WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In preparation for its public launch, Personal (www.personal.com) announced today its new marketing team. Henry “Que” Gaskins, previously of Nike and Reebok, is Chief Marketing Officer, and Denise Simpson, previously of AOL, Ancestry.com and Washington Post Digital, is Vice President of Marketing. The company also announced that Harriet Seitler, Executive Vice President of Harpo Studios, has joined its Board of Advisors.
“Que, Denise and Harriet have all helped build iconic brands with deep emotional and cultural relevance, as well as passionate engagement,” said Shane Green, co-founder and CEO of Personal. “They recognize how life changing it will be to give people real ownership and control over their digital lives, starting with tools to safely and conveniently manage their online identity and data, and to build and leverage their own personal network however they choose.”
Que (pronounced like the letter “Q”) is best known for helping Reebok transform itself from an athletic shoe company to a lifestyle brand by creating the RBK label and forging pioneering relationships with Allen Iverson, Jay-Z, 50 Cent, Scarlett Johansson, the Sundance Film Festival, the Grammy Awards, and other cultural icons. He has held senior marketing positions at Nike and American Eagle Outfitters and was a strategic marketing consultant for several unique start-ups, including Sprii, Samesurf and Sportin’ Scarves. He earned his MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.
Denise comes to Personal as an innovator in online marketing and driving massive engagement with online products. At AOL, she built the company’s online marketing and email channels from scratch and went on to have a number of senior marketing positions at AOL, Ancestry.com and Washington Post Digital, where she worked to build and engage large consumer audiences online. Denise earned her international MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management.
“In addition to our full time team, we are very excited to add Harriet Seitler to our Board of Advisors,” Green continued. “From the first time we met, she saw how important owning your digital identity, data and relationships were to living, to borrow a phrase, your best life. We look forward to her steady and thoughtful guidance.”
As a marketing leader at both MTV and ESPN before joining Harpo Studios, Harriet has had a career at the center of some of the most important cultural brands of our time. At Harpo, Harriet has been responsible for the Oprah/Oprah Winfrey Show brands, with such recognizable campaigns as “Live Your Best Life.” She has overseen strategic sponsorships and oprah.com, and has had a hand in the success of initiatives such as Oprah's groundbreaking "A New Earth" worldwide webcast, Oprah’s Book Club, Oprah's Australian Adventure, and ChristmasKindness in South Africa.
Ashley Peterson, previously with Warner Bros. Pictures and Polo Ralph Lauren, and a recent graduate of Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, has also joined Personal as Director of Product Marketing. Karen Sippel, who joined Personal early in 2011 from global public relations agencies Porter Novelli and Burson-Marsteller, recently took on a new role at the company as Director of Communications and Integrated Marketing. Josh Galper, who was recently hired as Chief Policy Officer and General Counsel at Personal, will also work closely with the marketing team across a range of strategic marketing and communications activities. (See release on Josh Galper at: http://www.personal.com/news)
About Personal
Personal (www.personal.com) provides individuals with the tools to create a private, personal network where they can control their identity and determine access to their data when connecting with people and companies. Built on a secure data vault, individuals can easily import, consolidate and manage just about any information in their lives – all with the peace of mind that their data remains legally theirs and is never used or shared without their permission. Personal is in invitation-only closed beta and will launch publicly in November. www.twitter.com/personal.