Peter Horan

Recognized as one of the media industry’s premier innovators, Peter Horan brings 30 years of traditional and online marketing, sales, management and operations expertise to his role as Chief Executive Officer of About, Inc. Horan assumed the leadership role at About, Inc in December, 2003.

Under Peter’s guidance, About has accelerated the company’s path to significant and steady growth. Initial and notable successes include expanding its advertiser base, forging strategic partnerships with quality content providers, managing an exclusive contextual advertising deal with Google and raising the bar on the performance of media models through a keen focus on continued advancement of product and user experience.

Prior to About, Peter served as President and CEO of DevX, a leading online resource for software development professionals now operating as part of the Jupitermedia Corporation. During his three-year tenure, Peter shifted focus to achieving profitability through aggressive cost control initiatives and key product introductions. For this start-up, Peter added $3 million in new annual revenue and sustained the company’s success by striking strategic marketing and e-commerce programs with technology companies such as IBM, Microsoft and Intel, Nokia and Qualcomm, building high-performance management teams and securing venture capital funding. Horan’s efforts at re-defining the new publishing model carved DevX’s status as an industry leader and positioned it for its 2003 acquisition by Jupitermedia.

Before DevX, Peter enjoyed a successful nine-year run at International Data Group (IDG). While at IDG, he served as Vice President of National Accounts, Senior Vice President & President of IDG Marketing Services and most recently as Senior Vice President & Publisher, Computerworld. In these various roles, Peter influenced IDG’s product and corporate branding and commissioned cutting-edge research on IT purchasing processes. Additionally, he reinvented Computerworld, promoting diversification and expanding the brand into conferences, list rentals, research and online and in the process, adding $5 million in annual revenues.

Horan launched his career in media with senior management positions at prominent advertising agencies, Ogilvy & Mather and Tycer-Fultz-Bellack/BBDO. At the former, Peter served as SVP & Group Director and shaped several launch campaigns for Microsoft. His previous tenure at Tycer-Fultz-Bellack provided sole exposure to the high-tech sector and gave him a key role in growing the agency from a ten person start-up to an established agency, 60 employees strong and billing $45 million in revenue.

Peter received an MBA from San Francisco State University and a Bachelor of Arts from Santa Clara University.