Technology >> CEO Interviews >> June 12, 2002

Jeffrey Smith – Tumbleweed Communications Corporation (tmwd)

JEFFREY C. SMITH is Founder, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Tumbleweed Communications Corp. Mr. Smith founded the company along with Jean-Christophe Bandini in 1992 and incorporated in July 1993. While at Frame Technology, Mr. Smith realized that document delivery and communication ' dependent on fax, FedEx and the phone ' would undergo a profound transformation. With that vision, he founded Tumbleweed to create the secure infrastructure for online communications. The growth of the Internet was a significant boost to Tumbleweed. Mr. Smith believes that e-mail, the most pervasive application on the Internet, is becoming the backbone of business to business and business to consumer communications, supplanting voice and paper. Under Mr. Smith's leadership, Tumbleweed created Tumbleweed Integrated Messaging Exchange (IME), an online communication solution for e-businesses worldwide that combines the power of e-mail and the Web to create secure channels of communication for enterprises. Responsible for strategic planning and partnership development in his role as CEO at Tumbleweed, Mr. Smith grew the company's revenue from $596,000 in 1996 to $37 million in 2000 and developed an installed base of over 900 blue chip customers. Tumbleweed has been a pioneer in helping enterprises extend their communications online to securely reach business partners, customers and suppliers. During Mr. Smith's tenure as CEO, Tumbleweed software platforms have become the foundation for online communications services offered by customers such as American Express, JP Morgan Chase & Co., Datek Online, TD Waterhouse, the European Union's Joint Research Council, Hikari Tsushin, NTT Communications, United Parcel Service, Pitney Bowes and the United States Postal Service. Tumbleweed Communications went public on August 6, 1999, under the symbol TMWD. Prior to founding Tumbleweed Communications Corp., Mr. Smith held senior positions at Frame Technology, IBM, Aion Corp., Ashton-Tate, and Hewlett-Packard. He holds a BS in Computer Science (Phi Beta Kappa/Tau Beta Pi) from Stanford University where he served as a lecturer in software engineering. Profile
TWST: Can we start with an up-date on the company, what's gone on at

Tumbleweed over the past year or so that investor's should focus on?

Mr. Smith: I think there are a few milestones worth