Introducing the CEO Connection with Richard K. Howe

Inuvo:  Hey Rich! Thanks for taking time to talk with us today. We are interested to learn more about the new CEO Connection. We understand going forward this will be a monthly blog post directly from you, discussing your experiences here at Inuvo, or any thoughts you may have on the online advertising industry overall. Can you tell us a bit more about why this has been created and your plans for it?

Rich: Absolutely. Over the past year, Inuvo has made many changes.  Since change was occurring on many levels, it just wasn’t practical or responsible to communicate details of the change as often as our clients and shareholders may have wished. Now that our leadership team is in place and we have eliminated a number of obstacles to growth, we thought this blog would be a good way to keep people informed and correct any inaccuracies that may be out there about our company.

Inuvo: What exactly do you mean by inaccuracies?

Rich:  In the absence of detailed information, each of us fills in the gaps with our own assumptions. In a time of economic turmoil, like we have experienced over the last 18 months, there is a higher probability than not that the assumptions will be negative.  A point of example for Inuvo has been our banking relationship with Wachovia. An incorrect assumption here would have been that our banking relationship was strained. This of course was proven false, as we recently announced a restructure of our loans in concert with our equity raise. My hope is that through this CEO Connection, we can help clarify various facts about the business and its markets.

Inuvo: Since most of us already know a lot about your professional background, would you mind telling us a bit more about yourself and your family?

Rich:  Certainly. I grew up in a very small town outside Montreal, Canada.  I played lots of ice hockey starting at age 5 for school, city and travel teams, and switched over to roller hockey when I lived in San Diego. My dad introduced me to golf at a very young age and now that’s become the sport I wish I had more time for.  

My wife and I met in high school and have known each other now for 32 years.  As kids, we would routinely bounce back and forth across the border, as my wife’s family also had property in Vermont, and thus we have traveled the northeast states extensively.  We moved permanently to the U.S. in the 90s.  Although we have made big moves quite a few times, we have three great boys that have adapted to the changes extremely well and it has been our good fortune to live in some of the world’s most spectacular cities.

Inuvo: After living in so many great places, how does your family like Florida?

Rich: Well, they will probably enjoy it a lot more once we can get better settled here. Like many others right now, our home outside of Florida still needs a buyer and it’s taking longer than we expected.  In the interim, I continue to live out of my apartment here and we juggle travel so sometimes I’m out of state on weekends, and sometimes my wife is in state.  The big attractions are the beaches.  Somehow, no matter the age of the kids, there is never any arguing when we hit the beach!

Inuvo: Well, it has been right around a year since you first joined Inuvo. What would you say the biggest challenge has been for you this past year, along with your proudest accomplishment?

Rich: I came to Inuvo because I saw underleveraged potential in this company. Unleashing that potential involves people, process, technology, passion and a vision. Our biggest challenge this year was transitioning the business while fighting off market and credit environments outside of our control. I’m most proud of the new team, both management and board that we have assembled. Despite the market challenges, they made Inuvo stronger this past year.


Inuvo: What are your immediate goals for Inuvo in Q1 2010?

Rich: As a public company we are unfortunately driven by quarterly performance expectations, so the short term vs. long term dilemma is a common CEO balancing act.  At Inuvo, we are focused on creating shareholder value. We do that by building products and services that deliver value for clients through the utilization of technology, data and analytics that serve online marketers. We will continue to execute on those plans in 2010.

Inuvo:  As you know, we receive a lot of questions about Inuvo’s banking relationship and access to capital in general. Could you comment on this for our readers?

Rich: Sure. We have a great banking relationship with Wachovia that goes back many years now. The loan we have with the bank gets used to fund our working capital needs. Growth capital, in the past, has been funded by the cash flow of the business. With the recent announcement of our equity raise, that has now been significantly enhanced.


Inuvo:  Which aspect of your role do you enjoy the most? 

Rich: I most enjoy the technology, sales and marketing aspects of running a business. As an engineer, I remain enamored with technological solutions that alleviate inefficiencies and incorporate artificial intelligence. The offer – response dynamics of marketing are inherently inefficient and lend themselves well to complex decision science technologies.

Inuvo:  The Inuvo Platform was launched in August and is still in beta.  Can you comment on the meaning of beta and the company’s plans for the Platform?

Rich: I read a quote recently that went something like, “If you wait for all the features to be incorporated in your product, then you’ve likely missed the market window for the introduction of that product.” The Inuvo Platform was designed to address inefficiencies within affiliate marketing. As a technology enthusiast myself, I’ve learned that great products and services continue to evolve based on customer feedback and technological advancements, so in this regard, I guess you could say we will always be in beta. Formally, we expect to exit beta in early 2010.

Inuvo:  You came to Inuvo from Acxiom Corporation, a world leader in the use of data in marketing services and while there, you worked for Acxiom Chairman and now Inuvo board member and shareholder Charles Morgan. Can you comment on the relevance of this experience for Inuvo?

Rich: About a year ago I received a call from Charles Morgan on a Sunday afternoon. He had been accumulating Inuvo stock, and in typical Charles Morgan fashion, was only too happy to remind me that as an Inuvo shareholder, I now worked for him again! It has been really great to reconnect with Charles, building off of the experience we had at Acxiom. Ironically, the techniques in use for offline direct marketing better utilize data and analytics than do current online techniques.  Analytics for marketing boils down to predicting what product best addresses a current consumer need. There’s real-time information that can be used to understand that need (such as when a user searches for “cars”) and there is historical information that can be used to understand that need (such as when you have a history that suggests an interest in “motorsports”). There is demographic and geographic information that can refine the prediction. The key to solving the problem of what offer to give what consumer begins with this kind of data, and in this regard, Inuvo currently has access to lots of anonymous behavioral interest data. Our data and analytics team has this as a focus for 2010.

Inuvo:  With all the long hours and traveling, I know this might be hard to answer but we thought we would give it a shot.  When you are not at work, what would we be most likely to find Rich Howe doing?

Rich: My wife and I try to find activities that bring the family together. We love to ski, we all enjoy motocross and have a garage full of bikes and the boys and I get together for some very competitive golf.  Each of these things we do together as a family.  When the kids are off doing their thing, my wife and I grab our jackets and head out for a couple hours at a time on my Harley, attend the theatre and concerts or watch old SNL skits – love that Cow Bell!

Inuvo: Well thanks again Rich for talking with us. We will look forward to reading your first post for the CEO Connection in just a few weeks!