Robert Smith
Chairman and Co-Founder
Robert Smith is Chairman and Co-Founder of Bright Hub lending his more than 20 years of experience creating and managing interactive community-based businesses to the role. His extensive experience in general management, business development, sales and marketing and product development has helped Bright Hub establish a strong foothold in the marketplace. He has served as Chairman of the Board since 2006.
Smith is currently the CEO of iBelong Networks, a community publishing company enabling organizations to create viral networks of people and content, which he also co-founded. For several years prior to his involvement with Bright Hub and iBelong Networks, Smith led one of the first internet business incubators in the nation, Vector Development, LLC, where he worked directly with Internet-based start-up companies as both a strategic advisor and investor. He helped found and guide companies in e-government, e-commerce, identity monitoring/management, community-based widget design and nonprofit, community-based mapping.
Smith was a member of the AOL management team where he helped large media companies such as the New York Times and the Tribune Company create their first online community ventures. He went on to serve as General Manager of all of AOL’s community programming operations. He was founder of AOL’s Digital City, the first nation-wide city guide service, growing that business to over $100 million in sales.
Smith is a retired United States Naval Officer and holds a MBA in Marketing Concentrations: Advertising and Electronic Publishing from George Washington University and a BA in Political Science from the University of Southern California.
Bill Phelan
Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder
As CEO and Co-Founder, Bill Phelan brings more than 20 years of operational, technical and financial experience to Bright Hub. Phelan is an accomplished entrepreneur and leader having led several ventures through the start up years and successfully managing them through significant acquisitions by large public companies. He has spearheaded the creation of Bright Hub’s vision and positioning and established a business model that is driving the next-generation of social commerce networking.
Prior to co-founding Bright Hub, Phelan was founder and CEO of OneMade, an “eBay like”
e-commerce marketplace exchange that was successfully sold to America Online in May 2003. He also served as the Chief Strategist and COO of the technology and network services business for Florists Transworld Delivery (FTD™), the world’s largest floral technology services organization connecting over 20,000 domestic florists and more than 40,000 international florists through an e-commerce floral order exchange, the Mercury Network™, and led the company’s successful acquisition by Leonard Green and Associates in February 2004.
Phelan serves on Bright Hub’s board of directors and is also currently on the board of MTI. He holds degrees from City University of New York-Baruch College and Siena College.
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Justin Law
Chief Technology Officer & Vice President Product Strategy
Justin Law has more than a decade of accomplishments in technology and product leadership in the mobile, search, advertising and e-commerce industries. This experience spans Fortune 500, mid-sized companies and venture backed technology start-ups with broad ranging responsibilities including general management, team leadership, business strategy, product launch and market share expansion.
Prior to joining Bright Hub, Law was the Senior Director of Mobile Search at Infospace, Inc., where he was responsible for the development and distribution of Mobile Search engines across Tier 1 carriers in the United States and Europe. Before joining Infospace, Law was a Product Principal at America Online, where he was responsible for the invention, development and deployment of patent pending technologies in both web search and advertising. He joined AOL through its acquisition of OneMade, Inc., a venture financed firm that operated an "eBay like" e-commerce marketplace exchange, where he served as the CTO and VP Product.
Law holds an MS in Chemistry from Tufts University.
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Tami Olheiser
Chief Finance and Administration Officer
Tami Olheiser has over 14 years of high tech experience spanning software and wireless telecommunications. As a key member of the Bright Hub management team, Olheiser is leading financial planning & operations and administration.
Olheiser joined Bright Hub from IA Systems where she was the Vice President of Finance and Administration where she was responsible for all finance, accounting, human resources and legal functions. Prior to IA Systems, Olheiser was with Microsoft (Business Solutions group) charged with building out the division’s finance team, developing procedures for forecasting and reporting, creating profitability and investment models and overall P&L management.
Olheiser holds an MBA from Sage Graduate School and an undergraduate degree from Minnesota State University.
Kim Su Lloyd
Vice President, Marketing and Community
Kim Lloyd brings more than 18 years of experience in product marketing and management in the software industry to her role as Vice President, Marketing and Community. In this capacity, Lloyd oversees the Bright Hub freelance writer and editor network consisting of hundreds of members. She is responsible for managing all aspects of the web community, including the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) team. Lloyd leads Bright Hub corporate communications, including branding, product strategy and marketing, marketing communications programs, maintaining the website along with the user/consumer experience and building market thought leadership. Lloyd serves as a key member of the executive leadership team contributing to the company’s business model, growth plans, revenue plans and operational aspects of the business.
Prior to joining Bright Hub, Lloyd led product marketing for MapInfo Corporation. She was responsible for the product marketing and launch team averaging 50 product launches per quarter. She also drove the rebranding and market positioning of the company’s entire product portfolio. Lloyd also held positions at GlobalSpec where she was Director of Enterprise Solutions.
Lloyd holds a BS in Information Systems Management from the State University of New York, College at Buffalo and an MBA in Management and Technology from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute – Lally School of Management. Lloyd is actively involved in the RPI Women in Entrepreneurship and Severino center events and has been a speaker panelist at its Women in Entrepreneurship event.
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Tracy Sabattis
Director, SEO Strategy
Tracy Sabattis has more than 12 years of experience in Internet marketing. She is responsible for directing Bright Hub’s strategy to consistently increase search engine visibility. Sabattis oversees a team of search engine optimization (SEO) experts and applies this expertise to the entire Bright Hub writer community to address the needs of the search user market. Prior to joining Bright Hub, Sabattis was with Mannix Marketing where she helped guide the growth and development of the SEO department as well as led the Internet marketing team in the production and launch of the company's key geodomains, such as Albany.com and Saratoga.com. She has successfully managed hundreds of SEO and Pay per click (PPC) campaigns for businesses in a wide range of industries.
Tracy began working with Bright Hub on a consulting basis in 2007, joining the company full-time in March 2008. She is responsible for the company's strategy to consistently grow search engine visibility by directing the SEO team and equipping the Bright Hub community with ways to address the needs of the search user market.
Sabattis is the key laison for the writer and editorial community for Bright Hub and is responsible for Bright Hub University. Sabattis holds a BA in English from the University of Miami.
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