ALAMEDA, Calif. — Inman News, a leader in independent real estate news, information and technology, has appointed a CEO and also is announcing several additional hires.
Tim G. Smith, who has decades of senior management experience, primarily in the media and events industries, steps in today as CEO. He will report to Inman News founder and Publisher Brad Inman.
Smith has previously served as president for Upside Events and in senior management roles with Future US Inc. and 1105 Media.
From 2001-06 he served as vice president for Fawcette Technical Publications, and from 1991-97 he served as senior director of global events for Oracle Corp.
"I’m tremendously enthusiastic about joining such a dynamic organization at a very pivotal time in the real estate industry," Smith said, adding that he looks forward to "driving new programs, technologies, content and events that will further position Inman at the forefront of the industry."
Publisher Brad Inman said, "The company is making a major commitment with investments in editorial content, sales, marketing and our event offerings. A seasoned executive with a proven track record, Tim will lead the push for new services and companywide growth."
Additionally, Inman News has added several other employees.
Volker Heistermann, former vice president of sales in the media department for Rutberg & Co., a boutique investment bank, has joined Inman News as vice president of conference sales. His primary focus will be to bring in sponsors for the Real Estate Connect events.
Heistermann previously managed online advertising sales at AT&T, performed technical analysis for Google, and served as manager of market intelligence for IDG. Prior to his move to the United States, Heistermann founded a consulting company to assist joint ventures for German and Chinese companies.
Nikki Baldwin, based in Flagstaff, Ariz., joins Inman News as group sales manager. In this role she will be developing relationships with groups such as real estate associations, multiple listing services and real estate brokerages.
Baldwin comes to Inman with many years of industry experience. She previously served as regional sales account manager for Fidelity National Real Estate Solutions/LPS; as special events coordinator for Clareity Consulting, a real estate consulting firm; and as regional support representative and Western team field operations leader for Fidelity National Information Services/FNRES.
Jason Lasky, has been brought on as Inman News’ advertising sales director. Jason has more than 18 years of sales and business development experience working at companies spanning from early-stage startups to Fortune 500 companies.
While at UUNET Technologies, Jason helped the sales organization grow from $4 million in revenues to more than $5 billion, and was responsible for building the Western Sales Organization. More recently, Jason has held senior sales roles at online marketing companies, including SearchRev, QuinStreet and DidIt Search Marketing.
The three sales employees will report to Inman News Senior Vice President Alice Myerhoff.
Raymond E. Mok, who has been hired as Inman News controller, has previous experience as a controller for MarketTools Inc. and People.com Consultants Inc. He also served as vice president of finance for Dish Planet and accounting manager for Keri Systems Inc.
Fanny Seto has been hired as marketing assistant. She reports to Katie Lance, Inman News marketing manager, who came to the company late last year after serving as marketing manager for Empire Realty Associates Inc., a San Francisco Bay Area real estate brokerage company.
Fanny has about three years of blogging experience, four years of search-engine optimization experience, with two years at a search marketing firm managing campaigns within Google, MSN and Yahoo. In addition, she brings experience in e-mail marketing, developing collateral, social media and trade shows.
Editor’s note: Tim Smith, the new Inman News CEO, can be reached at tim@sandbox.inman.com or (510) 658-9252, ext. 120.
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