SunRocket Speaks > CEO Lisa Hook

CEO Lisa Hook

That's where my eye is trained. Does the Duke graduate pen a piece in a few months defending herself as a pawn of broader dysfunction just before taking the lead of another startup? Does she lick her wounds for a year and then surface as a lower ranked CEO at a major player?

Oh, the drama!

She's already on some Board of Directors. I think Hook is being the fall person here for the VC not wanting to stick more money in it. The VC took over and liquidated it. It also seems to be a job they love doing.

»www.shrwood.com/media/media.asp

Reed Elsevier Announces Appointment of Lisa Hook as Non-Executive Director
14 March 2006

Reed Elsevier today announced the appointment of Lisa A. Hook to the Boards of Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV as a non-executive director, subject to shareholder approval at the respective Annual General Meetings on 18 and 19 April.

»www.reed-elsevier.com/index.cfm?···eid=1697

Lisa Hook loved being retired. The former high profile AOL executive will be the first to tell you she considered
herself to be a poster child for AARP given her level of work-related activities and her stress free
lifestyle. The idea of full time employment, let alone at a company that is a David in a field of Goliaths, was
the last thing on her mind.
“I thought it was fantastic being retired,” says Hook, who in 2003 was one of the many casualties from
the failed AOL-Time Warner merger. “I was truly happy maintaining my tan.” Just to keep her hand in the
business world, she sat on the board of two publicly traded companies, Covad Communications, Inc. and
Reed Elsevier Group PLC.
But then a funny thing happened on her way to being a lounge lizard extraordinaire. She got hooked on
a new telecom service, voice over Internet protocol or VoIP, after a visit in January to Vienna, VA-based
SunRocket, Inc., a two-year-old privately held company in the telecom sector. VoIP allows people to make
telephone calls using a computer network over a broadband Internet connection. SunRocket serves the residential
marketplace.
“I went there to explore the possibility of being an outside director, but then I used the product and met
some of the people.”

»washington.smartceo.com/images/a···7.03.PDF

From what I gather, Sherwood put her in the company to try a turnaround. When it failed, they liquidated.

Karl, you might want to stop believing bloggers. Sherwood bills themselves as experts in liquidating small tech companies. Looks like she works, or worked, directly for them.
--
Saving the world keeps me busy. However, I find Earth very primitive from my home planet of Krypton.
-Supergirl

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Karl, you might want to stop believing bloggers

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From what I gather, Sherwood put her in the company to try a turnaround --Looks like she works, or worked, directly for them.

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I think Hook is being the fall person here for the VC not wanting to stick more money in it.

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Actually, Hook didn't resign voluntarily--she was really asked to leave. Actually, she did have a connection to Sherwood; it disappeared quick from Sherwood's website though.

Lisa A. Hook currently serves on the boards of directors of Reed Elsevier Group plc, Reed Elsevier NV, and Reed Elsevier PLC. She is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Public Radio Foundation. Ms. Hook currently serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Sunrocket, Inc. Until December 2004, she served as President of AOL Broadband, Premium and Developer Services. She was also previously a partner at Brera Capital Partners LLC, a managing director at Alpine Capital Group, Vice President at Time Warner Inc. and executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Time Warner Telecom. She started her career at Hogan and Hartson LLP. Ms Hook holds a B.A. from Duke University and a J.D. from the Dickinson School of Law.
»www.abanet.org/buslaw/directwome···es.shtml

The bloggers I mentioned where bloggers who sprang up all of the suddent and the ex- and disguntled employees.

As for her AOL failings: Time Warner, the AOL Time Warner, fired her as the fall girl after they realized what a disaster AOL was and got screwed out of billions by Steve Case, AOL's founder. Case was fired/removed after Ted Turner demanded it.
--
Saving the world keeps me busy. However, I find Earth very primitive from my home planet of Krypton.
-Supergirl

reply to supergirl

Re: CEO Lisa Hook

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Actually, Hook didn't resign voluntarily--she was really asked to leave.

