Kate Bowler
Vice President of European Business Development
Kate is VP of International Business Development for Local Matters. Kate has spent over a decade in the search and directory business working for Sensis, the Australian Yellow Pages and online publishing division of Telstra where she was key to a number of initiatives which took the company from a print-centric business to a media company. This work led to a re-branding of the company and the launch of many new online initiatives which ensured a diversification of online products. Prior to her role in Sensis, Kate spent 13 years with APN (Australian Provincial Newspapers) where she work as General Manager of Classified Sales Department, Chief Marketing Executive and Publisher for the B2B publishing division which published over 15 directories. She was instrumental in migrating the rich content into online applications.
Nico Brooks
Vice President of Search Strategy
Nico Brooks is the Vice President of Search Strategy for Local Matters. Nico is a recognized authority in the fields of search engine management and advertising optimization with numerous published articles, research papers and conference speaking engagements. Nico has worked in online marketing and ecommerce since 1997. He has extensive hands-on experience working with marketers and advertising agencies and was involved in the development of automated tools for search marketing campaign management at Atlas/aQuantive/Microsoft for the four years prior to joining Local Matters. He has a B.A. in Mathematics from Earlham College, Indiana.
Joshua Descant
Vice President of Operations in New Orleans
Joshua Descant joined Local Matters in 2005 as Vice President of Operations, New Orleans, overseeing all publishing and support activities related to the Boss suite of products. Joshua has been directly involved in the Yellow Pages industry for over 14 years. Prior to joining Local Matters, Joshua was one of five founding members of, and Vice President of Operations for ypOne Publishing, LP – a publisher of over 50 yellow pages directories in the United States and Canada. At ypOne Publishing, he oversaw operations of production, distribution, customer service, and information services. Joshua holds a B.A. in Psychology and Minor in Music Performance from The University of Southern Mississippi.
David Haupt
Vice President of Marketing and Consumer Market Development
David Haupt has served as Vice President of Marketing and Consumer Market Development since July 2007. David has worked in media and online publishing for over 13 years. Prior to Local Matters, David served as Director of Marketing and Business Development for Dasabo Software Solutions. In 1995, David founded and served as President at George Joyce Inc., publishers of the world-renowned The Onion Newspaper. David founded O Publishing, publishers of collegiate day planners, in 2002. David holds a B.A. in Economics from The University of Wisconsin and a Masters of Business Administration from The University of Denver.
Lynn Hilkene
Vice President of Sales Voice and Wireless Division
Lynn Hilkene brings over 25 years of experience in information technology sales and services management to her role as Vice President of Americas Sales Voice and Wireless Division at Local Matters. Lynn spent more than 20 years at IBM, where she worked with major corporations in utilities, health, government and education. For the past 15 years, she has worked closely with telecommunications and call center organizations in North America, helping them to expand into new revenue generating services and to reduce costs through call automation.
Dave Kinnear
Vice President of Media Solutions for Europe
Dave Kinnear is Vice President of Media Solutions for Europe. Dave joined Local Matters in February 2008. Dave previously worked for Telstra Corporation Limited where he served in a variety of roles including Group Manager, Wireless and Online Content. Prior to his time at Local Matters, Dave served as Operations Manager at Sirex Group Pty. Ltd. in Melbourne, Australia.
Ken Mayer
Vice President of Operations Voice and Wireless Division
Ken Mayer brings 25 years of experience in financial planning, analysis and operations in information technology software development and service delivery to his role as Vice President of Operations. Ken spent 18 years at IBM, where he held various financial and operational roles that included business planning, analysis and pricing. Ken evolved the customer value propositions as required by changes in the Telecommunications industry worldwide. He has spent the last 7 years managing the Voice and Wireless operations that were spun out of IBM and are now a division of Local Matters.
Julius Meaux
Vice President of Sales / Publisher Services
Julius Meaux has been Vice President of Sales / Publisher Services at Local Matters since April 2005. He has over 12 years experience in the yellow pages industry, in both print and digital products. Julius joined Local Matters in the acquisition of YPSolutions and was one of the original officers of YPS, which was founded in 2001. Prior to joining YPSolutions, Julius was Vice President and General Manager of Business Development for Comercis Inc., an Internet infrastructure company in Dallas focused on providing software infrastructure products for the telephone directory publishing industry. Julius also has extensive experience that includes banking, accounting, radio, television and yellow page advertising sales and management. Julius attended the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Louisiana State University and the University of Oklahoma.
Henry Ruiz
Vice President of Media Solutions and Partnerships in Asia / Pacific Rim
Henry Ruiz joined Local Matters as Vice President of Media Solutions and Partnerships in Asia / Pacific Rim in November 2007. Henry’s online and mobile experience includes over 10 years of work in local search, product development, executive producing and general management in new media space. Henry was previously the Group Manager for New Media at Truvo Nederland BV, formerly World Directories Group, based in the Netherlands. Prior to that, he worked in numerous roles for the Digital Media group at Sensis Corporation in Australia. Henry holds a B.B.Sc with Honors from Latrobe University and a Masters in Applied Psychology from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.
Kris Skavish
Vice President of Product Management for Media
Kris Skavish has served as Vice President of Product Management for Media Services since October 2006, and previously served as Director of Product Management since March 2005. From 2002 to 2005 Kris was the Director of Product Management at Jabber, Inc., which developed an advanced real-time messaging platform and instant messaging software. She held positions in marketing and project management at AccelX, a division of Webb Interactive Services, Inc., a portal and directory software solutions company, working with international directory customers. Kris has also held positions in new media at companies including software developer Quark. She holds a B.S. degree from Cornell University.
