SendMe Appoints John Witchel as Chief Technology Officer

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- SendMe, Inc., the premier mobile media company, has appointed John Witchel as chief technology officer (CTO). Leveraging almost two decades of technology leadership, Witchel will oversee SendMe's technology strategy, roadmap and team. Witchel joins SendMe with extensive experience in research and design, infrastructure oversight and world-class product development.

"With nearly 300 million U.S. wireless subscribers, mobile is providing a significant number of new opportunities to reach and engage consumers," said SendMe Co-Founder and CEO Russell Klein. "John joins SendMe at a time when we are connecting with mobile consumers at an unprecedented pace across all of our properties. His experience driving technology management, integration, revenue and product design makes him the best choice to lead SendMe's next wave of technological development. As we extend our lead in subscription-based mobile entertainment and accelerate growth in mbuzzy, our top 10 mobile social network, John is ideally suited to help take us to the next level."

Highlights in Witchel's technology management career include designing and building a person-to-person lending platform for Prosper, Inc., America's first peer-to-peer lending marketplace. As the company's co-founder and CTO, Witchel pioneered technological innovations that included a one-of-a-kind loan auction, origination and servicing platform coupled with sophisticated automated identity theft and fraud control systems. He also integrated the platform with 13 external data services including the Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Postal Service, among others.

"SendMe's ability to connect with the burgeoning mobile consumer audience is astounding. They have developed the right mix of destination sites and content that attract users of all kinds," said Witchel. "I am thrilled to be part of this growing team and look forward to working together to lead this market with innovative technologies to increase consumer engagement with mobile content."

Witchel has also held various executive positions at BrowserCam, Red Gorilla and XCom. Prior to Prosper, he created BrowserCam, an innovative software-as-a-service offering that provided Web designers with tools to visually inspect websites via any browser-OS combination.

Additionally, Witchel serves on the board of directors of Shopatron, a venture capital-backed e-commerce company, and Book Pig, a children's book rental service. He has also served on numerous committees and supports various organizations in greater San Francisco. He holds an M.S. in computer science from the University of San Francisco and a B.A. in political science from Stanford University.

About SendMe

SendMe, Inc. turns any mobile phone into a portable playground. As the premier mobile media company, SendMe's family of destination sites lets you seamlessly take the fun from the Web to your mobile phone with the broadest and best content, entertainment and community. SendMe's four properties — SendMeMobile.com, SoLow.com, mbuzzy.com and WT411.com — deliver the latest from today's pop culture sensations, niche independent creations, and content from our own community that will keep you coming back for more. SendMe is the leading provider of mobile subscription services in the United States and operates one of the ten most trafficked sites on the mobile web via its mbuzzy mobile social network. Founded in 2006 by three veteran online and mobile entrepreneurs, SendMe is funded by Triangle Peak Partners, GrandBanks Capital, Spark Capital and True Ventures. For more information, visit www.sendme.com.

SOURCE SendMe, Inc.