Consumer and Small Business Marketing Veteran
Will Lead Mass Marketing Group
Mountain View, CA, December 12, 2001 - VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:
VRSN), the leading provider of digital trust services, today announced
that it has appointed John Donoghue, Senior Vice President for Mass
Marketing.
Donoghue, formerly Senior Vice President for Consumer
Marketing of MCI Worldcom, will be responsible for mass marketing VeriSign
digital trust services, including domain name registration and value-added
services, as well as overall product management and customer support.
From 1995 until 2000, Donoghue was responsible for
all aspects of MCI's marketing to consumers and small businesses including
branding, product and pricing strategies, direct marketing, customer
retention, partner marketing and advertising. He introduced the first
"dial around" services (10-10-321, 10-10-220 and 1-800 COLLECT)
and "MCI 5 Cent Sundays", as well as developing the telecommunications
industry's first bundled package of communications services, "MCI
One."
"John brings an unparalleled combination of
consumer and small business marketing skills to VeriSign," said
Champ Mitchell, executive vice president and general manager of VeriSign's
Mass Markets Division. "We're pleased to have someone with his
leadership talent as we embark on a broad campaign to expand VeriSign's
digital trust services to a wide range of consumers and small- and medium-sized
businesses."
Before 1995, Donoghue served as MCI's vice president
of business marketing where he oversaw MCI's business to business marketing
efforts including brand marketing, product development, advertising
and public relations. His work experience includes all facets of marketing
leadership from conducting market research, creating marketing databases,
developing pricing strategies, and enhancing customer service.
With the addition of Donoghue, VeriSign increases
the strength and depth of its marketing team and adds to the leadership
of its senior management team dedicated to enabling everyone, everywhere
to use digital communications with confidence.
"With more than 6.5 million customers and an
infrastructure that supports businesses engaging in e-commerce, VeriSign
is at the forefront as we start an important chapter in the Internet’s
history,” said Donoghue. “I’m excited at VeriSign’s dedication to making
the customer experience the most important part of that new chapter.”
About VeriSign
VeriSign, Inc. (Nasdaq:VRSN) is the leading provider of digital trust
services that enable everyone, everywhere to engage in commerce and
communications with confidence. VeriSign's digital trust services create
a trusted environment through three core offerings - web identity, authentication
and payment services-powered by a global infrastructure that manages
more than 5 billion network connections and transactions a day. Additional
news and information about the company is available at www.verisign.com.
Statements in this announcement other than
historical data and information constitute forward-looking statements
within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and
Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These statements
involve risks and uncertainties that could cause VeriSign's actual results
to differ materially from those stated or implied by such forward-looking
statements. The potential risks and uncertainties include, among others,
VeriSign's limited operating history under its current business structure,
failure of the Illuminet merger to close due to the failure to obtain
regulatory or other approvals; failure of the Illuminet stockholders
to approve the merger; the risk that the VeriSign and Illuminet businesses
will not be integrated successfully and unanticipated costs of such
integration; uncertainty of future revenue and profitability and potential
fluctuations in quarterly operating results; increased competition;
risks associated with the company's international business and risks
related to potential security breaches. More information about potential
factors that could affect the company's business and financial results
is included in VeriSign's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission,
especially in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year
ended December 31, 2000, Registration Statement on Form S-4 filed on
October 10, 2001 and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters
ended March 31, June 30, 2001 and September 30, 2001. VeriSign undertakes
no obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements after
the date of this press release.
VeriSign is a registered trademark of VeriSign,
Inc. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
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