, as well as with McKinsey & Company consultants, on "Project Wildfire" - the prototype of what would become Prodigy's current value-added ISP service. Leading the Advanced Design Group - a team of 15 people in Prodigy's NYC offices with a budget of $1.5m - I championed the creation, integration and marketing of the following applications/sites:

  • Online calendars.
  • Games, Java applets and other tools.
  • Streaming video and audio.
  • Stim.com – a web site for an 18 to 35 year-old demographic.



1/1994 – 6/1995
Section Director - New Product Creation and Marketing Strategy
HotWired Ventures, LLC – San Francisco, CA

Selected by Publisher Louis Rossetto to co-found and create HotWired - the pioneering web site that first brought serialized text, animation, interactive content, threaded messaging, and the advertising banner to the Web. Accomplishments/deliverables:

  • Developed and marketed Club Wired, a pioneering forum for regular chat events and discussions with personalities and celebrities from the worlds of entertainment, publishing, science, art, and technology.
  • Created and edited the HotFlash weekly newsletter - a 250,000+ circulation opt-in e-mail list.
  • Led an in-house R&D team working on business models for interactive video services and distribution/syndication options for HotWired and affiliated Wired content and branding.



4/1992 - 12/1993
Marketing Director / Online Marketing Director
Wired Ventures, Ltd. – San Francisco, CA

First employee and director hired by founding team of Publisher Louis Rossetto and President Jane Metcalfe to create, market, promote and launch Wired Magazine (1.5% equity shareholder). Accomplishments/deliverables:

  • Planned the launch publicity/advertising campaign for Wired (including editing a thirty-second, nationally broadcast television commercial for Wired on the Avid video editing system).
  • Project and creative lead (working with an outside ad agency) of a high-impact outdoor bus, billboard, and construction-site poster campaign in seven major U.S. cities.
  • Tested and launched both targeted direct-mail campaigns and opt-in email retention marketing efforts.
  • Created and hosted both the private (pre-launch '92) and public (post-launch '93) conferences for Wired on The WELL online community.
  • Negotiated Wired's first contract with AOL, and marketed all Wired issues on the service.
  • Researched and created media databases; managed merge/purge of in-house mailing lists.
  • Represented and spoke at new media/technology/Internet conferences and trade shows (i.e. - Jupiter, Kagan).
  • Wrote featured articles for the magazine analyzing emerging technology, industry trends and players.

.
9/1989 - 11/1991
Research and Development Team Member
Apple Multimedia Lab and Apple Discovery Studios – San Francisco, CA

Tech Manager and Network Administrator for Apple Computer's original Multimedia Lab and Discovery Studios (R&D facilities for Apple's first experimental, pre-Web educational multimedia software programs). Assisted in:

  • Production of award-winning interactive joint-ventures - producing videodiscs and companion CD-ROMs with the Smithsonian, LucasFilm, National Geographic, WBGH-NOVA, ABC News, and Audubon Society.
  • Development and implementation of "The Visual Almanac" videodisc (one of the first efforts to combine hypertext, searchable audio/video, still images, database and software commands for Macintosh users).
  • Prototyping of a searchable videodisc using bar-codes on real-world objects that corresponded to video segments on the disc. ·
  • Prototyping EZTV - an early hypermedia interface for navigating digital interactive television.
Related Professional Experience and Skills:
  • Considerable public speaking/presentation experience at conferences: Jupiter, Kagan, E3, SXSW, Newspaper Assoc. of America, CMJ, Gavin, NARAS, SIGGRAPH, NAB, others.
  • Was invited to be a featured Industry Analyst and Speaker on the "Killer Broadband Applications" panel at SXSW 2000 Interactive Festival. Arranged and moderated an additional special marketing panel featuring "Cluetrain Manifesto" author Christopher Locke.
  • Researched, developed and wrote detailed business plans, executive summaries, partnership agreements, and VC/angel investor pitches for two startups - bizworker.com and lifeset.com.
  • Current host of the discussion forum on personalization.com.
  • Production Assistant (PA) on a Compact Disc-Interactive (CD-i) game title for videogame development house P.F. Magic.
  • Internship with audio post-production house Focused Audio; PA on the soundtrack of a feature-length film.

Media Writing/Coverage:

  • Published in Wired, Digital Mogul, HotWired, Nick At Night, WARD Music Monthly, OPTION, and MacUser UK magazines.
  • Guest editor - “Focus On: Desktop Video” for Film/Tape World (an S.F.-based trade magazine) – 1991.
  • Contributing editor - “The Happy Mutant Handbook” (guide to contemporary pop and sub-cultural trends) – published by Riverhead Books (Putnam/Berkeley) – 1995.
  • Interviewed by - Wall Street Journal, New York Times, San Francisco Examiner, Austin American-Statesman, InfoWorld, Interactive Week, PC Week, Asahi (Japan), and on RAI-TV (the Italian television network).

Volunteerism:

  • Founder/Executive Director - The WebPort Foundation, a non-profit organization promoting software development in Greater Portland, ME (recognized by Maine Governor Angus King for innovation) – 1998.
  • Founded - NetDemo Northeast - a day-long web-technology conference in Portland, ME – 1998.
  • Secretary - Maine Software Developers Association (MeSDA) – 1998-1999.
  • Assistant - Macintosh (now Intel) New Music Festival – NYC, NY – 1996.
  • Judge – Interactive Media – National Educational Media Network “Apple Awards” – 1992.
  • Volunteer – Conflict resolution mediator – Community Boards of San Francisco – 1991.

Education:

  • New School University, New York, NY - Adult B.A. Program, studies in Humanities - 1996 - 1997.
  • University of California, Berkeley, CA – School of Journalism – Magazine Publishing Program – Certificates in Periodical Marketing and Circulation Management – 1991-1992.
  • University of Oregon, Eugene, OR – Telecommunications and Film Program – 1982-1984.

    Personal references available upon request.