Internet Veteran to Lead eNom and Name.com Teams as Historic gTLD Launch Approaches
KIRKLAND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep. 30, 2013-- Demand Media (NYSE: DMD), a leading media and domain services company, today is pleased to announce its recent hire of
Steve Banfield
as senior vice president and general manager of Registrar Services. Banfield, a 20-year internet veteran, leads Demand Media’s two registrar businesses; Name.com, one of the domain industry’s most innovative retail registrars, and eNom, the world’s largest ICANN accredited wholesale domain name registrar, as each team readies for the launch of new gTLDs later this year.
Banfield boasts an impressive background, building and overseeing teams at notable technology and entertainment companies such as Sony, Microsoft, Paramount Picturesand Real Networks. “Our registrar business serves many different kinds of customers – from consumers to business owners – with products that range from a single domain name to a comprehensive API for selling domains and services,” said
Taryn Naidu
, executive vice president of Registrar Services for Demand Media. “Steve has spent his career creating market share for new digital experiences – which is required knowledge as we move into a world with over a thousand new domain extensions coming to market.”
With a resume rooted in digital consumer products, Banfield served as senior vice president of digital for Screenlife Games, a division of Paramount Pictures, and managed the product and licensing division focusing on the company’s presence on mobile, console and Facebook. As general manager and senior vice president at Sony Corporation, he created the Sony Media Software division, vastly expanding the company’s digital media offerings to consumers. After successfully cultivating that business, Banfield took on an expanded role as the head of Sony Connect. There, he spearheaded marketing, content licensing and business development across such products as the eBook digital download store for the Sony Reader and the first PlayStation Portable media management application, expanding PSP functionality to music, video and photo synchronization.
Prior to his work with Sony, Banfield oversaw the RealPlayer business as VP and GM ofRealNetworks. There he led the entire consumer products division and managed the team that created and steadily built up the RealOne platform, growing the number of users to more than 300 million users worldwide over four years. Previously at Microsoft, Banfield was an original multimedia evangelist, serving as a member of the developer relations team bringing games and multimedia software to Windows.
The Registrar Services team will be participating at this week’s cPanel Conference inNew Orleans. Activities include speaking on the panel, “The Future of Web Hosting” as well as presenting “The Next Historic Event on the Net - New TLDs in 2013!” The full agenda can be found here.
About Demand Media
Demand Media, Inc. (DMD) is a leading digital media and domain services company that informs and entertains one of the internet’s largest audiences, helps advertisers find innovative ways to engage with their customers and enables publishers, individuals and businesses to expand their online presence. Headquartered in Santa Monica, CA,Demand Media has offices in North America, South America and Europe. For more information about Demand Media, please visit www.demandmedia.com.
© 2013 Demand Media, Inc.
Source: Demand Media
for Demand Media
Ashley Gillen Binder, 212.730.7277
[email protected]