Sean Westwood
CEO
After having gained early experience with several large enterprises including Westpac, Shell, Coles Myer and Kimberley Clark, Sean became something of a technology evangelist during the 1990’s, taking on senior management roles for subsidiaries of US companies, Lowrance Electronics and Checkpoint Systems, helping to lead both businesses through periods of dramatic change and growth. It was only natural, therefore, that Sean plunged into the dot.com space, joining the Internet Reach Group (IRG), negotiating their sale to Australian dot.com poster child, LibertyOne, in 1999, joining them as CFO of LibertyOne Services, consolidating the many acquired online entities throughout Australia and the Asia Pacific, including IRG, ZIVO and Clearview (NZ).
Sean joined ZDNet Australia as CFO in early 2000, helping the transformation from a traditional print media business under a partnership between Ziff Davis Publishing and Australian Provincial Newspapers (APN) publishing iconic technology publications such as PC Week and PC Magazine, to the leading provider of online IT media, as a fully owned subsidiary of CNET Networks, now CBS Interactive. He left CNET in 2005 to establish ProgressSport and Media, consulting to various organisations in the sports and media industries, before taking on his present position as CEO of Life Events Media/ Quotify Australia.
Sean holds a bachelor of business degree from the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) and a master of management degree in marketing from the Macquarie Graduate School of Management (MGSM).
Paul McCarney
Founder
At the end of 1999 Paul McCarney co-founded premier search marketing agency, Decide Interactive. At Decide, Paul oversaw search marketing strategies for some of the world's largest companies, growing the business internationally, with offices in Sydney, London and San Francisco. In August 2004, Decide Interactive was sold to the NASDAQ listed, 24/7 Real Media.
Paul has spoken at conferences around the world on ROI optimisation for various methods of Search Engine Marketing, and has published numerous articles on IT and Internet marketing.
Prior to founding Decide, Paul consulted on Internet and Marketing strategies to technology companies like Real Networks, Ericsson, Eicon, EDS Canada and Computer Associates. Paul has a B.Comm (Marketing) from UWS.