January 16 will mark a major personal transition for me as I leave the world of online media for the world of online marketing and global technology. I will be joining Lenovo as Vice-President of Web Marketing, relocating to Raleigh-Durham and the Research Triangle, where I will be working under Lenovo’s Senior Vice-President and Chief Marketing Officer, Deepak Advani.
I’ve had a great eight months at IDG since joining on May 2, 2005, working with the CXO team to realize the value of CIO.com, CMOmagazine.com, CSOonline.com and Darwinmag.com. Traffic is up. Revenues are strong, and the strategy to really make the business takeoff and soar is in place. CEO Mike Friedenberg has put the company on a solid course towards success, and IDG President, Bob Carrigan has imbued IDG’s global publishing operations with the kind of energy and direction that will insure IDG’s continued status as the preeminent global IT publisher. I’d like to thank my team at CXO Online for their dedication and passion. They are:
- Janice Brand, executive editor
- Todd Borglund, chief of production
- Jennifer McCarthy, producer
- William Hall, Custom Producer
- Paul Kerstein, Editor
- Chris Lindquist, Editor
- Joseph Nguyen, Producer
- Irinia Gabecchia, Advertising Operations
- Sandy Kendall, Editor
- Chris Murray, Director of Technology Services
- Sean McCracken, Developer
- Judah Phillips, Analyst
I offer my best wishes to Rob O’Regan, editor-in-chief of CMO Magazine and former McKinsey and PC Week colleague. Lew McCreary, CXO’s editorial director, Abbie Lundberg, editor-in-chief of CIO, and the many colleagues within CXO and across IDG who have made the past eight months some of the most productive and fulfilling of my career.
Now to answer the question, "why Lenovo?"
Lenovo is best known in the U.S. for its acquisition in late 2004 of IBM’s PC business (that acquisition was completed in the spring of 2005), taking over the Think line of laptops and desktops. Prior to that deal, the company had a low profile in the US, known in its former incarnation of Legend Computer, the largest PC company in China, a market that Lenovo still dominates with nearly a third of the market share. Lenovo markets its own line of PCs in Asia, separate from the Think line, and is a major player in cellphones and consumer electronics.
Part of my portfolio of responsibilities will be the blogosphere, to build the Lenovo brand online and develop an online strategy that emphasizes Lenovo’s commitment to "innovation that matters." I’ll be operating globally.
The combination of best-in-class products (I blog this on a ThinkPad and lust for an X41 Tablet), an incredibly dynamic global corporation, the challenge of building the brand (my family and friends all ask, "how do you spell that?"), and my love for the online world ultimately made the decision to join Lenovo the right one.
I will remain reachable through comments here, and on my personal mail david at-sign churbuck dot. com.
david…i wish you the best of luck at lenovo…it was a distinct pleasure working with you at CXO. i have a feeling our paths will cross again very soon–i mean what’s more critical to the success of lenovo’s online marketing than a sound email marketing strategy (ta da!) best, lisa
David,
Good luck to you in your new endeavors! It sounds like a very interesting opportunity!
Francois
Good luck dude. It was a lot of fun. Working with you was like working with a friend from my childhood. Lots of stories, laughs, and general mayhem. But we got some stuff done and made CXO Media a better place when it comes to online. Most importantly we kept a sense of humor. Because when it comes down to it, the internet is still about goofy pictures, humorous animation and porn.
Your new job sounds like an adventure so have fun and let me know what kind of food Chinese people really eat (not the chicken-fingered crap most of us eat).
Site to look at (where I really want to live): http://sv.berkeley.edu/view/index.html
Zik Nak Doo Doo
(good bye in Martian)