Meet our leadership team

Donald McLagan

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Don brings more than 30 years of experience in business information services. He was the founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NewsEDGE Corporation, a public company later acquired by Thomson Corporation. Previously, Mr. McLagan was Vice President and General Manager of the Information Services Division of Lotus Development Corporation and a founding employee and Executive Vice President of Data Resources, Inc.

Don holds a BS and BSME degrees from Trinity College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.


Scott Ernst

President

Scott is a veteran in online marketing with deep experience in advertising, digital media and Web technology and over 20 years of experience in sales, operations and management. Over the past decade, Scott has been working with world-class brands to help them improve their business performance through the online channel. With Compete, Scott oversees the company’s operations including sales, marketing, client services and engineering. Prior to joining Compete, Mr. Ernst served as Vice President of Sales, Corporate and Business Development for Personify, a web analytics and behavioral profiling software company. Previously, Scott was Vice President of Sales at AdKnowledge, a marketing software and interactive media management firm, which was later acquired by CMGI/Engage.

Scott received his BS in Marketing and Entrepreneurial Management from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.


Joyce Bell

Chief Financial Officer

Joyce has more than 20 years of financial management experience and leads all of Compete's financial initiatives, including finance, strategic planning and human resources. Ms. Bell was previously Vice President of Finance for BeFree, an Internet marketing company. Prior to her work at BeFree, she was a controller at Thomson Trading Services, where she managed the financial organization of a $200 million operating group.

Joyce holds a BS and MBA degrees from Babson College.


Stephen DiMarco

Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer

Stephen has more than 15 years of marketing and client management experience. With Compete, he has management oversight of Compete’s award-winning consumer services and emerging vertical markets. Stephen also oversees marketing of Compete’s intelligence and targeting services to fortune 500 companies. Previously, Mr. DiMarco was a co-founder of the Internet strategy consulting firm ZEFER and directed business development and marketing initiatives for News Corporation, where he negotiated multi-million dollar distribution agreements for the company's cable programming subsidiaries. Prior to News Corporation, Mr. DiMarco managed the creation of consumer campaigns for Comedy Central, a joint venture between Time Warner and Viacom.

Stephen holds a BS from Georgetown University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.


Eric Richard

Vice President of Engineering

Eric joins Compete from Idiom Technologies, a globalization management company, where he oversaw technology integration and product research and development. Prior to serving as Vice President of Engineering at Idiom Technologies, Eric was CTO and VP of Engineering of Cambridge-based NetGenesis (now part of SPSS), the web analytics company he co-founded in 1994. The success of NetGenesis, considered by many to be the pioneer of today's web analytics, earned Eric recognition in 2001 as a finalist in the Ernst & Young New England Entrepreneur of the Year Awards. In addition to his entrepreneurial accomplishments, Eric is a recognized leader in the Internet development industry. He is the principal author of "How to Build a Web site," the first technical resource guide for Web site developers, and he created and built the award-winning "Sports Information Service," the first sports resource site on the Web. Prior to NetGenesis, Eric worked at IBM's Almaden Research Center, where he developed handwriting recognition software.


Al Zink

Vice President of Human Resources

Al brings more than 29 years of experience to the position of vice president of human resources and has overall responsibility for the entire human resources function. Mr. Zink was previously the Vice President of Human Resources for Upromise, a company that helps families save for college. He also led human resources at Thomson Dialog following the 2001 acquisition of NewsEdge, where he had served as vice president of human resources since 1997. At NewsEdge, Al established the company's human resource strategy and direction, and led the department through the Desktop Data and Individual Inc. merger. Prior to joining NewsEdge, Al established human resources at PictureTel Corporation as director of corporate human resources.

Al holds a master's of education degree in human resources development from Boston University and a bachelor's degree in psychology from Boston College.



Industry Practice Leadership

Adam Guy

General Manager, Automotive, Telecommunications and Media

Adam brings over a decade of experience in the telecommunications industry to Compete. As General Manager of the Automotive, Telecom & Media practices, he leads a team of client services professionals and analysts to deliver comprehensive analysis of consumers and competitive intelligence. Prior to joining Compete, Mr. Guy was a Senior Analyst at the Yankee Group where he focused on wireless carriers and their approaches to distribution, pricing, market segmentation and enabling technology platforms. Previously, he was the Director of Wireless Research at InfoTek Research and a Senior Analyst of Mobile Wireless Research at The Strategis Group.


Adam has a BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and an MBA from American University.


Gregg Poulin

General Manager, Compete.com

Gregg brings over a decade of experience in e-commerce/online marketing to Compete. With Compete, Gregg leads the team responsible for the growth of Compete.com, which offers marketers a competitive intelligence service that combines site and search analytics in one site to help marketers quickly master online marketing. Previously, he was the Director of E-Commerce at the Stride Rite Corporation and Director of E-Commerce at Keurig, Inc. where he planned and directed e-commerce strategy, branding, marketing, merchandising, design, and content for each of those companies.


Gregg has a BA from Saint John's University.


Gregory Saks

General Manager, Travel

Greg brings extensive experience in online marketing to Compete. Before developing and launching Compete's travel practice, Greg spent three years working in the company's new markets group where he led Compete's product and client development efforts in the travel, search, and pharmaceutical markets. Prior to joining Compete, Greg managed online advertising inventory and pricing initiatives for the Lycos network of Web sites. Previously, he worked in Fidelity Investments' online brokerage unit, researching online marketing and advertising effectiveness.

Greg holds a BA from Babson College.


Ron Sheklin

General Manager, Financial Services

Ron has more than 18 years of experience across financial services, e-commerce, and consulting. As the leader of Compete’s Financial Services practice, Ron is responsible for driving marketing efficiency and online channel effectiveness for clients in banking, insurance, and investing. Prior to joining Compete, Mr. Sheklin was co-founder and COO of Partnerwise Communications, a specialty affinity and co-brand partnership marketing firm. Previously, he directed initiatives in lending, e-commerce, and retail deposits at Capital One Financial. Prior to that, Ron was a consultant with Corporate Decisions, Inc. and Mercer Management Consulting delivering customer-driven growth strategies to Fortune 500 and private equity clients.

A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Management & Technology Program, Mr. Sheklin holds a BS from The Wharton School of Business and a BAS from the School of Engineering and Applied Science.