November 2010 Inuvo Employee Spotlight: John Vehlewald!

For the month of November, Inuvo is spotlighting john [dot] vehlewald [at] inuvo [dot] com (John Vehlewald).  John is a Michigan State graduate who has been part of the Inuvo team for 6 years.  John has held various roles at Inuvo and now proudly holds the title “VP of Affiliate Products”.  Take a moment to read more about him in the Q&A below!

Inuvo:  Hello John, please tell us a bit about yourself:

John:  Well, I have moved around every couple years since as far back as I can remember. As a result, I’ve lived in 5 different states, for a total of maybe 12+ different places within those states (I’ve honestly lost count)!  Of all the places I have lived, I spent the most time in Michigan and I’ve always considered it “home”.  I went to Michigan State University, and I’m a huge Spartan Football and Basketball fan.  I adopted a dog named Izzy a year or so ago, so her antics keep things interesting at home!

Inuvo:  What is your professional background?

John:  After graduating from MSU, I did inside sales for CDW in Illinois for about a year. I then made the decision to move back to Michigan to be closer to family and friends.  I then was hired at Kowabunga! as our first account manager.  As Kowabunga! evolved, I began splitting my time between sales and account management, eventually moving over to a role as the Director of Sales. Since moving to Florida, I have gotten involved in other facets of our business as well, which brings me to my current role!

Inuvo:  Any exciting projects you are working on?

John:  Currently I have been spending a lot of my time on our new DealEx product, which has been extremely exciting.  DealEx allows a merchant to create a “Groupon-like” deal and distribute it across a huge range of sites over longer periods of time than they would be able to do with Groupon.  We’ve also found ways to protect these merchants from some of the issues many have had with Groupon, and I think it’s going to be a huge revenue generator for Inuvo in 2010-2011 (and beyond)!

Inuvo: What are your goals for November?

John:  I’m working on bringing in more merchants to take advantage of DealEx this year, as well as setting up deals to get going in 2011!

Inuvo:  What are your goals for yourself and Inuvo?

John:  My goals are to do everything I can to help grow Inuvo into the billion dollar company I think it can be.  I’d like to continue being a part of the team responsible for such great products as the Inuvo Platform, Bargainmatch, and DealEx.  I cannot wait to see what we come up with next!

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

John:  I like having exposure to many different areas of our business and seeing how they all fit together.  Working for Inuvo always gives me many opportunities to brainstorm and think of new businesses we can create or build upon what others have succeeded with.

Inuvo:  When you are not at work, what would we be most likely to find you doing?

John:   Generally watching football/basketball, movies, or playing videogames.  I tend to be a bit of a geek in my free time (that could be the understatement of the year) so acquiring new gadgets and games are always on my to-do list!