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Karl, the supposed "employees" are just that--probably disgruntled as well. Lisa Hook was recruited to run SunRocket; she didn't ask for it. Hook was "canned" by the VC that took over SunRocket to liquidate it. Common sense tells you that. Probably the reason they didn't return your phone calls.

Considering how you bash big companies or anyone who loses your favor, why anyone would talk to this site is beyond me. I wouldn't. The only reason DSLX is on here is because they never ending incompetence (based on user reviews posted on here ad nauseum) at NOT solving problems over the phone. I will give you guys kudos for the great stuff you have on here but your articles are biased as can be.

Yes, she was the pawn in the AOL broadband failure because AOL wanted people to pay more than most dialup for extra features. It is a known FACT Hook had to twist arms at AOL Time Warner just to get those idiots to figure out dialup was old news and broadband was the future--then AOL screwed it up by chargin too much for it. How many CEOs got the boot over the AOL Time Warner merger that was overinflated in value costing them a $100 billion write-down in value? Parsons, another Time Warner goon like idiot Case, finally figured out AOL was a loser with junky software and is making AOL a portal. If it was up to Ted Turner, Parsons would be fired quicker than you can say AOL.

If you Google it, you can find out lots of things.
--
Saving the world keeps me busy. However, I find Earth very primitive from my home planet of Krypton.
-Supergirl

Again, your statement that Lisa Hook played no role in the problems at either SunRocket or AOL runs contrary to the statements of employees and executives who actually worked there.

You were also incorrect about her being employed by Sherwood.

Unless you can somehow show me your insights are something more than the random opinions of a Florida panhandle resident, I'm afraid I remain unconvinced.

The insults are charming, however.

Lisa Hook's AOL Broadband profiled in BusinessWeek:

"But she quickly pushed an urgent shift in AOL's business. Her goal was to nudge the company away from its roots in providing basic access to the Internet. Instead, AOL would let the public buy broadband access elsewhere, then lure customers to an additional AOL service packed with movie clips, music, and games. But as she and her team raced to build these multimedia offerings, they continued to butt heads with AOL's traditionalists. It was bruising, but necessary, because the future of AOL rested on its broadband success. "She's on the front line," says AOL Time Warner CEO Richard Parsons."

"By August, Hook's team had produced a dazzling demo of an AOL broadband service of the future, with cinematic, full-screen moving images and surround-sound. When she showed it to small groups of top execs across the company, it stirred up fears. AOL's old guard insisted that the remake would turn off mass-market members who valued a consistent experience. "When we went for the ultimate scary thing -- sound and motion on the Welcome Screen -- it was like the beginning days of movies," she said. "People were scandalized -- 'Oh my God, it's alive."'

Hook got a big boost from the arrival in early August of new AOL CEO Miller, also an outsider, who championed her approach. By December, the company endorsed her strategy. And in January, Miller charged AOL's massive programming, product development, and marketing teams to work on broadband under Hook's leadership.

Now, Hook, who relished her role as an insurgent, has to execute on the vision she sold to her company. It's simply a matter of selling it to everyone else."

»www.businessweek.com/magazine/co···z063.htm

Parsons:

"Richard D. Parsons named new CEO of AOL Time Warner - National Report - Brief Article
Jet, Dec 24, 2001
Richard D. Parsons, co-chief operating officer of AOL Time Warner, has been named chief executive officer of the company, which is the world's largest media company.

He replaces Gerald M. Levin, 62, who will retire as CEO in May.

Parsons, 53, is one of the highest-ranking Black executives in corporate America. Currently, as co-chief operating officer of AOL Time Warner, he oversees the company's content businesses-Warner Bros., New Line Cinema, Warner Music Group and Time Warner Trade Publishing--as well as two key corporate functions: legal and people development. He also is a member of the AOL Time Warner Board of Directors."

»findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m···81861150

Parson sold Warner Music for $2.6 billion to reduce debt.

»www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3706292/

Parsons is a lawyer and was brought in to cool the heads of fiery Ted Turner, who got Case to resign. (»www.usnews.com/usnews/biztech/ar···case.htm)

Where did Parsons work before AOL Time Warner? Dime Bancorp, Inc.

