BELLEVUE, WA and LONDON, UK --(Marketwired - December 21, 2016) - DigitalTown, Inc. (
Effective December 8, 2016, on the occasion of the Company's quarterly Board of Directors meeting in London, UK, DigitalTown approved the expansion of the Board. The Board also chartered the establishment of Board committees in the areas of Audit, Finance and Strategic Planning, each with non-executive Chairmen.
Rob Monster, CEO of DigitalTown commented on the appointments: "With these latest appointments, and the establishment of empowered committees, DigitalTown is laying the groundwork for accelerating global growth as the company operates at the intersection of Smart City and GovTech. The scope of DigitalTown is nothing short of audacious. I am delighted to have the opportunity to partner with Messrs. Blackman, Chong and Schwartz, as well as the rest of our talented and high-functioning Board, in order to build a world class company."
Maury Blackman has an exemplary track record in building sales across multiple continents in Software as a Service, most recently as CEO of Accela where he grew sales from $12 million to $150 million and was recognized in 2016 as Entrepreneur of the Year in Northern California. Mr Blackman serves on the Strategic Planning committee.
Kenwei Chong, a Chinese-American, is a highly productive finance executive and entrepreneur currently based in Honolulu from where he manages diversified interests, including the .MENU global domain registry, with whom DigitalTown has a strategic partnership. Mr. Chong Chairs the Compensation and Finance Committees.
Mark Schwartz, who currently serves as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), is the rare case of a Silicon Valley high tech executive who moves on to a leadership role in Federal government where he manages a team of approximately 2000 staff with a budget of $600 million. Mr. Schwartz is a published author and speaker. Mr. Schwartz serves on the Strategic Planning Committee.
Mr Chong, commented on his appointment: "As the operator of the .menu Top Level Domain registry our first interaction with Rob and DigitalTown was through a collaborative effort in developing a global platform for Smart restaurants integrated with the .MENU registry. With dining being a significant feature-focus of DigitalTown's smart city platform our joint initiative was a logical fit. As I learned more about the overarching design of DigitalTown's platform, beyond just the dining component, I became more excited about and more impressed with the future prospects of DigitalTown. It was an honor to be asked to join this DigitalTown's multi-talented Board. I look forward to partnering with my fellow Board members."
The Compensation and Finance committee is comprised of Kenwei Chong (Chair) and Jeffrey L. Mills. The Audit and Governance committee is comprised of Darvin L. Habben (Chair) and James B. Parsons. The Strategic Planning committee is comprised of Maury Blackman, Robert W. Monster, Derek Schumann (Chair), and Mark Schwartz.
About DigitalTown
DigitalTown, Inc. (DGTW) powers Smart Cities to succeed in the Digital Age. The company provides turn-key hosted solutions to power "Digital Towns," which improve Quality of Life for residents and visitors through integrated solutions for economic development, civic engagement and digital inclusion for cities around the world. For more information about the company, please visit www.digitaltown.com .
About Maury Blackman
Mr. Blackman is a special advisor to the Board of Directors of Accela. Prior to his appointment as special advisor, Mr. Blackman served as CEO of Accela since 2007. Accela is a leading cloud player in the government IT sector. Prior to joining Accela, Maury was a sales and marketing professional at Investools, formerly Telescan, Inc., and served as a Field Artillery Officer in the United States Army. He is a graduate of the University of Houston with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science. Visit MauryBlackman.com for more.
About Kenwei Chong
Mr. Chong's early career was in foreign exchange and global fixed income analysis and funds management in New York City and San Francisco; and later as product development manager for foreign exchange and fixed income risk management at Bloomberg. In 2001, Mr. Chong left the capital markets profession to pursue entrepreneurial interests and has been an active owner and investor in self-storage, physical and electronic records management and storage, restaurant and hospitality, food manufacturing and wholesale distribution, physical and virtual real estate investment and top level domain ventures. Mr. Chong received his BA in Finance from Boston University and his Chartered Financial Analyst designation from the Association of Investment Management and Research.
About Mark Schwartz
Since June, 2010, Mr. Schwartz has served as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), a component of the Department of Homeland Security, where he has been engaged in a large transformation effort, moving applications to the public cloud and introducing agile and lean development, continuous delivery, and DevOps. Prior to this position, Mr. Schwartz was the CIO of Intrax Cultural Exchange, where his innovative Family Room application drove dramatic market share, revenue, and profit growth. Mr. Schwartz is the author of The Art of Business Value. He holds a B.S. degree in Computer Science from Yale University, an M.A. in Philosophy from Yale University, and an M.B.A. from Wharton.
Safe Harbor Language: Any statements contained herein related to future events are forward-looking statements and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act 1995. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. DigitalTown, Inc. undertakes no obligation to update any such statements to reflect actual events.
Media Contact: Rob Monster Chief Executive Officer DigitalTown, Inc. (425) 295-4564 rob@digitaltown.com
