The former CEO of Mochi Media, George Garrick (pictured), today was named chief executive of ad offer company Offerpal Media. Anu Shukla, founder of Offerpal, relinquishes the role of CEO which she has held since the company's founding in 2007.
Garrick signs on at Offerpal amidst a firestorm that has pit the ad offer giant against TechCrunch editor Michael Arrington. Last week Arrington publicly accused Offerpal of a number of questionable practices including knowingly allowing children to steal their parents credit cards in order to purchase virtual currency or complete ad offers and scamming advertisers into accepting leads of individuals who had no real interest or intention on following through on the offer.
Today's announcement steers clear of the debate (which can be observed via an entry in the Offerpal blog, among other sites online) and dwells on Garrick's skill set and agenda going forward. Shukla said of the hire that "after many months of searching, I believe that George is the best CEO to scale the company to new heights. I am looking forward to working with him closely."
Garrick, who has served as CEO of Wine.com, Jingle Networks, and Mochi Media, guided PlaceWare Inc. toward an acquisition by Microsoft for $200 million. As CEO of Flycast Communications, Garrick repositioned the startup into a major direct-response ad network leading it to a $500 million IPO and a subsequent sale for $2.3 billion.
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