Mike Sommers has been creating innovative and engaging consumer internet products since 1995, when he developed a series of very successful community-based products on AOL as a contract employee of ABC Online. Since then Mike has held various design, development and management roles for companies large and small, and has been singularly focused on the business of connecting people with the things they care about.
In April 2007 Mike joined the KickApps Corporation as Senior Vice President of Products. KickApps is a leading social media platform company that offers a "Social Graph Operating System" and a suite of social networking and user generated content applications that plug into it. As of January 2009, over 50,000 web publishers including ABC Family, NPR, Scripps, National Geographic, Budget Travel, HBO, Rachael Ray, The New York Rangers and thousands of smaller publishers have integrated the KickApps platform and applications into their sites (see http://www.kickapps.com/customers/). Mike is a frequent speaker at industry events, commenting on the art and science of building and sustaining online communities (and monetizing social behaviors, in general).
Prior to joining KickApps, Mike spent seven years at AOL where he held various product management positions. His most recent role at AOL was Vice President of Product Development for AOL Search. In that role Mike managed a global staff of 65 employees in 3 countries (US, Ireland and India) responsible for the full product lifecycle, including product strategy, product requirements, user interface design, visual design, editorial programming, and project management for all AOL Search products (web search, video search, shopping search, local search, AOL channel searches, etc). In 2007 his products were estimated to generate half a billion dollars in profit for the company.
While at AOL, Mike also worked extensively in the fields of Video Search, Social Networking, Personalization and Local, and is named as inventor or co-inventor on 7 related patents that are currently pending approval at the USPTO.
Before joining AOL, Mike built and managed a twelve person production studio at Blue Marble, a New York based professional services firm that built web sites for clients like Proctor & Gamble, Nabisco, General Motors, Cadillac, Capitol One, Continental Airlines and Ernst & Young.
Going back to 1995, he has held various design, technical, production and content roles on internet projects for ABC, AOL, Prodigy, Hearst New Media (www.homearts.com), Merrill Lynch, Cantor Fitzgerald, Chase Manahattan Bank, Qwest, P&G, GM, Nabisco and a host of others.
Mike has a BA Degree in Political Science from Columbia University, where he was an Academic All-Ivy League linebacker and member of the Columbia College Dean's List for several semesters.
Mike can be contacted at mike@sinfin.com.
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