Tom Bates

As Vice President of Cox Search and General Manager, Mr. Bates runs Kudzu.com, a local search engine owned by Cox Enterprises and part of the corporate business development team. Previously, he was VP/Product and Marketing for Cox Interactive Media, in charge of all content programming, product development and marketing. He transformed the 35-city site network into one of the Internet’s leading local players. He also ran 25 additional websites for Cox’s cable, broadcast and newspaper divisions. Prior to joining Cox, Mr. Bates was SVP/Advertising Sales for the New Century Network – the Internet’s first affiliate-based network, consisting of 130 newspaper websites in the USA’s top 50 markets. The company was formed in an unprecedented partnership of major conglomerates including: Advance, Hearst, NY Times, Tribune Co. and the Washington Post. He also helped launch USA TODAY’s International Edition, sold in more than 90 countries. As Managing Director/Europe & Asia, Mr. Bates had P&L responsibility for all business operations outside the USA. Mr. Bates graduated from the University of Virginia. He currently is based in Atlanta.