Jim Safka was named chief executive officer of Primal Ventures in April 2007. The mission of Primal Ventures is to identify new business opportunities for IAC ranging from start-up ventures to existing entities in various stages of development. Additionally the company will actively seed and incubate new concepts and leverage the strength of the overall IAC network to get them launched.
Mr. Safka previously served as chief executive officer of Match.com a position he held since September 2004. Under his leadership the company grew revenue and OIBA at an annual rate of 25% and 52% respectively. Mr. Safka came to Match.com from AT&T Wireless where he served as vice president and general manager of e-commerce. Under his leadership AT&T Wireless sold more wireless plans through its Web site than the other five national carriers combined and ranked number one in online customer service. Before joining AT&T Wireless in 2002 Mr. Safka spent five years at E*TRADE Financial Corporation most recently as vice president of marketing where he was instrumental in growing the customer base from 200 000 accounts to more than four million. Mr. Safka started his technology marketing career at Intuit as a Product Manager for Quicken Financial Planner and Quicken.com. He also held brand and product management positions at Alberto-Culver Inc. Warner Bros. Inc. and Paramount Pictures. Mr. Safka holds a Masters in Business Administration from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of Southern California. He resides in San Francisco with his wife Mandy and two children.
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