Group of private investors acquire firm and assume key leadership roles, bringing extensive business management expertise.
San Francisco, CA - February 5, 2008 - Method, a leading brand experience agency, today announced the appointment of Robbie Vann-Adibe and Al Aguirre as Co-Chief Executive Officers, and the creation of a new executive position for Method's founder, Kevin Farnham. Aguirre and Vann-Adibe will focus on distinct elements of Method’s business strategy, together positioning Method to offer its clients an unparalleled level of industry expertise and execution. Aguirre is primarily focused on Method's internal operations and human resources strategy, while Vann-Adibe is responsible for business development and client-facing activities. Kevin Farnham will serve in a new role as Chief Experience Officer, with a focus on refining Method's value proposition and on talent acquisition.
An investor group led by Vann-Adibe and Aguirre made the acquisition and provided growth capital, seeing in Method the ideal platform from which to build a global brand experience firm.
"Method is known for delivering best of breed, branded customer experiences," said Robbie Vann-Adibe, Method Co-CEO. "In the coming year, we look forward to expanding our current practice to reach an increasingly diverse, international set of clients in industries such as technology, media & entertainment, retail, luxury/ consumer goods, financial services, and health care."
Robbie Vann-Adibe is a senior executive with over 22 years of experience in service delivery, technology, and innovation in the U.S. and Europe. Prior to joining Method, he was a co-founder of Viant Inc., a web-services consultancy he helped build into an 850-person, $2.2 billion NASDAQ-listed firm. At Viant, he also led the firm's expansion internationally by opening offices in Munich and London. Viant helped define the first generation of web experiences for Internet users by developing the online presence of firms such as Compaq, Charles Schwab, and Radio Shack. After Viant, Vann-Adibe co-founded Inspired Technology Group in London, a mobile entertainment company selling ring tones and other mobile content which subsequently became Inspired Gaming Group, an AIM listed company and Europe's Largest Networked Entertainment Provider.
Following this, he served as the turnaround CEO of Ecast, a location-based entertainment network, which was originally incubated by Viant. Earlier in his career, he held a variety of senior-level technology and service delivery roles at Illustra, Oracle, Booz Allen Hamilton, and Morgan Stanley. An active angel investor, Vann-Adibe has served as an initial investor and advisor to a number of early stage companies.
Co-CEO Al Aguirre has deep operations, administrative and finance expertise, having held senior principal and advisory positions for early and mid-stage businesses and Wall Street firms. Aguirre served as CFO and member of the Board of Directors for TV Filme Inc., a Warburg Pincus wireless cable investment, where he directed the company through a successful IPO and subsequent Senior Notes offering, raising approximately $200 million. He also served as Chief Finance and Administrative Officer of Tradeum Inc., a leading digital markets software company, where he was responsible for all finance, HR, and administrative functions, and where he led the successful sale of the company for $500 million. In addition, he served as CFO of communications management software company QuantumShift Inc., where he built the finance and accounting function, led a strategic review of the company's markets and products, and raised a $33 million third round of venture funding. Aguirre gained principal investing, capital markets, and advisory experience as a Managing Director at private equity firm Warburg Pincus, a corporate finance attorney at Sullivan & Cromwell and an investment banker at Morgan Stanley.
"My experience in helping early and mid-stage companies establish a robust foundation for growth is a natural complement to Robbie's expertise in business development and delivery of multidisciplinary service offerings," said Al Aguirre, Co-CEO at Method. "I look forward to helping steer our internal operations to capitalize on the exciting growth opportunities in front of us, while continuing to deliver on Method’s reputation for delivering work of uncompromising quality to our clients."
Kevin Farnham founded Method on the principle that business communications should be consistently "on brand," highly functional and compelling, regardless of the medium. In his new role as Chief Experience Officer, Farnham completes Method's leadership triangle as a key driver of Method's growth. In his 15 years of experience in branding, user-centered design, and program management, Farnham has provided strategic design counsel to a wide variety of leading companies, including Apple, Bank of America, Disney, Gucci, Levi-Strauss, Microsoft, Nike, and Sony. He has received numerous industry awards and accolades from professional organizations and publications, including top design and branding outlets ID Magazine, Communication Arts, HOW, PRINT and ReBrand. Through his judging of local and international design competitions, speaking engagements and client interactions, Farnham's deep connection to the design community allows him to stay abreast of new approaches in branding and user-centered design and constantly renews his perspective on user experience and the convergence of technologies.
"Throughout Method's history, we've never lost sight of our primary focus - our relentless passion for design," said Kevin Farnham, Chief Experience Officer at Method. "We now have a proven, next stage leadership team in place to advance Method as a business, while continuing to deliver to our clients world-class brand experiences."
About Method
Method is a brand experience agency that helps business leaders harness the competitive power of design. With deep expertise in research, strategy, design and technology, Method offers a rigorous, intelligent approach to solving increasingly complex brand problems in the physical and digital realms. Method’s has enabled over 150 businesses to outperform competitors through unified branding and communications, compelling user experiences, and successful product and service development wherever customers can be found: on the web, mobile, print, advanced television and within immersive environments. The firm has a blue-chip client roster that features brands such as Sony, Gucci, Microsoft, Visa, Comcast, Nike, Adobe, and Yahoo!, among others. Method has offices in San Francisco, New York and London.
