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Former Verizon-GTE-Superpages Executive Patrick Marshall Joins WebVisible Board, Eyes New Products, Global Markets

Posted on: Thursday, 13 April 2006, 12:00 CDT

WebVisible, a provider of local online advertising products and services, announced today that Patrick Marshall, the former Group Vice President of Verizon Information Services (VIS) known for piloting Verizon's Superpages.com into the nation's top Internet directory, has joined WebVisible as a member of its Board of Directors.

As a member of WebVisible's Board, Patrick will provide vision and strategic leadership in a number of areas, drawing from his vast experience in development of online and offline advertising platforms, including Yellow Pages publishing, wireless strategies, new product development, and product distribution in a global marketplace.

Mr. Marshall arrives at WebVisible as a timely asset in the company's European expansion and mobile strategy to bring local brick and mortar businesses into this rapidly evolving and growing advertising marketplace. WebVisible, already a recognized leader in the local search marketplace, is escalating the current buzz of mobile advertising with plans to put local ads on handheld devices, cell phones and in podcasts. Mobile advertising is predicted to explode over the next three years, with a conservative to aggressive estimated market spend between $250 million and $760 million (eMarketer, 2005).

"I could not be more delighted to be joining the very talented people at WebVisible and to contribute to the growth of such an innovative and market-focused organization," said Marshall.

WebVisible's current online advertising clientele include local businesses around the United States and Canada, where its Geneva software application acts as an exchange between its resellers and more than 30 top search engines, including Google and Yahoo!. WebVisible's resellers include Dex Media, Canadian Yellow Pages Group, BellSouth, and others.

"We welcome Patrick's creativity, leadership and vision," said WebVisible CEO Kirsten Mangers. "We truly hail Patrick as a pioneer in this industry and we look forward to working with him."

Marshall most recently served as Vice President-Advanced Products for Verizon Information Services, a unit of Verizon Communications. Upon the merger of GTE and Bell Atlantic, which formed Verizon Communications, he was named Group Vice President-Marketing for VIS after serving as President-New Media Services for GTE Information Services where he founded and led SuperPages.com. Under Patrick's guidance, SuperPages.com became the Internet's #1 online directory and shopping resource powering directory services on AOL, MSN, InfoSpace, Excite, and Lycos, as well as more than 2,500 affiliate Web sites.

Patrick has served on the board of directors for the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and the Information Industry Association. He has also served as a member of the Board of Trustees of The Marketing Sciences Institute.

Patrick holds a bachelor's degree in Journalism from Rider University and attended Villanova's Graduate School of Business.

About WebVisible(SM)

WebVisible's local advertising products & services, sold by the local ad sales professionals of yellow pages, newspapers and online marketers, bring visibility to millions of local business websites that would otherwise be lost in a vast Internet landscape. The WebVisible service suite includes local search, locally targeted banner advertising, Pay-Per-Call and Click-to-Call services. In addition, the WebVisible service provides a web based proprietary order entry and campaign reporting application, affording easy self-management of order input, processing and reporting.

The service supports local resellers with sales training, product positioning and merchandising to increase resellers' product line, revenue, and consumer loyalty.

A service of SME Global Solutions (incorporated in September 2001), WebVisible evolved in 2005 as a collective of local market professionals with more than 150 years experience in local market advertising and product development. The service is sold by Fortune 500 companies including Bell Operating Companies, newspaper publishers and ISP's worldwide.

SME Global Solutions, Inc. is a privately held company with funding from Redpoint Ventures.

WebVisible, A Service of SME Global Solutions, Inc. is headquartered in Irvine, California with offices in Atlanta, Georgia.

For more information, please visit www.webvisible.com or call (949) 502-5757.

Source: Business Wire

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