Welcome, Jory!

In this morning's press release FeedBlitz announced the election of Jory Des Jardins to our Board. A press release is a relatively formal marketing communications instrument, and so I just wanted to take a few moments to welcome her more personally to the firm.

It's often a cliche to say how excited one is about a new Board member or executive joining a company; so much so that you're really not meant to say that kind of thing in this kind of news item. It's all too often so much yadda yadda.

But the thing is, see, I am excited about Jory joining. So to heck with the cliches! She is the ideal complement to Tom and myself and the others in the business. She's wicked smart, of course, a proven entrepreneur - all good things. Crucially, however, she also brings a whole new set of perspectives and values that Tom and I simply can't bring to the leadership of the company by dint of who we are, where we live and our collective experience and interests so far.

Bottom line, as a result of her joining, FeedBlitz just got a whole lot smarter, our perspectives broader, and our thinking bigger. And, as the release says, Jory has had a great deal of influence in our thinking and planning already. No BS. Jory is a pleasure to work with and it's going to be a fun ride.

So, welcome, Jory - and a huge "thank you" to Guy Kawasaki, who introduced us in the first place.

   

BlogHer Co-Founder Jory Des Jardins Joins the FeedBlitz Board

Des Jardins Broadens Leading RSS to Mail Provider’s Perspective with Expertise on Women’s Issues; Media and Silicon Valley Presence.

SUDBURY, MA — April 10, 2007 — FeedBlitz, LLC, the leading provider of RSS to email newsletter services, today announced the election of Jory Des Jardins to the Executive Board. Des Jardins is co-founder of BlogHer, LLC and an established marketer and writer in both the mainstream media and online. She joins existing Board members Phil Hollows, FeedBlitz’s CEO, and Tom Evslin, FeedBlitz’s principal investor.

“Jory’s election emphasizes FeedBlitz’s commitment to reaching new markets with innovative services,” said Founder and CEO of FeedBlitz, Phil Hollows. “She brings fresh insight to the company around both our personal and commercial customers – advice that is already yielding results.”

Along with co-founding BlogHer, Des Jardins writes on women’s business issues, marketing, blogging, and entrepreneurship for publications including, Fast Company, Inc., Corante, The San Francisco Chronicle Magazine, and The New York Times. Prior to co-founding BlogHer, Jory was Director of Business Development at new media start-up MyPrimeTime and an editor at Time Inc and The New York Times Syndicate. She developed the blog network for the baby boomer media company ThirdAge.

“I was first introduced to FeedBlitz as a user and was struck by how smart it was,” said Des Jardins. “I come from a traditional media background and thought that this product could help bring both traditional publishers into the social media realm, as well as provide bloggers with a professional outreach platform.”

About FeedBlitz

FeedBlitz, LLC was founded in August, 2005 to provide a service to enable marketers, publishers and bloggers to make more effective use of RSS and other blog-based technologies, helping subscribers get the information they want in the format they want. FeedBlitz converts RSS and blog updates into email newsletters delivered daily to subscribers' inboxes. It manages subscriptions, circulation tracking, real-time analytics, and email autoresponders, and is compatible with all major blogging platforms and services.

More information is available at http://www.feedblitz.com/.

About BlogHer, LLC

Founded in February 2005 by Elisa Camahort, Jory Des Jardins and Lisa Stone, BlogHer LLC's mission is to create opportunities for women bloggers to pursue exposure, education, community and economic empowerment. The BlogHer Community (www.blogher.org) is the Web’s number one guide to blogs by women, where 60+ editors write guides to the hottest blogging by women in 20+ popular topics. In 2007, BlogHer will host the BlogHer07 Conference in Chicago (July 27-28), an event that has become the place for men and women bloggers of all stripes to learn and network. The company’s latest initiative is the BlogHer Advertising Network, BlogHer's first qualified, targeted environment for contextual advertising showcasing more than 160 women bloggers across multiple verticals, including parenting, food and lifestyle. For more information visit http://blogherads.com.

More information is available at http://www.blogher.org.