eHarmony Names Jaynie M. Studenmund President and Chief Executive Officer

PASADENA, Calif., Jan. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- eHarmony, the Internet's #1 relationship service, today announced that Jaynie M. Studenmund has been appointed president and chief executive officer effective February 1, 2006. She succeeds Greg Forgatch, co-founder of eHarmony, who is voluntarily stepping down as president and chief executive officer to pursue other interests. Forgatch will continue to hold his current position on the board.

Studenmund, who has served as a board member of eHarmony since August 2005, brings 25 years of executive operating and marketing experience to her new role at the company. Over her career, she has managed businesses ranging from $100 million to $1 billion in revenue across a diverse set of environments, including start-up, rapid growth, Internet, and traditional businesses. She will have overall responsibility for leading all aspects of eHarmony's business.

"We're proud to announce the appointment of Jaynie M. Studenmund as the company's new chief executive officer," said Dr. Neil Clark Warren, chairman and co-founder of eHarmony. "Jaynie is an experienced, talented and visionary leader. Her proven record of success and passion for the Internet makes her the ideal person to lead eHarmony to new levels of success in the years ahead."

Prior to joining eHarmony, Studenmund was a board member for Countrywide Bank, aQuantive Inc., Western Asset, and Forest Lawn. Until early 2004, she was the chief operating officer for Overture Services Inc., the pioneer in pay-for-performance search, now part of Yahoo!. During her three year tenure as COO, the company experienced profitable, hyper growth, including growing annual revenues from $100 million to $1.2 billion, quarterly profits from negative to 10 consecutive quarters of profit, and international markets from one to 12. Previously, Studenmund was the president and COO of PayMyBills.com, the largest bill management service on the Internet.

"eHarmony is a gem of a company that, inspired by the extraordinary vision of Neil Warren, has grown to hold an important place in the hearts of millions of people," said Studenmund. "I feel honored to succeed Greg Forgatch who, with Dr. Warren, built eHarmony from the ground up and transformed it into a thriving and profitable business. I am excited about helping expand eHarmony's leadership position in this emerging product category and fully realizing the limitless growth opportunities that lie before us."

"Co-founding eHarmony with Neil and working with him to build it into a dynamic company has been the most rewarding experience of my career," said Forgatch. "I want to express my deep appreciation to all of the employees whom I have worked with over the years. Their dedication to eHarmony's mission is the reason why the company has achieved the success that it has. I know eHarmony's best years lie ahead and I am certain that Jaynie, who has not only the management and leadership credentials, but also a deep understanding of the eHarmony brand, is just the right person to lead the company into the future."

"Under Greg Forgatch's leadership, we've created and built a company that is having a profound and positive impact on the lives of millions of people," said Dr. Warren. "Greg is voluntarily making the decision to step down at a time when eHarmony is enjoying record growth. He has played an integral role in the selection of Jaynie as our new CEO and is in fact one of her biggest supporters. I am delighted that Greg will continue to serve on our board and wish him much success as he pursues his new endeavors."

Before the Internet, Studenmund enjoyed a successful career in financial services. She spent 11 years at First Interstate, starting as the chief marketing officer and eventually becoming the executive vice president responsible for all of retail at the California bank. While there, she managed $1 billion in revenue, 4,000 employees, 403 stores, a 1,000-person sales force, and marketing. She also was the executive vice president responsible for all of retail at the nation's two largest savings and loans, Great Western Bank and Home Savings of America. At both companies, Studenmund was responsible for nearly $1 billion in revenue and led the retail bank to record breaking revenue, profitability, customer service, and operating efficiency results.

Earlier in her career, Studenmund was a management consultant with Booz, Allen & Hamilton. She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in Economics from Wellesley College.

In 2000, eHarmony revolutionized the way singles are introduced online when it became the first relationship service on the Web to use a scientific approach to matching highly compatible singles. Five years later, millions of people of all ages, ethnicities, and religious backgrounds have met using the company's patented Compatibility Matching System(TM), and tens of thousands have found strong and satisfying marriages throughout the world. Headquartered in Pasadena, California, eHarmony is backed by 35 years of empirical research and was founded by America's best-known relationship expert, best-selling author and clinical psychologist Dr. Neil Clark Warren. For more information, please visit us at http://www.eharmony.com/