MessageGears, an enterprise email marketing software vendor with a unique product architecture, appointed long-time Atlanta marketing technology executive Roger Barnette to CEO. Barnette takes over for founder Dan Roy, who will oversee MessageGears’ enterprise platform as senior vice president of product development.
MessageGears is a 2014 graduate of the Advanced Technology Development Center’s ATDC Signature program and Barnette is taking the leadership reins at a time of rapid growth for the company. MessageGears’ revenue is up 120 percent in 2016 compared to the first 10 months of 2015, led by enterprise customers Expedia, Runkeeper, Booking.com and Travelocity. The number of email marketing messages sent by companies using MessageGears also is increasing rapidly. Over the past year, MessageGears has delivered an average of 1 billion messages per month, an increase of more than 300 percent from 2015.
Barnette has extensive experience leading and growing marketing technology businesses. Prior to MessageGears he was founder and president of IgnitionOne (formerly SearchIgnite), a 2006 ATDC Signature graduate, which he grew into one of the world’s largest digital media platforms. Before IgnitionOne, Barnette was president of Biltmore Communications and founder and CEO of eTour, an internet marketing company bought by Ask.com.
“This is an exciting day for me,” Barnette said. “I’ve been following MessageGears for some time and have witnessed first-hand its development from early stage company to established startup with a strong team, product, and client foundation. In order to continue this momentum, we plan to double-down on sales and marketing while continuing to invest in engineering resources.”
“I’m very happy to announce Roger’s appointment and role at MessageGears,” Roy said. “He brings significant leadership, operations and marketing technology experience, and an impressive track record growing young companies into industry leaders. We look forward to his help in guiding MessageGears through its next phase of growth, and establishing MessageGears as a leader in email marketing technology for large enterprises.”