Managing to create a whole-new industry
In 1999, self-proclaimed "serial entrepreneurs" Fred Durham and Maheesh Jain had an inspiration. They envisioned a new class of entrepreneur, brought together through the power of the Web and untapped creativity of self-expressionists everywhere. In October of that year, CafePress opened its doors.
With funding from Sequoia Capital and others, CafePress has continued to grow and thrive - thanks in-part to our value Board of Directors.
CafePress Executive Team
Fred Durham, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Monica Johnson, Chief Financial Officer
Bob Marino, Chief Operating Officer
Abdul Popal, Vice President of Business Development and Operations
Amy Maniatis, Vice President of Marketing
Neil Markey, Vice President of Engineering
As Chief Executive Officer, Fred is responsible for setting the overall vision and strategy of CafePress. He also oversees the running of all business units and operations.
Prior to starting CafePress.com, Fred and fellow business partner Maheesh Jain launched over ten companies - most failed. In 1999, taking the best elements from two of their failures, they launched CafePress. Since then, Fred has steered CafePress's growth from two people in a dusty garage to the recognized leader in user generated commerce with over 400 employees in two locations and a community of 6.5 million members.
While he never finished high school, he did end up with a political science degree from Northwestern. A vegetarian and spiritual monist, he nonetheless has a soft-spot for vehicles: "Think Gandhi with wheels". He currently drives a 56 Bel Air, '62 Fiat Multipla, a '68 cinquecento, and a two-wheeled Triumph Bonneville. Just not all at once.
As Chief Financial Officer, Monica oversees the overall financial direction of CafePress. She also manages our business information systems.
FYI: CafePress is not her first job in product customization. As a graduate student Monica owned a business selling school merchandise. Aptly, her career has now come full circle (although on a much larger scale). Under her watchful eye, CafePress has continued to blossom. Prior to joining CafePress, Monica worked for several consumer technology companies with an online presence, including Webvan and Hewlett Packard.
Monica Johnson has an MBA from Cornell University in New York, and a Bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley. In her free time Monica's passion is coaching her girls' softball and basketball teams. Her record? "Winning is contagious," she says with a smile.
As Chief Operating Officer, Bob oversees daily maintenance of major activities and shepherds new initiatives.
Prior to joining CafePress, Bob was President and CEO of Chicago-based Cuisine Innovations. He was also VP and General Manager of Tyson's Culinary Foods, and has helped launch several divisional start-ups for Fortune 500 companies (and holds several patents).
Bob has a Bachelor's degree in Science from the University of Minnesota, and an MBA from Rider University. His passion is his children, whom he loves showing his Flying Spaghetti Monster T-Shirt to. "They look at me oddly," he adds.
As Vice President of Business Development and Operations, Abdul heads cross-departmental operational functions (including Quality, Support, Legal, Planning and Program Management). He also drives our strategic relationships with partners.
Shortly after becoming employee #18 in 2000, Abdul has helped shape the current management structure of CafePress. Abdul has been at the intersection of all strategic endeavors of the company and continues to play this role as head of Business and Corporate Development. Prior to joining CafePress, Abdul held a variety of senior level operational and financial roles at Bank of America, Aramark, and ResourcePhoenix.com.
Abdul Popal has both a Bachelor's and Master's degree in Business Administration (the later with an emphasis on Strategic Management and Marketing). In his spare time, Abdul's passion is spending time with his wife and young daughter. He also enjoys building and driving race cars. His current project is converting a classic Mini Cooper into a hybrid. "It's gonna purrrrrr," he's quick to point out.
As Vice President of Marketing, Amy leads the charge in all things that touch brand marketing, merchandising, public relations, and the customer experience.
A whiz in leveraging the power of brand story-telling, Amy comes to Cafepress with a mission to evangelize our brand promise of "Self Expression Rewarded". No stranger to the concept of fast-growing retail brands, Amy brings us over 15 years of valuable marketing know-how (is it possible to begin a career at age 10?). This includes launching and running some of this planet's largest and most-respected retail brands, including babyGap, GapKids, and Old Navy. Most recently Amy was the VP of Marketing for Nimblefish Technologies.
Amy holds a Bachelor's degree in Philosophy from the University of California at Berkeley. When asked about her life's passions, she lists in random order: "Mid century design, the pacific ocean, running, stinky cheese, fabulous shoes, and my two beautiful daughters."
As Vice President of Engineering, Neil oversees CafePress' customer-facing website (as well as our internal systems).
On any given day he'll bounce from project to project, including any and all things from developing new features and functionality to daily maintenance, Q&A, and most things IT-related. Neil came to CafePress from Hewlett-Packard, where he led the Engineering organization for the hpshopping.com website.
Hailing from across the pond, Neil has a Bachelor's degree from the U.K.'s Staffordshire University. When he's not hopping from whiteboard to whiteboard, he loves hopping on a jet for some well-deserved R&R. "I haven't met a Hawaiian Island I don't like," he says (with a not-too-subtle yearning in his voice).
Board of Directors
Brad Buss
Douglas Leone
Jeffery Jordan
Philip Monego, Sr.
Patrick Connolly
Brad Buss is Executive Vice President of Finance and Administration & Chief Financial Officer of Cypress Semiconductor. Prior to joining Cypress, Brad was Vice President of Finance at Altera Corp. He also serves as a board member of Silicon Light Machines.
Brad graduated from McMaster University with a Bachelor's Degree in Economics. He also received an Honors Business Administration degree, majoring in Finance and Accounting, from the University of Windsor.
Douglas Leone is a venture capitalist at Sequoia Capital focusing on Internet and communication investments. Prior to joining Sequoia Capital in 1988, Doug held sales and sales management positions at Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard and Prime Computer.
Doug has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University, an M.S. in Industrial Engineering from Columbia University, and an M.S. in Management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Jeffrey Jordan is President and C.E.O. of OpenTable.com. Prior to this he worked at eBay, where he was President of PayPal.com and before that S.V.P./General Manager of eBay North America. Jeffrey has also worked at Hollywood Entertainment, The Walt Disney Company and The Boston Consulting Group. He is also on the boards of OpenTable.com, LiveOps and PureDigital.
Jeffrey holds an M.B.A. degree from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and a B.A. from Amherst College.
Philip J. Monego, Sr. is Managing Partner of Technology Perspectives Partners, LLC, and early-stage investment fund focused on consumer products and Web-based consumer services. He is also a Venture Partner with Media Technology Venture (Allegis Capital), President and Founder of Technology Perspectives, and a former interim CEO and chairman at Yahoo!
Philip earned an Executive M.B.A. from Stanford University, and a B.A. in Management from LaSalle University.
Patrick J. Connolly is Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Williams-Sonoma. He oversees all marketing aspects for the company. Prior to joining Williams-Sonoma, Patrick held positions with Procter & Gamble, Xerox Computer Services, and founded or co-founded three mail order companies (including Sportswares with tennis star Billie Jean King). He also serves on the boards of the Direct Marketing Association and Stanford Business School.
Patrick holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Oregon State University and an M.B.A. from Stanford University's Graduate School of Business.
