Timothy M. Andrews has stepped down as head of Factiva (http://www.factiva.com), the new name for Dow Jones Reuters Business Interactive, LLC (see our November 8, 1999 NewsBreak). Clare Hart, vice president and director of global sales, will replace Andrews as president and chief executive officer. This appointment makes Hart one of the few women at the head of an established information industry firm. Andrews is moving to a wholly owned subsidiary of a publicly owned company in the B2B (Business-to-Business) e-commerce arena. The announcement of Andrews' new position should take place this week.According to Hart: "Factiva's stated mission is to be the indispensable provider of information solutions that empower and inspire our customers to make the best business decisions. We intend to fulfill this corporate purpose, to help our customers successfully compete and move ahead in this highly challenging marketplace." Hart stated that the change in management would not affect strategy. "Tim and I have worked closely together," she said. "I am completely on board with the present strategy."
Factiva will continue to support Reuters Business Briefing and Dow Jones Interactive as well as the development of Factiva-branded products, including a new "dot-com" product and content integration tools. Hart indicated that support for the current products follows customer wishes, but the company still plans to develop Factiva-branded products that unify content from both Dow Jones Interactive and Reuters Business Briefing. In time, these Factiva products will lead to the phasing out of DJI and RBB, according to Hart.
The originally announced 12-to-18-month time frame for developing Factiva products remains on schedule. Hart indicated that the company would have a Factiva intranet product out by the end of the second quarter and a dot-com product out by the following quarter.
Replacing Hart as vice president of global sales will involve internal and external recruiting, according to Hart. We asked if there was any urge to establish a "parity" situation with representation from Reuters' U.K. operation vs. Dow Jones' U.S. staff. She indicated strongly that the joint management of Factiva only wanted the best person for the job. Parity had no priority.
Hart expects to continue to spend upward of 60 percent of her time on the road, talking to sales staff and clients. She expects the new position will entail more work with product and technical staff as well.
Hart, 39, has been a member of Factiva's leadership team since the new company's inception in May 1999. Prior to joining Factiva, Hart had worked since 1983 in a series of sales, marketing, technical, and product senior management posts at what is now Dow Jones Interactive Publishing. She played key roles in the development of information services for the corporate market, including DowVision and Dow Jones News/Retrieval—the predecessor products of Dow Jones Interactive—and she was instrumental in the effort to move Dow Jones Interactive to the World Wide Web.
Andrews leaves Factiva for a non-competing firm with fondest good wishes on both sides, apparently. "Factiva is off to an exciting start," Andrews said. "I believe the new company has the best product, the best strategy, and the best people to serve the growing global corporate marketplace for news and business information. It is positioned as a leader in the industry for the year 2000—and well beyond."
