Dominic Butera
Dominic Butera, the new chief financial officer of Ask Jeeves Inc., has one phrase to explain his eclectic resume: "Turmoil can be exciting."
The 42-year-old Danville resident graduated from UC-Berkeley's Haas School of Business in 1985 and went into public accounting. After three years, he joined Computerland and was promoted "every six months." More than six years later in 1994, after being named director of treasury operations, he left to join 3DO.
"At the time it was the hot thing in the valley. I had to get my technology ticket punched," he said.
He left 3DO in 1997 to join IDG Books Worldwide as director of financial planning and treasury. When IDG went public, Butera decided to enter the Internet space as vice president of finance and operations for Intermap Technologies. In the course of a year, the company grew from five employees to 75, but Butera conceded that the last thing he did was lay off half the employees.
He became vice president, treasurer, of Innoventry, a joint venture between Wells Fargo Bank and Capital One. When the business failed, he joined Ocular Sciences Inc. in 2002 and worked first as a consultant and then as treasurer.
"Contacts are a fantastic, if dull, business," he said. In 2005 Cooper Cos. bought the business.
Butera joined Jeeves in part due to the potential in Internet search and the challenges of promoting Ask Jeeves in a field filled with giants.
"We have some very big competitors with very large wallets," he said.