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AutoWeb Strengthens Executive Team with Two Key New
Hires
IRVINE, Calif., December 17, 2018 — AutoWeb, Inc.
(Nasdaq: AUTO), a robust digital marketing platform providing
advertising solutions for automotive dealers and OEMs, has appointed J.P. Hannan as
executive vice president, chief financial officer and Tim Branham
as senior vice president, chief technology officer effective
December 17, 2018.
Hannan
succeeds Interim CFO Wes Ozima, who will remain at AutoWeb in his
prior role as senior vice president, controller, and Branham will
be assuming a newly created position at the company.
Hannan
is a media veteran with more than 20 years of public and private
CFO experience across various organizations, including Social
Reality (SRAX), Cumulus Media (CMLS), Modern Luxury Media and
Lincoln Financial Media Company (LNC). While at Cumulus Media from
2008-2016, he was instrumental in driving the company’s
financial turnaround, resulting in significant cost reductions and
increases in various productivity outputs, while managing all
investor, analyst and auditor relationships. During his career,
Hannan has successfully completed over $5 billion in financing and
M&A transactions within the media industry.
Along
with his CFO experience, Hannan has served on the board of
directors for several technology and media companies, including
Asian Media, Regent Communications (RGCI), Bullpen Ventures and
iBlast Networks. He also currently serves as the chairman of the
board of Barefoot Luxury, an experiential travel company that
operates boutique hotels and resorts.
Branham
brings more than 25 years of experience in technology
infrastructure and strategy to AutoWeb. Most recently, he served as
a partner at Perficient, Inc. (PRFT), a leading digital
transformation consulting firm. Since August 2018, Branham has been
working closely with AutoWeb’s senior team as a consultant to
evaluate all critical systems, processes and support functions
across the IT infrastructure.
Prior
to Perficient, Branham served as chief information officer for
Fujitsu Americas, a global information and communications
technology company, where he was responsible for overseeing the IT
strategy and operations of its North American division. While at
Fujitsu, he was pivotal in reducing operating expenses across the
entire IT department through contract renegotiations, moving 75% of
application server workloads to the cloud, reorganizing support
staff and outsourcing non-essential infrastructure operations. Tim
is a decorated U.S. Army veteran, having begun his career in the
Infantry as a Ranger.
“Hiring
J.P. and Tim marks the next critical step in strengthening our team
to support our new strategic direction,” said Jared Rowe,
president and CEO of AutoWeb. “As discussed on our last
earnings call, investing in our people and technology will be
instrumental in returning AutoWeb to growth and margin expansion in
2019. J.P. and Tim each bring unique backgrounds and skillsets to
fill critical roles, and their leadership experience will be an
invaluable asset to our finance and technology teams.
“I
want to thank Wes for his exceptional support as interim CFO over
the last nine months. His work was imperative to our strategic
review and we look forward to his ongoing support within our
accounting organization.
“As
we look ahead, we will continue investing in our people as we
expect to fill additional critical roles in the coming months. We
also remain committed to investing in our technology infrastructure
to better integrate our operations, improve the pace of change and
gain more control over internal investments and outcomes. I’m
very pleased with the progress we have made as our turnaround is
proceeding according to plan, and we look forward to executing on
our various strategic initiatives in 2019.”
Inducement Options
As an
inducement for joining the company, Hannan and Branham were granted
options to acquire 120,000 and 100,000 shares of the
company’s common stock, respectively, at an exercise price
equal to $2.30 per share, which was the closing price of the common
stock on The Nasdaq Capital Market on the December 17, 2018 grant
date.
The
options have a term of seven years, and one-third of the options
will vest on the first anniversary of the grant date and one
thirty-sixth of the options shall vest on each successive monthly
anniversary of the grant date for the following twenty-four months.
Vesting of the options will accelerate upon the occurrence of
certain events, including upon a change in control of the company
or upon termination of the grantee’s employment by the
company without cause or by the grantee for good
reason.
About AutoWeb, Inc.
AutoWeb,
Inc. provides high-quality consumer leads, clicks and associated
marketing services to automotive dealers and manufacturers
throughout the United States. The company also provides consumers
with robust and original online automotive content to help them
make informed car-buying decisions. The company pioneered the
automotive Internet in 1995 and has since helped tens of millions
of automotive consumers research vehicles; connected thousands of
dealers nationwide with motivated car buyers; and has helped every
major automaker market its brand online.
Investors
and other interested parties can receive AutoWeb news alerts and
special event invitations by accessing the online registration form
at http://investor.autoweb.com/alerts.cfm.
Company Contact
J.P.
Hannan
Chief
Financial Officer
949-437-4651
jp.hannan@autoweb.com
Investor Relations Contact
Sean
Mansouri or Cody Slach
Liolios
Investor Relations
949-574-3860
AUTO@liolios.com