Baynote Announces Appointments of Executive Chairman and CEO

SAN JOSE, Calif., March 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Baynote's Board of Directors today announced the appointment of industry veteran Mike Backlund to president and CEO. Backlund, who joined the company as senior vice president of worldwide field operations in May, 2009, succeeds Jack Jia, Baynote's founding chief executive officer. Backlund, who will focus on accelerating the company's growth in the personalization and recommendations market, was also named to the Board of Directors. Jia was appointed to executive chairman with a focus on advancing Baynote's technology vision and strategic development of products, customers and partners in emerging markets. In addition, Jia will continue to serve as the company's chief evangelist. The new executive appointments are effective immediately.

"Mike's appointment to CEO marks a well-planned, natural step in Baynote's business trajectory," said Jack Jia, executive chairman and founder, Baynote. "Having worked with him personally for the last 12 years, I am extremely pleased to appoint an executive with his deep operational experience to lead Baynote to our next stage of growth and beyond. We'll especially benefit from Mike's successful track record managing fast-growing companies and deep experience partnering with enterprise customers at every level of the relationship."

Backlund has more than 20 years experience as both a CEO and senior operations executive within the software and technology industry. He has previously held the role of CEO for Quorum Technologies, Inc. and Emagia. As SVP of Field Operations at Interwoven, Backlund was responsible for sales, professional services and support. While at Interwoven, he was instrumental in driving annual revenue from less than a million dollars to more than 200 million dollars in three years time. Backlund also co-founded and led CMS Communications, a telecommunications company he helped build to $30M in annual revenues with no outside funding.

"Baynote is in a tremendous position to extend its lead in recommendations and personalization thanks to the strong foundation built under Jack's leadership," said Mike Backlund, president and CEO for Baynote. "Baynote's success comes from its ability to deliver businesses the most compelling online experience to site visitors in real-time. Baynote's Collective Intelligence Platform is proven to quickly deliver value to enterprise customers across many industries.  I am excited to work with the Baynote team to guide the company to the next level."

About Baynote

Launched in 2006, Baynote's Collective Intelligence Platform™ delivers on-demand recommendation technology and social search. Baynote's SaaS solutions are easy to implement on top of existing infrastructure to increase online revenue, leads, and impressions. Baynote delivers billions of recommendations each month to hundreds of leading media, enterprise and e-commerce companies, including Expedia, Intuit, Motorola, NASA, Symantec, and Urban Outfitters. For more information, please visit www.baynote.com.

SOURCE Baynote