Angie's List Announces Organizational Changes in Product and Technology

INDIANAPOLIS, Dec. 16, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Angie's List ANGI today announced changes to its organizational structure as it continues to increase its focus on product and technology and better position the company to execute on its marketplace strategy.

The Company:

-     Named Darin Brown as Senior Vice President of Technology, effective January 5, 2015; and

-     Announced the appointment of Shelly Towns to Senior Vice President of Product, effective January 5, 2015.

These positions will report directly to Angie's List CEO, Bill Oesterle.

"Product vision, engineering excellence and mobile technology are fundamental to the achievement of our marketplace strategy," said Bill Oesterle, Angie's List CEO. "With today's announcement, we've elevated Product to be among our top strategic priorities, while improving the alignment of product and technology across the company. Combined with our IT organization, which is led by our Chief Operating Officer, Mark Howell, our product and technology teams are focused on strengthening our ability to deliver best-in-class solutions for our members and service providers." 

Brown comes to Angie's List from ExactTarget where he served most recently as Vice President of Excelerate, the cross-functional team responsible for closing product gaps identified by customers. Previously, he was Vice President of Interactive Marketing Hub at ExactTarget and led the development of the company's newest technology-based applications. In addition, he has extensive Agile development experience having served as Director of Product Development for both ChaCha and Double-Take. 

Towns previously served in the Marketing organization of Angie's List as the Vice President of Product, where she was responsible for innovation and the end-to-end product experience for nearly 3 million members. Prior to that role, Towns spent five years in various marketing roles at Angie's List and is credited with the creation and growth of the company's search engine optimization (SEO) program, which experienced triple digit new member sales increases each year under her leadership. Towns also led the company's rebranding effort in 2010, culminating in a national TV and print campaign that helped transform Angie's List into a household name.

The company also announced that Robert Wiseman, Chief Technology Officer, has transitioned to a consultant role after deciding not to permanently relocate to Indianapolis and to return to Dallas to be with his family.  Wiseman will continue to work with the company through March and will assist Brown through the transition.  Wiseman came to Angie's List from Sabre and has guided the company through numerous process and organizational improvements including: the enhancement of overall system stability; the delivery of a solid architectural roadmap; significant improvements to the company's platform and recent mobile product releases. 

"Darin and Shelly bring significant expertise to their new roles and I'm thrilled to have them as part of the executive team," said Oesterle. "We thank Robert for his many contributions to Angie's List and wish him all the best in his future endeavors. In addition to his technical contributions, he was instrumental in the recruiting and hiring of Darin to our team.  We look forward to working with Robert through this transition."

About Angie's List

Angie's List helps facilitate happy transactions between nearly 3 million consumers nationwide and its collection of highly-rated service providers in 720 categories of service, ranging from home improvement to health care. Built on a foundation of authentic reviews of local service, Angie's List connects consumers directly to its online marketplace of services from member-reviewed providers, and offers unique tools and support designed to improve the local service experience for both consumers and service professionals.