BabyUniverse Completes Board of Directors
05 Noviembre 2007 - 11:01AM
PR Newswire (US)
New Members Include Retail, Digital Media and Content Experts
DENVER, Nov. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- BabyUniverse, Inc.
(NASDAQ:KIDS), a leading eCommerce, eContent and new media company
that provides comprehensive online resources for growing families,
today announced its new board of directors. The new members
include: Lauren Krueger, Edward Ulbrich, John Schaefer, Frank
Rosales and Pam Abrams. "Our new board members bring a wealth of
knowledge and a broad new perspective to BabyUniverse," said John
Textor, Chairman of the Board of Directors for BabyUniverse. "With
experience in retail, digital media, advertising, and parenting
content, they provide great depth in our core areas: eContent and
eCommerce." To reinforce its commitment to families, BabyUniverse
is changing its name to The Parent Company. The change is expected
to take effect in 30 days. As part of the name change process,
BabyUniverse began trading under a new ticker symbol, KIDS, earlier
today. BabyUniverse, Inc. Board of Directors: -- John C. Textor is
Chairman of the Board of Directors. Mr. Textor has been Chairman of
BabyUniverse's Board of Directors since November 2002 and a member
of its Board of Directors since December 1999, and served as
BabyUniverse's Chief Executive Officer since April 2005. He has
also served as co-chairman of the board of directors of Digital
Domain, Inc., a leading visual effects company focused on feature
films, television commercials and video games, since May 2006. Mr.
Textor is also the Founder and President of Wyndcrest Holdings,
LLC, a Florida-based private holding company focused on
technology-related opportunities in entertainment,
telecommunications and the Internet, and its predecessor since
1997. Earlier, Mr. Textor was employed in various merchant banking
and investment banking capacities by Shearson Lehman Hutton and
Paine Webber. Mr. Textor was also a founding director of Lydian
Trust Company, a diversified financial services company. He is
currently a director of Multicast Media Networks, Inc., a global
provider of Internet- based broadcast media. He was previously
Chairman of the Board of Sims Snowboards, a prominent global
snowboard brand. Mr. Textor earned a B.A. degree in Economics at
Wesleyan University. -- Michael J. Wagner is President and Chief
Executive Officer for BabyUniverse. Previously, Mr. Wagner served
as President and Chief Executive Officer of eToys Direct, Inc.
since it was formed in May of 2004. He was Senior Vice President
and Chief Operating Officer for eToys Direct, Inc.'s predecessor,
KB Online Holdings LLC, from May of 2000 until May of 2004 and was
the Chief Financial Officer of KB Online Holdings, LLC from June
1999 to May 2000. He brings more than 20 years of financial and
operational experience in the retail market, including 8 years of
online and direct-to-consumer experience, to the organization.
Previously, Mr. Wagner held a number of management positions at
Consolidated Stores Corporation (now Big Lots) from June 1994 to
June 1999, most recently as Vice President of Strategic Planning
and Investor Relations. He also served in a number of positions at
Value Merchants Inc. from August 1984 to June 1994, most recently
as Corporate Controller. A Certified Public Accountant, he holds a
bachelor's degree in accounting from Marquette University. --
Lauren Krueger is a vice president in the D. E. Shaw group's
credit- related opportunities unit. Ms. Krueger has served as chief
restructuring officer for FAO Schwarz Inc., and is deeply involved
with several of the D. E. Shaw group's other private equity
holdings. Prior to joining the D. E. Shaw group in 2003, Ms.
Krueger was an associate in the restructuring group at Lazard LLC
(formerly Lazard Freres & Co. LLC), where she worked on a
number of high profile restructurings. Before that, she worked as
an analyst in JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s investment management
group. Ms. Krueger also serves on the boards of directors of The
Boyds Collection, Ltd. and Russ Berrie & Company, Inc. Ms.
Krueger received her M.B.A. from Columbia University, where she was
a member of the Beta Gamma Sigma honor society, and her A.B. from
Princeton University. -- Ed Ulbrich oversees Digital Domain's
commercial, music video, and interactive businesses and executive
produces select feature films - roles he has held since joining as
a founding executive in 1993. He executive produced the Academy
Award-winning visual effects for Titanic and What Dreams May Come,
and Fight Club, Zodiac and Adaptation; music videos for The Rolling
Stones, Michael Jackson, Nine Inch Nails, and other artists; 500+
commercials for clients including Heineken, American Express,
Coca-Cola, BMW, and Microsoft; and location based entertainment.
