About Bankrate.com
Who we are
Thomas  R. Evans
President and CEO

Thomas R. Evans became President and CEO of Bankrate in June of 2004, after having been elected to the board a month earlier in May 2004. From 1999 to 2002, Mr. Evans was Chairman and CEO of Official Payments, an internet processor of payment to government entities which he took public and subsequently was acquired by Tier Technologies. From 1998 to 1999, Mr. Evans was president and CEO of the internet company GeoCities, which he took public and was acquired by Yahoo!. Prior to that, Mr. Evans was a 20 year veteran of the magazine publishing business, his last post being the President and Publisher of U.S. News & World Report, Fast Company and the Atlantic Monthly Magazines.


Robert  J. DeFranco
Senior Vice President of Finance

Robert J. DeFranco joined Bankrate in March of 1999. He served as the Company's Chief Financial Officer from October 2000 thru March 2006. From 1986 to 1999, he held various positions in corporate accounting and finance for companies including Ryder System, Inc., Southeast Banking Corporation, SunTrust Banks, Inc. and Ocwen Financial Corporation. His experience includes all aspects of corporate accounting and finance and internal and external financial reporting - including SEC reporting, mergers and acquisitions (analysis, integration and accounting), corporate re-engineering, budgeting and forecasting. A Certified Public Accountant and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Mr. DeFranco was part of the commercial audit division of Arthur Andersen & Co., Miami, Fl., from 1978 to 1986.


Edward J. DiMaria
Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer

Edward J. DiMaria joined Bankrate in April 2006. Prior to joining Bankrate, Mr. DiMaria has held Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer positions at Official Payments Corporation and Best Friends Pet Care, Inc. He also has a broad M&A and project management background, consulting with companies such as Jostens Intermediate Holdings, Inc., where he spearheaded an acquisition completed by KKR, as well as Financial Interactive, Inc., Navisite, Inc., and CorVu Corporation.


Daniel P. Hoogterp
Senior Vice President, Chief Technology Officer

Mr. Hoogterp has served as Senior Vice President and Chief Technology officer of Bankrate since May 2005. From 2002 to 2005, he was Chief Executive Officer of TQuist, LLC, a technology consulting company. From 2001 to 2002, he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Enamics, Inc., a company specializing in business technology management. From 1999 to 2001, he served as SVP and CTO of Sagemaker, Inc., a provider of enterprise information portals to energy, telecom, insurance and other industries. From 1991 to 1999, he served as CEO and Chief Architect of Retrieval Technologies, Inc. In each position, Mr. Hoogterp focuses on linking business operations and drivers with innovative, timely technology solutions. He is an occasional speaker at events in search engine and online service areas.


Steven L. Horowitz
Senior Vice President, Product and Business Development

Steven L. Horowitz has served as Senior Vice President, Product and Business Development since May 2005. Steve joined Bankrate as Vice President and Publisher in October of 2004. Prior to that, he spent two years (2002 to 2004) at America Online (Time Warner), most recently as Vice President eCommerce Classifieds. From 1998 to 2002, he held Director and Senior Manager positions with Yahoo! and GeoCities, Inc. (a community/web publishing destination acquired by Yahoo! in 1999) specializing in business and sales strategy for their classifieds and local properties. Additionally, Steve served as Associate Director of Internet Marketing for BMG Music Club at BMG Direct, Bertelsmann (1998), Director of Internet Venues at a start-up entertainment website (1996 to 1997) and Online Publicist for Turner Entertainment Group at Turner Broadcasting Systems, Inc. (1995 to 1996).


Michael J. Ricciardelli
Senior Vice President, Consumer Marketing

Michael Ricciardelli was appointed Senior Vice President, Consumer Marketing after joining Bankrate in September 2006. Prior to joining Bankrate, he was Vice President - Marketing & Media Sales at Apartments.com/Classified Ventures where he managed all marketing functions and online advertising sales efforts. From 1999 to 2003, he was Co-Founder & Vice President of Strategic Development for Insurance.com - venture funded by Fidelity Capital and sold in 2003 to Comparison Market. Earlier in his career, Mr. Ricciardelli also held positions in strategy consulting and business development at Fidelity Investments, and financial analysis at Salomon Brothers.


Donaldson M. Ross
Senior Vice President, Chief Revenue Officer

Donaldson M. Ross joined Bankrate in September 2006. Prior to joining Bankrate, Mr. Ross was Senior Vice President - Sales & Marketing for Harris Connect the foremost leader in affinity marketing for the directory, internet and data services business in the education and association market place. Earlier in his career, Mr. Ross held an executive management position at zUniversity.com. Mr. Ross also worked at U. S. News & World Report in various media sales and sales management positions for 11 years where he rose to the position of Vice President of Advertising Sales.


Bruce  J. Zanca
Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing/Communications Officer

Bruce J. Zanca joined Bankrate in July of 2004. Previously, Mr. Zanca owned and operated his own communications consulting practice. Earlier in his career, he held the top communications and investor relations posts at both GeoCities, Inc. and Official Payments Corporation. He was a Vice President of corporate communications at U.S. News & World Report Magazine from 1995 to 1998. And, from 1981 through 1992, Mr. Zanca was a press aide in the Reagan and Bush administrations. There, he was a White House Spokesman and deputy to Marlin Fitzwater in the first Bush White House.