Multimedia authority James E. Martin has been named to head up Netscape Communications Corp.’s
Netcenter portal.
America Online, Inc. Tuesday appointed
Martin as Netcenter’s senior vice president and general manager. He replaces Mike Homer, who took a sabbatical from Netscape after AOL’s acquisition. Homer has said he does intend to take a position in AOL, although exactly what role he will play is unknown.
Martin will be responsible for growth and development of the highly
acclaimed portal. Martin said he is “excited by this opportunity because
AOL has an aggressive, effective business model that consistently meets
with success.”
Martin added that he “looks forward to working closely with Barry Schuler
and our many talented colleagues at Netscape to take Netcenter to the next
level. Together we will build new services and content and grow Netcenter’s
loyal user base.”
In order to grow the products and services of Netcenter, Martin will draw
from 15 years of experience with International Data Group’s Computerworld, Inc., InfoWorld Media Group and Macworld Communications Inc.
During his tenure with IDG, Martin successfully branded IDG’s businesses
and produced and the worldwide growth and proliferation of IDG’s leading
products.
Martin embraced advancements of multimedia technology and advocated IDG’s
strategic alliance with CNN. Prior to IDG,
Martin was with Ziff-Davis and before that, he spent time in the consumer publishing, advertising and
broadcasting industries.
“With Jim
Martin’s experience in spearheading the growth of businesses, knowledge of
the consumer and enterprise audiences, and a long track record of success,
he is the perfect fit for the exciting challenges and opportunities that
lie ahead for Netcenter,” said Barry Schuler, president of AOL interactive services.
“Under the guidance of Martin, Netcenter will be a vital
part of AOL’s family of brands, leveraging the advantages of AOL’s
infrastructure and becoming an even more powerful daytime brand.”
Over the past several months, Netscape has continued to build Netcenter
into a robust Internet portal and has added several new services including
a free Web site building service and sports channel to encourage repeat
visits to the site.
