Mark Ruthenberg

Current

General Manager / Owner at FoundLocally.com Media Inc
New Media Studies Advisory Board member at SAIT Polytechnic

Past

Director at DIgital Alberta, formerly Alberta New Media Association
President & Founder at UWannaWhat Intermedia Inc
Founder, President, Director at Discoverware Inc

President at Humana Computer Support Inc
President at Humana Computer Training Centres
Owner at Mark Ruthenberg Chartered Accountant (Sole Proprietorship)

see less...

3 more...

Education

Institute of Chartered Accountants
Carleton University

Connections

136 connections

Industry

Internet

Websites

Mark Ruthenberg’s Summary

Mark Ruthenberg combines his marketing & management experience as a business owner with over 2 decades of computer and Internet experience.
His company, FoundLocally.com Media Inc has developed expertise in "Zero Maintenance Website Design" and website marketing focusing onword of mouth and "Word of Mouse". The FoundLocally.com business directory enables other businesses to leverage a popular website as a marketing, recruiting, and Social Media tool (and its free!) for small businesses and also includes many time-saving tools for mutli-location, chain and franchise businesses.

Mark Ruthenberg’s Experience

General Manager / Owner

FoundLocally.com Media Inc

(Internet industry)

1999 — Present (10 years )

FoundLocally has created a chain of 30 locally-focussed portals under the FoundLocally.com name, that now stretch across Canada. We've also created targetted portals TransCanadaHighway.com and MovinginCanada.com for the travel and the real estate sectors.

The FoundLocally portals are interactive for businesses, community groups & government who can update their organizational information, as well as post events, news, jos (and volunteer opportunities) as well as savings (sales and/or coupons), all for free.

These sites attract an ever-growing web-savvy audience -- of community residents and visitors -- of a MILLION visitors a month. What makes this all the more intriguing is, that this traffic was generated without any traditional media, just "word of mouse".

Advertisers can: (1) target a locally focussed audience with community-tailored messages, and (2) extend Reach to an online audience not typically overlapping your traditional media (print, radio, television) buys.
New Media Studies Advisory Board member

SAIT Polytechnic

(Educational Institution; 1001-5000 employees; Education Management industry)

1998 — Present (11 years )

member of Advisory Board for a number of courses and programs at Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, advising on changing technologies and needs of industry, especially from a small enterprise (under 100 employees) perspective.
Director

DIgital Alberta, formerly Alberta New Media Association

(Internet industry)

1998 — 2007 (9 years )

Served as Director from the organization's inception until 2007 (except for 2005), and served as President of the organzation for 3 years from 2002-2005. Also took a major role in organizing the 2005 and 2005 Alberta New Media Awards. The organization is now re-branded as Digital Alberta. http://www.DigitalAlberta.com
President & Founder

UWannaWhat Intermedia Inc

(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Marketing and Advertising industry)

1995 — 1997 (2 years )

Created the concept of a community information site, focused on dining, entertainment and travel for Calgary and area. This well-researched site launched with much fanfare and media advertising and had a hands-on staff of about ten.

The company won many awards for both its website and its innovative marketing and advertising, and was a highly visible player in Calgary's Internet community.

The site expanded to Edmonton, Banff, and Vancouver, while trying to find ways to make an advertising business model work. After attempting to take the company public (via a JCP on the Alberta Stock Exchange) to fund expansion into Toronto (this was before Toronto.com even existed), the company and website was shut down as not being economically viable.

Ironically, after that company was shut down, Wired, FastCompany and Business 2.0 magazines recommended the very techniques UwannaWhat pioneered were the techniques they recommended to become an internet billionaire in the "dot com bubble".
Founder, President, Director

Discoverware Inc

(Computer Software industry)

1993 — 1995 (2 years )

This company was founded to create CD-ROM based computer training courses, incorporating video, animation, interactivity and testing to ensure learning effectiveness, all at a reasonable price point for individual and corporate training.

This was done by building a development team of 35 people, and selling through education and computer industry trade shows around the world.

The company went public on the Alberta Stock Exchange (now the Canadian Venture Exchange) and rose to a market capitalization of $35 million.

After I left, the company expanded further before filing for bankruptcy to become a wholly owned division of Drake International (which was the company's largest investor/shareholder)
President

Humana Computer Support Inc

(Public Company; Education Management industry)

1991 — 1993 (2 years )

Developed training courses for training centres and corporate training departments. Marketing in Canada and at computer and corporate training industry shows in the US. The courses were unique in that they were site-licensed, where clients bough a laser original and were able to make unlimited copies, providing dramatic cost savings over $25 per-copy training materials then generally available.

The company developed 300 course titles in its 3 year existence, and sold to clients in Canada, the US, Singapore, and the Middle East.
President

Humana Computer Training Centres

(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Education Management industry)

1987 — 1991 (4 years )

started corporate-market computer training company, specializing on Windows and Macintosh applications. Developed a wide range of training reference materials for all software taught, at different learning levels.

First year was lean, but after Imperial Oil (Esso) chose Humana for its Macintosh implementation program, and then its Windows training for all locations in Western Canada, company got investors and expanded rapidly to 3 locations (Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver), 35 trainers, and was training 15,000 students a year.

Training centres were acquired by Crowtek Business Centres, following the bankruptcy of company's majority investor.
Owner
Mark Ruthenberg Chartered Accountant (Sole Proprietorship)

(Sole Proprietorship; Accounting industry)

1983 — 1986 (3 years )

started small business accounting practice with focus on technology issues, computer implementation, computer training. One of first firms in Canada to use entirely digital processes in preparation of working papers, financial statements, and tax returns.

Also did consulting to businesses across Canada on Scientific Research Tax Credits (SRTCs) to improve their ability to fun research and development.. Did public speaking on the topic (through Foundation Seminars) on the topic to audiences in Toronto, Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver.

Mark Ruthenberg’s Education

Institute of Chartered Accountants

C.A. , Accounting , 1980 — 1990

Was in public practice as Mark Ruthenberg,Chartered Accountant from 1983-1986, with a focus on technology tax & financing issues, and let my C.A. designation lapse in the late 1990s when I was more immersed in the technology side of business.
Carleton University

B.Comm (Hon) , Accounting & Finance , 1977 — 1980

Additional Information

Mark Ruthenberg’s Websites:

Mark Ruthenberg’s Interests:

travelling, photography, sailing, running, hiking, skiing & rollerblading

Mark Ruthenberg’s Groups:

Digital Alberta

Carleton University Alumni
eMarketing Association Network
RecruitingBlogs
Innovative Marketing, PR, Sales, Word-of-Mouth & Buzz Innovators
Calgary Ad Club
Toronto Digital Marketing Professionals
THAT's Professional (Travel, Hospitality, Aviation & Tourism)
Media Buyers/Planners Network
Travel & Tourism Industry Professionals Worldwide
Fredericton Cybersocial
CentrePoint Non-Profit Management
Vancouver IT Professionals
Hotel Revenue Management, General Manager, Professionals, OTA, Online Travel Agents, Travel Portals
Vancouver Digital Marketing
Digital Alberta
Greater Halifax Partnership
Calgary Council for Advanced Technology
Victoria Internet Marketers
The Ad Club of Toronto
artsScene in Alberta (Edmonton and Calgary)
HR/Recruiting Vendors
Calgary Region - Economic Development Professionals
BLOGS, Bloggers, Weblog, Social Media, Facebook, Twitter, Epinions, Mouthshut, Worldwide Community
Non-profit Professionals Toronto