Robert McGovern (businessman)
Robert McGovern is an American businessperson and entrepreneur, currently the CEO at PreciseTarget. He previously founded and led (as CEO) CareerBuilder and JobFox.[1]
Career
McGovern began his career at Hewlett Packard Company (1983 to 1993), before serving as president and general manager of a division of LEGENT Corporation (1993 to 1995).
McGovern founded CareerBuilder in 1995 as NetStart Inc.[2] The company went public in 1999 before going private again in 2000 when it was acquired for $200 million by publishers Knight Ridder and the Tribune Company.[3][4] McGovern continued serving as the company's CEO through 2002, overseeing CareerBuilder's acquisition of Headhunter (in 2001, for $200 million).[5]
In 2004, McGovern founded a second online job site, Jobfox. Jobfox differed from CareerBuilder, which brought the job search process online, by focusing on making it easier for job seekers to find a job.[6]
In June 2009, McGovern was in a car accident and suffered severe brain injury. The Glasgow Coma Scale evaluation indicated (with a score of "3") he probably wouldn’t survive in anything other than a vegetative state. [7] However, he recovered and returned to Jobfox in March 2010, overseeing the sale of the company in two private transactions: selling the assets in 2012 to Beyond.com and the domain name in 2013 to Doostang.[8]
In 2013, McGovern launched Cobrain, which uses a database of consumer preferences to help brands activate customers and sell more products online.[9]
In 2014 the MedStar National Rehabilitation Hospital gave him a Victory Gala Award, honoring individuals who have overcome physical adversity and inspired others.[10]
In 2016, Cobrain was rebranded as PreciseTarget.[11] In July 2019, PreciseTarget launched its first retail data products.[12]
He also served as a board member with Heads Up, a Washington D.C. nonprofit that sponsored after-school programs (1999 to 2001), and as a venture partner in the information technology practice of New Enterprise Associates (NEA) (2004 to 2005).[13]
Publications
McGovern is the author of Bring Your A-Game, The 10 Secrets of The Career Achiever (Sourcebooks, 2005) ISBN 1402205163. He holds a total of six patents, focused in the areas of computerized job search and recruitment.[14]
References
- Ghosh, Sudipto. "MarTech Interview with Robert McGovern, CEO at PreciseTarget". MarTechSeries. Marketing Technology Insights. Retrieved December 19, 2020.
- Ch, Rajiv (December 30, 1996). "TAPPING INTO A WEB OF ASPIRATIONS". Washington Post. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
- "How I Did It: Rob McGovern of Jobfox". Inc.com. July 5, 2011. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
- Webb, Cynthia (March 5, 2002). "CareerBuilder Under New Management". Washington Post. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
- "CareerBuilder Acquires HeadHunter.NET". Mergr. Mergr. Retrieved December 20, 2020.
- Mirabella, Lorraine (December 19, 2010). "Jobfox founder Rob McGovern strives to match candidates and companies". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved December 19, 2020.
- Waldman, Tyler. "CareerBuilder founder Rob McGovern on Cobrain, recovery". Technical.ly. Technical.ly Baltimore. Retrieved December 19, 2020.
- McColgan, Chris. "People Are Patenting Social Media Recruiting". Recruitment Buzz. Recruitment Buzz. Retrieved December 29, 2020.
- Overly, Steven (December 2, 2013). "Robert McGovern's new venture, Cobrain, aims to be the personal stylist in your pocket". Washington Post. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
- "Gala Victory Awards Past Honorees". MedStar NRH. Retrieved December 20, 2020.
- "PRECISETARGET Trademark of Cobrain Company - Registration Number 5556303 - Serial Number 87132067 :: Justia Trademarks". trademarks.justia.com. Retrieved August 26, 2019.
- Friday, James Hercher //; July 19th; Am, 2019-10:55 (July 19, 2019). "PreciseTarget Exits Stealth Mode With Aggregated Retail Data Solutions". AdExchanger. Retrieved August 26, 2019.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
- "Robert McGovern Named Venture Partner of New Enterprise Associates; Area Entrepreneur Joins Venture Firm". Business Wire. Business Wire. Retrieved December 29, 2020.
- "Patents by Inventor Robert J. McGovern". Justia Patents. Justia. Retrieved December 29, 2020.