Akimbo Systems today announced that media industry veteran Thomas F. Frank has joined the company as president and chief executive officer. Frank brings a wealth of advertising, content licensing and Internet media expertise from previous roles at Real Networks, Dick Clark Productions, Leo Burnett Company and Carolco Television. More recently, he founded a successful consulting firm providing strategic guidance to emerging Internet companies as well as established companies in the digital media space.
Joshua Goldman, who has served as CEO of Akimbo since its launch in 2004, will continue to be actively involved with Akimbo while maintaining his current seat on the board of directors. Under Goldman's leadership, Akimbo pioneered the Internet video-on-demand (VOD) market, quickly making a name for itself among major studios, content providers, consumer electronics companies and consumers.
"Akimbo's content delivery innovations make this company the most exciting professional opportunity I have come across since I helped to build out the video streaming business as COO of Real Networks, said Frank. "Josh has built a strong foundation, taking Akimbo to the forefront of the market, creating groundbreaking partnerships on both the content and distribution sides of the VOD business.
William R. Hearst III, partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Akimbo Chairman of the Board said, "Akimbo is very pleased to have Tom on board. He is a proven executive with an impressive track record of building companies and launching consumer products. His depth of experience in both technology and content is very rare. More importantly he's a great leader with a passion for creating a new media platform and a big business.
Frank brings 20 years of leadership and expertise in building top-tier global companies in the technology, marketing and media sectors. As president of White Dog Media, he provided guidance to a host of digital content companies and e-commerce start ups as well as established media companies. At Real Networks, Frank served as chief operating officer and was responsible for corporate strategy, advertising sales, consumer subscriptions and media content programming. Prior to Real Networks, he ran program development and key productions at Dick Clark Productions while directing overall corporate business strategies. Frank has executed marketing and TV programming strategies for the largest advertisers in the world, including McDonald's, Procter & Gamble, General Motors, Reebok, Nintendo and Pillsbury while at Leo Burnett Company.
About Akimbo
Akimbo is the first company to deliver digital-quality video-on-demand to any television via a broadband-Internet connection. In 2006, the company was named to the OnHollywood 100 by AlwaysOn for its easy-to-use and affordable Internet video-on-demand service. As an aggregator of brand-name and specialty video content, Akimbo provides one of the world's largest collections of on-demand programming to companies including AT&T, Microsoft Corp., Sonic Solutions and Thomson Corp. Akimbo has offices in San Mateo, Calif. and is funded by AT&T, Blueprint Ventures, Cisco Systems Inc., Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Sprout Group and Zone Ventures. For more information, visit www.akimbo.com.
