SIM Execs Depart as Zulu-TEK Takes Over

Top execs are said to be bailing out at Softbank Interactive Marketing (SIM), just a few weeks after the takeover by Zulu-TEK.

Already gone is Andy Batkin, chairman, who founded SIM as Interactive Marketing in 1994 with Yahoo as its flagship client. And now, according to Adweek, chief executive officer Caroline Vanderlip, who had been expected to stay with the new ownership, has decided to leave, citing “personal reasons.”

The departures leave the management of the company to the new majority owners, including Zulu-TEK chairman Ron Meatchem, as well as Pat Hayton and Neil Miller, who sit on the Newport, RI-based company’s board of directors.

“You won’t see any more [management] changes,” Meatchem, a 40-year auto industry veteran who will become acting CEO until that position is dissolved as part of a reorganization early next month, was quoted as saying.

Zulu has said its plan for Softbank is to merge the firm with its echoMedia unit. The integration of software development with Softbank will help the firm compete with DoubleClick, which has both proprietary software and an ad network.