Prior to joining Digital Domain, Mr. Ulbrich was a commercial
producer at the Leo Burnett Company and a digital artist at the
National Center for Supercomputing Applications. In 2007, Mr.
Ulbrich was named to the Creativity 50 - top innovators in
advertising and design. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree
from the University of Illinois. -- John Schaefer served as
President and Chief Executive Officer of Cornerstone Brands, Inc.,
a subsidiary of IAC/InterActive Corp. and a family of leading
catalog companies for the home, leisure and casual apparel from
April 2005 to May 2007. From July 2004 to April 2005, Mr. Schaefer
served as CornerStone Brands, Inc.'s President, Chief Operating
Officer and Director and from April 2001 to July 2004 as its Chief
Financial Officer. Currently, Mr. Schaefer serves as a consultant
to certain portfolio companies of the D. E. Shaw group. Mr.
Schaefer received his B.B.A. from the University of Wisconsin and
is a C.P.A. -- Frank Rosales served as President of Discovery
Commerce, the retail and global licensing arm of Discovery
Communications. A 27-year retail veteran, Mr. Rosales has an
impressive background in retail finance and operations. He began
his career at Sears, Roebuck and Company, working in the company's
finance operations. After leaving Sears, Mr. Rosales continued in a
number of finance and operations roles in specialty retailing,
including five years at the San Francisco-based store and mail
order retailer, Gumps. Immediately prior to joining Discovery, Mr.
Rosales was Chief Financial Officer for The Picture People, a
nationwide chain of mall-based family portrait studios. In 1997,
Mr. Rosales joined Discovery as Chief Financial Officer for
Discovery Channel Stores and became Chief Operating Officer that
same year. Mr. Rosales graduated in 1980 from San Jose State
University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business
Administration majoring in Marketing. -- Pam Abrams is Senior Vice
President at Downtown Bookworks Inc., a book- packaging company she
joined in 2006. A 20+ year veteran of the magazine business
(Harper's, Parents, Child) and editorial executive at eToys.com and
Scholastic, Ms. Abrams has deep editorial experience in magazine,
internet, and book publishing. As an authority on parenting, Ms.
Abrams frequently appears on television and radio. She is the
author of three books, Now I Eat My ABCs, Gadgetology, and The Only
Bake Sale Cookbook You'll Ever Need. In addition she writes for
magazines such as More, Oprah, and Parents. At Downtown Bookworks
Ms. Abrams is producing books in the categories of kids, parenting,
education, cookbooks, crafts, health, psychology, and pop culture.
She also serves on the Board of Directors of Consumers Union. Ms.
Abrams graduated from State University of New York in 1981 with a
Bachelor of Arts in English. ABOUT BABYUNIVERSE BabyUniverse, Inc.
(NASDAQ:KIDS) is a leading commerce, content and new media company
for growing families. BabyUniverse provides comprehensive eCommerce
and eContent resources to help families plan, play and grow. The
company's toy business offers thousands of toys and children's
products through its eToys.com web site, catalogs and strategic
retail partnerships; and personalized dolls and accessories through
its My Twinn.com brand. Through its baby business, the company is a
leading online retailer of brand-name baby, toddler and maternity
products sold through the BabyUniverse.com and DreamtimeBaby.com
web sites. The company's luxury brands, PoshTots.com and
PoshLiving.com, reach the country's most affluent consumers with
luxury baby apparel and furnishings. With its content sites,
BabyTV.com, PoshCravings.com and ePregnancy.com, BabyUniverse has
established a recognized platform for the delivery of content and
new media resources to a national audience of expectant parents.
BabyUniverse is a market-leading digital content and eCommerce
company focused on parents. DATASOURCE: BabyUniverse, Inc. CONTACT:
Media, Joan Cear, +1-212-725-4500, , or Investors, Barry
Hollingsworth, +1-303-226-6205, , both for BabyUniverse, Inc. Web
site: http://www.babyuniverse.com/
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