Management Team
The leadership team at Propel consists of some of the top Internet pioneers in Silicon Valley. With emphasis on experience, vision, and operational skill, Steve Kirsch and his team are poised to rapidly elevate Propel from an emerging market leader into a worldwide success.
Steve Kirsch
Founder, Chairman and CEO
Steve has been involved with the Internet and high-tech companies for more than 27 years. Since the early 80s, he has founded three successful technology companies. Prior to Propel, he founded Infoseek Corporation, which was acquired by The Walt Disney Company in November of 1999. While at Infoseek, Steve was responsible for creating many of the company's award-winning products, including the NetSearch service, Ultraseek Server, Infoseek Express, GO Guides, and GO Auction.
Steve's first start up was Mouse Systems Corporation. Afterward, he founded Frame Technology Corporation, which was acquired by Adobe Systems Incorporated.
Steve is also an active philanthropist and together with his wife Michele, started a $75 million foundation, which donates to a wide variety of charitable causes. In 1999, Steve and Michele were named Outstanding Philanthropists of the Year by the Silicon Valley chapter of the National Society of Fund Raising Executives, and recognized by Slate Magazine as the 8th largest charitable givers in America.
Steve holds both B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Jeff Heywood
Chief Financial Officer
Jeff has more then 20 years of experience in finance and software, and has served as Propel's CFO since 2005. Prior to joining Propel, Jeff served in a variety of finance leadership positions as CFO, and Controller, with market leading software companies, including Abaca Technology Corporation, Level 8 Systems, Inc., StarQuest Software, Inc. (acquired by Level 8), Adobe Systems Incorporated, and Emerald City Software, Inc. (acquired by Adobe).
Jeff holds a B.A. in Science, a B.S. in Accounting and an MBA in business administration from California State University, San Jose.
Andrew E. Newton
Co-founder, Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary
Drew has more than 38 years of legal experience in the high technology and Internet fields.
He is also co-founder, Vice President and Secretary of Abaca Technology Corporation.
Since the late 70s he has created and managed the legal departments at six companies. He was actively involved in taking Infoseek Corporation and Frame Technology Corporation successfully through their IPOs.
Drew co-founded Infoseek Corporation, with Propel CEO Steve Kirsch. He served as Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary. Infoseek was acquired by The Walt Disney Company in November of 1999.
Before Infoseek, Drew served as Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary at Frame Technology Corporation, which was acquired by Adobe Systems Incorporated.
He previously held general counsel positions at Digital Research Inc. and Amdahl Corporation, and held several legal positions at Honeywell Information Systems prior to joining Amdahl.
Drew holds an A.B. from Dartmouth College and a J.D. from Columbia Law School.
Mike Samboy
Vice President, Sales and Marketing
Mike joined Propel in 2002 and has served in several capacities during his tenure. Mike has over 15 years of experience managing strategic relationships for innovative, technology-driven companies, including Akamai Technologies, Convene.com and DigitalThink, Inc.
Mike holds a B.S. in Business and Information Systems from the University of Phoenix.
