LendingTree Chairman and CEO Named One of ‘50 Directors to Watch’ by Directorship Magazine

Released  July 18, 2008
By Megan Greuling
https://www.lendingtree.com/2008/07/lendingtree-chairman/

CHARLOTTE, N.C., July 18, 2008 – LendingTree Chairman and CEO Doug Lebda was recently named one of the ’50 Directors to Watch’ by Directorship magazine, which includes 50 directors under the age of 50 serving on the boards of Fortune 500 companies. Mr. Lebda is 37 years old and currently a member of the Eastman Kodak board of directors.


Mr. Lebda is the founder of LendingTree and led the once start-up company through a successful IPO, five acquisitions, and expansion into the consumer real estate category, growing the business to more than $300 million in revenue. Coming in August, Mr. Lebda will lead a spin-off from IAC (NASDAQ: IACI) to form Tree.com, the new parent company of LendingTree, GetSmart and RealEstate.com, and become the leading online provider of financial decision-making services to consumers. Mr. Lebda has received numerous honors throughout his career, including the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award, the Council for Entrepreneurial Development’s Trailblazer award, and the Inman Innovator of the Year award.


The inaugural ‘Directors to Watch: 50 Under 50’ list was compiled by the magazine’s editors and based on input from a reader poll and a panel of 12 corporate governance experts including executives from The Corporate Library, Heidrick & Struggles, Houlihan Lokey, Nasdaq, Pearl Meyer & Partners, and Spencer Stuart. The group selected individuals who they believe will put their mark on corporate America for generations to come.


The average age of today’s 75,000 public company board directors is more than 60. But there is a changing of the tide as nearly 1,000 Fortune 500 directors are under the age of 50. The ‘50 Under 50’ list includes such luminaries as Andrea Jung, Melinda Gates, Larry Page, Charles Phillips, Aerin Lauder, Jerry Yang, Natalie Bancroft and directors at Wal-Mart, Berkshire Hathaway, AutoZone, Hewlett-Packard, Viacom, and many others.


This year’s honorees will be recognized at the ‘Directors to Watch’ forum which will be held on September 30th from 11am to 3pm at the Lotos Club of New York City, as well as included in an annual feature of Directorship magazine.


Directorship is the leading publication and website for board directors on issues of corporate governance, compliance, best practices, and shareholder/proxy matters. Directorship and its website, Directorship.com, reach nearly 50,000 board directors, governance professionals, and global business leaders each month.


The Complete List: 50 Under 50 – Directors to Watch


Douglas R. Lebda, 37, Eastman Kodak; Paul S. Amos II, 32, Aflac; Roxanne S. Austin, 47, Target Corp., Abbott Laboratories; Andrew B. Balson, 40, Burger King, Dominos Pizza; Natalie Bancroft, 27, News Corp.; William H. Berkman, 43, IAC/Interactive; James W. Breyer, 46, Wal-Mart; Charles A. Brizius, 38, Spectrum Brands, Warner Music, Houghton Mifflin; Ursula M. Burns, 49, Xerox, American Express, Boston Scientific; Sylvia Mathews Burwell, 42, MetLife; August A. Busch IV, 44, Anheuser-Busch, FedEx; David N. Capobianco, 38, Plains All American Pipeline; Gary D. Cohn, 47, Goldman Sachs; Jonathan Coslet, 43, Neiman Marcus, J. Crew; William C. Crowley, 50, Sears, AutoNation; Susan L. Decker, 43, Berkshire Hathaway, Costco, Intel; Viet D. Dinh, 40, News Corp.; Roy Dunbar, 46, Humana, EDS Corp.; Eleuthère I. Dupont, 41, Dupont; Charles M. Elson, 48, AutoZone, HealthSouth; Carlos Fernandez-Gonzalez, 42, Anheuser-Busch, Emerson Electric; Scott T. Ford, 46, Alltel, Tyson Foods; Melinda Gates, 43, Washington Post; Kim C. Goodman, 42, AutoNation; John H. Hammergren, 48, McKesson, Hewlett-Packard; Reed Hastings, 47, Microsoft, Netflix; Mellody Hobson, 39, Starbucks, Estee Lauder, Dreamworks SKG Penelope “Penny” Hughes, 48, The Gap; Jeffrey A. Joerres, 48, Johnson Controls; Andrea Jung, 49, General Electric, Apple; Lawrence Kellner, 48, Marriott International; Klaus Kleinfeld, 50, Alcoa, Bayer AG (formerly, Citigroup and Seimens); Robert A. Kotick, 44, Yahoo; Sallie L. Krawcheck, 42, Dell; Edward Lampert, 45, Sears; Aerin Lauder, 37, Estee Lauder; Gregory B. Maffei, 47, Liberty Media; W. Rodney McMullen, 46, Kroger Co. Frits van Paasschen, 47, Starwood Hotels, Jones Apparel Group, Coming ; Larry Page, 35, Google Co-founder; Charles E. Phillips, 48, Viacom, Morgan Stanley; Myrtle S. Potter, 49, Amazon; John W. Rogers, Jr. 49, McDonald’s, Exelon, Aon; Matthew K. Rose, 48, Burlington Northern Santa Fe, Centrex; Randall L.; Stephenson, 45, AT&T, Emerson Electric; Daniel K.K. Tseung, 36, Owens Corning Wendell P. Weeks, 47, Merck & Co., Corning; Jerry Yang, 39, Yahoo, Cisco.


About LendingTree, LLC


LendingTree, LLC is the nation’s number one online lending exchange, providing a marketplace that connects consumers with multiple lenders that compete for their business. Since inception, LendingTree has facilitated more than 23 million loan requests and $185 billion in closed loan transactions. LendingTree provides access to mortgages and refinance loans, home equity loans/lines of credit, auto loans, personal loans and credit cards via www.lendingtree.com and 800-555-TREE.


Launched in 1998 with headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina, LendingTree, LLC also owns and operates LendingTree Loans sm, LendingTree Settlement Services, LLC, GetSmart®, and HomeLoanCenter.com. LendingTree, LLC is an operating company of IAC.