Chris Tolles: CEO
Chris came to Topix from Spoke Software, a business social networking company, where he was a co-founder and VP of marketing. Before Spoke, Chris was a Director of Marketing at AOL/Netscape for AOL Music, Netscape Search and Directory Products. Chris was a co-founder and VP of Marketing at NewHoo, and led the sale of the company to Netscape. After the acquisition, NewHoo was relaunched as the Open Directory Project at Netscape and became the world's largest human edited directory of the web, and is still used by companies like Google, Alexa and AOL. Previous to NewHoo, Chris held a variety of sales, marketing and management positions at Sun Microsystems. Chris graduated from the University of California at San Diego with degrees in Computer Science and Economics, where he was awarded the Michael J. Addison award for his senior thesis about the online information industry.
Steve Rubinstein: VP Engineering
Steve provides to Topix an engineering background in both shrink-wrapped and Internet software. Just prior to working at Topix, Steve was a development director at EA helping to deliver Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 on multiple gaming platforms. Before that, he held a variety of roles at Netscape/America Online which included several years on the Netscape website, Netscape browser and lastly as Director of Engineering for AOL Shopping. Before that, he spent several years at Apple Computer as an engineer developing a cross-platform printing engine for FileMaker Pro. He started his career at a small startup which later sold the marketing rights for its product to IBM. Steve has a degree in Electrical Engineering from Rutgers University.
Michael Linton: VP Sales
Mike brings more than 15 years of sales experience to Topix. As the director of sales at Technorati, he built their advertising program from scratch, developed a new Conversational Marketing product, built a sales team and brought dozens of national brand customers to the site. From 2001 - 2006, he was the director of sales/west for Community Connect, where he grew revenue sixfold, led the company in sales for three years, and brought in new clients. He has held sales positions at Handspring, Phase2Media, TheKnot.com, TheGlobe.com, and Axciom/Direct Media. In addition, he has owned his own franchise door-to-door sales business. A native New Yorker, Mike currently lives in San Francisco, CA.
Dave Galvan: VP Business Development
In his role, Dave Galvan is responsible for spearheading local strategy, forging partnerships, and developing new revenue products. Prior to joining Topix, Galvan was the senior vice president, business development and new media for business and consumer database provider InfoUSA, Inc. From 2001 - 2005, he served as the senior director of business development, for the Search and Marketplace Group at Yahoo!, working across the Yellow Pages, Local, Search, Real Estate, Classifieds, Pets, Maps, City Guides, Autos, Tickets and Employment verticals. While there, he negotiated and closed complex revenue deals and strategic partnerships, resulting in 20 - 40% revenue growth each year. Previously, he held business development and marketing positions at Voquette, America Online, Netscape, Unisys, and Motorola. A native Californian, Galvan is a graduate of Stanford University.
Blake Williams: Senior Director, Product Management
Blake's tenure in the Silicon Valley includes senior positions at eBay/Paypal, AOL Time-Warner, and Apple Computer. As the Director of Product Management for Topix, Blake oversees product strategy and implementation of all customer-facing features, including Topix's highly successful forums platform. Prior to Topix, he led the program team responsible for PayPal's flagship SMB payments platform. Blake holds an MA from Stanford University and a BA from Colorado College. He is also a certified Project Management Professional (PMP).
Amy Dalton: Senior Director, Marketing
A marketing professional with more than 15 years of experience in media, Amy Dalton's career spans book, newspaper, magazine, and Internet publishing. She came to Topix from Knight Ridder Digital, where she directed marketing and advertising efforts for the company's 32 newspaper web sites and its national vertical properties, including CareerBuilder.com, Cars.com, Apartments.com, ShopLocal.com, and the Real Cities Network.
Previously, she managed public relations for PC World magazine and its web site PCWorld.com, and held several marketing and publicity roles at book publisher HarperSanFrancisco. A native Californian, Amy graduated from Stanford University with a bachelor's degree in American Studies.
