Verus International Inc (VRUS)

[Nestegg McMuffin]

Boom! $VRUS NAMES GENERAL COUNSEL

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Published: Sept 30, 2019 10:41 a.m. ET


Gaithersburg, MD, Sep 30, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE via COMTEX) -- Gaithersburg, MD, Sept. 30, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Verus International, Inc. ("Verus" or the "Company") (otcqb:VRUS) today announced that it has named industry veteran Michael McGowan to the role of General Counsel.
Michael brings more than 25 years of experience to this new position at Verus. He most recently served in a similar role at the restaurant company Cava Group, where he led the legal efforts for the acquisition of Zoe's Kitchen for approximately $300 million in November 2018. Previously, he served as a corporate consultant to Neustar, which was publicly traded until it was acquired for approximately $2.9 billion and taken private in August 2017. His private company experience includes the role of General Counsel at AddThis, a data solutions company that was acquired by Oracle in 2016.

In addition to other executive positions at several successful technology companies, Mr. McGowan also served as Vice President, Strategy and Business Development and Associate General Counsel at AOL & Time Warner. He was a key senior team member during five years in which AOL revenue grew from $400 million to $10 billion; and was involved in multiple public company acquisitions, including Time Warner ($155 billion), Netscape ($1.2 billion), MapQuest ($1 billion) and MovieFone ($500 million). He was also instrumental in strategic investments (including operating agreements) with Hughes ($1.5 billion), Gateway ($600 million), Tivo ($200 million) and Kinko's ($150 million). He graduated from Harvard College with an A.B. in Economics and received his J.D. from Georgetown University.

"Sometimes, you come across industry veterans with a breadth of experience that is exceptional, so to have someone of Michael's caliber join Verus is gratifying," said CEO Anshu Bhatnagar. "We've known for a while that we needed in-house Counsel, partly due to the growing size and complexity of our M&A and international dealings, but also with an eye toward the increasing number of product lines that we intend to add. We expect that this new position will speed up our transactions and save Verus considerable legal costs in future quarters. To say that we are excited to have Michael join us would be an understatement."

"Throughout my career, I have had the opportunity to be a senior leader for several amazing growth stories. That is one of the reasons I joined Verus at this key point in its business acceleration," explained Mr. McGowan. "Many of the largest companies in the world came from humble beginnings, so the opportunity to help shape Verus during a period of hyper growth is very appealing. I am excited to join the Verus team."