Staff Writer
David Brown’s career has a few common themes.
A self-described military brat, he moved several times during his youth before settling in Jacksonville at an early age, but he resumed moving every few years during his professional career.
He said he’s always been surrounded with extraordinary business minds, no matter the endeavor, and he’s always been successful in those ventures.
“I never stop learning,” he said.
Brown, 56, has settled back in Northeast Florida, where he has been running Jacksonville-based Web.com and intends to boost the company’s visibility.
“A lot of times people find out about us through word of mouth or business partners,” he said. “We’re going to be doing some different things this year. We want to make sure they know we’re here.”
Brown serves as president, chair and CEO of the Website design and marketing company, which has grown to more than 275,000 small and medium-size business clients across the country. Web.com helps create Websites and online services for small businesses so they can increase their profiles and better market their goods and services.
It took several moves for Brown to return home.
After graduating from Fletcher High School, he attended Harvard University, where he was the only student that class year to earn a degree in Persian history. He hoped to become a professor and study in Iran.
Foreign conflicts interfered and he returned to Jacksonville, taking the only job he could get. That was with Barnett Bank, where he spent seven years.
Brown stayed in the banking industry another five years with Florida National Bank and then moved to Washington, D.C., for an operations position with the worldwide Riggs Bank.
Three years later, he retired from banking and moved back to Jacksonville before spending time with The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm, that sent him abroad on business to destinations like London, Dubai and Italy.
After seven years with Carlyle, Brown returned to Jacksonville to create Atlantic Teleservices, a technology services company, in 1997. The Internet was starting to make ripples in how business was done.
“I looked around in 1997 and saw how the Internet was going to change things,” said Brown. “I said we might as well get smart and get ahead.”
A company called Website Pros bought Atlantic Teleservices in 1999, and Brown ended up taking the helm. It acquired Atlanta-based Web.com in 2007 and took on that name while remaining in Jacksonville.
During the recent recession, Web.com has remained steady and is showing growth.
Brown has seen first-hand how the recession has affected small business across the country.
“It’s been a very difficult economy for our customers,” he said. “We’ve gone out of our way to help them weather the storm.”
That’s meant steps like price freezes on the company’s services and assurance that clients are getting the most value for their money.
“We want them to see real value,” he said.
Small business has been the last to fully embrace the Internet as a marketing method and Brown compares it to a giant glacier: a slow-moving yet overwhelming force. Small businesses, mainly the brick-and-mortar variety, might have a Web site, but it’s how they use it that’s critical to success in an ever-evolving market.
The Internet, Brown said, is as powerful a force as television was in his childhood and continues to evolve.
Brown’s drive has staved off two retirements and today his focus is both on Web.com’s clients and its 800 local employees.
“I’ve tried retiring twice and it’s just not for me,” he said. “I could be hitting golf balls and such, but this isn’t a job for me. It’s my passion. I don’t envision trying to retire again.”
While Web.com boasts clients across the country, only 1,000 or so come from the area market. He said the company will boost its visibility and increase marketing to local businesses.
“There’s a great opportunity for businesses utilizing the Internet right now,” he said. ”People and companies just want to be found out there. And we help them do that.
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