Userplane’s best-of-breed applications power more than 300,000 online communities, ranging from small niche sites to large social networks. Every product in our growing application suite is designed to promote interaction, retention and revenue for site owners. No wonder more than 5,000 new publishers join Userplane every week.

The leading social networks rely on Userplane technology for their chat rooms, IM applications and more. In addition, Fortune 500 companies and major brands have tapped into our vast social advertising network for precision-targeted campaigns.

Founded in 2001 by Michael Jones, Nate Thelen and Javier Hall, Userplane is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. The company became a wholly owned subsidiary of AOL LLC in August 2006.

Leadership

Michael Jones, CEO

Focus: Business Strategy, Business Development, Operations

A serial Internet entrepreneur, Michael began his consulting career during his junior year at the University of Oregon, providing online strategy and web development services to companies such as Universal Entertainment and Boeing. He scaled his practice into PBJ Digital, a profitable, 40-person web consulting firm serving over 100 different companies including Sony, UPN, Insight First and Ron Herman from three locations.

After the successful sale of PBJ Digital, Michael formed Userplane with his partners, where he continued consulting, building a strong client base and developing high-traffic interactive websites for companies such as Red Bull and 800 Flowers. After two years, he led the successful transition of Userplane into an applications provider while maintaining the profitability of the business, which became the premier application platform for clients such as MySpace, Friendster and eHarmony.

Michael’s personal website can be found at: http://www.mjones.la.

Nathanial Thelen, CTO

Focus: System Architecture, Product Development, Infrastructure

Nate has been a leader in software development for more than 10 years. After completing his Bachelor of Science from the University of Oregon, he was recruited to Microsoft where he worked on the PowerPoint product line. From there, Nate was recruited to Los Angeles as the CTO of the growing consultancy PBJ Digital. At PBJ Digital, Nate grew the three-location technology division by 500% within six months.

Within Userplane, Nate’s focus includes software architecture, development and management. He has architected and implemented Userplane’s application suite and its underlying self-service infrastructure, which supports millions of live daily users across the globe. In addition, he has built and directed multidisciplinary technology teams for both client services engagements and internal software development.

Nate has been recognized as a software industry leader, presenting at conferences including Macromedia Max and Flash Forward.

Nate’s personal website can be found at: http://www.natethelen.com.