Management Team

David Hills, Interim Chief Executive Officer

rior to joining MediaRiver, David Hills was President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of LookSmart , Ltd, (NASD - LOOK) where he led the successful transition of the company by increasing audiences and launching a syndicated technology business, adding these two to the existing ad network. . A new media veteran, Dave has over 28 years in the media industry and 14 in online media , with extensive experience in online advertising, search marketing, audience development, technology development and subscriptions.

Previously, Dave served as President of Media Solutions for 24/7 Real Media, overseeing its domestic media, search and technology. Before 24/7 Real Media, Dave was Chief Operating Officer and President of Sales for About, Inc., which owned About.com and the pay-per-click service, Sprinks.

Dave has also held various media executive positions for subsidiaries of Cox Enterprises, including Vice President of Sales for Cox Interactive Media, which owns and operates a network of local content Web sites; Vice President and Director of Cox Interactive Sales, which operated an Internet advertising network; and Vice President for Telerep, a television advertising sales representation firm and a division of Cox Broadcasting.

Dave holds an M.S. in communications from Boston University and a B.A. in communications from Bethany College. Dave currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (I.A.B.)

Jay Budzik, PhD, Founder and Chief Technology Officer

Dr. Jay Budzik, co-inventor of MediaRiver's core product ClickSurge, leads the research and development efforts of the company. Prior to founding MediaRiver, he was an active researcher in computer science for the last seven years at Northwestern University's Intelligent Information Laboratory, where he led a wide array of research projects aimed at facilitating access to information. Dr. Budzik's other projects included an intelligent question and answering system for delegates at the Democratic National Convention held in Chicago in 1996, and the Flytrap system, which automatically synthesizes new music experiences for a group based on observed preferences. He is widely published on topics ranging from groupware to intelligent agents. One Budzik paper, "User Interactions with Everyday Applications as Context for Just-in-time Information Access", is cited frequently by top international researchers and industry leaders. Budzik has delivered demonstrations and lectures to audiences ranging from international research groups to CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, including invited talks at Ford Motor Company, the MIT Media Lab, the International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces, and the American Society for Information Science. Articles on Budzik's research have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, the Chicago Sun-Times, WGN-TV and L'Ordinateur Individuel.

Budzik earned a B.S. with both general honors and honors in computer science from The College of The University of Chicago, and holds a Ph.D. in computer science from Northwestern University. He graduated from the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy in Aurora, IL.