Executive Team

Loren Bendele, General Management

Loren Bendele is the CEO of Savings.com. He co-founded the business in March of 2007. Prior to Savings.com Loren ran Teleflora’s Partner Marketing business, selling through key relationships including USAA, UPS, American Express, Sears, JC Penney, American Airlines, United Airlines, Continental Airlines, and other large partnerships. Loren started his career with Dow Chemical, initially as a chemical engineer. He then joined The Boston Consulting Group where he provided strategy/management consulting services for industries including airline, health care, software and telecommunications. He has also worked as an Internet technology consultant focusing on strategy, business development, fund raising, product management and M&A for companies ranging in size from emerging ventures to established companies such as Earthlink and WeddingChannel.com. Loren graduated with honors in chemical engineering from Texas A&M University.

Marcus Flemming, Search & Strategy

Marcus Flemming joined the team in January of 2007 to focus on business development, strategy and search initiatives. Marcus got his start on the web professionally in 1997 when he built a destination ranked in the top 3 in its space by PC Magazine. This entrepreneurial effort led to nine additional Internet based startups spanning from the fitness industry to commercial television and Internet business solutions while building partnerships with film studios like Warner Bros., DreamWorks, Paramount, and technology companies such as Overture, Yahoo, Comcast, and Peer1. While studying business administration and psychology, he expanded his skills beyond business planning and development to include hands on technical experience through advanced search engine optimization, network architecture and administration, and the management, design, and development of over one hundred online destinations.

Tom Kuljis, Deal Operations

Tom Kuljis started his business career in the Direct Marketing industry while studying philosophy in Santa Barbara CA. He signed on at a small ecommerce start-up, Commerce Planet Inc., in early 2003, and he quickly rose through the ranks, occupying various positions including Director of Customer Service, Director of Quality Assurance, and he eventually became the VP of Consumer Relations for the business at the age of 23. Post acquisition he worked as an independent consultant focused primarily on streamlining call center operations and establishing employee training processes for small businesses. Tom joined the Savings.com team in March of 2007 to manage the company’s Deal Entry Resources.

Evan Labb, Business Development

Evan Labb joined Savings.com in April 2010 as Head of Partnerships & Business Development. Prior to Savings.com, Evan was at Wetpaint – an Accel Partners portfolio company – where he was responsible for all partnerships and business development in the media, publishing and content verticals. Prior to Wetpaint, Evan ran the Partner Relations team at Veoh Networks- the online video venture backed by Michael Eisner, Goldman Sachs and Spark Capital. At Veoh Evan managed the team responsible for all aspects of the company’s content partnerships including Veoh’s relationships with CBS, Warner Bros., ABC, ESPN and MTV Networks. During his tenure there, Veoh increased its user base from two million to over 28 million unique monthly visitors. Before Veoh, Evan was an executive within the WPP Group where he advised clients such as American Express, Cisco, IBM, HP and Dow Corning on marketing strategy and planning. Evan earned his MBA from Columbia University Graduate School of Business.

Brian Lee, Consumer Experience

Brian Lee joined Savings.com in April 2011 to head up Consumer Experience. Prior to Savings.com, Brian was the Director of Product Management at BabyCenter.com, the leading online global destination for pregnant and new moms, where he launched an award-winning iPhone pregnancy application, helped scale the fastest growing online parenting community, and led projects on the 20-country international platform. Before that, he was the Director of Wireless at Credo Mobile/Working Assets, a socially responsible venture donating millions each year to nonprofits, where he also held senior positions in marketing and finance. Brian earned his MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and graduated from Harvard University with a BS in Applied Mathematics and Economics.

Craig O’Neill, Merchant Support

Craig O’Neill joined Savings.com in April of 2009 to head up the Merchant Outreach Division. Prior to Savings.com, Craig and his team managed $20 million in annual revenue for Experian Interactive Media, in both their lending and education verticals, from 2006-2009. He was responsible for Experian’s strategic partners, and his clients included Citibank, Chase Manhattan, Wells Fargo, Notre Dame and Boston University. Prior to that, Craig managed over $100 million in client assets for Morgan Stanley in Beverly Hills.

Meghan Heffernan, PR & Corporate Communications

Meghan Stuyvenberg joined Savings.com in December of 2010 to head up Public Relations and Community Management. Prior to Savings.com, Meghan was the Associate Director of Digital at Hill & Knowlton Australia, where she was responsible for driving the digital strategy for multi-national clients in Asia Pacific. During her career, Meghan has developed and implemented a diverse range of award-winning programs, including, large-scale events and tours, social media initiatives, corporate social responsibility programs, international product launches, celebrity seeding, and analyst relations programs. Meghan’s career in Public Relations began in 2003, and has worked for both Edelman and Hill & Knowlton. Meghan earned a degree in Literature from University of California, Santa Barbara.

Thomas Swalla, General Management

Thomas Swalla joined Savings.com in February, 2010, as COO. Prior to Savings.com, Thomas was an EIR at Lagovent Ventures in Los Angeles where he evaluated consumer internet businesses. Prior to Lagovent Ventures, Thomas was the President at Knowledge Adventure, the leading venture-backed developer and publisher of children’s gaming content. He was responsible for launching and managing all online business initiatives for the company. Thomas has also served as the VP of Business/Corporate Development & Strategy for RazorGator Interactive Group, a leading online event ticketing company, backed by Kleiner Perkins, Oak Investment Partners and Steamboat Ventures. While at RIG, he helped grow the company 100% per year to well over $100mm in revenue. Thomas was also instrumental in helping secure content deals with the NCAA, Rose Bowl, and several professional sports organizations. He received his BBA in Management Information Systems and Finance from the University of Iowa.

Joe Zulli, Technology

Joe Zulli joined Savings.com in January 2006 as Software Architect and later became the Director of Technology. Joe was one of the earliest Savings.com employees, and he’s responsible for the technical vision and strategy of the company. Joe spent most of his career in the online advertising industry working at Fastclick as the Technical Lead for AdServer, a self-serve ad serving platform, as well as Fastclick’s search optimization platform. There he managed the product development from the early design stages to launch. This is also where he gained his expertise in SEM technology and strategy. Prior to that, Joe worked as a Lead Developer at Computer Associates. Joe graduated with a degree in Computer Science from The University of California Santa Barbara.