Press
Efficient Frontier Appoints Ellen Siminoff Chairman of the Board
President James Beriker Named Chief Executive Officer and Director
Mountain View, CA - February 5, 2008 - Efficient Frontier, the worldwide leader in providing search engine marketing technology and services to top-tier advertisers, today announced that Ellen Siminoff has been appointed chairman of the board. Siminoff assumes the position of chairman after leading the company through four highly successful years as CEO and serving on its board of directors. During her tenure, Efficient Frontier grew from a team of eight to a market-leading company of over 170 employees managing $450 million in annual search spend for 250 advertisers worldwide. As chairman, Siminoff will continue to actively guide and participate in the growth initiatives and strategic direction of the company. James Beriker, who serves as president, will succeed her as CEO and has been appointed to the board of directors.
"Ellen came to Efficient Frontier from Yahoo! with a reputation as one of the early business innovators and dealmakers of the Internet," said Geoff Yang, Efficient Frontier director and founding partner of Redpoint Ventures. "Under her leadership, Efficient Frontier has grown from a small group of technologists into the largest independent SEM provider in the world. Efficient Frontier's success is a testament to Ellen's unquestionable dedication and leadership talents and cements her standing in the Silicon Valley as a company builder and thought leader."
Efficient Frontier was the first marketing service provider to apply portfolio theory, used on Wall Street to trade securities, to the optimization of the paid keyword search market. Efficient Frontier's algorithms use historical data to model all possible bid combinations across a portfolio of keywords. This process determines the optimal allocation of budget to achieve the best possible return - the so-called "efficient frontier." Advertisers also benefit from Efficient Frontier's experienced team of search marketing experts whose strategic insights further boost campaign performance.
"Efficient Frontier has reshaped the SEM industry by applying advanced technology to the optimization of keywords," said Siminoff. "Our approach is highly scalable to millions of keywords, brings visibility and predictability to opaque search marketplaces, and drives unmatched budget efficiencies and growth for clients. The next generation of our platform will enable our clients to apply our algorithms to emerging biddable marketplaces, including display and social networks, as well as optimize advertising spend across multiple channels. I look forward to working with our strong executive bench to continue to steer Efficient Frontier's strategy to meet the evolving needs of our world-class clients."
In his role as CEO, Beriker will be responsible for the overall management of the business, with a focus on driving growth, product innovation and global expansion. A seasoned executive, Beriker has significant experience leading technology companies through their later stages of development and a deep understanding of the search and media industry. Prior to Efficient Frontier, Beriker held vice president, senior vice president and general manager positions at ValueClick, a leading provider of online marketing services through its ValueClick Media, Mediaplex, Commission Junction and PriceRunner brands. Previously, he was the founder and CEO of Search123, a pay-per-click search engine platform that launched in October 2000 and was acquired by ValueClick in May 2003. Prior to Search123, Beriker practiced corporate law, representing early and mid-stage technology companies and entrepreneurs.
"Ellen and the entire Efficient Frontier team have developed a game-changing offering for advertisers," said Beriker. "As CEO, I am committed to working with the team to build on the company's strong foundation and leadership position. Our vision is to be the dominant worldwide optimization platform for all digital advertising, and we are well on our way to achieving this goal."
About Efficient Frontier
Efficient Frontier is the market and technology leader in providing search marketing solutions for global advertisers. The company provides the most powerful, most effective search engine marketing technology, together with comprehensive strategic and tactical services, to ensure that clients with large-scale, complex search marketing campaigns are able to achieve the highest possible return on investment. The largest advertisers in the most competitive markets use Efficient Frontier to achieve unprecedented levels of search marketing efficiencies, scalability, risk reduction and campaign growth. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, CA with offices in New York, the United Kingdom, France and India and licensing partnerships in Japan and Australia. For more information, please visit www.efrontier.com and subscribe to the Efficient Frontier blog at blog.efrontier.com.