Before becoming CEO, Mr. Parsons served as the company's Co-Chief Operating Officer, overseeing its content businesses-Warner Bros., New Line Cinema, Warner Music Group and Time Warner Book Group-as well as two key corporate functions: Legal and People Development.

Mr. Parsons joined Time Warner as its President in February 1995, and has been a member of the company's Board of Directors since January 1991. As President, he oversaw the company's filmed entertainment and music businesses, and all corporate staff functions, including financial activities, legal affairs, public affairs and administration.

Before joining Time Warner, Mr. Parsons was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Dime Bancorp, Inc., one of the largest thrift institutions in the United States. Previously, he was the managing partner of the New York law firm Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler. Prior to that, he held various positions in state and federal government, as counsel for Nelson Rockefeller and as a senior White House aide under President Gerald Ford. Mr. Parsons received his undergraduate education at the University of Hawaii and his legal training at Union University's Albany Law School.

Mr. Parsons’ civic and non-profit commitments include Co-Chairman of the Mayor’s Commission on Economic Opportunity in New York; Chairman Emeritus of the Partnership for New York City; Chairman of the Apollo Theatre Foundation and service on the boards of Howard University, the Museum of Modern Art and the American Museum of Natural History. He also serves on the boards of Citigroup and Estée Lauder.

»www.timewarner.com/corp/manageme···ard.html

Ted on Parsons:

"So Turner has lost his money, his ability to save humanity, and what else? Ah, yes. His power. In January, when he announced that he would retire from AOL Time Warner at the annual shareholders' meeting in May, most people viewed the move as an inevitable result of his diminished status within the company. Turner himself likened his role to "Emperor of Japan." Shorn of operating authority, he couldn't even get CNN--his own creation!--to air Avoiding Armageddon, his eight-hour documentary on weapons of mass destruction. There were many such insults eating away at him, most of which he blames on former CEO Gerald Levin. The one that caused him to quit, he reveals here, was quite specific: Neither CEO Richard Parsons nor anyone else among the AOL Time Warner brass consulted him about a change in the top management of CNN. (Network chief Walter Isaacson resigned, and Jim Walton replaced him.) "It was the final straw," Turner says. Parsons declines to comment. Following this flap, Turner's friends were betting that he would quit AOL's board of directors as well. He waffled for weeks and then opted to stay on. "Yes, I do give a damn," Turner says, his Gable-esque mustache crowning his smile."
»money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/···ndex.htm

Lisa Hook and Sherwood: Did they force her to resign?

"The three-year-old Vienna start-up had been struggling financially and laid off most of its workers during the past two weeks. Chief executive Lisa Hook, a former AOL executive, resigned Friday, just before SunRocket turned out the lights.

Packet8, the third-largest independent Internet-phone service provider with 181,000 customers, said yesterday that it entered an agreement with SunRocket's liquidator, Sherwood Partners of Palo Alto, Calif., to accept SunRocket subscribers. Customers can transfer their phone service at no charge and will receive one month free."

SunRocket's investors, which include Mayfield Fund, Doll Capital Management and Anthem Capital Management, did not respond to calls requesting comment.

»www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co···466.html

Karl, yes, I think it is your primary goal to bash big corporations based on a lot of your slanted articles. If SunRocket was so great (Packet 8 as well), why did someone PM me and say not to go with either even though they seemed to be DSLReports's fav little VOIP providers.

As a note: read some real articles and offer some balanced views. You can do that if you stop taking stories from "bloggers" like egadget (think that is their name) that hates anyone big and anyone invovled with their "toys" they hate. Also, why does DSLReports love to report on Bit Torrent or the Russian music website or PirateBay just about everyday? 95% of Torrent use is to download illegal stuff.
--
Saving the world keeps me busy. However, I find Earth very primitive from my home planet of Krypton.
-Supergirl

Your ability to post random news stories you found via Google still doesn't support your contention that she played no role in the collapse of either organization or was employed directly by Sherwood.

You're not listening. This has been a really fascinating conversation.