MyHeritage appoints industry
heavyweights to spearhead global content growth
Appointment of senior executives boosts
MyHeritage’s US presence, drives growth of historical content and kick-starts
preparations for worldwide crowdsourcing project
PROVO, Utah & LONDON & TEL AVIV,
Israel – March 30, 2012 – MyHeritage, the
most popular family network on the web, announced today the appointment of industry
veterans Russ Wilding and Roger Bell to Chief Content Officer and VP Product,
respectively. The former founders and lead executives of Footnote.com, acquired
by Ancestry.com in 2010 for $27 million, will boost MyHeritage’s US operations
in Utah by establishing a new department for adding historical content and rolling-out
an extensive global crowdsourcing project.
The new hires will strengthen MyHeritage’s
leadership in the global family history market. Their mission will be to substantially
grow historical record content to complement the unique combination of family social-networking
and massive user contributed content that has catapulted MyHeritage to becoming
the world’s largest network for discovering and sharing family memories. The move adds significant momentum to MyHeritage’s expansion into
historical content, following its November 2011 acquisition of FamilyLink Inc. with
a library of four billion records, and its recent announcement to make the 1940
U.S. Census available to users free of charge in April 2012.
“We’re delighted to bring Russ and Roger on board as we
enter a new period of vigorous growth”, said MyHeritage Founder and CEO, Gilad
Japhet. “Their impressive track record as social thinkers within the family
history world will be an ideal fit for MyHeritage, as we realize our vision of enabling families around the world to explore
their family history, share important memories and stay connected.”
A highly regarded visionary with proven
execution capabilities within the family history market, Russ Wilding will
establish and lead a new department that will acquire, license, transcribe,
crowdsource and produce historical records - such as census, birth and marriage
records. Russ brings a wealth of expertise in historical
content acquisition, licensing and digitization from his previous 11-year role
as CEO of iArchives, Inc. and Founder and CEO of its customer-facing website Footnote.com,
which was sold to Ancestry.com in 2010.
As VP Product, alongside MyHeritage’s strong product
team, Roger Bell will focus on building next-generation community infrastructure
and tools for the crowdsourcing of historical record production. This massive
community-based initiative will involve assistance and participation from the
millions of users of MyHeritage in the deciphering of handwriting and the
keying in of information from digitized historical records. During the four
years he spent at Footnote.com as Senior VP Product and Development, Roger was
instrumental in defining the strategic direction of Footnote.com and in the
creation and management of the team.
Prior to joining Footnote.com, he was Director of Product Management at
Ancestry.com from 2002 until 2006, where he was in charge of the search engine,
user experience and community tools. He
was also a member of the CEO’s advisory committee.
“After a year of evaluating
potential new ventures in the industry, MyHeritage emerged as the clear
front-runner”, said the newly appointed Chief Content Officer at MyHeritage and
father of five, Russ Wilding. “Enjoying phenomenal growth as the most social
player in the family history industry, MyHeritage is poised to become the
de-facto site for families, emulating what Facebook is to friends and LinkedIn is
to professionals. With a talented and multi-national team, state-of-the art
products and stellar investors, MyHeritage has all the ingredients to succeed. I am thrilled to join MyHeritage and look
forward to a tremendous ride over the coming years.”
“I strongly resonate with the core vision of MyHeritage:
helping families across the world stay connected, by creating the best
experience to discover and share their heritage. MyHeritage is pushing industry
boundaries by bringing family history to a worldwide audience in 38 languages.
I look forward to playing a pivotal role in driving this forward with my desire
to help keep meaningful family stories alive for generations to come, and my
passion for delivering value to customers."
With more than 62 million registered users and 22 million
family trees, MyHeritage has become the trusted home on the web for families
wishing to explore their family history, share memories and stay connected.
About MyHeritage
MyHeritage is the most popular family network on the web.
On MyHeritage, millions of families around the world enjoy having a private and
free place to explore their history and share special family memories. Pioneers
in making family history a collaborative experience for all the family,
MyHeritage empowers its users with a unique mix of innovative social tools and
a massive library of historical content. The site is available in 38 languages.
So far more than 62 million people have signed up to MyHeritage. The company is
backed by Accel Partners and Index Ventures, the investors of Facebook and
Skype. For more information visit www.myheritage.com.
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