Smeal Alum Leads Online Ad Agency Into The Inc. 500

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA (April 30, 2008) – When Craig P. McGuinn II graduated from Penn State's Smeal College of Business in 1989 with a Bachelor of Science degree in finance, he didn’t expect to have a profession in marketing. However, that's exactly where he has taken his career; and as chief operating officer of Ward Media Inc. in New York City, he's leading the company to new heights and has helped it earn a spot on the prestigious Inc. 500 list of the fastest growing private companies in the United States.

Upon earning his finance degree, McGuinn began a successful 11-year stint as a retail stock broker on Wall Street. During the Internet boom of the 1990s, he covered a lot of Web stocks, including Yahoo! and other advertising based tech companies.

He developed an affinity for marketing from covering these stocks, and decided to make a career change. McGuinn joined the integrated marketing firm Venture Direct Worldwide and quickly became the firm's No. 1 online salesperson, generating sales in the millions.

Seeking to expand his sales force and build a team under him, he parted ways amicably with Venture Direct to start his own firm. Around this time, he was approached by one of his vendors, Ward Media Inc., about starting a partnership. He joined the company as an executive vice president in May 2004, and was named COO 18 months later in January 2006.

Today, Ward Media Inc. is a full-service online advertising agency specializing in multi-channel marketing through lead generation, e-mail, direct mail, telemarketing, data enhancement, search engines, site placement, and pop-up advertisements. Its core competency is long form lead generation for higher education. The company works with marketers and publishers to identify and analyze their needs and provide strategic, results-oriented marketing solutions.

Ward Media Inc.’s LeadPOWER™ proprietary lead management and optimization software platform and full-service call center in southern Florida are just two additional factors that distinguish it from its competitors.

With 2006 revenues of $6 million, Ward Media's 1,104 percent revenue growth landed it at No. 131 on the 2007 Inc. 500. Last year, the company recorded revenues of $11.5 million and McGuinn says the firm is projecting $18 million in sales for 2008.

As COO, McGuinn is responsible for the overall operations of the company, which has grown to include a staff of 18 employees. He still works firsthand with some of his original clients, however, and credits his Smeal finance education with helping him to succeed in marketing.

"The analytics and high-level math that I studied in finance have been imperative to the success I've enjoyed in business and marketing," McGuinn says. "These are skills that apply in a variety of professions, and in marketing especially, I've found that they help you to see through all the clutter to get to the core of the problem that you’'e seeking to solve through marketing."

Looking ahead, McGuinn says that Ward Media is focused on staying on the leading edge of online marketing and is expanding into other areas, including text messaging. The company plans to expand its client base in education—which makes up about 70 percent of its clientele—by working with colleges and universities seeking to market both their online and campus degree programs to prospective students.

For more information on Ward Media, visit www.wardmediainc.com.