New B2B CEO Joins CPAguru

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE           Contact: Jack Levin
jack@cpaguru.com
http://cpaguru.com
New B2B CEO Joins CPAguru

SAN FRANCISCO, AUGUST 15, 2000-As part of its program of continuous improvement, CPAguru.com, Inc. today announced the appointment of Thomas Bruck, CPA, JD, as Chief Executive Officer of the leading online auction site for the exchange of accounting services. The innovative firm just won the Web Star Award from Electronic Accountant (www.electronicaccountant.com).

Cofounder and Chief Technical Officer Jack Levin comments, Thomas brings us a unique and valuable mix of experience in accounting, law and business. As we move into the second phase of our product offerings, his background and leadership skills will serve our accountant clients well."

Like many web-based firms, CPAguru (www.CPAguru.com) is redirecting its focus from the slowing business-to-consumer market to the business-to-business market. The company is facing a major challenge. A recent study of more than 200 US organizations by International Data Corporation revealed that accounting professionals are among the most sophisticated and avid consumers of technology. CPAguru is targeting midsize firms of up to a hundred employees, as well as independent practitioners.

Jack explains that CPAguru offers work exchanges between accounting companies, plus integrated personalized website development, testing and evaluation of services."
He has more than 15 years of engineering management experience. He is the former CEO of a software development consulting company that developed key elements of NBCi.com and XOOM.com internet infrastructure, MyPoints and LDAP partners integration, internalization of NBCi offerings, Ask Jeeves and Wired software, and online banking for Wells Fargo.

Thomas, after graduating summa cum laude from UCLA with a B.S. in Business Economics, held positions as Controller for a manufacturer with more than $600,000 in annual revenues. He spent the next four years as an auditor and tax assistant at Deloitte & Touche, LLP, during which time he became a CPA. There he prepared tax returns for private and public corporations, supervised multiple audits, and helped his clients make their businesses more cost-effective.

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Next he was awarded a JD from Stanford Law School and went to work in Los Angeles as a corporate securities attorney for Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP. He handled a variety of corporate matters for Internet companies such as mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, cobranding agreements and stock option plans. Thomas will take the lead as CPAguru explores venture capital opportunities.

Cofounder Sergei Slavoutski, former CEO, remains with the company as Chairman of the Board. Sergei has more than two decades of experience in international business development, marketing and management. After earning an MS in Computer Science and an MBA from the Plekhanov Graduate School of Management, Moscow, he attended training programs at the Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University, and the Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University. I was in Chicago when I learned from CNN that a coup was under way in Russia," he says, noting that the disruption was both a challenge and an opportunity.

Before cofounding CPAguru, Sergei led teams in system-wide computer database development, upgrade and support for Charles Schwab, Wells Fargo and Pacific Bell. He is responsible for establishing the strategic direction for CPAguru together with cofounder Jack Levin. Economic growth within the B2B sector and the small business community is exploding," he says, and the opportunity to capitalize on this growth has never been better."