Plaxo Appoints Verisign Executive Ben Golub As Company’s First CEO

Golub Adds Proven Business Leadership and Expertise in Building a Trusted Consumer Brand to Rapidly Growing Startup

January 4, 2005 (MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.) — Plaxo, Inc., creator of the fastest-growing consumer Internet service for updating and accessing contact information, today announced the appointment of industry veteran Ben Golub as its first CEO. Golub, previously the senior vice president of marketing and corporate affairs at Internet infrastructure provider VeriSign, Inc., will be in charge of growing and building a business around the company’s existing user base of nearly five million people.

“Today marks a critical milestone in Plaxo’s expansion,” said Michael Moritz, Sequoia Capital partner and Plaxo board member. “The company’s founders have focused on engineering and delivering the industry’s most trusted and innovative consumer contact management service to millions of people around the world. Ben’s proven leadership ability and his extensive experience in establishing partnerships within the security and online payment sectors complement Plaxo’s existing team.”

Plaxo has raised nearly $20 million from Cisco Systems, Sequoia Capital, Globespan Capital Partners, Harbinger Venture Management, and angel investors including Ram Shriram and Tim Koogle. The company has developed technology that seamlessly integrates and synchronizes with Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express, so that users can maintain and universally access their address book, daily calendar, tasks, and notes from any Internet-ready device.

“I am extremely excited about the opportunity that lies ahead,” said Golub. “Consumers want a trusted brand that they can rely on to build, manage, and enhance their personal and business connections. Nearly five million people worldwide have identified Plaxo as a trusted service for managing their contact, calendar, and other personal information-a tremendous testament to the quality of the team. I look forward to leading Plaxo to the next level.”

Golub will begin serving as Plaxo’s CEO on January 10. As senior vice president of marketing and corporate affairs for VeriSign, Golub was responsible for the company’s worldwide marketing efforts, including corporate branding, advertising, public and analyst relations, Web marketing, employee communications, government and industry relations and community affairs. He also held numerous senior general management positions during his eight year tenure at VeriSign, including leading the management teams that built VeriSign’s Server ID and SSL certification business and scaled its online payments business. In these roles, he had global responsibility for sales, marketing, product development, support, operations, and business development activities. More recently, he served as general manager of the company's managed security services and enterprise security businesses.

“We were looking for someone to compliment our strategic vision and help the company grow and mature,” said Todd Masonis, co-founder and vice president of products, Plaxo, Inc. “We look forward to working with Ben and believe his strong business skills and commitment to creating secure, trustworthy, and innovative services will be a tremendous benefit to our customers.”

Golub holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, and a Masters in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. He graduated with a B.A. in Public Policy from Princeton University, and holds a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) accreditation.

About Plaxo

Plaxo, Inc. (www.plaxo.com) is an innovative consumer technology company that provides a critical new layer to the Internet infrastructure: consumer services that accurately and seamlessly keep people’s data up-to-date and accessible. Plaxo is a privately held company funded by leading investment and technology firms — Sequoia Capital, Globespan Capital Partners, Harbinger Venture Management and Cisco Systems — as well as individual investors Ram Shriram and Tim Koogle. The company has raised almost $20 million since it was founded in 2001.

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