GiftCertificates.com adds five executives to its management team

To help manage projected 25-35% growth over the next few years, GiftCertificates.com has added five executives to its management team. The newcomers bring experience from retailers including Williams-Sonoma and from content management provider Akamai Technologies Inc. "Their diverse experience with world-class brands such as Disney, Eddie Bauer, Saks Fifth Avenue, Nextel and Voicestream will complement and enhance our company`s strengths,” says Michael Ahern, CEO of GiftCertificates.com.

The company, which posted a 35% rise in sales last year, to a record $95 million from $70.4 million in 2002, is seeing strong growth in both its corporate accounts and consumer business, says Kathy Gersch, vice president of marketing, merchandising and business development. “We’re very excited about both business lines and we’re bringing in this new team to better serve both,” Gersch says.

GiftCertificates currently does about 65% of its business with some 20,000 corporate accounts, serving business clients that provide certificates to their customers, employees and trading partners. The remainder of its business is in direct sales to consumers.

To better focus on its consumer channel, GiftCertificates named Thorsten Gant to the new position of director of consumer product management. Gant previously served as vice president of marketing at management consulting firm The Customer Group and director of product marketing at Akamai. Gant reports to Gersch.

GiftCertificates also named as vice president of marketing Jill Ambrose, who most recently served as vice president of corporate product and market development at online image provider Corbis and has worked at Disney Attractions Inc. The company named as merchandising director Alison Norton, a former merchandise manager at Eddie Bauer who has also worked at Williams-Sonoma and Saks Fifth Avenue. Norton will head GiftCertificates’ merchant network, comprised of about 200 retailers that redeem its gift certificates. Ambrose and Norton will serve both the consumer and corporate account businesses and report to Gersch.

The company appointed as corporate sales director Jim Brundage, who formerly worked as regional sales director for Voicestream Wireless, and it named Greg York, a software engineer, as director of development for web site and back-office services.