Two VPs Join Founder Ben-Horin in Newly Formed Office

Contact: Franziska Marks, CompuMentor Communications, 415-633-9336, fmarks@compumentor.org

SAN FRANCISCO, June 20 /Standard Newswire/ -- Nonprofit technology resource CompuMentor has announced new executive leadership: Co-CEO and President Daniel Ben-Horin will be joined by Rebecca Masisak and Marnie Webb to serve as a three-person Office of the CEO. The new team will share responsibilities for leading the organization, which were formerly divided between Mr. Ben-Horin and Co-CEO Phil Ferrante-Roseberry. Ms. Masisak was formerly VP and General Manager of TechSoup Stock and Ms. Webb is the former VP of Knowledge Services for the organization.

CompuMentor's mission is to ensure that every non-governmental organization (NGO) on the planet has the technology resources and knowledge they need to operate at their full potential. To achieve this goal, the organization engages in a broad range of activities, some grant supported and others sustainable social enterprises. The shared leadership model of the three-person CEO office will most effectively support the organization's mix of services and broad scope by blending the diverse backgrounds and skill sets of the three individual Co-CEOs.

In addition to shared accountability for the entire organization's performance, each individual will focus on a major area of activity:

·        Mr. Ben-Horin, CompuMentor's founder, will lead development and fundraising activities.

·        Ms. Webb will focus on collaboration with the nonprofit tech sector's key players and integration of CompuMentor's knowledge-based services on grant-based projects to impact the nonprofit sector's systemic technology challenges.

·        Ms. Masisak will be responsible for CompuMentor's social enterprises and corporate relationships, in the U.S. and internationally.

The reorganization on the executive level is what Mr. Ben-Horin calls "a natural evolution." This change follows Mr. Ferrante-Roseberry's decision to relocate to Boulder, CO, for personal reasons. Mr. Ferrante-Roseberry will continue to serve TechSoup as a senior consultant and advisor to the executive team.

According to Mr. Ben-Horin, who founded CompuMentor twenty years ago, the expansion of the leadership team was an easy decision: "Both Rebecca and Marnie, as Vice Presidents, have been acting in an executive capacity for the entire organization during the past two years, as well as running their respective departments. Each is immensely creative and immensely pragmatic, as Phil and I have repeatedly appreciated during our two years of collaboration with Rebecca and Marnie on our executive team. They are universally respected and liked by our staff and external constituents. Creating this new team is a natural expansion of their roles."

He added: "Phil has been successful in establishing with me an effective shared leadership model, and although we will miss his day-to-day presence on the executive team, it will be a tremendous luxury and boon for us to have access to him in his new role as Executive Vice President, Special Projects."

Former Executive Director and co-CEO Ferrante-Roseberry commented: "CompuMentor has a reputation for thinking outside the box. I remember that our decision to share the CEO role ten years ago was perceived by some as unusual. But since then, the benefits of successful shared leadership have become more recognized and our own organization's phenomenal growth in size and scope has proven that we were on the right track. The new team will invigorate CompuMentor's efforts to provide access to technology information, products and assistance to the global nonprofit sector."

As Robert Frank, CompuMentor's Board Chair, describes, "The combination of the particular talents of these three people - Daniel as visionary founder and developer, Marnie as nonprofit technology sector creative collaborator, and Rebecca as social enterprise leader - presents a unique opportunity for an executive leadership model that will position the organization for continued success."

More about the Co-CEOs:

Daniel Ben-Horin, President and Co-CEO

Mr. Ben-Horin created CompuMentor in 1987 by tapping volunteer resources on the WELL, one of the first online communities. Today, CompuMentor is one of the most comprehensive nonprofit technology assistance institutions in the world, employing a staff of 150 and deploying a budget of $15.5 million. In addition to guiding the evolution of the organization, Ben-Horin speaks and writes frequently on issues related to the underserved's access to technology. He also serves on the board of the Nonprofit Finance Fund. In 2004, 2005, and 2006, The Nonprofit Times included Ben-Horin on its list of the 50 most influential leaders in the U.S. nonprofit sector.

Rebecca Masisak, Co-CEO

Ms. Masisak joined CompuMentor six years ago as General Manager to launch and chart the growth of TechSoup Stock, CompuMentor's technology product donation distribution service. Most recently, Ms. Masisak has been responsible for setting and driving CompuMentor's international expansion strategy. Under Ms. Masisak's leadership as Vice President and General Manager, TechSoup Stock has channeled just under three million donated and discounted technology products to a national and increasingly international nonprofit audience. To date, more than 184,000 requests have been processed and close to 70,000 organizations in 10 countries have received technology products through the program, freeing up more than $770 million for direct services. Ms. Masisak has an MBA from Columbia Business School. She is a frequent speaker, domestically and internationally, on social enterprise and volunteers for the nonprofit organization S.A.G.E. (Students for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurship).

Marnie Webb, Co-CEO

Ms. Webb has been with CompuMentor for more than seven years, most recently holding the position of VP of Knowledge Services. Ms. Webb worked towards optimizing TechSoup, CompuMentor's popular Web resource and its TechCommons program to help address the nonprofit sector's systemic technology challenges. She is also one of the driving forces behind the NetSquared Initiative (www.netsquared.org), which brings the social Web to nonprofits across the globe. A sought-after speaker and writer on nonprofit technology, she understands both challenges and technological possibilities facing the sector. Ms. Webb is one of the founding members of the Nonprofit Emerging Technology Exchange (http://groups.google.com/group/nptech) and an organizer of the NPTech tagging experiment (http://www.omidyar.net/group/compumentor/news/12/).  

Founded in 1987, CompuMentor is one of the most comprehensive nonprofit technology assistance providers in the world, employing a staff of 150 and deploying a budget of $15.5 million. It conducts a range of major programs on the international, national and the local level, including the operation of the nonprofit technology Web site TechSoup and its distribution service for technology product donations, TechSoup Stock. CompuMentor's newest programs are TechSoup's NetSquared initiative to help nonprofits worldwide use new Internet-based tools such as blogging and podcasting to extend their reach and impact and TechSoup Global, its program aimed at building NGO capacity worldwide.