Engage Appoints New CFO

In the wake of recent internal restructuring, CMGI-owned ad technology and serving company Engage Thursday said it has appointed a new chief financial officer.

Robert Bartlett will assume the post previously held by Steven Royal, who will move to the newly organized Engage Software division.

The announcement comes after major changes to the company’s internal structure, in which Engage eliminated 175 positions from its workforce. The restructuring also organized the company into two divisions — Engage Media, which contains its consumer and B2B ad networks and its research units; and Engage Software, which includes its outsourced ad serving platform and on- and offline media management software.

It is not known what position or title Royal will hold.

“Steve Royal was instrumental in steering the company successfully through its initial public offering, nine acquisitions in two years, in addition to providing the foundation for the financial infrastructure we have in place today,” said president and chief executive officer Paul Schaut.

“His organizational and financial abilities will be invaluable within Engage Software as we complete the integration and it continues to grow as a key driver of Engage’s profitability goals.”

As CFO, Bartlett will pick up where Royal left off, following a quarter of increased revenues but hefty expenditures.

“Adding Bob to the senior management team is a strategic move that will help Engage build and maintain the strength of its financial operations throughout the continued worldwide growth of the company,” Schaut said.

The company said it sought Bartlett’s experience in corporate finance and integration. A 25-year veteran of corporate finance and management — including restructuring and reorganizations — Bartlett handled high-level business and financial processes most recently at CMGI Solutions, an e-business tech and strategy consultancy also majority-owned by Engage’s parent.

Engage spokesman Tom Barth said that position change was not precipitated by CMGI, which itself recently announced high-profile intentions to streamline its operations and shed some of its companies to expedite profitability.

“Steve wanted to move into” the new post, Barth said. “It has more operational as well as more financial responsibilities.

“Steve felt more comfortable in a smaller environment, and we wanted to bring in someone with many years of experience, who had lots of experience in integration and working with large-scale infrastructure on the financial side,” he added.

Neither Royal nor Bartlett were immediately available for comment.