Execs & Accounts for June 28, 2004

SBI Group CEO and president Ned Stringham will shed his operational responsibilities but join aQuantive’s board of directors following SBI.Razorfish’s acquisition by that company. Several other Razorfish execs will take on new leadership roles after the agency merger.

Bob Lord, formerly Razorfish’s executive VP, will become president of Avenue A/Razorfish East, consisting of Atlanta, Boston, Fort Lauderdale and New York offices. David Friedman, another Razorfish executive VP, will be president of Avenue A/Razorfish Central and oversee the Chicago and Austin offices. Clark Kokich, formerly president of Avenue A Seattle and Chicago, will serve as president of Avenue A/Razorfish West, overseeing offices in Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Portland. Razorfish’s Karen Hamilton and Darin Brown will both take executive VP positions in the merged unit. Jim Warner, formerly president of Avenue A/NYC will become executive vice president of Aveneue A/Razorfish East.

AQuantive expects to retain most of SBI.Razorfish’s 500 employees.

Forbes.com President and CEO Jim Spanfeller joined online video communications firm Glowpoint’s board of directors. Before taking the reins at Forbes.com, Spanfeller was president of Ziff Davis Media’s consumer magazine group and publisher of Inc. magazine. He also serves as vice chairman of the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s 2004 executive committee.

Spanfeller replaces Lew Jaffe, a board member for three years who is leaving to pursue other goals.

“I look forward to working with the rest of the board to guide GlowPoint in increasing brand recognition, raising visibility in the corporate market and extending distribution reach both in the U.S. and around the world,” he said.

In other board news, LookSmart board member Teresa Dial was elected chairman. On the board since 2003, Dial was CEO of Wells Fargo Bank and held various other executive posts within Wells Fargo & Co.

She replaces LookSmart cofounder Evan Thornley, who is giving up his chairmanship after eight years but will remain on the board.